PIG
Finally, I can put a Nicolas Cage film into my top ten! Oh no, wait, that happens every year.
BABE-ette’s Feast meets BAKEN (I will hunt you down etc.), this is a rare film where Cage isn’t the hammiest actor.

TRUFFLE HUNTERS
This is an AMAZING doc, the cinematography! Every shot is like an old masters oil painting. And the characters are fabulous. I love that the truffle dealing is done down dark alleys like drug deals; the mafian power struggles; and that some of the filming is done by the dogs. It’s beautiful, funny, sad, and has a massive heart. I thoroughly recommend (watch it with your favourite pet pooch, if you have one!).

THE NEST
I think every director should consider waiting 10 years before making their next film, if this is what happens! A really understated, slow burner of a film, the acting was sublime (I'm not a fan of the Jude Law School of Acting per se, but he suited this role perfectly). I loved the psychodramatic ambiguity when the[ir] ghosts start coming out, Durkins messes with cinematic tropes to such high effect. The subtle critique on the hedonism and aspirational capitalism enabled by the socioeconomic changes in the '80s was exquisite, the old fashioned patriarchy vs the quiet rise of the woman building up the courage to have an independent voice. I love a film that really does so little but makes you think so much, the slow build and then the unpredictable ending, it will stay with me for a long time. The only thing that jarred with me was that they spelt YUPPIE wrong... RUINED.

APPLES
From the Yorgos Lathimos school of wacky Greek filmmaking, this crunchingly delicious film is presciently set during a mysterious pandemic - amnesia - a handy illness whilst trying to deal with the grief of a bereavement, it would seem.

THE VELVET UNDERGROUND
Provocateur director Todd Haynes makes his first foray into documentary making and picks an iconic subject befitting to his idiosyncratic style: the coolest and most influential band in the world.

THE CARD COUNTER
Beautifully shot and performed thriller, this ace of a film by Paul Shrader investigates the moralities of man, through an ex army guy-turned-card-counting-gambler. It’s intense and slow paced and gripping, but if you’re expecting Ocean’s 11 or Rainman, you might be disappointed.

THE POWER OF THE DOG
There’s something about Benedict Cumberbatch that has always made me have a queasy and undoubtedly disingenuous prejudice against him. Perhaps it is my narcissistic quest for eternal youth and not wanting to identify with his core fan-base, the ancient Victoria Sponge baking gin tippling wives of the red trouser brigade. So it pains me to admit he’s terrifically compelling in this understated Western by Jane Campion, and would be surprised if Awards weren’t forthcoming. You can really smell him, which is perhaps a cinematic first. G&T and a slice of cake, anyone?

SUMMER OF SOUL (…or, When the Revolution Could Not be Televised)
I loved it! Watching those legends belting out their songs so early on in their careers (Gladys Knight was a CHILD! Nina Simone was still SANE!) and the atmosphere depicted actually made me well-up a few times. I'm not sure if it's a pent up lack of festivals during Lockdown, but this seemed very timely on all fronts - politically, culturally and socially. Perhaps a touch too long, but the message was loud and clear.

SPENCER
I never really "got" Lady Diana. And now I do.

MANDIBLES
Having already spunked my load by putting DEERSKIN into last year’s top ten, I was delighted to see that director Quentin Dupieux released TWO films this year, and is proving to be a master of abstract comedy. This is a bit like DUMB AND DUMBER with a Kafkaian twist, and because it’s French, it makes it art-house. Non?

Honourable mentions go to THE SPARKS BROTHERS and THE LOST DAUGHTER and ROSE PLAYS JULIE and QUO VADIS AIDA? and TRUE THINGS. Things I really really wished I’d seen in the cinema this year… TITANE & DUNE.

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