Venice Film Festival 2021

How we've grouped data:

• all releases are placed from top to bottom and left to right, from highest to lowest, and in alphabetical order;
• the data is current as of mid-September 2021. With more reviews, the scores of movies and, as a result, their placement may change significantly;
• films that do not yet have a Metacritic score are listed in alphabetical order;
• we also recommend that you read the results of the recent Cannes Film Festival.

The Power of the Dog — 92 points (dir. Jane Campion)
‍Award: Silver Lion
Genre: drama, romance, western
What is remarkable: during the Wild West, a feud breaks out on the plains of Montana between brothers, one of whom decides to destroy the other's new marriage.

The Lost Daughter — 88 points (dir. Maggie Gyllenhaal)
‍Award: Best Screenplay
Genre: drama
What is remarkable: an English teacher goes on vacation, but new acquaintances bring back memories of painful motherhood.

Parallel Mothers — 85 points (dir. Pedro Almodóvar)
‍Award: Best Actress
Genre: drama
What is remarkable: two single women who are about to become mothers meet in the maternity ward, which drastically changes their lives.

Official Competition — 83 points (dir. Mariano Cohn, Gastón Duprat)
‍Award: -
Genre: drama, comedy
What is remarkable: famous actors quarrel terribly during the filming of the film, which leads to a terrible thing: the director's chair is occupied by an equally famous and eccentric director.

Spencer — 83 points (dir. Pablo Larraín)
‍Award: -
Genre: drama
What is remarkable: princess Diana's last days, followed by her tragic death. Previously, Pablo Larrain directed a similar drama “Jackie” about John F. Kennedy's wife, who is experiencing the loss of her husband.

Happening — 81 points (dir. Audrey Diwan)
‍Reward: Golden Lion
Genre: drama
What is remarkable: a young French woman becomes pregnant, but changing diapers is not part of her plans — she wants to get an education and enjoy life to her heart's content, so she decides to have an abortion. The catch is that in 1960s France it is illegal to do so.

The Card Counter — 79 points (dir. Paul Schrader)
‍Award: -
Genre: action, thriller
What is remarkable: high stakes, an escape from the past, and the life of an exceptional poker player at stake.

Sundown — 76 points (dir. Michel Franco)
‍Award: -
Genre: drama
What is remarkable: a wealthy businessman tries to break up with his family while on vacation in Acapulco.

The Hand of God — 75 points (dir. Paolo Sorrentino)
‍Reward: Grand Jury Prize
Genre: drama
What is remarkable: Fabietto Schise, a boy who lives in Naples in the 1980s, is sad, happy and a little worried about the turbulent situation in the city.

Hole — 72 points (dir. Michelangelo Frammartino)
‍Reward: Special Jury Prize
Genre: drama
What is remarkable: in the early 1960s, a group of speleologists went to previously unexplored caves.

Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon — 72 points (dir. Ana Lily Amirpour)
Award: -
Genre: fantasy, thriller, detective
What is remarkable: a girl with extraordinary abilities escapes from a mental hospital and goes to New Orleans to start life from scratch.

America Latina — 30 points (dir. Damiano D'Innocenzo, Fabio D'Innocenzo)
Award: -
Genre: thriller
What is remarkable: Massimo Sisti is a talented and successful dentist. He lives happily in his own villa with his wife and two daughters, but one day, when he goes down to the basement, he plunges into the absurd.

Reflection — Score unavailable (dir. Valentyn Vasyanovych)
Award: -
Genre: drama
What is remarkable: after his release from the terrible captivity he fell into in the East of the country, a Ukrainian surgeon is trying to return to a quiet life.

Captain Volkonogov Escaped — 82 points (dir. Natasha Merkulova, Aleksey Chupov)
Award: -
Genre: thriller, drama
What is remarkable: suddenly, police captain Fyodor Volkonogov is declared a criminal, but that's not the worst thing, because at night he learns that he will go straight to Hell after his death. And in order to avoid being imprisoned in Hell of Fire, he must obtain the forgiveness of any person who has been offended by him.

On The Job: The Missing 8 — Score unavailable (dir. Erik Matti)
‍Reward: Best Actor
Genre: crime, action
What is remarkable: philippine police officers use prisoners as murderers, and a journalist tries to bring them out into the open. During the investigation, he faces corruption not only in the authorities, but also in the journalistic community.

Leave No Traces — Score unavailable (dir. Jan P. Matuszynski)
Award: -
Genre: drama
What is remarkable: in 1983, the Polish police attacked the son of an opposition poetess, and two days later he died. The main character, who witnesses a fatal beating, decides to challenge the communist authorities.

Lost Illusions — Score unavailable (dir. Xavier Giannoli)
Award: -
Genre: drama, history
What is remarkable: an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Honore de Balzac, whose main character, the young provincial Lucien Chardon, is trying to conquer Paris, experiences falls, ups and almost falls to the very bottom.

Freaks Out — Score unavailable (dir. Gabriele Mainetti)
Award: -
Genre: fantasy
What is remarkable: four friends who used to work at the circus get stuck in Rome when World War II and magic invade.

The Box — 82 points (dir. Lorenzo Vigas)
Award: -
Genre: drama
What is remarkable: a young Mexican tries to find the remains of his late father, but finds himself in a world of illegal factories that use almost slave labor.

The King of Laughter — Score unavailable (dir. Mario Martone)
Award: -
Genre: drama, biography
What is remarkable: a biographical drama about the legendary Neapolitan comedian Eduardo Scarpetta, who delighted Italians regardless of their situation at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Un Autre Monde — 79 points (dir. Stéphane Brizé)
Award: -
Genre: drama
What is remarkable: the executive director of an industrial conglomerate is faced with a personal crisis: problems at work are combined with a painful divorce.