94 Time December 27, 2021/January 3, 2022
simply neglected. Like jewels hidden in
plain sight, the film showcases glorious
performances from Mahalia Jackson,
Stevie Wonder and Nina Simone. At last,
the world is ready to take notice.4 The Souvenir Part II
In English filmmaker Joanna Hogg’s
piercingly wistful semiautobiographical
film, a young student in 1980s London
(Honor Swinton Byrne, in a subtle,
captivating performance) tries to make
sense of a heartbreaking personal
tragedy as she completes her graduate
film. With that seemingly simple story,
Hogg captures a thousand facets of
what it’s like to be a young person eager
to make a mark on the world—while
also needing desperately to make
sense of it all.5 Parallel Mothers
Penélope Cruz gives a smashing
performance as a Madrid woman who
becomes a mother in middle age—even
as she’s striving to win justice for her
great-grandfather, murdered during
the Spanish Civil War, his body tossed
into a mass grave. Director Pedro
Almodóvar uses melodrama to reckon
with the painful history of his country,
but also to reaffirm an essential truth
about motherhood: history is the work
of mothers—civilization can’t move on
without them.6 Passing
In this beautifully rendered adaptation
of Nella Larsen’s compact, potent 1929
novel, two girlhood friends (played,
superbly, by Tessa Thompson and
Ruth Negga) reconnect as adults, their
lives not just intersecting but colliding:
both women are Black, but one has
chosen to live as white. First-time
director Rebecca Hall gives us a deeply
thoughtful spin on what we commonly
call the American Dream, the ability
to make something of ourselves,
or to remake ourselves as we wish—
a so-called freedom that comes,
sometimes, at perilous cost.1 The Power
of the Dog
In 1920s Montana, a
misanthropic rancher
(Benedict Cumberbatch)
meets a reedy, dreamy
teenager (Kodi Smit-
McPhee) who arouses his
contempt—and more.
Jane Campion’s gorgeous,
sinewy western, based
on Thomas Savage’s 1967
novel, is a movie as big
as the open sky—but
also one where human
emotions are distinctly
visible, as fine and sharp
as a blade of grass.2 The Worst Person
in the World
Danish-Norwegian director Joachim
Trier’s staggeringly tender comedy-
drama feels like a gift from the
gods. On the road to figuring out who
she is, Julie (Renate Reinsve, in a
performance of marvelous, sturdy
delicacy) falls in love first with one
man and then another, only to realize
she’s more lost than ever. Trier guides
this story to a joyous, bittersweet
landing—a reminder that we’re all
works in progress, unfinished beings
whose only imperative is to turn
toward the light.3 Summer of Soul
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s radiant
documentary chronicles a star-studded
free concert series that took place
in a Harlem park during the summer
of Woodstock but received far less
attention. The Harlem Cultural Festival
drew huge crowds, but in the years
since, this civil rights–era celebration
of pride and music had been largely
forgotten—or, perhaps more accurately,