It was updated after the weekends. It's ranked by avg l.b. user rating, extracted from here.
Included documentaries and festival films of 2020/2019 that had their first national release in 2021 (i.e. Some Kind of Heaven, The Killing of Two Lovers, Little Fish). Note: I only included confirmed 2021 releases, not generally undistributed 2020 films. The list did not include films that had some national releases in 2020 but U.S. releases delayed for 2021 (i.e. Identifying Features).
There was a 1,000 view minimum threshold to start for any films to be eligible to enter the list. Also note: for blockbusters and highly anticipated movies that tend to get a lot of views and ratings before they come out, I waited…
It was updated after the weekends. It's ranked by avg l.b. user rating, extracted from here.
Included documentaries and festival films of 2020/2019 that had their first national release in 2021 (i.e. Some Kind of Heaven, The Killing of Two Lovers, Little Fish). Note: I only included confirmed 2021 releases, not generally undistributed 2020 films. The list did not include films that had some national releases in 2020 but U.S. releases delayed for 2021 (i.e. Identifying Features).
There was a 1,000 view minimum threshold to start for any films to be eligible to enter the list. Also note: for blockbusters and highly anticipated movies that tend to get a lot of views and ratings before they come out, I waited until after their release date before I added them. If anything seemed premature, it was added because it's had at least one festival screening. Films need to have a valid IMDb page to qualify for entry. For a version of the list without documentaries, see Rahat's list.
Exclusions:
• Short films, concerts, and web videos.
• TV miniseries, unless they had a theatrical release.
• Music documentaries about contemporary musicians (they are prone to unintentional vote manipulation). Exceptions are granted for artists or groups who have disbanded or died and films that exclusively cover an event in their career no less than 15 years ago.
• Making of featurettes, unless they had a theatrical release.
• Films that extend or conclude narratives from TV shows. Prequels, spin-offs, or standalone films are allowed.
See Letterboxd Official tag for my other 'official' year lists. They concluded shortly after their respective Oscar ceremonies so their ranking is a permanent time capsule.
I also conducted Metacritic's 'official' top 50 of 2021 under similar rules. You can find other Metacritic top 50s here. See also: Metacritic's top 250 of the 2010s.
The list concluded on the Sunday after the Academy Awards.
