It's that time of year again! Before the Academy weighs in with their nominees on Tuesday, our team here at Rough Cut came together to make our picks for the best movies of 2021.
As always, we had lots of ties (an inescapable hazard when your voting pool is five people). Denis Villeneuve's Dune led the field with 12 nominations and 7 wins, but across our five ballots, 91 films from 18 countries made at least one appearance, as Oscar hopefuls and international arthouse hits joined big-budget blockbusters and future cult classics.
Without further ado, here are the nominees and winners of the third annual Rough Cut Awards:
Key: Bold = Winner, Italics = Runner-Up
Best Picture
C'mon C'mon
Drive My Car
Dune
The Green Knight
Hit the Road
Licorice Pizza
Pig
The Power of the Dog
West Side Story
The Worst Person in the World
Best Director
Paul Thomas Anderson - Licorice Pizza
Jane Campion - The Power of the Dog
Ryusuke Hamaguchi - Drive My Car
Steven Spielberg - West Side Story
Denis Villeneuve - Dune
Best Actress
Paula Beer - Undine
Penélope Cruz - Parallel Mothers
Virginie Efira - Benedetta
Alana Haim - Licorice Pizza
Renate Reinsve - The Worst Person in the World
Kristen Stewart - Spencer
Best Actor
Nicolas Cage - Pig
Benedict Cumberbatch - The Power of the Dog
Oscar Isaac - The Card Counter
Hidetoshi Nishijima - Drive My Car
Will Smith - King Richard
Best Supporting Actress
Jessie Buckley - The Lost Daughter
Ariana DeBose - West Side Story
Ann Dowd - Mass
Rebecca Ferguson - Dune
Kathryn Hunter - The Tragedy of Macbeth
Toko Miura - Drive My Car
Ruth Negga - Passing
Best Supporting Actor
Mike Faist - West Side Story
Jason Isaacs - Mass
Kodi Smit-McPhee - The Power of the Dog
Chaske Spencer - Wild Indian
Jeffrey Wright - The French Dispatch
Best Original Screenplay
C'mon C'mon - Mike Mills
A Hero - Asghar Farhadi
Mass - Fran Kranz
Titane - Julia Ducournau
The Worst Person in the World - Joachim Trier and Eskil Vogt
Best Adapted Screenplay
Drive My Car - Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe
—based on the short story by Haruki Murakami and the play Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekov
Dune - Jon Spaihts, Denis Villeneuve, Eric Roth
—based on the novel by Frank Herbert
Passing - Rebecca Hall
—based on the novel by Nella Larson
The Power of the Dog - Jane Campion
—based on the novel by Thomas Savage
West Side Story - Tony Kushner
—based on the stage musical by Leonard Bernstein, Arthur Laurents, Jerome Robbins, and Stephen Sondheim
Best Cinematography
Dune - Greig Fraser
The Green Knight - Andrew Droz Palermo
The Power of the Dog - Ari Wegner
The Tragedy of Macbeth - Bruno Delbonnel
West Side Story - Janusz Kaminski
Best Production Design
Dune - Patrice Vermette
The French Dispatch - Adam Stockhausen
The Green Knight - Jade Healy
Nightmare Alley - Tamara Deverell
The Tragedy of Macbeth - Stefan Dechant
West Side Story - Adam Stockhausen
Best Costume Design
Benedetta - Pierre-Jean Larroque
Dune - Robert Morgan and Jacqueline West
The French Dispatch - Milena Canonero
Spencer - Jacqueline Durran
West Side Story - Paul Tazewell
Best Film Editing
Dune - Joe Walker
Hit the Road - Amir Etminan and Ashkan Mehri
King Richard - Pamela Martin
Memoria - Lee Chatametikool
The Novice - Lauren Hadaway and Nathan Nugent
The Power of the Dog - Peter Sciberras
Tick, Tick...Boom! - Myron Kerstein and Andrew Weisblum
West Side Story - Michael Kahn and Sarah Broshar
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Dune
The Green Knight
The Last Duel
Old
Titane
Best Visual Effects
Dune
The Green Knight
The Matrix Resurrections
No Time To Die
Spider-Man: No Way Home
Best Original Score
Dune - Hans Zimmer
The Last Duel - Harry Gregson-Williams
Luca - Dan Romer
Pig - Alex Grapsas and Philip Klein
The Power of the Dog - Jonny Greenwood
Spencer - Jonny Greenwood
Best Original Song
Be Alive, from King Richard
—Music and Lyrics by Beyoncé Knowles-Carter and Dixson
—Performed by Beyoncé
Beyond the Shore, from CODA
—Music and Lyrics by Nick Baxter, Siân Heder, Marius de Vries, and Matt Dahan
—Performed by Emilia Jones
Edgar's Prayer, from Barb and Star Go To Vista Del Mar
—Music by Andrew Feltenstein, John Nau, Dana Nielsen, Danny Dunlap, Jeremy Ballinger, Kirsten Wiig, and Annie Mumolo; Lyrics by Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo
—Performed by Jamie Dornan and Amy Keys
No Time To Die, from No Time To Die
—Music and Lyrics by Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell
—Performed by Billie Eilish
Welcome to the Internet, from Bo Burnham: Inside
—Music and Lyrics by Bo Burnham
—Performed by Bo Burnham
Somehow, we managed a five-way tie in Best Original Song—and not just because we all had five different first place choices!
Best Sound
Dune
The Humans
Memoria
The Novice
West Side Story
Best International Feature
Benedetta (France)
Drive My Car (Japan)
Flee (Denmark)
A Hero (Iran)
Hit the Road (Iran)
Titane (France)
The Worst Person in the World (Norway)
Best Documentary Feature
Bo Burnham: Inside
Flee
Procession
The Rescue
Summer of Soul, or When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised
Best Animated Feature
Encanto
Flee
The Legend of Hei
Luca
The Mitchells vs. The Machines
Raya and the Last Dragon
Best Casting
CODA
In the Heights
Mass
The Power of the Dog
Red Rocket
West Side Story
Best Choreography/Stunt Coordination
Bad Trip
The Last Duel
In the Heights
No Time To Die
West Side Story
Best First Feature
The Lost Daughter - Maggie Gyllenhaal
Mass - Fran Kranz
The Novice - Lauren Hadaway
Passing - Rebecca Hall
Pig - Michael Sarnoski
Test Pattern - Shatara Michelle Ford
Best Breakthrough Performance
Alana Haim - Licorice Pizza
Simu Liu - Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Taylour Paige - Zola
Gabrielle and Josephine Sanz - Petite Maman
Rayan Sarlak - Hit the Road
Kodi Smit-McPhee - The Power of the Dog
Rachel Zegler - West Side Story