The Siskoid Awards 2021

At the start of the year, we look back on the year that went before, a difficult year even they reopened theaters - people got way too complacent - and as usual, I hand out Golden Typewriter Monkeys - nothing more than bragging rights, don't come at me, winners - for excellence in what I've read, seen or heard during the year (regardless of when it was originally released, unless I decide it's important). As usual, only newly experienced material will be up for consideration (the others have had their chance). For television episodes, no more than one per show can be put up for nomination. Other limits may apply. I may or may not get to 4 runner-ups in each case, depending. In any case, write-in votes and anti-votes go in the comments section.

Best Book of 2021 - The runners up are...
5. Ayoade on Top by Richard Ayoade
4. Alien Bodies by Lawrence Miles
3. The Only Story by Julian Barnes
2. Nothing to Be Frightened Of by Julian Barnes

...and the Siskoid goes to: The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera. Not gonna lie, I could have filled this category with Julian Barnes alone. He's my favorite contemporary writer and I spent the year catching up with his essays (which I'd ignored to date) and newest releases. In the end, Kundera's undisputed classic got the top prize, in part because I felt like there was a stylistic proximity to Barnes' work, I admit. Here's the review at the time: "It strikes me, reading L'insoutenable légerté de l'être (The Unbearable Lightness of Being), that Milan Kundera's writing is a lot like that of my favorite author, Julian Barnes. There's a similar flow, similar interest in making philosophical points, similar poignancy and humor, similar clinical dissection of relationships through varied points of view, and similar postmodern flourishes. Some of those in combination are a real achievement, for example, making you care so much for its main characters, while also being honest about the fact that's all they are - fictions on a page, images taken to a natural end. The novel makes many points, but I feel the central one is that everyone is an island that we can see from afar but never really visit, and all our anxieties come from the basic misunderstandings this creates between people. True empathy - the knowing of the other also called "compassion" in the book - is unattainable, but should still be reached for, and of course through the novel itself, we come closest, letting ourselves be exposed in this case to an author, two men, two women, and even a dog. The book is breezy but heady. It made me laugh out loud (some of the best toilet humor in literature, honestly) and sob my eyes out (that damn dog). I didn't want it to end."

Best Film of 2021 (in theaters, plus 2021 releases at home because it's complicated now) - The runners up are...
5. In the Heights
4. Dune
3. The Green Knight
2. Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time

...and the Siskoid goes to: The French Dispatch. As I wrote: "If you thought The Grand Budapest Hotel was the most Wes Anderson movie Wes Anderson ever Wes Andersoned, think again. The French Dispatch is so rich in both dialog and imagery, it's going to become a freeze-framing favorite. The film presents the last issue of a writerly American magazine based in an imaginary French town in the 70s, the work of its staff behind the scenes, but also the articles as short films, recalling Jacques Tati and Chris Ware and God knows what else. If you're a French speaker, you'll even get jokes non-bilingual audiences won't. The whole package is a cinematic delight and one of the best anthology films I've ever seen. At one point, I got the giggles, and though it was triggered by a line of dialog, it was really due to an accumulation that had been building since the beginning. Funny-sad, since it's a movie filled with a strange nostalgia, and clearly a tribute not to journalists, but to writers, especially those stylists who have worked in journalistic avenues. True voices. This is where the humor is most subtle and ironic. Frances McDormand's character, for example, has this terse, two-words-a-sentence style, but somehow fills reams and reams of pages. Jeffrey Wright's has an ironclad memory when it comes to remembering his own texts, but none when it comes to other things, second-hand mnemonics that puts doubt on everything he says. And I bet there's a lot more to dig up on repeat viewings. The French Dispatch is a stylish bullet train Wes Anderson fans will want to take again and again until every compartment has been fully delighted in."

Best Film of 2021 (at home, but not released in 2021) - The runners up are...
5. Sholay
4. Tampopo
3. PlayTime
2. La Notte

...and the Siskoid goes to: Madadayo squeaks in just under the wire, in a year where it seems I was most taken with international cinema. In a review that will only appear tomorrow, I say: "Kurosawa's last film, Madadayo ("not yet"), is an extended goodbye for the director as well as the film's subject, writer Hyakken Uchida, whose pupils remained devoted to after his retirement from teaching, organizing an annual "Not Yet Festival" to celebrate his continued life. How this connects to Kurosawa's own end-of-career feelings, I can't specifically know, but if I were to force people to watch a movie at my funeral, it would be this one, at the risk of self-aggrandizing, I relate very strongly with many elements of Uchida's life, and it's with some delight that I realized midway through that I'd read some of his work (I Am a Cat). In the film, Uchida (Tatsuo Matsumura) is an endearing wit, and the character-driven comedy flows quite freely even as we head towards more tragic material. But even then, the film has such charm and grace, and ends on such a poignant image, that though I got emotional, Madadayo's celebration of life never loses its potency. What a beautiful film to go out on (though Kurosawa would have said "not yet!" - a bad fall confined him to a wheelchair and robbed him of any chance to direct more films, his health deteriorating until his death 5 years after Madadayo, age 88)."

Best TV Series of 2021 - The runners up are...
5. Schitts' Creek (4 seasons)
4. Hawkeye
3. Jean-Claude Van Johnson
2. The OA (2 seasons)

...and the Siskoid goes to: Patriot (2 seasons) The review: "Hiding behind a rather generic title, Patriot is not the Clancyesque thriller I was expecting. Instead of a slick Jack Ryan type whose plans always come together, Michael Dorman's John Tavner/Lakeman starts the show as a broken man, sleepwalking through his mission, bearing enormous guilt for his actions, and lives in a world where mistakes are often made, snowballing into a huge cock-up that takes us through two seasons (or 18 episodes) before things are resolved(?). And he would have bailed out of the intelligence service if it weren't a family affair. Writer Steve Conrad spins an achronological web of causality and coincidence, with amusing (and amusingly sad) characters who are all in over their heads, following the theme of taking something from A to B (which is why the pipeline company John must infiltrate is so well chosen). Great use of music as well, with our man John having a sideline as a folk singer, and especially good performances from Terry O'Quinn as the warm but ruthless father, and Kurtwood Smith as the company man/foil for our hero. This is a perfect series, in my opinion, but for one thing. A lot of the action takes place in Luxembourg and Paris, two French-speaking locales, and they went and hired a Swedish actress to play the main French speaker in this. To my Francophone ears, it's all wrong. Viewers of other ethnic persuasions won't see (or hear) it, of course, so enjoy this send-up of the spy thrillers that have by now become formulaic."

Best TV Episode of 2021 - The runners up are...
5. "What if... the Watcher Broke His Oath?" (What If? S1)
4. "The Good Ones" (Brooklyn Nine-Nine S8)
3. "The Mister Wilson Job" (Leverage Redemption)
2. "The Duel" (Star Wars Visions)

...and the Siskoid goes to: "First First Contact" (Star Trek: Lower Decks S2). Truthfully, there were a number of contenders for first place from this series. "wej Duj" probably being the closest runner-up. But the up and down of emotion, from worry to relief, really worked for me in First First Contact. In a year where the strongest series often stumbled at the end, this particular season finale was a big win. Who would have thought, when it first began, that Lower Decks would become my favorite modern-day Star Trek series? Cerritos strong!

(You can read the entire review HERE.)

Best Comics of 2021 - The runners up are...
5. Nightwing
4. Future State: Aquaman
3. Sandman: Endless Nights
2. The More Than Complete Action Philosophers!

...and the Siskoid goes to: Future State: Wonder Woman/Wonder Girl. I wanted to read a lot more comics than I ultimately did this year, but I did get lured back to the DC Universe by the Future State event and resulting Infinite Frontier books. It was for blog articles, mainly, but some of it did rise to the top, namely Joëlle Jones' Yara Flor comics. The so-called Brazilian Wonder Woman - Wonder Girl, in the contemporary time frame - is the character find of 2021, her stories sporting a real sense of whimsy (the Future State issues more than the regular series, to date) and gorgeous art. It's the project I'm going to recommend while I get my head back in the game and try to read more (and more varied) stuff in 2022.

So what happened to Stupidest Geek Move of the year? I've decided to cut it this year. There's been enough negativity, I think, and I don't want to wallow in it. I'll sling some ire around under the Technical Awards, but I'm not devoting a whole category to it. You're a good bunch of apples, I'm sure you're okay with this.

Let us know what YOUR picks would have been in all categories. And on Monday: The Technical Awards as given in a ceremony prior to this one, just like with the Oscars!