On the Radar
The best film acting moments of 2021 that demand your attention
T
o call 2021 a great year for cinema is an understatement. With so many choices to consider, we’re singling out individual scenes that demonstrate the kind of filmmaking artistry that deserves attention come awards season. Let’s take a look at the acting moments that may have flown under the radar this year. For SAG Award nominators’ consideration: these examples of acting excellence.
BACKSTAGE 12.13.21
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with old friends before all is lost? There’s a tempting end-of-the-world party on her calendar that may be her ticket to salvation—if only she cared enough. The movie features a who’s-who of cameos—including Lister-Jones’ buds Nick Kroll, Fred Armisen, Paul W. Downs, Olivia Wilde, and musician Sharon Van Etten. But the film’s heart comes from Lister-Jones grappling with her younger self (played by Cailee Spaeny of “Mare of Easttown”) over mortality’s biggest questions. Their conversations about regret and growth, shared while strolling down barren suburban roads, capture the weight and introspection we’ve all experienced at one time or another this year. The light’s at the end of the tunnel and the credits have rolled, but the questions the film raises during its slim
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COURTESY MGM
Zoe Lister-Jones talks to her younger self in “How It Ends” Picture this: The world as we know it has come to an end, and life rolls to a standstill. We’re isolated, alone, and losing track of the things that used to make us happy, and the end is
nigh. Considering the last year and a half, that’s either a too-close-to-home pitch or a story that’s just a little too depressing to have audiences flocking to it. Somehow, though, Zoe Lister-Jones’ pandemic-created comedy “How It Ends” makes it all work while also eliciting laughs. Stuck in Los Angeles in summer 2020 with little to do—and even less certainty about what the future might hold—Lister-Jones got a bunch of her Hollywood friends together to film quick and quippy vignettes dramatizing what it might look like if we knew the world was ending in 24 hours. What interactions would we have over the course of that day? The filmmaker stars as Liza, a cynical Californian with more than a few skeletons in her closet. Will she choose to clear her conscience and reconnect
“CODA”: COURTESY APPLE TV+; “TOGETHER TOGETHER”: TIFFANY ROOHANI/BLEECKER STREET
CAILEE SPAENY AND ZOE LISTER-JONES IN “HOW IT ENDS”
