Best of 2021: Why Mass is the best movie of the year

As a movie critic, I watch over 300+ original movies a year, which is good and bad. I see some excellent stuff, but a lot of the time, I stumble across some rough ones. However, today, I share with you why Mass is the best movie of the year.

I saw Mass at the Sundance film festival in January and on my first watch of the film, I was slightly underwhelmed. However, within the next 24 hours, I watched it again and liked it just a little bit more. Months went gone by and it stuck with me as I thought about it over and over again.

I take movie ratings seriously, so the number of five-star movies I give out is minimal each year. But Mass had this pit in my stomach that I felt like it was going to be that one. I had the opportunity in October to revisit the film one more time and tried to put to bed any doubts I had about the movie.

Upon my rewatch, I paid attention to every small detail, how writer/director Fran Kranz set the stage with this awkward little church room and slowly built this world of these two grieving families in a way that only leaves you clinging to your chair. I won’t reveal much of what happens because I want anyone reading this to watch Mass without forming opinions of the story that is told.

You won’t see many better acting displays than you see in this film. We have four actors in Jason Isaacs, Ann Dowd, Martha Plimpton and Reed Birney, who bring Fran Kranz’s words to life. Throughout this entire film, the conviction, empathy, doubt, struggle, love, happiness, forgiveness, all these emotions you feel while watching. These actors remind us that we don’t always have to have flashy things happen in a movie to be a top-tier film.

If I were to make a list of my all-time favorite movies, Mass would be on that list. Fran Kranz and the cast reminded me why I love what I do, why I love film so much and why the world can show just a bit more empathy to others during trying times.

Mass is coming to digital and VOD on Dec. 28, 2021.