‘Soul,’ ‘Ma Rainey’s’ among AFI’s top 10 films of the year

The American Film Institute on Monday announced its top 10 films of the year, including Pixar’s jazz themed “Soul” and two of Chadwick Boseman’s final films: the August Wilson adaptation “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” and Spike Lee’s Vietnam drama “Da 5 Bloods,” both of which are Netflix films.

Netflix featured heavily in the AFI’s list, which took up four positions on the list including David Fincher’s “Citizen Kane” origin story “Mank” and Aaron Sorkin’s “The Trial of the Chicago 7.” Amazon, too, got two spots with the hearing loss drama “Sound of Metal,” with Riz Ahmed and Regina King’s “One Night in Miami…”.

Chloé Zhao’s awards and festival favourite “Nomadland” with Frances McDormand was also named an honoree in advance of its theatrical rollout in the coming weeks, as was “Minari,” with Steven Yeun, which opens Feb. 12. AFI also selected Warner Bros.’ Black Panther Party film “Judas and the Black Messiah” which will have its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on Feb. 1.

The AFI also named its top 10 television shows, including Netflix’s “The Queen’s Gambit,” the Disney+ phenomenon “The Mandalorian” and Apple TV+’s “Ted Lasso.”

The selection jury included filmmakers Rian Johnson and Lulu Wang. The group also included a special citation for “Hamilton.”

In lieu of the annual luncheon celebrating the honorees, AFI will hold a virtual benediction on Feb. 26 streaming on YouTube and the AFI website.

Lindsey Bahr, The Associated Press