Staff Picks: Inauguration Edition 2021
It’s almost the end of the first month of 2021, and just over a week since the U.S. saw a new president take office. In light of the occasion, some of us highlighted our favorite political films below!

Julie Yeh Feng stars as Hsiu Hsiu, a beautiful singing shepherdess who falls head over heels in love with a handsome boatman named Liu Ta Lung. Unfortunately, she can't afford to marry her new beau because her father has racked up numerous debts due to his uncontrollable gambling addiction. And to make matters even more complicated, there's a rival suitor who promises to pay off all of her no-good father's debts on the condition that he is given Hsiu Hsiu's hand in marriage. She initially declines his offer, but starts to get jealous when she sees Ta Lung getting a little too close for comfort with another woman. In retaliation, she starts flirting with her possible benefactor/husband-to-be. But what Hsiu Hsiu doesn't know is that her jealousy isn't based on any actual unfaithfulness, but on an unfortunate misunderstanding!
It’s almost the end of the first month of 2021, and just over a week since the U.S. saw a new president take office. In light of the occasion, some of us highlighted our favorite political films below!
"King Richard" paints a nuanced portrait of a Black father trying to ensure his daughters’ success in a racist, misogynistic world. Yet, Richard and his kids overcome that fear and adversity to succeed.
This Nickelodeon live-action TV series features strong Black representation.
21 Bridges isn’t going to revolutionize action cinema. However, its action components are respectable. Every act is visibly clear, and as time moves forward, the film changes its conflictual rhythm.
'The Lost Daughter' doesn't paint over the choices Leda and Nina make as mothers as right or wrong but examines the messy in-between.
Some people’s first introduction to Mira Nair might be as New York mayor Zohran Mamdani’s mom. But with her insightful direction of 1991’s Mississippi Masala, Nair shows how much she deserves to be known as an artist. Delivering a nuanced portrait of a romance between a Black man and an Indian woman living in the South, Nair explores the complications each character faces, giving both equal weight.