I’m sure everyone is quickly growing sick of talking about how horrible and extraordinary of a year 2020 was even as we’re still dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. The movie industry was one of those most impacted as people weren’t going to theaters anymore and studios were scrambling to delay or move to streaming options. Productions were shut down and question marks still loom over many projects. The Oscars expanded their eligibility window from the calendar year of 2020 to include the first two months of 2021. I was a little annoyed by this at first, but really it just gave more time for movies that would have likely been released in 2020 had there not been a global pandemic. So I will do the same and include everything the Oscars are including as eligible for me. Likewise, there are always movies that are technically categorized as eligible for awards one year, but not available to the public until after the Oscars. As I always aim to have my top ten list done before the Oscars, this would mean some movies could fall into no man’s land and never actually be eligible for my list. With that in mind, I’m also counting movies as eligible that were unavailable to me in the previous year (not just ones I didn’t get around to, that’s different).
A movie I’m not counting, because I don’t think it’s a movie is the filmed version of Hamilton that was released on Disney+. I’m giving it a HUGE shoutout in my honorable mentions as I might very well have made it my #1 movie of the year for 2020… if it was a movie.
I also want to give a shoutout to Nomadland as it’s the current frontrunner in the best picture race and I do really like it. I just didn’t feel it broke any new ground that Chloe Zhao didn’t already cover in her previous film The Rider, which I think is a better film. So I have no problem with Nomadland winning best picture and will be actively rooting for Zhao in the best director race, but it didn’t crack the top 10 for me this year.
And, my top 10 are:
10. First Cow – Perhaps too slowly paced for some and I’m surprised at how compelling I found it. Set in Oregon in the 19th century, it follows a white cook and an entrepreneurial Chinese immigrant who cause excitement in the frontier camp with the sweet pastries they’re able to provide. It really made me appreciate so many things we take for granted.
9. Never Rarely Sometimes Always – The devastating journey of a shy high school girl trying to procure an abortion without telling her parents. At first she seems largely a dull character with little personality, but ultimately I felt that added to the strength of the film. She doesn’t stand out, just like the countless other girls and women on similar journeys around the country and the world. Her silence also covers some hidden trauma uncovered in the most subtle and powerful way, creating one of the most memorable scenes of the year.
8. One Night in Miami – A film driven almost entirely by dialogue, we follow the fascinating conversations of four African American icons hanging out at a hotel in Miami on February 25, 1964. Cassius Clay has just won the world heavyweight title and wants to celebrate. His friend Malcolm X has other plans – he wants to talk. The Civil Rights movement is on the verge of boiling over into the mainstream consciousness and Malcolm wants to discuss the role that men of color and clout can play. Joining them are NFL star Jim Brown and recording artist Sam Cooke. A wonderful portrait of American history.
7. The Father – Not that I can necessarily think of other examples, but this is the best depiction of dementia ever put on screen. The viewer is just as confused as the old man, played by Anthony Hopkins in an Oscar-caliber performance. Just as good is Olivia Coleman as his daughter. There’s not much more to it, just a unique way of telling a story with amazing acting.
6. Onward – It’s uncanny how consistently Pixar puts out quality films. They don’t always crack my top ten, but they often do, and always despite myself. I sit down with relative indifference knowing that the strong reviews are likely justified, but the trailers and concepts rarely interest me. But, once again, they made it work. Onward is a quintessential fantasy story set in a modern world populated by traditional fantasy creatures. On paper it sounds like a predictable tale of brothers bonding during a quest to spend one more magical day with their deceased father, but it’s so clever at every turn that the result is anything but ordinary.
5. Minari – A sad, sweet, and beautiful story of a Korean immigrant family moving to Arkansas to start a farm. It’s timeless to the point that I literally don’t remember when it’s set. It could be anytime from the 1970s to the present and work just the same. The relationship dynamics between all of the family members are nuanced and real; remarkably fleshed out in so short a time. Not much more to say, just beautiful filmmaking that leaves an impression.
4. Sound of Metal – There’s definitely a theme to the best movies from 2020 – wonderfully written and acted movies of characters dealing with personal adversity on a small scale. I suppose that’s common among Oscar movies in general, but it feels particularly pervasive this year. One of the best is Sound of Metal’s exploration of a heavy metal drummer losing his hearing. It’s such a simple concept for a movie that it’s surprising it hasn’t been done before. Similar to Minari with the sad, sweet, and beautiful, we watch as Ruben (played wonderfully by Riz Ahmed) essentially goes through the five stages of grief in regards to his failing hearing. Not surprisingly, given the title and the concept, it has some of the best use of sound I’ve ever seen to help tell the story.
3. Palm Springs – A much needed departure from so many serious movies, Palm Springs brings its own unique spin to the Groundhog Day-style repeating-day narrative. It’s more than just a clever comedy as it follows Andy Samberg’s character living a wedding day over and over again. It’s heavy on the existentialism as well. He’s become resigned to the fact that this is his eternity until the bride’s sister gets pulled into the loop as well and disrupts his well-crafted routines.
2. Uncle Frank – Handsdown the most underrated movie of the year. I am legitimately confused why this film isn’t on anyone’s radar. It’s no more heavy-handed with its themes than any other contender this year. It follows a young woman from a conservative family in the South in the 1970s who is inspired by her uncle to explore her intellectual curiosity and move to New York to attend the university he teaches at. Here she discovers that he is gay and, while open in New York, it’s a secret he has kept from the family down south. Everything comes to a head when they have to travel back to South Carolina for a funeral. I suppose critics could say it trends toward melodrama, but it works for me. Everything feels earned and it contains the single most powerful moment of the year for me when the niece confronts her uncle with the very advice he had given her years before.
1. Portrait of a Lady on Fire – With the mess that 2020 was, it seems somehow appropriate that my favorite movie of the year comes with a bit of an asterisk. For most, this is considered a 2019 movie. It was not released in the US until 2020, however, and it was not actually possible for me to see it before the Oscars last year (which is my deadline to put out my top 10). Not just that I “didn’t get around to it,” but it was literally impossible for me to see in the States without having a screener sent to my home. So, the options were either to include it as a 2020 film or cast it into limbo where it was never actually eligible for me in any year.
This was just the most beautiful movie I saw in 2020, both in the spirit of the story and in the cinematography itself. Set on a French island in the 18th century, it follows the relationship of two young women. One is proud and quiet and arranged to be married to a man she’s never met. The other is an artist hired to paint the engaged woman’s portrait – which she must keep a secret. She has refused to pose for previous artists so she must be painted from memory without her knowledge.
As the two slowly become friends, tensions mount over what they want out of life and what they are actually able to achieve given the constraints on women at the time. Never have furtive glances been so effective at portraying a growing longing by both parties for the relationship to perhaps shift from friendly to romantic. A beautiful tale of duty and desire that left me in awe both times I watched it.