Overall, I felt like this was a pretty strong movie year. There were lots of movies that I really appreciated that ended up getting left out of my top 10 – Drive MyCar, Parallel Mothers, The Lost Daughter, and The Tragedy of Macbeth just to name a few.
Check out my full two-part conversation here and here with three friends as we go through all of our favorite movies of the year. Here’s my list – there are many like it, but this one is mine.
10. In the Heights – This one hangs on to my top ten by a thread. I watched Drive My Car in the last few days before finalizing my list and at first put it ahead of In the Heights. It’s a better movie. But, honestly, I just didn’t like that half of my top 10 would also be best picture nominees, so I switched it back to give In the Heights some love it apparently needs. Despite being a 94/94 on RottenTomatoes it received zero Oscar nominations, getting snubbed even in the music categories. The story is a little too simple, sure, but it’s a delight from start to finish.
9. The Harder They Fall – Another rare fun movie in a year dominated by dramas. Sometimes a movie can try too hard to be cool and just make me roll my eyes. This one had me grinning the whole way through. It’s a fictitious story based on actual African-American figures from the Old West. The writers just threw them all together and made a revenge caper out of it. It may be a bit of a mess but it oozes style.
8. Pig – I kinda expected this one to be silly or dumb and it definitely has moments where it’s pretty darned weird. But, as it was winding down, I found myself just shaking my head because it actually works. As bizarre as Nicolas Cage’s quest to find his stolen truffle pig is, it’s a bold and original film that captivates while taking its time. I can’t really compare it to anything else. I mean, maybe First Cow meets Fight Club, subdued and sensationalist all at the same time. It’s a crazy film and I dug it.
7. 7 Prisoners – One of the most uncomfortable movies I sat through this year. I was furious at the indignity that the characters undergo. A group of rural workers are excited about moving to Sao Paulo to earn some real money through hard labor. They very quickly learn that they are essentially indentured servants or slaves. Their boss won’t let them leave until the costs he’s incurred on their behalf are paid back, and there’s little reason to believe this will ever be possible. What makes this film really special is the journey the protagonist goes on as he navigates the narrow line between trying to escape and ensuring he stays in their boss’s good graces.
6. King Richard – I was concerned that this was going to be an overly simplistic biopic, despite being curious to see the history of the Williams sisters on screen. But it does a great job showing their father, Richard Williams, as a flawed, stubborn man who has a pie-in-the-sky plan to turn his daughters into tennis legends. Will Smith has a chance to bring home his first Oscar for the title role. I also loved how they chose to focus on Venus’s early years of getting discovered as a prodigy to the brink of going pro. If they had tried to do much more than that, I don’t think it would have worked as well. Seeing the younger Serena waiting in the wings carries so much weight with the knowledge that she will become the greatest tennis player of all-time.
5. The Worst Person in the World – I was lucky enough to see a screening of this just in time for it to make my list. It calls to mind the lighthearted and segmented storytelling of (500) Days of Summer, but with the raw intimacy of A Marriage Story all while being far more existential. It follows a woman in Oslo as she struggles to find herself and what she wants out of life. In a lot of ways it feels like the dramatic response to the series Fleabag. I was enthralled the entire time and devastated by the mirror this story holds up to the viewer.
4. Spider-Man: No Way Home – I go back and forth on all the Marvel movies. Part of me agrees with Martin Scorsese’s controversial take that they’re not “cinema,” but something in their own category that shouldn’t be considered alongside “real” movies. I named the first Avengers movie my favorite film of 2012, but consider most of the Marvel movies since then to be pretty cookie-cutter and, while fun, lacking that certain something that would make them really special. I think they found that something in this newest Spider-Man installment. It’s familiar, but bold in a way the MCU isn’t often enough.
3. CODA – Even though it’s just at my number three, this might be the film I’m most rooting for to pull off the upset for best picture. Though after just bringing home the SAG and PGA awards it’s likely gone from underdog to serious contender. This is a story that could easily have trended toward melodrama, but everything is grounded and wonderfully acted (see SAG award). It’s a simple concept – a hearing girl in a deaf family who loves to sing – but they execute it perfectly.
2. Dune – I nearly put this at #1, but couldn’t pull the trigger as it’s not a completed story. If the 2nd (and 3rd?) parts are at this caliber I can see Dune collectively challenging for a top spot on my best of the 2020s decade list. I remember liking the book, but honestly don’t remember many details. I made it about 10 minutes into the 1984 film version by David Lynch before I shut it off. My hopes were high for this version and I was excited to see Denis Villeneuve’s attempt. It easily met all my expectations with a somber tone and pitch-perfect pacing. In fact, the pacing may be unique or at least something not seen since Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. I can’t wait for part two.
1. Belfast – One of the first awards contenders I saw this season and I went into it completely blind, knowing little more than that it was in black and white. It seems too easy to just talk about how it’s that perfect mix of humor and drama that makes you laugh and makes you cry, but, I mean, it’s exactly all that. Buddy (a proxy for writer-director Kenneth Branagh) wants little more than to impress the cute, smart girl in his class and to go to the movies. But conflicts between Protestants and Catholics in Belfast in the late-60s make life more complicated than that. His father already travels to England for weeks at a time for work and moving would seem to be the smart decision for their safety. His mother, however, is adamant that Belfast is home and leaving their family and community would be far more damaging. I don’t know why but the phrase that keeps coming to mind when I think about Belfast is from Billy Joel’s Piano Man – “It’s sad and it’s sweet and I knew it complete when I wore a younger man’s clothes.” For a story pulled from Branagh’s memories that feels about perfect.