Top 20 Films of 2020
Ken Jones, Chief Film Critic
2020 was rough, and sadly there are still a few films I’d like to have seen but will not be getting a wider release or be available on streaming until February (Nomadland & Minari, I’m looking at you). So here is a list of what I was able to see to this point.
20. Sylvie’s Love – Eugene Ashe – A beautifully told love story between a jazz musician and a woman working her way up the entertainment industry. And I swear it is not La La Land.
19. Palm Springs – Max Barbakow – Groundhog Day at a destination wedding.
18. Possessor – Brandon Cronenberg – The son (Brandon Cronenberg) of the master of body horror (David Cronenberg) made a film about literally possessing someone else’s body and, well, the apple does not fall far from the tree.
17. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom – George C. Wolfe – Viola Davis is a treasure we cannot take for granted. Sadly, a power house performance from Chadwick Boseman in his final role is a painful reminder that we’ll never get the chance to take his talent for granted.
16. The Assistant – Kitty Green – The Weinstein-like monster in this #MeToo industry drama always remains on the fringes, but his presence casts a menacing shadow. This film lays bare how sexual harassment is so easily institutionalized.
15. Never Rarely Sometimes Always – Eliza Hittman – The toughest movie to sit through all year, this tale of a teen going to the city to get an abortion is harrowing. The most human and heartbreaking scene of the year is the one from which the film gets its title. It is a man’s world, and it is a minefield for women to navigate.
14. Blow the Man Down – Bridget Savage Cole, Danielle Krudy – Fargo by way of Downeast Maine, this peculiar little debut of covering up a murder in a small coastal town is replete with a Greek chorus of fishermen.
13. Tenet – Christopher Nolan – Nolan’s obsession with time continues. This time, with objects moving backwards in time. Nolan may have taken the wrong lessons from Bane’s muffled speech in The Dark Knight Rises, but this is spectacle filmmaking in a year mostly devoid of it. Plus, it is much easier to digest on a second viewing.
12. Borat Subsequent Moviefilm – Jason Woliner – Sacha Baron Cohen brought back his greatest creation in 2020, a year that was truly deserving of a character like Borat. Everybody was talking about the Rudy Giuliani scene, but Jeansie Jones was the hero we all needed in 2020.
11. The Trip To Greece – Michael Winterbottom – Michael Winterbottom, Steve Coogan, and Rob Brydon have created the British comedy equivalent of Sufjan Stevens’ 50 States album project. The Trip To Greece may feel like an ending to the series, but I’ll hold onto the hope that they make their way through all of Europe.
10. Invisible Man – Leigh Whannell – Updating the H.G. Wells classic story and essentially making it a modern-day domestic thriller is a master stroke by director Leigh Whannell. It is an overt illustration of toxic masculinity and how damaging, traumatizing, and problematic abusive relationships can be.
9. The Climb – Michael Angelo Covino – I managed to see this in 2019 at a film festival, but it has gotten what amounts to a limited release in 2020. Though it’s still not widely available for streaming, this darkly funny tale of friendship waxing and waning between two men over the course of several years has the uncomfortable absurdist comic qualities of a film like Force Majeure.
8. Da 5 Bloods – Spike Lee – Spike Lee’s tale of Vietnam vets returning to their former theater of war to retrieve a fallen brother and buried treasure gave us our own treasures as viewers. We got Spike Lee riffing on Apocalypse Now and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. It gave us Delroy Lindo finally back in a prominent movie role. And it gave us Chadwick Boseman in one of his last performances, made even more poignant that he was their fallen brother. It was not a huge role, but it was a crucial role, and it was another performance from 2020 from him that made us realize the void his passing leaves.
7. The Vast of Night – Andrew Patterson – This low-budget debut from director Andrew Patterson is a sci-fi movie set in the 50s that is equal parts Twilight Zone and Close Encounters of the Third Kind with just a smidge of X-Files “I Want To Believe” spirit. Creative camerawork, unbroken takes, and some era specific dialogue make this film hum.
6. Mank – David Fincher – Mank is Fincher making a play for his elusive Oscar, for sure, but gunning for an Oscar has rarely looked as good. A tale of classic Hollywood about butting heads with the studio system feels tailor-made for Fincher. And Gary Oldman is terrific. It may be subversive, but the movie might be more of a political statement than it is about who deserves the most credit for Citizen Kane.
5. Dick Johnson Is Dead – Kirsten Johnson – Director Kirsten Johnson’s documentary is a touching tribute to her father, who was diagnosed with dementia. Both come up with creative ways to kill him off, choosing to celebrate his life while he is still alive through their own unique kind of father and daughter humor.
4. Sound of Metal – Darius Mader – Riz Ahmed delivers an intense, driven performance as a heavy metal drummer named Ruben who loses his hearing. The aural craftsmanship on display in this movie is second to none, immersing you in Ruben’s experience and journey from sound and fury to silence.
3. Soul – Pete Doctor, Kemp Powers – Pixar comes through again. This one may arguably be more for the grown-ups than the kiddos, but everything about this jazz-infused story about the human soul and our life experiences and learning to appreciate and live in the moment and to not take it all for granted was something deeply needed in 2020.
2. Promising Young Woman – Emerald Fennell – This movie. I was cackling with delight at how twisted it was, how bold it was, and how uncompromising it was. A perfect feminist rebel yell in the post-#MeToo era, Carey Mulligan as you have never seen her before. It is provocative and I can’t wait to see what comes next from Emerald Fennell.
1. Emma. – Autumn de Wilde – Everyone was wowed by Anya Taylor-Joy at the end of 2020 with The Queen’s Gambit on Netflix, but she also started off the year with a bang in the delightfully funny adaptation of Jane Austen’s classic. This adaptation is vibrant, zippy, and really brings the comedy on multiple levels. Taylor-Joy and Johnny Flynn have marvelous chemistry as Emma and Mr. Knightley. Plus, eye-popping visuals and costumes. Moments from this movie still make me chuckle. And that nosebleed!