Well, we have a new president now, and while we'll have to wait several more months for the Oscars, it feels like it's time for me to call it quits on 2020. On Sunday we took a look at my Top 10 films of 2020 that weren't from 2020...today we'll do the opposite, peaking at the Top 10 films of 2020 that did come from 2020. These are listed alphabetically, and while it was not the year I would've hoped for cinematically, every one of these was a bright spot & is well worth your time (and some tred into that coveted "masterpiece" territory):
dir. Levan Akin
A look at how love can inspire passion, desire, and occasionally even joy in the most jaded of individuals, Akin's dancing romance gains its best moments not through despair, but through bleak hope.
dir. Autumn de Wilde
A saucy minx of a take on Austen, Emma Woodhouse has never been so essential, and her suitors never sexier than in this wicked, funny look at one of the author's most-cherished tales.
dir. Florian Zeller
Anthony Hopkins & Olivia Colman are an acting duet for the ages as they encounter the cruel reality of aging, and the complicated tensions of watching your parents growing older.
dir. David Fincher
Fincher bravely steps into the long shadow of Citizen Kane, and makes his own magnum opus focusing on a similar man trying to navigate his own destiny, and the unavoidable fate that awaits him.
dir. Malgorzata Szumowska & Michel Englert
A challenging but darkly funny look at class, mysticism, & xenophobia, Never Gonna Snow Again avoids cliche and features an unnerving performance from lead actor Alec Utgoff.
dir. Chloe Zhao
Frances McDormand strips away all of the curmudgeonly ticks that have made her famous to give us a thoughtful, moving look at a woman who lives in the edges of society, and finds the person she was meant to be.
dir. Emerald Fennell
Provocative, unpredictable, with (yet another) brilliant performance from the criminally-underrated Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman defies convention through clever genre-hopping.
dir. Pete Docter
Pixar totally abandons any pretense of making a movie for kids with this meditative look at a jazz musician at the crossroads of life & death, but it finds grand meaning in the ways we define our success.
dir. Christian Petzold
With glorious performances from leads Paula Beer & Franz Rogowski, Christan Petzold continues his introspective series of hits with this knowing look at love, codependence, & time.
Wolfwalkers
dir. Tomm Moore & Ross Stewart
Tomm Moore finally wins me over not just in terms of the jewel-like animation (always a winner for him, and has tan-and-green ever looked better together?) but with a story that matches the playful imagination of his imagery.
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