The 13 Best Films I Saw in 2020

 

It's been an irregular year, so time for an irregular 'best of' list.

By: Josh McCormack

Well what an absolute shit show 2020 has been. We finally voted out our embarrassment of a commander-in-chief, but it was only after months of the current administration showing the country what complete incapable and unsympathetic leaders they actually were.

With all that's been going on in the world, I haven't been able to see a lot of 2020's critically acclaimed releases like I would have liked to. Fantastic looking movies like Promising Young Woman or Nomadland aren't available on VOD as of yet and therefore I'm not comfortable seeing them until I can view them safely. And, to be honest, I've just been slacking a little bit. My 2020 media consumption was based a lot around older films that I had not yet seen and this caused a lot of films that are getting some great buzz to be dropped at the wayside. So before any cinephile reads this and says "Wait! Where's First Cow, The Sound of Metal, or Another Round?!", please understand that I plan on watching all of them soon, but it probably won't be until after the start of the new year.

However, to compensate, I have decided that 2020 proved unlucky enough to deem a "Top 13" best of the year list as opposed to the usual top ten. Please enjoy this very eclectic list of films I've enjoyed (mostly from the comfort of my own home) in 2020. But first...

Honorable Mentions: Uncut Gems and Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Both of these films are absolute masterpieces that I wasn't able to see by the time I wrote my "Best of 2019" list. I wondered if I should place them on this list, given the fact that they both received wider releases in 2020, but I thought that would be cheating. So just wanted you all to know that both of these movies are constantly on my mind and are both available via streaming if you haven't already seen them.

Alright. Let's start for real now...

13. Freaky

Both of the Happy Death Day films proved to be a whole lot of fun, but they just didn't quite have the right amount of gore that gave the best slasher films of the '80s their edge. Well in writer/director Christopher Landon's latest venture, the viscera flies in a gleeful manner delivering some of the best slasher movie kills in recent memory. But on top of all the stuff gore hounds will enjoy, the film is a wonderfully funny and inventive horror comedy that blends Friday the 13th  and Freaky Friday. The script is tight and the performances are fantastic, especially from newcomer Kathryn Newton. However it's Vince Vaughn whose performance as the serial killer whose body is now inhabited by a high school girl made me laugh harder than any other performance this year.

12. Possessor

To be perfectly honest, Possessor did not quite click with me immediately after watching it. I certainly liked it overall, but I found its pacing to be too laborious at times for a film that began so wonderfully bombastic. But even without a rewatch, Possessor has stuck with me and the elements that struck me as weaknesses at first, now seem to be essential elements to this mind bending and dark tale. Andrea Riseborough has been a favorite of mine for the past couple of years–ever since she blew me away in Mandy (y'all know how much I love that flick)–and in Possessor she gives a wonderfully nuanced performance that sucked me in from the very start.

Writer/director Brandon Cronenberg has understandably been compared to his father, but what I loved most about Possessor was that by the time the credits rolled, I felt like I had viewed the work of a unique and singular artistic voice.

11. Palm Springs

Palm Springs is such a delight. Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti have such tremendous chemistry together and while the premise of being stuck a time loop is no longer very unique–not even for a romantic comedy–these two make it seem so fresh. What also makes it seem fresh is how director Max Barbakow and screenwriter Andy Siara add new elements that change it from just feeling like Groundhog Day 2. For example, Samberg's character having been through the time loop for what seems to be centuries at the start of the film proves to be a fun twist and a smart way for Milioti's character to learn about the rules of this story that well-initiated viewers probably already know due to their exposure to films with a similar premise. It's because of this that Palm Springs is simply able to luxuriate in its world and in 2020, what film better represents our mental headspace as we watch two characters mess around and try to pass the time while being eternally stuck in a nightmarish situation.

10. David Byrne's American Utopia

David Byrne's incredible Broadway show is part concert, part modern art, and part commentary on where our country is and where it's going. Byrne proves yet again why he is one of the most singular and innovative singer/songwriters in the world and his passion can be felt through every song. Sometimes it's an absolute explosion of joy, but at other times it can be a primal scream for those in power to make America better. It's perfect then that Byrne chose Spike Lee to be the director of this show. The themes fit right in line with Lee's other filmic works and his quirky visual sense turns this into more than just a normal concert movie. While I really liked Da Five Bloods, I think this is Lee's better of the two movies he released this year.

9. Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm

If anyone had any doubts about how Sacha Baron Cohen's iconic, mustached reporter from Kazakhstan could function in today's political climate, I hope they have been put to rest now. After nearly 15 years, Borat is back...and god, did we need him. Since 2006, the political landscape has changed so much and with the election of Donald Trump, it just nosedived even more into a freak show. 2020 could not have been a better time for Cohen to jump back into this character and start messing with the GOP.

Now, of course there's the sequences of Borat living with Qanon conspiracy theorists and the now infamous Rudy Giuliani scene that get all the attention. But aside from all the hidden camera trickery and exposing the darkness that still runs very deep in our country, Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm is simply a wonderful comedy. It also tells a real story with genuine heart at times, and that heart mostly comes from the fearless Bulgarian actress, Maria Bakalova, who proves to be an amazing foil to Cohen as Borat's long forgotten daughter.

8. The Disrupted

The Disrupted is a film I'm sure most of you have never even heard of, but it's an eye-opening and heartbreaking documentary that I recommend you seek out immediately. Focusing on three different subjects–a fifth generation farmer, an Uber driver, and a factory worker–this documentary is an intimate look at how our government has continuously destroyed the lives of the American, blue collar worker. Directors Sarah Colt and Josh Gleason somehow manage to capture incredibly personal arguments and the subtleties of those who so clearly want and deserve to be in a better place than they are right now. A story of family and trying to keep everything together in the midst of deregulated corporate capitalism. The best documentary I've seen all year.

7. I'm Thinking of Ending Things

Oh, I'm Thinking of Ending Things. Of all the Charlie Kaufman movies in the world, you're the Charlie Kaufman-iest.

Every film Kaufman has ever written feels so specific to him. There's something about a Charlie Kaufman movie–whether he winds up directing them or not–that is so uniquely odd and melancholy all in the package of something abstract. I'm Thinking of Ending Things might be where some viewers seemed to have drawn the line. If you thought something like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind or Anomalisa was too strange, I'm Thinking of Ending Things might just break you. Seemingly non-linear, horrifying one minute and comedic the next, it's a hodgepodge of moments from the book of the same name as well as strange, idiosyncratic choices from Kaufman that range from a character randomly impersonating Pauline Kael to our lead getting instructions from a talking, animated pig. Some of it proved even too weird for me, but the core heartbreaking story of a doomed relationship all centered around a drive kept me so engaged throughout. Not to mention Jesse Plemmons, Jessie Buckley, Toni Collette, and David Thewlis each giving my favorite performances of any film this year.

Also, if nothing else, there is an amazing gag revolving Robert Zemeckis that is absolutely worth seeing if you're a film buff.

6. The Vast of Night

This under appreciated micro budget sci-fi mystery calls to mind the early works of Spielberg and 50s B-movies while also being a subversive and moody arthouse film on its own. For a film with a budget of less than one million dollars, I was endlessly impressed by the The Vast of Night's technical prowess. One fast paced tracking shot throughout the movie's small town is stunning and the minimal visual effects prove to be just as stunning as any big budget blockbuster, if not more so. What really keeps the movie fresh though is the wonderful dialogue and chemistry between our two young leads, Sierra McCormick and Jake Horowitz. They're so charismatic and feel like they were pulled straight out of the 1950s. The movie also proves to be a seemingly honest recreation of the 1950s rather than a generic love letter and in a time where so many filmmakers are obsessed with a previous generation's nostalgia, it's a welcome thing to see.

A must watch for any science fiction aficionado.  

5. The Invisible Man

I'm a massive horror fan (duh) and as a massive horror fan, I have always wanted to see Universal Studios reboot their iconic monster lineup in a fresh and exciting way. Time and time again I have seen them fail, but with The Invisible Man director Leigh Whannell and Blumhouse studios seemed to have finally found the key. Taking only the title and the incredibly basic concept of a man turning invisible,  this remake is a complete reinvention that works so well for today. A horror film about gaslighting and the terror that men can inflict on women, The Invisible Man proved to be one of the most nerve wracking genre movies I've seen in quite a while. It also features a dynamite lead performance from Elizabeth Moss who proves to rank high on my personal list of the best "final girls" in modern horror movies.

Oh, and that restaurant scene. Damn.

4. Relic

This Australian horror film is the most devastating movie I saw in 2020. A supernatural allegory for the effects of dementia on a loved one, Relic is the type of horror film on which so many other horror films are judged. It is haunting and boasts some of the most frightening images I've seen in any film from this year,  but it's the human drama at the center that shook me to my core. The dynamic between the three female leads–a daughter, a mother, and the grandmother–feels so wonderfully raw. Writer/Director Natalie Erika James devotes so much time in Relic's first act getting you to understand the characters' devotion to each other, but also the tumultuous relationship they all share. Their devotion gets tested once the grandmother (played wonderfully by Robyn Nevin) starts to become haunted by something within their family's home. First thought to be simply the effects of old age, the stakes begin to raise as the supernatural begins to exude from the grandmother's decaying flesh.

What will surely stick in the mind of Relic's audience is the stunning final sequence that is both haunting and so emotionally powerful. It wonderfully illustrates the film's themes of devotion and love for family even in the darkest circumstances and it practically made me sob.

3. Bill and Ted Face the Music

If I'm judging the new releases I've seen this year by what movie gave me pure, unabashed joy...well than Bill and Ted Face the Music stands far above any of the others. This goofy, optimistic, badass third adventure with Bill S. Preston, Esq. and Ted Theodore Logan is the type of movie I needed more of to get me through this year. The script is riddled with plot holes, full of dodgy CGI and green screen that really shows the film's lack of budget, but I just don't care. Seeing Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves back together after 30 years with their chemistry still fully intact was everything I needed and if that was all I got from this movie, I honestly would've been happy. But luckily, there's so much more! Like a fantastic supporting cast that consists of the always hilarious Kristen Schaal, William Sadler's fantastic return as Death from Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey, and–the standout–Anthony Carrigan as a very insecure killer robot named Dennis. There's also the great Samara Weaving and Brigette Lundry-Paine absolutely crushing it as the daughters of our iconic duo, making for a great next generation of hard rockers. Also, every joke lands. Writers Ed Solomon and Chris Matheson blend the charm of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure and the absurdity of Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey to make what I think is the funniest film of the trilogy. 

I have now seen Face the Music four times and after writing this, I just want to jump into round 5!

2. Mank

Mank is one of those movies that just feels like a classic the second you're done watching it. While it's the story of how screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz wrote the script to what many consider to be the greatest film ever made, Citizen Kane, it winds up being something so much bigger. What shocked me about Mank was how political this story wound up being. Mank's rivalry with William Randolph Hearst–the incredibly wealthy newspaper publisher who inspired the character of Charles Foster Kane–winds up being a wonderful distillation of the more progressive thinkers of the time and the conservative powers that were pulling the strings in Hollywood at the time. Fincher always gets tremendous performances out of his actors and Gary Oldman is just firing on all cylinders here. It's a much more layered and interesting performance than the one that earned him an Oscar for The Darkest Hour. The ensemble cast is fantastic too, with actors like Amanda Seyfried and Charles Dance just lighting up the screen.

However, it's David Fincher who proves to be the real star of Mank. While not imbued with much of his normal style, the seasoned director makes so many interesting visual choices that both evoke Citizen Kane and other films of the time period in which this movie is set. The use of mono sound is incredible and the score from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (whose names you'll see again in just a moment) truly dictates some of the great energy that drives sequences.

I knew Mank would be a treat for film lover's, but I wasn't fully prepared for how tremendous of a picture it would be in its own right.

1. Soul

Soul is a reminder that when Disney and Pixar want to make something wholly original and devastatingly beautiful, they can. Not only has Disney been so focused on franchises and exploiting nostalgia for profit, but this business model has actually spread to the great artists under their banner at Pixar as well. The majority of Pixar's output over the last decade has been sequels and while some are great, it's robbed the animation studio of its originality that so many people my age fell in love with. However, Soul shows us that given the right story, Pixar is still able to produce a beautiful tale that uses the studio's incredible technology and showcases the animators in stunning ways.

My favorite Pixar film since Inside Out (which this in many ways feels like a spiritual successor to), Soul feels more grown up than a lot of the studio's work. This isn't to say that kids won't be transported by the film, but I really appreciate that director Pete Docter and writers Mike Jones and Kemp Powers didn't feel obligated to add certain gags or visual quirks that would mostly appeal to the age 3-10 demographic. Soul is a tale of life and death and whether or not we appreciate the world we live in before we pass on. It's heavy stuff and the film luxuriates in these heavy ideas and even takes what would be difficult, abstract ideas to kids (that of a "lost soul", for example) and turns them into something palatable and even humorous. This is peak Pixar right here.

And of course I can't mention this movie without talking about the two scores that illustrate both sections of the film. Jon Batiste's beautiful jazz pieces wonderfully orchestrate the music loving world in which the lead character, Joe Gardner, inhabits and the droning, pulsating electronic pieces from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (hello again!) perfectly exhibits the beauty and mystery of the afterlife segments.

All in all, Soul is such a triumph and I'm so glad I concluded this insane year by watching its very best film.