🏅 10 Best Movies of 2020 Vol. 1
Happy first Monday of 2021! I hope you had a beautiful and magical New Year’s Eve not on a sinking boat in Puerto Vallarta.
Today I’m sharing the first half of my top ten films of 2020, a difficult task in a year where much of Hollywood was ground to a halt. Still, it allowed more indie gems to float to the top.
Honorable Mentions: Barely missing the list — and it was really thisclose — are documentary 76 Days, Emerald Fennell’s thriller dramedy Promising Young Woman, Kitty Green’s drama The Assistant, and, most painfully, Leigh Whannell’s horror-thriller The Invisible Man, which I marked as an early frontrunner for my top spot.
Now, onto numbers 6 to 10:
10. Never Rarely Sometimes Always
There were a few films this year that felt particularly in and of the #MeToo era, but the one that struck the biggest chord for me was Eliza Hittman’s Never Rarely Sometimes Always. A mumblecore exploration of teen girlhood, the film particularly sets its sights on the healthcare system’s failure of access of vital resources for women.
9. Possessor
After a few years of terrific horror with films like Get Out, Hereditary, and Annhilation punctuating the new golden age, 2020 felt a bit like a step back. That is until Brandon Cronenberg’s Possessor, a gnarly arthouse techno body horror version of Inception, dug its way into my subconscious. [Full review]
8. Black Bear
I am the president, VP, and co-chair of the 2021 Aubrey Plaza Best Actress campaign. Lawrence Michael Levine’s Black Bear, a deliciously entertaining and satirical quasi-thriller, is a magic trick of a film that is akin to Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? complete with an Elizabeth Taylor-sized performance by Plaza. [Full review]
7. American Utopia
Jonathan Demme brought us one of the greatest concert films of all time starring the David Byrne-led Talking Heads with Stop Making Sense. Nearly four decades later, Spike Lee’s American Utopia created magic again with David Byrne. The film is an irresistable musical romp that feels like the antidote to 2020’s venom.
6. Freaky
The last film to nudge its way onto the list was pretty much made for me. Christopher Landon’s Freaky combines my love slashers, meta-horror, and slapstick comedy, with its updated take of Freaky Friday, this time with serial killer and victim switching places. I was laughing out loud at the stupidity, said with the utmost reverence.
I’m evil and I’m going to make you wait until Thursday for the top five… muahaha. If you agree — or disagree, I don’t mind — with this half, let me know. But don’t yell at me until you see it all.
See you Thursday —
Karl