🏆 Top Five Movies of 2020
🖤 I’m the son of Filipino immigrants. My parents are the American dream and I get to reap the benefits of it. This week, a little of that dream was taken away yet again. I can’t fix this. But what I can do is help cope somehow. I use movies as therapy — in addition to regular therapy (go to therapy, ya’ll). I hope this helps you cope. My first recommendation is this clip.
Next, I’m sharing my five films of 2020. You can see the first half of my top ten films of 2020 here. I was thinking about what these films have in common, and then I realized they all comment on some facet of 2020: isolation, mortality, racial and economic inequality, the American dream.
5. I’m Thinking of Ending Things ❄️
I’m a shill for the very specific brand of surrealism that Charlie Kaufman’s I’m Thinking of Ending Things is selling. His enigmatic style is put to excellent use in this eerie and bleakly comedic meditation on loneliness, relationships, and the defenses we put up in our minds when faced with isolation. Sound familiar? [Full review]
4. Dick Johnson is Dead ☠️
In a year where we were forced to face the mortality of our loved ones, Kirsten Johnson’s Dick Johnson is Dead fit right in. This devastating but funny and entertaining doc uses Johnson’s real father to stage enactments of his potential demise, all in the face of his authentic battle with dementia. [Full review]
🏆 Now, the top three. Note: These films would make an excellent slice of life triple feature.
3. Nomadland 🚐
Just like its subject, Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland is quiet, aimless, and sometimes meandering, but beneath the surface is complexity. Following nomads, people that forgo homes to travel the country in their vans, the movie is a meditation on loneliness, mortality, and life on the edge of society. [Full review]
▶︎ Nomadland had a limited digital theatrical run in 2020 that qualifies it for this list. However, it will be released in February.
2. Minari 🌿
Since its premiere at Sundance in January, Lee Isaac Chung’s Minari has stuck with me. First, because it comes on the heels of several terrific films about the Asian-American experience. Second, because of its endearing and irresistible cast of characters that deliver poignant observations of the American Dream. [Full review]
▶︎ Minari had a limited digital theatrical run in 2020 that qualifies it for this list. However, it will be released in February.
1. First Cow 🐄
First cow, first place. Ever since I watched Kelly Reichardt’s First Cow, a quiet and sensitive slice of drama following two nice friends, their nice business, and the nice cow at the center of it, I knew it was special. Like all of her films, it is a warm blanket of a story where the stakes are never overstated, the characters are grounded to Earth, and the filmmaking leaves you to be immersed in its simple joys. [Full review]
And that’s it. A bizarre year of movies in a bizarre year wrapped up. I may be a Leo, but I can admit when I’m wrong. What films did I miss or what did I include that you did not like? Take care of yourself.
See you Monday —
Karl