Best Films of 2020

It has certainly been a difficult year for cinema. Most of the year’s most anticipated films have been postponed, especially the blockbusters. Disney has resorted to throwing most of its releases into Disney+, making it rather tough for people outside of the United States to have access to any of its movies. Since the COVID-19 pandemic crept into last summer, most of the films we got to watch were January and February releases. That is slim picking. Nevertheless, filmmakers adapt, and we manage to get some really good films from streaming services like Netflix and Amazon. Plus, the removal of blockbusters from the main releases makes this year’s list distinctly indie.

There are six honourable mentions for this 2020 list. First, there is 37 Seconds, a Japanese film about a young manga artist with cerebral palsy. The first act of this film is worthy of being on the actual list, though the final act is a letdown as the plot seems to lose its directions and purposes. Regardless, the performance by Mei Kayama is oscar-worthy. Next, we have A Whiskey Away - yet another Ghibli successor. The film has great animation and an incredibly fun and exciting storyline. It barely missed the list. Relic is a creative film that explores real-life terror through the imageries and sound-scape of the horror genre. Two documentaries narrowly missed the list, both Tokyo Idol and The Social Dilemma are excellent explorations into our relationship with the media we consume (or the media which consumes us). Finally, TENET feels like a Christopher Nolan film. In that, it is well-made, nicely shot, exciting and mind-blowing in more than one way.

Now, the actual list.

(image credit: Daily Sabah)

12. Tigertail

The plot of Tigertail is a familiar one to the sons and daughters of the Asian immigrants. While the movie does not add much to what these guys would have already known, the film is very poignant in how it presents its story. There is a palpable sense of passion in what the filmmaker is trying to do: trying to give voice to the people who have been rendered silent by their past and current alienation. The rising star Tzi Ma deserves all the credits here. If you’re disappointed by his generic turn as Mulan’s father in Disney's garbage fest, you should see him here, quietly channelling the grief, trauma and word-weariness of a first-generation Asian-American.

(Image credit: Reel Time Flicks)

11. Host

This is a horror movie that takes place on a Zoom call. I really don’t think there’s a film as appropriate to the time period as this. In fact, I’m not sure this movie would’ve been as effective in a different year. Nevertheless, Host represents the ingenuity of filmmakers when they put their minds to it. The final moments of this film, which shows the process in which the movie was made, is an amazing epilogue. It’s like watching a really fun project a group of people have come together to do in these difficult times.

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10. The Invisible Man

A film from the pre-covid era, and perhaps the only one on this list. The Invisible Man is an amazing twist on the classic monster movie genre. The performances are incredible. The directing and script are creative and fresh. It seems that after the failure of the Mummy movie, the studio finally recognizes that if they just let artists make art, they might get something great that people would really like.

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9. Jojo Rabbit

The reason why this film is ranked so low here is that we are kind of cheating by adding it on the list. It is really a 2019 movie. But in Thailand, which happens to be the country our writers reside, it is released in 2020, so it is going on this list. Jojo Rabbit is a dark comedy that explores how propaganda and false reification corrupt the innocent. It is about the harshness of reality, disguised in cotton candy hues. It's also about how despite the unending storm of harshness and tragedies one may face in life, connections, kindness and humour will rise above.

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8. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

This is an August Wilson’s play adapted to screen by George C Wolfe and starring Viola Davis as the main character. How could it not have been great? Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is an exploration into issues of race and class in 1920’s America, yet somehow it still feels so relevant a hundred years after. The dialogue crackles with wit, heart and satire. And yes, in the same year we lost Chadwick Boseman, this film is a reminder of what a gifted actor he is.

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7. Borat Subsequent MovieFilm

Okay. We have never needed a film more than this very one in this very year. The loveably racist, sexist and homophobic reporter is back in Trump’s America. After four years of watching the leader of the free world go to dump as its citizens and even the rest of us become more and more apathetic to its decline, it’s really great to be reminded of how absurd this thing is. Borat Subsequent MovieFilm also adds an emotional undertone, which pays off in a major way. Not only are we laughing, but this time, we think more about ourselves and the countries we revere.

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6. Da 5 Bloods

If Borat was a comical look at contemporary America, then this Spike Lee masterpiece is a more subtle yet dramatic look at it. Da 5 Bloods uses discussions about the past, specifically the Second Indochina War, as a way of exploring what it means to be American. Just the mere fact that the war can be called The Vietnam War in America and the American War in Vietnam, shows how events can attain more meanings when it is deeply tied to our collective identity. One of the best scenes in this film shows the main characters dancing in a bar in Vietnam with a projected image of the Apocalypse Now title card (video attached below). That image is so packed with meanings, and the movie is so packed with such moments.

(Image credit: The Playlist)

5. Mank

The least Fincher film of the David Fincher’s cannon apparently still is spectacular. A great performance by Gary Oldman, an incredible script by Fincher’s own father and film aesthetic that evokes the look of the Hollywood golden era creates an experience which practically forces you to forget the cold reality of the COVID pandemic. Fincher, for once, allowed himself to disappear behind the film’s aesthetic and lend a dept directorial hand. The end result, Mank, is nothing short of a delight.

(Image credit: The Playlist)

4. Family Romance LLC

Werner Herzog is truly one of the most fascinating filmmakers to have lived. His films have always been inexplicably interested in human endeavour. Family Romance LLC looks at Japan’s unique Renting Relatives service, Herzog explores the depth and shallowness of everyday human interaction. Like most of his pictures, the film feels like an honest ethnographic study of this thing called human. The movie starts out brutally odd and uncomfortable but by the end finds itself and its audience tangled in a web of moral, ethical and emotional dilemmas. It is a true cinematic journey helmed by a master of the craft.

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3. The Trial of the Chicago 7

We don’t know why this film is so overlooked. It has everything one would want from an Aaron Sorkin film. It features excellent performances and its subject matter is important and relevant. The Trial of the Chicago 7 questions the notions of justice and politics and tells the story of those heroes who fought to challenge government, culture and society. While they are certainly not perfect, their stories tell us of the true power that is unleashed when people fight back against oppression.

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2. A Sun

Coming absolutely out of nowhere, this Taiwanese film follows a family beset with tragedies that force them to explore the humanity within themselves and among the people around them. A Sun is poetic from the beginning to the end. Imageries, sounds and performances blend perfectly with each other like an orchestra piece. By the end, we’re left filled to the brim with emotions that we simply cannot articulate.

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1. I’m Thinking of Ending Things

Being stuck inside this year must have forced many of us to look inward. In that process, one might find emotions, like loneliness, a state, like uncertainty, or questions, like what is the meaning of it all?

Films are great for anyone who wants to attempt to answer such questions. It allows the use of images, sounds, cuts and temporal jumps to widen the scope of a philosophical inquiry. This masterpiece by Charlie Kaufman takes various singular concepts and then expands them and shrinks them and connects them and juxtaposes them. I'm Thinking of Ending Things is an enigmatic exploration of life and mortality. As we are thrown this curveball that is COVID-19 with many forced to rethink or postpone their pre-planned goals or plans, this movie truly encapsulates the mood of 2020: sombre, stagnant but also invites us to think.