2020 Movie Recommendations

I’m probably missing some. And there are still a couple of foreign films I haven’t seen.

The Assistant (2020; d. Kitty Green)- It’s so so good, and so “of our moment” it’s almost eerie. But it’s the WAY that Kitty Green chose to tell the story that really stands out. And Julia Garner is amazing. my Ebert review here.

I Was at Home, But… … (2020; d. Angela Schanelec) – my review here

Never Sometimes Always Rarely (2020; d. Eliza Hittman). I love Hittman’s work. I interviewed her for a live QA at Lincoln Center following a screening of her film Beach Rats – which I reviewed for Ebert. She’s a distinct filmmaker, who has – thus far – gone her own way, working independently, on the streets of New York and its boroughs … with a mix of street photography and intimate almost romantic attention to detail. Her milieu is adolescence and sex, and all the swirling complications that can come from acting on your desire (or not) before you’re old enough to really deal with what it all means. Never Sometimes Always Rarely is the story of a teenager from Pennsylvania, played by the extraordinary Sidney Flanigan – even more extraordinary when you consider this is her first credit. So far she has won Best Actress in a number of critics’ votings (including our NYFCC voting) and I couldn’t be happier. This teenager finds herself pregnant – by whom it doesn’t matter – she is sexually active and she finds herself pregnant. Abortion is not really offered in her small town so she and her best friend take the train to New York to seek out a doctor who will do the procedure. Filmed with stark and intimate sense of reality, the film is at times harrowing, at times almost funny, and at every second unexpected, fresh, and emotional. Painful. Unforgettable.

Emma. (2020; d. Autumn de Wilde) One of my faves of the year. Charming, funny, great cast, with real feeling surging underneath those crazy costumes. Reviewed for Ebert.

Saint Frances (2020; d. Alex Thompson). Wonderful film. Hasn’t gotten nearly enough buzz. I reviewed for Ebert.

The Way Back (2020; d. Gavin O’Connor). I really liked this. Check it out. I reviewed for Ebert.

Tigertail (2020; d. Alan Yang). Loved it. Reviewed for Ebert.

The Vast of Night (2020; d. Andrew Patterson). If I were in charge of the world, this would win Best Cinematography. Although I would want to give it more awards, just in general. In my Top 5 of 2020. I am not big on rankings but it may be my #1 of the year. My review at Ebert.

Shirley (2020; d. Josephine Decker) I’m a huge fan of Decker’s. Was looking forward to her film about Shirley Jackson, starring Elizabeth Moss. I had one major issue with the film, but other than that, the performances, mood, and plot-structure are fascinating and it’s well worth a watch. I reviewed for Ebert.

Babyteeth (2020; d. Shannon Murphy). I really REALLY liked this. My review for Ebert.

Athlete A (2020; d. Bonni Cohen, Jon Shenk). Almost unwatchable it’s so upsetting. But important. About the decades-long abuse of girl gymnasts. Monsters. All of them.

Suzi Q (2020; d. Liam Firmager). I really enjoyed this informative documentary about rock pioneer Suzi Quatro. I reviewed for Ebert.

Relic (2020; d. Natalie Erika James). Very creepy and moving haunted house movie. I reviewed for Ebert.

Hamilton (2020; d. Thomas Kail) What a thrill that 1. this movie exists 2. that this movie exists in the form that it does (the play was filmed) and 3. that it’s fantastic. Which of course since I saw the Broadway production and it was one of the most thrilling nights I’ve ever had in the theatre and that’s not just because I have loved Alexander Hamilton long before everyone else did. I don’t have Disney Plus. As a film critic I got a short-lived link to it, so I could see it. I knew my time was numbered so I watched it about 5 times in two days. This was during lockdown you understand. And I didn’t watch many movies this year, actually. I was mostly binge-watching stuff. Binge-watching helped me make it through. I’m currently binge-watching The X-Files. Comforting. But Hamilton was a thrill. It makes me cry. So happy it exists. Look forward to owning the DVD because I will never give up my physical media and let Disney proclaim when and where I get to see this movie.

Palm Springs (2020; d. Max Barbakow). I didn’t exactly go into this with low expectations but I did go into it with not any expectations. I knew nothing about it, really. And Palm Springs was one of the treats of the year. I loved it. I reviewed for Ebert.

Yes, God, Yes (2020; d. Karen Maine). Another happy surprise. An honest girl-coming-of-sexual-age film, sparked with religious guilt and humor. I reviewed for Ebert.

I Used to Go Here (2020; d. Kris Rey). Ignore the boring poster. This is a very funny and true movie, and I love Gillian Jacobs. My review for Ebert.

Red Penguins (2020; d. Gabe Polsky). I loved Polsky’s film Red Army, about the Russian hockey dynasty, eventually defeated in 1980 at the Olympics by the American team. Red Penguins is kind of a follow-up, about the state of Russian hockey post-collapse of the Soviet Union. Absolute MADNESS. A great history lesson as well as a fascinating story about the beginnings of criminal-capitalism-oligarchy, exploding in the wake of Communist’s destruction, and how it impacted hockey. I’ve been a fan of Polsky’s work since I saw Motel Life, which he co-directed with his brother Alan. I reviewed for Ebert, and also interviewed Alan Polsky onstage at Ebertfest, following a screening of the film (it played like gangbusters).

First Cow (2020; d. Kelly Reichardt). I love Reichardt’s films (Certain Women, so far, is my favorite). In First Cow, she shows the relationship between two men in a rough frontier town, and how they collaborate to start a small business selling oatcakes to the village, and how they have to basically steal milk in order to start this business, from the first cow brought to the territory. It’s a touching portrait of an unlikely relationship, but it’s also the story of America, and the birth of capitalism, both its positive side (these men perceive a need and go about to fulfill the need) and its negative (it requires stealing and subterfuge). Wonderful film. The NYFCC awarded it Best Picture.

The Swerve (2020; d. Dean Kapsalis) What a film. And WHAT a performance from Azura Skye. The performance of the year, for me. Don’t miss it. I reviewed for Ebert.

A Call to Spy (2020; d. Lydia Dean Pilcher) A fascinating slice of history never before shown on film. Kind of lost in the shuffle. I highly recommend it. I reviewed for Ebert.

Wolfwalkers (2020; d. Tomm Moore, Ross Stewart). Awarded best animated film by NYFCC and rightly so. I loved it, its Irish whimsy and beauty, its haunting imagery, as well as the story itself.

On the Rocks (2020; d. Sofia Coppola) Worth it to watch Bill Murray in action.

I’m Thinking of Ending Things (2020; d. Charlie Kaufman) One of my favorite films of the year. It sent echoes ricocheting in my head. It wouldn’t leave me after it finished. It was so powerful for me I hesitate to watch it again. I wrote something on Instagram the day after I saw it, so you can see the effect it had:

Charlie Kaufman’s I’M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS flattened me. I was worn OUT. Tears streamed down my face during one sequence, and I was almost embarrassed even though I was alone. (I miss Hope!) Then 5 minutes later I was cracking up at the audacity of the very same sequence. But I was really unnerved by the film, really shook up. It made me think of Walter Benjamin’s concept of the “angel of history.” The angel moves forward … but it faces backward – looking back behind it. And what it sees is a millennia of ruin. As it moves through time, moving forward, looking backward, it sees more and more ruins being created behind it. All as its body moves into the future. That’s what this movie made me think of. You’ll have to see it to understand why I say this. Benjamin’s view is not a hopeful one. In fact, it is one born of horror. Which makes sense considering the time in which he lived. Not to mention how he “ended.” But Benjamin’s view is not just pinned down in one era. It’s not a hopeful view of the world or of man’s chances in this world. I’M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS is also not hopeful, even though there are moments of crazy whimsy, and just the STRUCTURE of it is so dazzling it will keep you guessing, keep you interested, and not just interested but invested. The film deals with time, and the ravages of time. It deals with memories, and how memories work, and how memory is unreliable. Things change. You remember things differently. You find new perspectives. You maybe even try to re-write your own history, trying to find a better narrative, a narrative that will provide comfort, as opposed to nag you with regrets. In this respect, the film reminded me of my own life. I just wrote that “Tsk Tsk” piece and I wrote it from a great remove from the events it described. Memory is fickle. I’m sure I got a lot of things wrong (or “wrong”) and I’m sure if he told the story it might be totally different. But as I was writing my way back into that … romance, no other way to put it … I was aware of the abyss of time between then and now. I tried to put that feeling into my writing. I have thought about the “Tsk tsk” moment for literally years, trying to understand it, and also trying to grapple with its import and impact. Was it really that huge? Well, right now, in this moment, yes, it does seem huge. That might change. Time erases things, time turns things into ruins (the “angel of history”). The movie evokes the spooky feeling of the first 2 months of my lockdown: The past happening alongside the present. The past rising up from out of the past, entering into my present. It made me feel like a ghost, like I lost substance. That’s what the movie made me feel. Jessie Buckley (been a fan since Beast – my review for Ebert here) and Jessie Plemons (SO happy he’s flourishing – The Irishman, The Post, The Master – I remember him in the great Observe and Report too!) They both give extraordinary performances. I’ve seen a lot of pieces like “here’s an explanation of this movie”, “heres what it all means.” People who don’t know what the movie means should consider themselves lucky. To me it was almost a documentary. It’s surreal, yes, and you’re not sure which end is up … but for me, that’s my experience of reality a lot of the time, particularly when strong emotions come into play. Toni Colette and David Thewlis were superb – those roles must have been so fun. Plus: Jud from Oklahoma and Gena Rowlands’ raspberry gesture in Woman Under the Influence? In the same scene?? A relitigation of Baby It’s Cold Outside? (I’m on poor Jake’s side of that tiresome argument.) William Wordsworth’s “Intimations of Immortality”? Pauline Kael? All in the same movie? I was not prepared for the LEVEL of identification I had with this film. I’m still shook.

The Opening Act (2020; d. Steve Byrne) I really enjoyed this. Reviewed for Ebert.

Killing Eleanor (2020; d. Rich Newey) This is not available to be seen yet, but I wanted to put it on your radar, for whenver it finds distribution. Written by Annika Marks – who also stars (or co-stars with Jenny O’Hara – in a wondrous performance), Killing Eleanor is a road movie, but with a deep and painful theme, a subject almost never addressed in film. I wanted to review this because Annika is a friend of mine, who starred in my short film July and Half of August, and was a wonderful collaborator and I am so excited to see everything she’s doing right now. I wrote about Killing Eleanor.

Collective (2020; d. Alexander Nanau) Good year for documentaries. This one is the best, as far as I’m concerned. I reviewed for Ebert.

The Life Ahead (2020; d. Edoardo Ponti) So awesome to see Sophia Loren in a lead role, calling back to her beginnings, but with so much wisdom and experience added to it. Loved it. I reviewed for Ebert.

Beanpole (2020; d. Kantemir Balagov) What a wild film, what a gorgeously shot film – the color coding! every single scene! – and what a painful film. With two amazing performances by Viktoria Miroshnichenko and Vasilisa Perelygina, neither of whom have any credits (what?? they’re both so good!) Extraordinary portrait of PTSD, not just with the two main characters, but with the entire city, the entire culture. One of the best films of the year.

Bacurau (2020; d. Kleber Mendonça Filho, Juliano Dornelles) Like many critics, this is on my Top 10. An amazing film about a cult-like town, not on the map, not really, where the inhabitants are used for target practice by a group of mercenaries (multi-national). A brutal film about the ravages of colonialism. Udo Kier! Always good to see him.

Time (2020; d. Garrett Bradley) Voted Best Documentary by the NYFCC. It may very well win the Oscar. At any rate, an amazing portrait of one woman’s decades-long quest to get her husband released from prison, as well as becoming an advocate for prison reform. Very intimate. Not a distanced talking-heads documentary, the filmmaker embedded himself with the family. Using the family video-tapes taken over the years. Amazing and moving.

Da 5 Bloods (2020; d. Spike Lee) I’ve heard criticisms that this film meanders, it’s too long, it’s too messy. Honestly, what has happened to people’s attention spans? Why is everyone so frustrated with anything that doesn’t “move the plot along”? Who the fuck ARE these people? Why is this a “thing”, wanting everything to have to do with the plot? Is this because of the MCU-domination, franchises that allow no byways or tangents or, hell, character development? Oh, who cares. This is epic film-making, with incredible performances, most notably the great Delroy Lindo, who has been doing amazing work for decades and has finally moved center stage. The NYFCC awarded him Best Actor. In my mind, there is no other choice. Not only is this a role other actors would have to “push” to fill, it’s a role very few actors could even DO. I compared it to a mix of Charlton Heston and Marlon Brando: it’s got that grandiose SCOPE of Heston, and it’s got that bone-deep commitment to inner life and character of Brando. Everyone’s good though. One of the movie-watching experiences of the year. It’s basically Spike Lee’s re-make of Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Bless.

The Nest (2020; d. Sean Durkin) A very creepy film about a couple who move to England to chase the husband’s career. Husband (Jude Law) always has plans, big plans, waiting for the big score, believing in his pipe dreams. Wife (Carrie Coon) goes along for the ride. Reluctantly, though. Husband is, in actuality, a sociopathic type, with a gleam that has already started to wear off. People are now “onto” him. Taking place in the yuppie-style wealth-hungry 1980s, it’s a moody dark piece that also has elements of a Haunted House movie, because the house they move into in England is WACKO. Great acting.

Minari (2020; d. Lee Isaac Chung) In my Top 5. Loosely based on Chung’s childhood, growing up on his family’s Arkansas farm, his parents immigrants from Korea, his dad who believes in the American dream of striking out on your own, making your own wealth, believing in your own pursuit of happiness. This is no misty-eyed paean to that Dream, though. It’s often brutal. But the swelling of emotion in the last half-hour of the film UNDID ME. I burst into tears when the little boy started running. WAHHHHH IT’S SO GOOD.

Black Bear (2020; d. Lawrence Michael Levine) Terrific film. I love Levine’s sensibility which I wrote about in my review. And Aubrey Plaza is amazing. She always is, but this is next level.

Wander Darkly (2020; d. Tara Miele) REALLY loved this. It moved me deeply. I reviewed for Ebert.

Lovers Rock (2020; d. Steve McQueen) Part of McQueen’s Small Axe anthology series. For me, this one is the best. It’s different for him. I haven’t been a huge fan of his films up until now. Maybe Hunger, okay. But in general, I’ve found him to be self-consciously grim. Lovers Rock is an EXPLOSION of collective joy. Joy with its complications, for sure, but it evokes a whole world, a whole time, a whole “scene.” It also has my favorite sequence of the year. You’ll probably know it when you see it. It’s when the music drops out, and the crowd keeps singing, as one.

40-Year-Old Version (2020; d. Radha Blank) We awarded this Best First Film at the NYFCC, and in a year of awesome first films, that’s an accomplishment. It’s so so good.

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3 Responses to 2020 Movie Recommendations

  1. Stevie says:

    Happy new year, Sheila! Just checking to see if you perhaps received a gift card from Amazon in a snowflake tin? Thank you for your phenomenal writing, my dear friend! XOXO Stevie

    • sheila says:

      STEVIE. I haven’t been home for 2 months – big changes a foot. I am having my mail held for me – you are the best, I will get it soon. Love you!! How are you?? xoxo happy 2021. better times ahead!

  2. Stevie says:

    Oh good, I was afraid you moved! It’s been a strange year for me in many ways but I am healthy and employed so feel extraordinarily lucky. I’ll get to a typewriter soon so I can get out a more complete message. In the meantime sending oodles of thanks for the phenomenal glorious product that you get together. This is my greatest gift received.

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