2020 (at home) at the movies
2020 (at home) at the movies
Notable films and shows of the year
I saw 184 films & limited series this year, up from 131 last year. No doubt a big boost from when quarantine first started.
54 of those were new to this year, which is about the same as the number last year. That surprises me a bit because I was sure I’d seen fewer movies from this year. Part of that is a few big movies being pushed into next year (and beyond). The number would definitely have been higher if it were a normal year. And part of it is, like my friend Gabriel says, that I found myself drawn to older stuff, either as escapism or finally having the time to go back and watch the things I always say I will.
I didn’t keep track of TV shows but my favorite watches were Avatar: The Last Airbender, rewatching all of The Wire, Top Boy, How to Make It in America, Harley Quinn, F is for Family, Dave, The Queen’s Gambit.
Tried to watch a lot of international stuff this year. There’s this map on Letterboxd where you can see which countries you saw movies from. Eventually would like to get it fully green but at year end mine looks like this:
Clearly need to hit Africa and the Middle East.
The way I did the lists below, I threw in movies and limited series together, documentaries with narrative too. It’s organized in roughly descending order. Each list is long enough to have 10 narrative features. They’re all titles I hadn’t seen before this year, except for the few asterisked ones. Best I could I tried to add where you can stream them.
So here are a few standouts from 2020, a year of viewing:
Favorite movies & limited series of 2020:
Normal People: Limited series directed by Lenny Abrahamson, Hettie MacDonald (Hulu)
First Cow: Directed by Kelly Reichardt
On the Rocks: Directed by Sofia Coppola (Apple)
Lovers Rock: Directed by Steve McQueen (Prime Video)
The Last Dance: Documentary series directed by Jason Hehir (Netflix)
Tigertail: Directed by Alan Yang (Netflix)
The Forty-Year-Old Version: Directed by Radha Blank (Netflix)
An Easy Girl or Une fille facile: Directed by Rebecca Zlotowski (Netflix)
Pieces of a Woman: Directed by Kornél Mundruczó (Netflix)
76 Days: Documentary feature directed by Hao Wu, Weixi Chen
Palm Springs: Directed by Max Barbakow (Hulu)
Kajillionaire: Directed by Miranda July
ZeroZeroZero: Limited series directed by Stefano Sollima, Janus Metz Pedersen, Pablo Trapero (Prime Video)
Uncorked: Directed by Prentice Penny (Netflix)
Honorable mentions: Corpus Christi, Shorta, The Devil All the Time, Spring Blossom or Seize printemps, Bacurau, Tenet
Random thoughts: Very pleasantly surprised with On the Rocks. I think it was a mix of: 1) Desperately needed normal palate cleanser after watching Neon Genesis Evangelion 2) the fact that I love these kinds of NYC movies 3) it just really worked for me and resonated with a lot of things I was thinking about during the time I saw it 4) I think it’s pretty well made, music, acting, story, etc. 5) Rashida Jones. First Cow has this gentle fierceness to it that’s only grown on me throughout the year. Love its anti-Western Western. Also the last movie I saw in theaters pre-pandemic. Tigertail probably wouldn’t be on this list if it were the list of movies that I thought were the best. But it was one of my favorite viewings. It just got to me on this emotional level that helped me to overlook a lot. I think this review pretty much captures how I feel about it intellectually. But as a viewing experience, I was tearing up big time. Loved the past scenes with the younger version of Tzi Ma’s character and the visual style referencing Asian filmmakers like Edward Yang and Wong Kar-wai. Forty-Year-Old Version made me laugh out loud. A little rough around the edges but it’s got this energy and lightness to it that makes it hard not to enjoy. Love the biting satire and the question it raises about the relationship between art and commerce (a reason I liked Guava Island). Pieces of a Woman with one of the most engrossing sequences I’ve seen since Waves. Palm Springs just an enjoyable, well-executed comedy that’s great to watch. Kajillionaire I’m still thinking about. ZeroZeroZero wasn’t special but I think it’s a well-made limited series that you’re going to enjoy if you love watching stuff like Narcos, Sryiana, Traffic, Babel. Uncorked kind of like Palm Springs, for me was just a great fun, easy watch. Definitely drags a bit but I like Mamadou Athie’s performance and I like wine so, pretty easy for me. Definitely don’t watch if wine bores you.
Ones I missed: Possessor, I’m Thinking of Ending Things, Shirley, Dick Johnson Is Dead, Another Round, Never Rarely Sometimes Always, Da 5 Bloods, The Good Lord Bird, I May Destroy You, The New Pope, We Are Who We Are, Time, Bloody Nose Empty Pockets, City Hall, Small Axe, Mangrove
Favorite movies & limited series (of any year) that I saw this year:
*Children of Men (2006): Directed by Alfonso Cuarón
*The Godfather (1972): Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
*Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018): Directed by Rodney Rothman, Peter Ramsey, Bob Persichetti
All These Sleepless Nights (2016): Directed by Michal Marczak
Normal People (2020): Limited series directed by Lenny Abrahamson, Hettie MacDonald (Hulu)
Paprika (2006): Directed by Satoshi Kon
Band of Brothers (2001): Directed by a lot of people (HBO)
Total Recall (1990): Directed by Paul Verhoeven (Netflix)
A Separation (2011): Directed by Asghar Farhadi
The Steamroller and the Violin (1961): Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky
Late Spring (1949): Directed by Yasujiro Ozu
Il Posto (1961): Directed by Ermanno Olmi
The Day He Arrives (2011): Directed by Hong Sang-soo
Rear Window (1954): Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Perfect Blue (1997): Directed by Satoshi Kon
Honorable mentions: A Fistful of Dollars (1964), LA 92 (2017), Do the Right Thing (1989), *Green Room (2015), *Swingers (1996), Your Name (2016), Knives Out (2019), Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019), Under the Skin (2013), Secret Sunshine (2007), Sidewalls or Medianeras (2011), Tale of Cinema (2005), Taipei Story (1985), Mean Streets (1973)
Random thoughts: Spider-Man continues to impress with how fun it is, how strong the story is, and how it’s clearly made with love and care. Godfather and Children of Men are just classic masterpieces. My happiest surprise of the year has to be Sleepless Nights. I went in not knowing much about it, other than being intrigued by the trailer. It’s a bit arthouse, and there’s only a loose narrative but by god if this movie doesn’t make you feel something. It’s a movie you want to watch at night and completely in the dark, preferably so late that your phone’s already gone to sleep. Ideally with a good sound situation set up. It’s actually the only movie I saw twice this year. If you want to think about your early 20s, watch this movie. Normal People crept up on me and sucker-punched my heart with the second half, leaving me emotionally devastated and thinking of all my ex’s as I listened to its fantastic soundtrack. Total Recall I thought was surprisingly very fun and enjoyable. I think I’m a Paul Verhoeven fan. Il Posto, surprisingly very watchable and relatable. I still need to see more but I think I just really like Italian neorealism. One of the greater Hitchcock titles, Rear Window did not disappoint. Just so well-done in every way. There should be a word for when you see the original and realize that something you had seen earlier was a much lesser remake of it. But basically this and Disturbia for me. Grace Kelly is also incredible. My first Farhadi film, as excellent as I expected. Incredibly anxiety-inducing in a way that reminded me of the Safdies. Also the year I finally saw films by Satoshi Kon and Hong Sang-soo. Kon’s movies are so, so well-done and opened my eyes to the possibilities of animation. They’re also impeccably edited and shot, which is why many of those ideas and images have probably inspired by directors for live-action (I’m thinking Nolan and Aronofsky but definitely more). Heads up, both are very good but I think Paprika is life-affirming and an even better film. Perfect Blue is pretty depressing. What’s great is that these movies are also short (again, great editing). The more movies I watch, the less patience I have for movies that really don’t need deserve to go past 90 minutes but do, usually by a lot. I’m excited to see more Hong Sang-soo films. Also very short and very playful. They all have to do with creative types dealing with personal problems, but wait… there’s a meta-twist! Hong’s films and Sleepless Nights have probably been the biggest creative influences on me this year as the kinds of movies I’d like to try writing.
Bonus list of movies I saw this year that:
weren’t in the lists above
I saw and didn’t think much at the time of but kept on thinking about long after I had seen it
Weren’t necessarily my favorite but caught my attention with some unique aspect of tone, character, story, visuals, etc.
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring (2003): Directed by Kim Ki-duk
Sidewalls or Medianeras (2011): Directed by Gustavo Taretto
Take Shelter (2011): Directed by Jeff Nichols
Mississippi Grind (2015): Directed by Ryan Fleck, Anna Boden
House of Hummingbird (2018): Directed by Kim Bora
Ema (2019): Directed by Pablo Larrain
Spring Blossom or Seize printemps (2020): Directed by Suzanne Lindon