Every year, I keep a running list of the best movies I’ve seen this year. By the end of the year, I usually end up with a Top Ten and another 5-15 mentions. Here are my Best Movies of 2020 and Best Movies of 2019 lists.
To get on my year-end list, a movie has to be one that thrills me while I’m watching it and one that I’m still thinking about a couple of days later.
THE BEST OF THE YEAR
Drive My Car: Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s engrossing masterpiece about dealing with loss. Layered with character-driven stories that could each justify their own movie, this is a mesmerizing film that builds into an exhilarating catharsis.
Riders of Justice: A character-driven comedy thriller, embedded with deeper stuff. Marvelous. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu and YouTube.
Belfast: In Kenneth Branagh’s superb coming of age story, we see Northern Ireland’s Troubles through the eyes of eight-year-old. If you have heartstrings, they are gonna get pulled.
The Power of the Dog: Jane Campion’s simmering drama is a portrait of one man’s seething and another man’s growth. What happens is utterly unexpected. Benedict Cumberbatch and Kodi Smit-McPhee deliver two of the year’s finest performances. Netflix.
The Worst Person in the World: funny, poignant, original and profoundly authentic.
Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised): Questlove’s magnificent revelation of the long-overlooked 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival – glorious musical performances at an important moment in our history and culture. Streaming on Hulu.
Nightmare Alley: Guillermo del Toro’s absorbing remake of the 1947 film noir cautionary fable of overreaching. Del Toro has deepened the minor characters, creating a showcase for many of our finest film actors.
Don’t Look Up: Wickedly funny. Filmmaker Adam McKay (The Big Short) and a host of movie stars hit the bullseye as they target a corrupt political establishment, a souless media and a gullible, lazy-minded public. I saw Don’t Look Up in a theater, but it will be streaming on Netflix beginning December 24.
Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain: An unusually profound, revealing and unsentimental biodoc of a complicated man – a shy bad ass, an outwardly cynical romantic, a brooding humorist. A triumph for director Morgan Neville, Oscar-winner for 20 Feet from Stardom. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube and redbox.
Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn: completely different than any movie you’ve seen. AppleTV, Drafthouse On Demand.
Lamb: This dark, cautionary fable of karma is a brilliant and unsettling debut by writer-director Valdimar Jóhannsson. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube and redbox.
CODA: a thought-provoking audience-pleaser. AppleTV.
The Tragedy of Macbeth: No surprise here: Joel Coen, Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand deliver a crisp and imaginative version of the Bard’s Scottish Play. AppleTV.
The Last Duel: power, gender, superstition and knights in armor. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, HBO and redbox.
About Endlessness: The master of the droll, deadpan and absurd probes the meaning of life. One of the best movies of the year, but NOT FOR EVERYONE. Streaming on Amazon, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
Slow Machine: An incomprehensible art film that is surprisingly engrossing. AppleTV.
Special Mentions
Poser: This deeply psychological portrait of an artistic wannabe among real artists was the Must See at this year’s Nashville Film Festival. At first, we chuckle and cringe at the young poser, until it becomes apparent that a much darker personal plagiarism is afoot and Poser evolves into a thriller. A shot of the recording of a train’s sounds is indelibly chilling. Was the Must Se at the Nashville Film Festival. On the festival circuit and not yet available to stream.
Lune: This Canadian indie was the Must See at this year’s Cinequest – an astonishingly authentic exploration of bipolar disorder. A mother and teen daughter must navigate the impacts of the mom’s illness. Played by writer and co-director Aviva Armour-Ostroff, the mom Miriam is the most singular movie character I’ve seen recently. Miriam’s streams of manic speech have the rhythm of poetry. Also see talking with LUNE director Aviva Armour-Ostroff. On the festival circuit and not yet available to stream.