*NOTE: This list is compiled strictly of titles I saw over the course of January through December 2020. Whether due to availability or awareness, this list is subject to change though will not be reflected here. These are the titles that spoke to me directly at the time of publication and are definitely worth checking out.
20. Lovers Rock (Dir. Steve McQueen)
One of the greatest things to come out of 2020 was The Small Axe Series. With an embarrassment of riches, McQueen created a series of films exploring the various aspects of what it means to be Black in the world. Whether it’s a compelling twist on personal control or police brutality, he found his style growing into something more impressive. His charismatic control over every story found him pulling from every era of his career, finding ways to focus on moments that were human, evoking a jubilance that has rarely been seen on film.
The best of this series is also the one that on the surface has the least urgency. With his second film, McQueen chooses to explore the impact that one house party can have on its guests. Nobody came there for more than a good time, and yet the way that it unfolds over 80 minutes is a meditative study in how a dance floor can unite everyone. As DJ’s blast the imports, there is something powerful about watching everyone dance in their own ways. It is a celebration of everyone’s culture, finding something universal in those melodies. It’s the type of story that gets lost in moments, allowing utter joy to come with nothing more than a needle drop.
As the title suggests, it’s also a love story. The big difference is that this isn’t one designed with a conventional structure, instead of finding something in the atmosphere uniting these people. It’s how the music shakes their soul, finding them giving into deeper instincts that are beautiful, reflecting how inexplicable romance can be. McQueen hasn’t made a film this lived in since Shame (2011), finding everything dragging on so long as the mood is right. This is a time capsule of one night and the power of serendipity to unite everyone. Even if the other four tell more important stories, this is the one that conveys the most emotion and reason for living. There’s an enthusiasm that feels timeless, like a scrapbook memory that will always bring forth a smile. It may not seem important at a time, but it is one of the most formative moments of one’s life.
19. Babyteeth (Dir. Shannon Murphy)
Over the past decade, the idea of teenagers falling in love has been given an interesting twist. Most of the best feature some form of terminal illness, finding time working against them as they experience those visceral emotions. For American counterparts, it’s about finding something pure in a bad situation, turning everything into a Hollywood ending. For Murphy, it’s something a bit more complicated and honest. This story of Milla (Eliza Scanlen) is one that features that ticking clock in the form of cancer, tearing away her vision of a future that could ever truly matters. It’s why there’s so much of a tumultuous relationship with her parents.
It also doesn’t help that she meets Moses (Toby Wallace), who is a bit of a bad boy. He shows her about the dangerous side of life, suggesting the familiar teenage rebellions as being the best form of escapism. For someone like Milla, it makes perfect sense and gives her some solace. However, instead of being a simple drama of self-destruction, Murphy packs it with compassion and understanding from the parents’ perspectives. They’re just as emotionally fraught, unable to keep together a significant relationship. How could they expect their daughter to be any better?
This is a story of sacrifice that ends with one of the most scorching finales of the year. With excellent performances across the board, it’s a story about a family coming together and accepting each other in spite of their flaws. It doesn’t skirt around the tough issues and in some ways revels in the psychological impact of a grim situation. It’s a powerful drama that takes the struggles of a teenager wanting to live a full life and gives it a deeper meaning, artfully done with a tender use of music and imagery. This is a teenage love story that goes beyond the typical surface-level emotions that these type of films usually come with. It finds something real, something human underneath that is worthy of holding onto.
18. Miss Juneteenth (Dir. Channing Godfrey Peoples)
For Turquoise Jones, there is a lot of significance with the annual Miss Juneteenth beauty pageant. It’s an important moment in history where Black culture gets to look back at their strengths, finding a unity that has kept them going for decades. For Turquoise, it was a moment where as a teenager she was most accepted by the community, seen as the best that they had to offer. 15 years later, she is a mother working menial work at a bar. When people call her Miss Juneteenth, it’s hard to tell if they’re doing it affectionately or if there’s some irony in how her life turned out. She isn’t sitting in the lap of luxury. She’s just another woman.
That is why her desire to enter Kai into this year’s competition feels full of deeper meaning. Kai doesn’t care. She’d rather be a cheerleader than worry about putting on Turquoise’s old dresses, reliving some glory that doesn’t belong to her. What follows are personal revelations of Turquoise understanding what it means to be a mother, that any disappointment is not necessarily a disappointment. Meanwhile, Kai must learn what the pageant means to her mother, a need to accept what it means to participate in something that reflects the culture.
Peoples’ debut has a lot of great character moments, reflecting two women learning not only coming to terms with the beauty pageant, but with how they see themselves. Even if Turquoise’s life wasn’t the most successful, there’s still hope for the future to be better. It’s a tender story where a small community is brought to vivid life with entertaining results. Featuring a great lead performance from Nicole Beharie, this is a story that grapples with the past and present of the individual along with what its values mean to society. There is a strength to endure, finding the individuality shining through and reinventing what it means to be a leader.
17. Wolfwalkers (Dir. Tomm Moore, Ross Stewart)
Cartoon Saloon continues to be one of the best examples of world cinema with this story of how man and nature must work together to survive. The premise itself is simple, finding a British girl moving to Ireland so that her father can hunt wolves. She is mischievous, finding ways to escape the guarded walls of the town and explore the forest. The imagery is stunning, finding the animation elevating what follows into a supernatural wonder. The story of wolfwalkers, or people who can live as both man and beast, is a fascinating one that reveals a search for compassion among the townspeople, finding a hurdle that goes beyond mere communication issues.
It’s a story where industry wishes to suppress the environment, tearing down the forest to expand their land. There’s no concern for the world around them, ignoring the magic of the wolfwalkers. This is a shame because Moore’s take on folklore is given an impressive interpretation, where the spirituality of these characters shines with vibrant animation, making the metaphysical into something tangible. There’s so much joy in these moments, of two forces realizing that they shouldn’t be in opposition, but working together to make the most of life. There’s joy in its slapstick, the family humor never pandering to demographics. This is the cinematic magic that has been missing for most of the year.
Moore has a way of creating a world that is so rich with a limited art style. He makes the villages have a majesty with no more than a few lines. It helps to keep the dark moments from ever becoming too traumatic, allowing for a harrowing third act that finds deep emotional stakes reaching their apex beautifully. Every minute of the film sparks with imagination coming to life, desiring to captivate with a story with an impressive hook. It’s a fun little fantasy film that asks the audience to think of the world in a better way, where man and nature can live together in harmony. If nothing else, it really makes wolfwalkers seem cool and the best superpower to have right now.
16. Shirley (Dir. Josephine Decker)
For over a century now, film has been obsessed with exploring the creative process of artists, eager to understand what makes them come up with the ideas that change the world. These often end up as altruistic tales, where a typewriter becomes a safe haven. The secrets are moments from being shared with an adoring audience who will never see things the same. In the case of Shirley Jackson (Elisabeth Moss) that much feels true. However, to stop at this reading is to ignore what makes Decker’s film an unnerving hit is that it explores the dark side of creativity, finding Jackson going deep into her own soul and finding something a bit more uncomfortable.
With skilled direction, Moss gives another brilliant performance as her internal struggles boil to the surface. The world ceases to have a reason, becoming more of an exhibit for her to observe, doing her best to evoke a reaction in whatever she wants. It’s in part due to her depression, but it’s also to come up with these thoughts, themselves not founded in reason or confirmed delusions. She obsesses over a murder, finding her empathy drawing her into recreations that unlock clues to her own work. It all adds up to something breathtaking, finding the struggle of internal demons coming out in this brilliant prose.
This is anything but conventional, where even the score begins to sound like a brain deteriorating. Moss prowls the scenes with expertise, creating a showcase for her quiet insanity as she turns a dinner party into an uncomfortable tale of paranoia. While there are points where it feels like everything is on the verge of falling off the rails, Decker knows how to control this madness, keeping everything in order long enough. While it ends with Jackson creating something brilliant, the road there is paved with one of the strangest, most unnerving dramas of the year. They're nowhere as curious as inside a writer’s mind. There’s also no place as scary.
Coming Up Next: Aging Artists, Holiday Shenanigans, and First Cows
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