There must be a cut-off date for writing a year-end review, however the standard end of the year deadline has never quite worked for me. While the Academy Awards is as fraught as a political convention, using the ceremony to delineate completion of a review works well. Luckily for me, the Awards were pushed back into late April, which gave me a chance to catch-up. The issue with writing a year-end review of the best films is that the bulk of those films aren’t released to the public until the following year. In the past, I’ve tried to watch as many films as possible quickly to release my review as close to January first as possible, but that’s like trying to eat sushi, hamburgers, and steak all in the same meal. Films are meant to be savored, which is why I waited until April. I could’ve chalked it up to the Pandemic taking away all meaningful understanding of time, but blaming the film industry is far more satisfying.
Speaking of the film industry, I write this review while the industry sits on a precipice (although some may argue it’s already fallen into the ravine). The pandemic has caused the industry to shift from theaters to streaming, an inevitability made present and real by circumstances. With the grandeur of the cinema lost as the scope and scale diminished, many companies pushed their big-budget productions to the future. For movie lovers like myself, this gave smaller-budget projects the chance for some limelight, and while some succeeded, the entire experience was diminished, because culturally we saw behind the curtain of the film industry and found just a man not a wizard. Mid-level budget movies aren’t being made anymore. Films with bite and consequence and political scope are either limited or scrubbed out. A great example came in this year’s award-nominated Judas and the Black Messiah. A film littered with brilliant acting and limited writing. A film about the Black Panthers that tells the audience literally nothing about the Black Panthers. Whether it was the studio system or the artists themselves it’s purely semantics, because it all ends up the same. The marrow of the powerful version of this film was sucked out and the shell of a good movie, but not a great one remained. As we move back into the theaters, I fear a world of IP and franchise is all we will be left with; a world where entertaining superhero movies neglect story in place of spectacle. This cinematic world was in the tea leaves for a long time, I just failed to read them correctly. As we return to film production, I pray there is still room for artists to make art unshackled from corporate restraint. Even if those movies fall few and far in between, they will still be supported by film goers like myself.
On a personal note, movies were a godsend for me during the Pandemic. My friends and I created weekly movie groups that watched films and discussed them over zoom (a practice I hope to continue into the future). Films brought stability to my life, one of the few things that was able to successfully do so. I’m grateful for this. Since many of those friends are the ones that read this review, I decided to streamline my rather loquacious entry. I blocked my top fifteen into four different categories and decided to only pontificate on the top five. Without further ado, I give you my Top Fifteen Films of 2020 (plus a few months in 2021).
Category 1: Well Made, but Flawed
Movies: (15) The Half of It, (14) Da 5 Bloods, (13) One Night in Miami, (12) Judas & the Black Messiah, (11) Mank, (10) Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
The first category is filled with movies that fulfilled many checkboxes, but failed to get a mark in all of them. The Half of It is a beautiful, coming-of-age LGBTQ film that just lacked bite, whereas Da 5 Bloods was all bite and bark without enough coherence. Both One Night in Miami and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom fell prey to the same pitfalls - a play failing to subvert formula and become a full-fledged movie. Judas and Mank both struggled in the screenplay department. However, these weaknesses are only blemishes on otherwise good artistic endeavors. In the case of four of them, we are given four of the best acting performances of the year: Chadwick Boseman (Ma Rainey), Daniel Kaluuya (Judas), Kingsley Ben-Adir (Miami), & the criminally overlooked Delroy Lindo (Bloods). There weren’t four better performances this year than these four great actors. For me, Kaluuya is the stand out performance of the year as the hauntingly beautiful portrayal of Fred Hampton. Both The Half of It and Mank shine in the directing department. The Half of It’s Alice Wu and the great David Fincher excel with their eyes behind their respective cameras, the only thing that enhances Mank above The Half of It is the brilliant, yet understated cinematography of Erik Messerschmidt. 
Category 2: What a Joy!
Movies: (9) The Old Guard, (8) The Vast of Night, (7) Palm Springs, (6) Tenet
“What a Joy” encompasses four films which may have individual problems, but were overlooked due to their pure enjoyment factors. The Old Guard was my action movie for the year. Charlize Theron is one of the best living actresses because she brings gravitas to every performance even when she’s just an axe-wielding super soldier with immortality. The Vast of Night is a brilliant little low-budget science-fiction movie. Where Ma Rainey and Miami fall short in their play to screen adaptations, The Vast of Night manages to shoot a film like individual moments of a play. Palm Springs was my comedy of the year and should’ve found Cristin Milioti with an award nomination. It’s a smart take on time loops stuck firmly inside of a romantic comedy and it’s extremely re-watchable. Finally, there’s Tenet. I won’t begrudge you if you didn’t like Tenet. Much like other Christopher Nolan movies, you either go for his style or you don’t (I hated Interstellar). Tenet worked on me. The set pieces are phenomenal and the concepts, while difficult to understand, are intriguing, but the movie works because of the charisma of its leads. John David Washington and Robert Pattinson show what’s possible if James Bond had a partner.
Category 3: The Great Films of 2020
Movies: (5) Small Axe: Mangrove, (4) Another Round, (3) David Byrne’s American Utopia, (2) Nomadland
(5). Small Axe: Mangrove
Any of the compendium of five films within the Small Axe cannon constructed by the brilliant Steven McQueen could easily find a spot on this list. Lover’s Rock is another that I thoroughly enjoyed, but Mangrove is catnip for me. A drama about civil rights history that ends in a courtroom. Mangrove is everything The Trial of the Chicago 7 is not. As a great lover of all things Aaron Sorkin, Chicago 7 really didn’t work for me and concluded in a heap of liberal wet dreams. Mangrove is a far superior film that expertly crafts a character narrative into a far larger story. Shaun Parks as Frank Chrichlow gives one of the top five performances of the year and the movie sings from an accomplished and professional ensemble. Mangrove is a history that feels all too familiar, but is little seen by American audiences. I would encourage watching all of Small Axe, but specifically singling out Mangrove.
(4). Another Round
Americans telegraph their films too much and in doing so, they limit the imaginations of their audiences. It feels like American audiences are too stupid to see the forest beyond the trees, so American filmmakers have to spell out consequences and concerns. This isn’t the case with Another Round, Thomas Vinterburg’s brilliant look at alcohol. After a birthday party, four friends who work at a Danish prep school decide to become working alcoholics. They drink during the day and stay sober at night to see if it will improve their day jobs. This film wouldn’t work in America. It would take a hard-line stance and the last thirty minutes would be a descent into darkness. Instead, the ending of Another Round is the best ending of the year. This movie shows you all the different sides of alcohol and potentially alcoholism without taking a narrative political stance. It’s led by the incomparable Mads Mikkelsen, whose slow-burning firecracker of a performance shows why he continues to be one of the most underrated actors on the planet. His scene in the teacher’s lounge is the funniest of the year and caused me to rewind and play it over and over again.
(3). David Byrne’s American Utopia
David Byrne stands onstage pointing to a prop of the human brain. He’s dressed in a grey velvet suit and wears no shoes. He sings, “Here is an area of great confusion. Here is a section that’s extremely precise. And here is an area that needs attention. Here is a connection with the opposite side.” Before watching American Utopia, I didn’t have a connection with David Byrne, sure, I’ve listened to a handful of popular Talking Heads songs, but they’ve never been a major part of my musical lexicon. I thought watching this “movie” would be a good way to pass two hours while I did other work on my computer. Instead, I sat mesmerized by the most joyous expression of the human experience. I loved this film, and yes, it really is a film. The reigns of the camera were handed off to Spike Lee and this, combined with Da 5 Bloods, proves that Lee is singular in his craft. He uses the camera to shift the perspective of this Broadway show and truly turn it into a cinematic adventure. American Utopia is a direct connection to the American soul and the calling card of justice in the form of Hell You Talmbout should be shouted from the rooftops as we continue to search for the colors of the American dream.
(2). Nomadland
For some, Nomadland fails to reap the political and social ramifications that force people into the lives of the nomad. For others, the movie isn’t enough of a story to transcend its docu-drama leanings. For me, it spoke to my heart and trapped me in a longing for the great unknown. This is a beautiful film about suffering through tragedy and seeking refuge in the world - the actual real world. Criticisms about this film gloss over the celebration of a life that is too long forgotten in this country. And unlike many American films, Chloé Zhao’s understated directing allows for a limitless viewing of societal issues rather than a narrow, forced, and focused one. This movie brought me to tears with Francis McDormand giving the performance of a lifetime. She is one of our greatest American actresses and should be lauded for her deeply, soulful role as Fern. Nomadland finds its beauty in the often-overlooked, the heard but not really seen. In a year like we’ve just had, I can’t think of anything better to focus on.
Category 4: The Masterpiece
Movies: (1) Portrait of a Lady on Fire
(1). Portrait of a Lady of Fire
Technically, Portrait of a Lady on Fire was released in 2019, but due to a limited release, I wasn’t able to see it until it reached Hulu. Exactly one year ago today, I watched Portrait and it has stayed with me everyday 365. It’s a master stroke created by one of France’s most striking minimalist directors, Céline Sciamma. The movie is a trance-like worship of the female gaze. It’s easy to get lost in Sciamma’s cinematic eye and as you follow a common plot, you realize you are not watching a common film. Sciamma is entirely in control of her artistic aesthetic. She weaves the camera around two magnetic performances by Noémie Merlant and Adèle Haenel. In a film devoid of men, we are left without scandal and unnecessary exposition. What unfolds is a real love that burns with desire. It leaps off the screen and infects the heart of the film goer turned cinematic explorer. Portrait is unlike any film I’ve seen in the past decade. It’s unique minimalism allows the audience to become ensorcelled in Adèle Haenel’s eyes. This movie earns my strongest recommendation as not just the best film of the year, but as one of the top films of the century.
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