Our top tier is a little smaller than normal and this is exactly why we don't stick to a top 10 list. Some years, there just really aren't 10 great films released. Last year we extended it to 12. But 2020 wreaked havoc on Hollywood, shuffling releases all over the calendar and limiting the vast majority of their output to at home releases. Which meant very little tent pole blockbusters and a scattered roll out of award contenders that felt very much like studios were holding back. As a result, we didn't get a ton of great content this year. But here were the best of the bunch, the gold standard industry best - The Ben and Jerry's.
#5. Babyteeth
The biggest surprise of the year for me was this Australian film from first time director Shannon Murphy about the fleeting innocence of your teenage years. Rather than dwell on the melodrama of the terminally ill protagonist, Milla, we spend our time with her meeting the oddball cast of characters that come into her orbit including her drug dealing boyfriend Moses and her scene stealing parents, played by Ben Mendelsohn and Essie Davis. The entanglement of relationships is fascinating to watch unfold, particularly due to Mendelsohn and Davis' remarkable performances. Infectiously weird and loveably dreadful, Babyteeth captures what it is to be a teenager and what making the most of those years can be.
#4. Judas and the Black Messiah
Relative newcomer, Shaka King, delivers one of the most captivating films of the year with his telling of the story of FBI informant William O' Neal and Black Panther Chairman Fred Hampton. The production is absolute top notch, with remarkable cinematography and an incredible soundtrack. Daniel Kaluuya delivers one of his best performances to date as he continues to establish himself as one of the premiere actors working today. But the breakout star here is Dominique Fishback, whose low key portrayal of Hampton's significant other serves as the film's emotional core and fills in humanity where the screenplay fails to do so. The film is obviously incredibly timely given the summer we just experienced as a nation but the magnitude of the story at hand inevitably leaves you wanting more. More insight to the Black Panther's activities and philosophies. More detailed account of Hampton as well as other Black Panther Party members and their relationships with one another. Instead it's more of a play-by-play recreation of events anchored by incredible performances. It's great as is, but could have been better had the film focused more on the Panthers and less on the stereotypical FBI villains.
#3. Soul
Soul is Pixar's best film in a decade and marks a welcomed return to more ambitious and adult oriented subject matter, as opposed to force feeding us merchandise driven sequels. It's esoteric depiction of the afterlife does what all great animation does in showing us an imaginative world we couldn't otherwise capture on film. A pseudo-spiritual successor to director Pete Docter's last feature (Inside Out) Soul takes the high concept characterization of emotions and applies it to spirituality as a struggling jazz musician is forced to coach a despondent soul into finding her spark. It sounds heavy for a kid's movie I know, but there's some body swap humor with a cat to lighten things up while still delivering a poignant message. Funny, uplifting, thoughtful and warm - Soul is everything a great Pixar movie should be.
#2. Another Round
Danish filmmaker Thomas Vinterberg delivers a harrowing tale of midlife re-ignition centered around four high school teachers in search of recapturing a youthful spark in their day to day routines. But what initially starts out as a playful study of integrating daily alcohol consumption inevitably turns dark. Based on the theory that all people should be born with .05% more blood alcohol level, the four friends initially find themselves in a more relaxed and stimulating daily experience. But of course, the dependency on alcohol to pull them out of their slump becomes an issue as they lose control on their fixed intakes. Mads Mikkelsen is phenomenal in the starring role and continues to prove himself as one of the most underutilized leading men in Hollywood. And while he sells the melancholy of midlife crisis with an understated brilliance, it's his carefree celebration in the film's closing moments that resonate most prominently. Turning what could have been a predictably tragic ending into a joyous celebration.
#1. Nomadland
There have been plenty of films that try to explain Donald Trump's Presidency over the past 4 years but none of them have really addressed the core issue that has mobilized much of his support base. While never tackling it directly, Chloe Zhao's Nomadland paints a vivid portrait of the displaced white middle American working class. And perhaps it's her more subdued approach that makes it work so well. Rather than castigating opposing mindsets or overly politicizing every interaction - Nomadland tells an incredibly intimate and humanizing story of someone who's lost everything by dropping in alongside Frances McDormand and filling her world with so much detail and so many vibrant characters along the way. After losing her husband and then subsequently her job when the plant they worked together closes; Frances McDormand's Fern sells her home to live as a nomad in her van. She wants nothing more than to work and yet with such little opportunity, she's forced to travel from seasonal job to seasonal job offering services she herself could never afford. She's seen everything she's known virtually vanish out from under her. And it's because of the deeply personal aspect that this film not only succeeds as a time capsule for the Great Recession but also as a more broad tale of emotional and personal displacement. Fern has had her entire identity ripped away from her, leaving her roaming the cold and desolate South West without a home; emotionally or physically. Chloe Zhao has crafted a remarkably well executed character study of the spiritually lost, highlighted by yet another phenomenal performance from Frances McDormand and a powerful score from Ludovico Einaudi. 2020 hasn't been a great year for films but this is one that you absolutely shouldn't miss.
View the Rest of the 2020 Tiers Here:
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