Good movies kept coming in 2020, even when everything else stopped. In a year that often felt like its own kind of cataclysmic Hollywood production, …
Good movies kept coming in 2020, even when everything else stopped. In a year that often felt like its own kind of cataclysmic Hollywood production, the movies — even if relegated to smaller screens — were as necessary as ever. It was the year of the drive-in, the backyard-bedsheet screening and the streaming service. But wherever they played, the best films of the year offered some escape and connection: the possibility of grace, a spark of fury — and something the rest of the world couldn’t offer: the assurance of an ending. Here are our picks for the best movies of 2020: JAKE COYLE 1. “First Cow”: Any sweetness in life in Kelly Reichardt’s radiant frontier fable is both fleeting and eternal. Set in the Oregon Territory of the 1820s, it’s a portrait of a friendship forged, as it ought to be, on kindness and baked goods. The movie’s harsh Western landscape, where two poor travelers (played by John Magaro and Orion Lee) suggests a critique of capitalism as much as Ken Loach’s also excellent modern-day gig economy drama “Sorry We Missed You.” But the tenderness between them, despite it all, could hardly have felt more suited to the times. 2. “Small Axe”: It’s five films not one, but I’d have as hard a time splitting up Steve McQueen’s anthology as I would “The Decalogue.” It functions best a whole, as a cycle of racism and resistance stretched over two decades of London history. The second chapter, “Lovers Rock,” is a bass-thumping standout, and may be the best house-party movie ever made. 3. “Mank”: It’s so delightfully full of contradictions. A clear-eyed ode to Old Hollywood, made for a streaming service. An anti-auteur theory drama about the many minds that go into making a movie, crafted by maybe America’s most skillful and obsessive director. Leaving aside its much-debated history, it’s simply a head-spinning, gorgeously atmospheric and wonderfully acted character study about a guy who finally gave something his all — and out came one of the greatest movies ever made.4. “Dick Johnson Is Dead”: Kirsten Johnson has made two films as a director, both masterpieces of human connection. Following her collage documentary “Cameraperson,” her father, Dick, began slipping away to dementia. Johnson resolved to make a film with him, rehearsing elaborate death scenes and reminiscing in between as a way to spend time together and preserve something of him on film. Both of Johnson’s films urge you to open your eyes to the world around you, and pick up a camera.5. “Minari”: Lee Isaac Chung’s richly detailed, autobiographical film is a classic immigrant tale and a compassionate family drama about his Korean immigrant parents (Steven Yeun, Yeri Han) after they moved to rural Arkansas. Its warmth and gentleness slowly but steadily bowls you over. 6. “David Byrne’s American Utopia”: Spike Lee’s fiction films make more noise but he’s quietly one of the best documentary filmmakers we have.
