An unconventional year for cinema brought forth an unusual mix of fiction and nonfiction, animation and documentary.
In cinema terms,2020 is an asterisk year, at best. It was certainly not a great year for film — choked in production, constrained and starved in exhibition, and forced to be viewed through the prism of a global crisis that completely alters our reading of the movies and their messages. Most every film released this year was written, shot and edited before anyone had heard of the coronavirus, so their stories pretty much exist in a world that feels divorced from our current lives — escapism taken to the nth degree. Still, of those films whose releases weren’t postponed to 2021 A.V. (After Vaccine), there was a choice selection of movies worthy of a Ten Best Films list — and, thankfully, one great film that, pandemic or no, seems to exist outside of time. Directed by Kelly Reichardt. Two enterprising young men in the Oregon Territory of 1820 conspire to steal milk from the first cow brought into the region, in order to sell their tasty biscuits at the muddy trading post that stands in for civilization. Masterfully directed by Kelly Reichardt, «First Cow» is a primal drama of the American dream, and of people living on the periphery of wilderness, who would — in one fashion or another — help define a young nation’s character. John Magaro’s tender, inviting performance as Cookie, working his way west in hopes of finding his place in the world, pulls us into the character’s conflict with his own sense of shame. How far can he push himself beyond what would be considered the limits of acceptable behavior east of the Mississippi, when encouraged by Orion Lee’s entrancing King-Lu, a personification of an American West opening its doors of opportunity to anyone with the brazenness and guts to enter? You feel Cookie’s despoilment, and realize there can be no retreat, only a shared sense of commitment owing to their friendship. And don’t be fooled by the film’s opening scene: The first several minutes are this gifted director’s very effective and haunting demonstration of the impermeable fabric of time, and how some of its mysteries can never, ever be resolved by us. To watch a trailer for «First Cow» click on the player below: «First Cow» was selected as the year’s best film by the New York Film Critics Circle. . «First Cow» is currently available via Video on Demand and on Showtime. Directed by Chloé Zhao. In her followup to her 2017 film director Chloé Zhao again blurs fiction and non-fiction, in a story inspired by journalist Jessica Bruder’s book «Nomadland,» an account of nomadic van dwellers eking out a life amid the fallout of the 2008 economic crash. Frances McDormand stars as Fern, a widow who shuttles from state to state, job to job, living an itinerate life among other nomadic seniors whose quasi-retirement resides on a razor’s edge between personal fulfillment on their own terms, and despair. The direction by Zhao (which was honored as the year’s best by both the New York and Los Angeles critics) is finely attuned to those on the margins, with a cast that includes some of the real-life people documented in Bruder’s book. To watch a trailer for «Nomadland» click on the player below: After its debut at the Venice, Toronto and New York film festivals and a brief streaming run earlier this month, «Nomadland» will be released on February 19,2021. Directed by Eliza Hittman. An abused teenage girl in Pennsylvania named Autumn (Sidney Flanigan), who discovers she is pregnant, tries to induce a miscarriage but fails. She then travels, accompanied by a cousin, Skylar (Talia Ryder), to New York City, where she hopes she can obtain an abortion without requiring parental consent. The film’s trim execution, and Flanigan’s almost naive reactions to the life changes she undergoes and the choices she must make, as well as Ryder’s machinations when she discovers they are short on cash, dramatize the kind of shared experience that these young people will likely keep as a buried secret forever. In this scene, as she is questioned by a counselor, the vulnerability of Autumn becomes almost excruciating and saddening to watch: Flanigan and Hittman were both honored by the New York Film Critics Circle, for Best Actress and Best Screenplay, respectively. «Never Rarely Sometimes Always» is available via Video on Demand.
