I haven’t worked a job this little since college. I’ve been furloughed from my job at the movie theatre for much of the year, and that looks to be how I will be starting 2021, as well. No matter; all the more time for me to catch up with a wild movie year.
One thing that will be abundantly clear in this post is that the major studios were practically non-existent this year, as they continued to play musical release dates before (largely) punting until 2021, so any “most anticipated” lists for next year will look a very similar to the ones this year, which is why I’m not going to do one. This is about the 2020 movie year, and even without Marvel for the first time since 2009, it was a fascinating and rich year.
An early decision to push back this year’s Academy Awards to next April, and the eligibility requirements to February 28, presents a dilemma- what constitutes a 2020 movie? As someone on Twitter pointed out recently, it’s possible a Sundance 2021 film with distribution set up could come out of there and completely throw a monkey wrench into the Oscars- should that count? The Oscars are sometimes a problematic way of defining a movie year- Hell, one of my favorite performances of 2020 is from a movie nominated for Best International Film for last year’s Oscars- but it’s inevitable that some anomalies happen, especially when a lot of people find it difficult to see all of the nominees even in a normal year. For my purposes, if a movie gets nominated for an Oscar for this year’s ceremony, it’ll be a 2020 movie for me. Same goes for the over 180 films I saw at film festivals this year, most of which you will have to wait to watch yourselves.
Even without the Women in Horror Film Festival, Fantasia Fest and the Atlanta Film Festival, this was a fantastic year for movies. I’m grateful that the timing was right for me to getting certain studio screeners, because the indies gave us some fantastic movies this year, and found a way to get them to audiences even when movie theatres were closed for much of the year. That the significant lack of major studio product gives critics a chance to highlight that might be one of 2020’s greatest gifts.
As with every year, there are movies I have not seen yet, but because of the nature of 2020, they are fewer and further between. (I think only “The Father” and “One Night in Miami” are the only major awards possibilities, outside of documentaries and foreign films, I have yet to see.) Still, with over 350 short films and features I’ve seen this year, you are going to get a wide swath of films and variety here.
Personally, this might be one of my favorite years I’ve been running Sonic Cinema, and centering on film criticism. The year began with my audio commentary for “2050” being made available on the film’s DVD release, and it continued with three film festivals covered; a multitude of great podcast discussions, including with fellow critics in the Atlanta area and some abroad; more movies and TV shows reviewed than any other year; a chance to patch up some blindspots in my movie watching; and to close, news that I will be covering the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. I cannot wait to see how next year unfolds.
Noteworthy TV Shows of 2020
Before I dive into the films, I wanted to make note of the TV and streaming series I watched this year that left an impression. One of the regular sources on content to review during furlough has been the Topic streaming service, and they have given people a fascinating diversity of shows to watch; my favorites have been “One Story Up”, with one filmmaker giving others a chance to showcase their work with context and an enlightening Q&A afterwards; “Release”, a short series following several people impacted by a pandemic; an import series called “The Day” brought suspense to a bank robbery; and “Soul City” was an interesting horror short anthology set in New Orleans. ESPN gave us “Be Water”, an enlightening documentary on Bruce Lee, and “Blackfeet Boxing: Not Invisible”, a heartbreaking look at the epidemic of missing Native American women, and how the community tries to protect itself. Netflix delivered a brilliant dramatic miniseries in “The Queen’s Gambit”, and Disney+’s “The Mandalorian” continues to entertain. Finally, Amazon gave us a sharp conspiracy thriller adaptation in “Utopia”, as well as probably one of 2020’s finest artistic achievements in Steve McQueen’s “Small Axe”, about the bigotry faced by East Indian immigrants in the London of the 1960s-’80s. There’s plenty more I am probably leaving out, but likely few of them that are more worthy of watching.
Favorite Films of 2020
As I began to work out my Favorites list for 2020, it became apparent that just 10 slots were not going to do, if I was being perfectly honest with myself. One thing I will be doing differently this year is I will be putting which streaming service or release method, if any, the films in my Favorites are on, so that you can seek them out, and see for yourself why they made the cut. I hope you enjoy!
=“Black Lake” (Directed by K/XI)- Honestly, little else came close all year. (Until the next film on this list destroyed me.) I’ve seen K/XI’s unforgettable fever dream of a psychological horror film three times, starting with the Women in Horror Film Festival premiere, and each time, I was blown away by the vision and storytelling confidence at work. The director stars as an artist getting away at an isolated Scottish home, but when her aunt sends her a scarf, the traumas imprinted on the scarf begin to turn a relaxing vacation into an emotional nightmare. There is barely 10 minutes of dialogue in this 93-minute film, but the story is told clearly, with visuals and sounds that will haunt you long after the film ends. If you get a chance to watch it in 2021 and beyond (it’s still on the festival circuit), I cannot recommend an experience more.
=“Sound of Metal” (Directed by Darius Marder)- The awareness on Joe’s face at what he has to do with Ruben (the remarkable Riz Ahmed) breaks my heart. He understands what Ruben is, and how he cannot help anymore, and it sends Ruben on to the last part of his journey, where he finally recognizes that getting back to life before he lost almost 80% of his hearing is impossible, and finally is able to sit still, and realize that peace is possible after trauma. Marder’s craftsmanship, how he uses the camera, sound, and silence, to put us in Ruben’s mindset is the most impressive piece of film direction I’ve seen this year. (Amazon Prime)
=“Feels Good Man” (Directed by Arthur Jones)- What we do when we find ourselves in an overwhelming situation will define who we are moving forward. Artist Matt Furie found himself in an unenviable situation when his creation, Pepe the Frog, moved from an underground comic star to a popular meme to a symbol of white supremacy and white nationalism. In this entertaining political documentary, maybe one of the best in decades, we see the evolution of Pepe, and how Matt begins to fight back against his use as a symbol of hate. What we see is one of the most inspiring calls to arms cinema has put out in years, and hope for a better tomorrow.
=“Curtis” (Directed by Chris Bailey)- It’s been a couple of years since a movie truly broke my heart like this one did. Few movies have inspired my empathy quite like this one does. Curtis is a former state basketball champion whose adult life has been stilted by mental illness. When he finds his championship ring stolen, he and a teenager go on a journey to find it that changes things for both of them, although not necessarily for the better. Social stigmas of mental illness and homelessness are front and center in this drama, and they lead to an ending that moved me to tears.
=“Soul” (Directed by Pete Doctor & Kemp Powers)- Pete Doctor has been working towards this with each successive film, and it’s as profound a statement on life as he and Pixar have made to date. When a jazz pianist/music teacher accidentally falls down a manhole after getting the gig of a lifetime, he finds himself on a spiritual journey that will not only shape his life (and afterlife), but the life of a young soul who hasn’t quite found that “spark” that makes them ready to go to Earth. This is as visually and emotionally sophisticated a film as Pixar has ever put out, with a simple narrative theme, and a soundtrack that is instantly one for the rotation, that will have you thinking and feeling long and hard about what Doctor and Powers have going on in this film. (Disney+)
=“Lovers Rock” (Directed by Steve McQueen)- I’ve already mentioned “Small Axe” when I discussed TV shows above, but that series’s second film, which takes place during a dance party some members of London’s East Indian community put on, stands out as a fusion of idea, camera movement, and music that- at 70 minutes- is one of the most immersive cinematic experiences of the year. My left arm for a chance to watch this on the big screen. (Amazon Prime)
=“She Dies Tomorrow” (Directed by Amy Seimetz)- As someone who’s struggled with catastrophic feelings and emotional anxiety over the years, “She Dies Tomorrow” landed hard with me back in July. Seimetz’s psychological drama is a simple film about how feelings and thoughts can be contagious; one person says they’re going to die tomorrow, then that person thinks the same, then other people. On and on it goes, until it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. In the era of COVID, and endless days living with the same thoughts and feelings, the experiential nature of this film is palpable, and powerful. (Hulu)
=“Bleed With Me” (Directed by Amelia Moses)- Another psychological horror film, this one with three friends- a couple and their friend- going to a cabin for a week. Both women have struggles that will reveal themselves in a co-dependent friendship that leaves everyone in pain by the end. Moses and her lead actresses, Lauren Lynn and Lee Marshall, create a painful narrative for these characters that leaves us feeling sympathy for both as their worst anxieties come to light.
=“Rent-A-Pal” (Directed by Jon Stevenson)- This is one of the most insightful looks at modern toxic masculinity, and online radicalization, yet it takes place in 1990. Stevenson uses relics of the past- video dating and self-help videos- to comment on the present, as David (Brian Landis Folkins), a lonely guy who lives with his mother, finds some validation in an interactive video starring a guy named Andy (Wil Wheaton, in one of the year’s most unheralded performances). The connection between David and Andy is immediate, and it will lead David down an unhealthy path towards the life he wants, with “Andy’s” words ringing in his ears the entire time. This is one of the scariest films of the year, because it understands its subject to a terrifying degree. (Hulu)
=“The Trip to Greece” (Directed by Michael Winterbottom)- I finally caught up with Winterbottom’s “Trip” series in a mad dash to screen the final film in the series prior to its May release, and it immediately became one of my favorite movie franchises, as we follow Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon across Europe to take in local sights, delectable food, and make us laugh. The final moments of “Greece,” however, point to a sense of change in these two over the course of a decade, and four films, that just leveled me with how surprising it was. I cannot wait to revisit it further in the future. (Hulu)
=“Hamilton” (Directed by Thomas Kail)- I have not had the pleasure of watching the live show, and I held off listening to the soundtrack until I could. Disney releasing this performance on Disney+ on Fourth of July weekend meant that it was time to take in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway juggernaut for myself, and to say that it landed just the right combination of brilliant music, social commentary, and American history during this unprecedented summer of an uncertain political future and a sweeping wave of calls for social justice is an understatement. In a year where most tentpole releases were delayed until the next year, “Hamilton” was that rare pop-culture moment for 2020- it was an event. (Disney+)
=“Bacurau” (Directed by Juliano Dornelles & Kleber Mendonça Filho)- The world of “Bacurau” is one I adored getting pulled into. What unfolds is a wild dark comedy western thriller about a small Brazilian town that must fight back against forces trying to take it off the map (literally). The film tackles issues of poverty, political corruption and outsiders encroaching on third world communities, and does so in a genre format that was sorely missing from much of 2020. (The Criterion Channel)
=“Coup 53” (Directed by Taghi Amirani)- This might be the most controversial film you will not see from this year. Because of a legal dispute between the filmmakers of “Coup 53”- which details Britain’s part in the 1953 overthrowing of the democratically-elected Iranian government- and the producers of a British series on the 1953 coup against the Iranian government by American and British intelligence forces, you will probably not be able to watch the film as I first saw it when I reviewed it back in August. That’s really disappointing, but I have faith that, however Amirani and editor/co-writer Walter Murch proceed, it’ll be a film well worth watching.
=“Morgana” (Directed by Isabel Peppard & Josie Hess)- Pornography is still very much considered lewd and illicit in the United States. If you were to watch this documentary about Australian porn star Morgana Muses, though, you might see a side to it that surprises you. Several years ago, Muses was stuck in a rut in her marriage and life, before a night of passion with an escort changed that. She found a way to express herself through adult filmmaking, and as such, given herself a new lease on life. It’s one of the most unexpected, and uplifting, documentaries you’ll see in this, or any year.
=“Taxicab Ride with Jesus” (Directed by Dan Brennan)- A taxi driver has been working a long day, and is having anxiety about his daughter’s health when he gets an unusual fare in a man (Russ Camarda) who challenges him on matters of faith as he heads to the hospital to be with his daughter. The film is only 18 minutes, but it is filled with a humanity and profundity that many features on faith only wish they had.
=“Nomadland” (Directed by Chloe Zhou)- My review will post for this film in February, but Zhou’s drama about a woman (the great Frances McDormand) who finds herself joining a modern day nomadic lifestyle after her town dies after the financial crisis in 2008 is a beautiful revelation about trying to discover a community when it’s ever moving around the country. There’s some stunning insight to go with haunting images of an America in flux. (In Theatres February 19)
=“Promising Young Woman” (Directed by Emerald Fennell)- Because it is uncompromising in the way it tells its story of a woman (Carey Mulligan in the best performance of 2020) exacting revenge for a trauma when she was younger, writer-director Fennell’s dark comedy is a polarizing, uncomfortable watch that tackles toxic masculinity and rape culture in a way that doesn’t let us out with comforting cliches or easy morality. (In Theatres)
=“I’m Thinking of Ending Things” (Directed by Charlie Kaufman)- Of all the rewatches I set out to do before publishing this list, none had me more curious than Kaufman’s third film as a director. It left an impression, as a trip to have dinner with the parents turns into a brutal, chilly horror story about memory, the realization a relationship is not going to work, and youthful promise giving way to aged lost potential. At least, these are some of the things I took from this second viewing; everyone’s mileage is going to be different. (Netflix)
=“Cinema Pameer” (Directed by Martin von Krogh)- As I was watching this documentary at the Atlanta Film Festival, I couldn’t help but think about my time at the movie theatre, and how universal running a movie theatre felt, whether it’s in Kennesaw, Georgia or Kabul, Afghanistan. A few days after watching von Krogh’s documentary about this Kabul theatre- how it re-opened after the fall of the Taliban in 2001, and how the day-to-day running of the theatre goes on, despite dealing with the government censors or IEDs in the streets- I learned that the theatre I had worked at for over 18 years was closing permanently. If anything, the fate of my longtime movie theatre home makes me cherish the fact that these guys are managing to keep their theatre, and the theatrical experience of shared moviewatching, alive for people in that war-torn region all the more. I understand the feeling of bringing the joy of movies to people, and how rewarding it can be, well; it may not seem like it, but what they are doing is heroic and inspiring.
=“The Painter and the Thief” (Directed by Benjamin Ree)- Documentaries are capable of bringing pure humanity and empathy to its subjects, and no documentary did that better in 2020 than Ree’s film about the connection a painter makes with a thief who was involved in stealing two of her paintings from an art gallery. One of the most interesting aspects of the film is seeing the dynamic between Barbora Kysilkova (the painter) and Karl-Bertil (the thief) develop- is Barbora in love with Karl-Bertil? Is Karl bound to always get in trouble? This is a profound look at how first impressions can be deceiving, and how friendships can heal the most fragile people. (Hulu)
=“Tezuka’s Barbara” (Directed by Macoto Tezuka)- One of the big consequences from a moviewatching standpoint that COVID, and movie theatres closing, brought was a lack of mid-tier genre fare. It was something I recognized fairly astutely in covering Fantasia Fest, which made the discoveries from that festival feel all the sweeter. One of my favorites was this adaptation of Osamu Tezuka’s manga from his son, Macoto, about a writer who finds a mysterious woman, and becomes transfixed, and inspired, by her. This is a pulp noir in the vein of something like “In a Lonely Place” or “Detour,” and it is an unusual, and entertaining, entry in the genre.
=“Undergods” (Directed by Chino Moya)- In structure, this is an anthology of a desolate future world where dead bodies are collected off the street, and skyscrapers are abandoned. In the year of COVID, that’s a pretty ominous vision, but while the narrative of Moya’s film is opaque and elliptical, it’s that vision that engrossed me in the film when I saw it for Fantasia Fest this year, and if you listen to my interview with Moya conducted during Fantasia Fest (embedded on my review page), you’ll probably find- as I did- that the vision is so rich, and so in line with the ideas, that a straightforward narrative isn’t necessary to appreciate what he has accomplished here.
=“Far From Perfect: Life Inside a Global Pandemic” (Directed by Lenny Schwartz & Nathan Suher)- It’s as lo-fi a concept as possible- recording Zoom calls- but when everything was shut down at the start of the pandemic, it was one of the only ways filmmakers could create art. Writer Schwartz and director Suher used that to tell a vast and emotionally-complex story of what it was like in the early days of the COVID lockddown, and nine months later, it remained as vital and honest as it was in March. (YouTube)
=“The Bells” (Directed by Jeremiah Kipp & Jenn Plotzke)- As with the slots above and below this film, these are all projects done, in quarantine, by filmmakers I’ve come to know over the years. “The Bells” is a reading of an Edgar Allen Poe that Kipp and actress/producer Plotzke worked on, getting some creative friends to read the poem, and then they edited the Zoom readings together. It is a haunting and lively experiment that comes together beautifully, and points to more experimental projects from them as quarantine went along. (Vimeo)
=“Yesteryear” (Directed by Chris Esper)- Filmmaker Chris Esper used some time in lockdown to create a tender and emotional tone poem to the idea of capturing memories on home video, memories that could be brought out over the years and shared with a new generation, or relived by the older one. It’s a moving tribute to a past time. (YouTube)
Also worth watching from 2020 are: “Alive”; “Another Round”; “Anything for Jackson”; “The Assassination of Western Civilization”; “The Assistant”; “Bad Boys for Life”; “Bad Education”; “Balloon”; “The Beach House”; “Beanpole”; “Bill & Ted Face the Music”; “Birds of Prey”; “Black Box”; “Black Conflux”; “Blur”; “The Body”; “Books of Blood”; “Boys State”; “The Call of the Wild”; “A Call to Spy”; “Clapboard Jungle”; “Cleanse”; “Come Fuck My Robot”; “Color Out of Space”; “Comic Book Junkies”; “Corpus Christi”; “Crazy Samurai Musashi”; “The Curse of Audrey Earnshaw”; “Da 5 Bloods”; “The Dark and the Wicked”; “The Dark Red”; “Dear Comrades”; “Dear Santa”; “Diabla”; “Dick Johnson is Dead”; “Don’t Text Back”; “Drinks”; “The Drop”; “Emma”; “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga”; “First Cow”; “For the Sake of Vicious”; “The Forty-Year-Old-Version”; “Fried Barry”; “Fully Realized Humans”; “FUN.”; “The Gentlemen”; “The Glorias”; “Godmothered”; “The Green Sea”; “Guest of Honour”; “Homegoing”; “How to Build a Girl”; “In Her Shoes”; “In the Cold Dark Night”; “The Invisible Man”; “John Lewis: Good Trouble”; “Jumper”; “The Killing of Two Lovers”; “Kindred”; “Kingdom of Silence”; “The King of Staten Island”; “Labyrinth of Cinema”; “Last Call”; “Lili”; “Lynch: A History”; “Mank”; “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”; “Mass Hysteria”; “Maybe Next Year”; “Mayor”; “Minari”; “Minor Premise”; “The MisEducation of Bindu”; “MLK/FBI”; “Monster Seafood Wars”; “The Nain Rogue Murders”; “Neruda: Sonnet XVII & Poem XV”; “The Nest”; “Never Rarely Sometimes Always”; “News of the World”; “The Oak Room”; “Old Man Forever”; “On the Rocks”; “Onward”; “The Other Lamb”; “The Outside Story”; “Palm Springs”; “The Paper Tigers”; “Petting Zoo”; “Pieces of a Woman”; “Possessor”; “Premature”; “PVT Chat”; “Reflexion”; “Relic”; “The Rifleman”; “Sanzaru”; “Savage State”; “The Shadow”; “A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon”; “Shirley”; “The Social Dilemma”; “Sorry We Missed You”; “Spaceship Earth”; “Special Actors”; “Sputnik”; “Summerland”; “Swallow”; “The Swerve”; “Sylvie’s Love”; “Tenet”; “Test Pattern”; “Time”; “Totally Under Control”; “True History of the Kelly Gang”; “Valerio’s Day Out”; “Wander Darkly”; “What Did Jack Do?”; “Wolfwalkers”; “Wonder Woman 1984”; “The Wretched”; “You Cannot Kill David Arquette”.
Music That Moved Me in 2020
This might be one of my favorite years for film music of all-time. Because of how much time I had away from work, I spent a lot of time writing to film music, and a lot of that time was spent with the first, great soundtrack of the year, and the one that is still my favorite of 2020. BurningTapes’s score for K/XI’s “Black Lake” is pure electronics and soundscapes, and not only does it have a chilling effect during the film, it’s oddly soothing to listen to away from the film. Not long after that, I watched “Color Out of Space”, and the score by Colin Stetson is a fascinating soundscape of synth horror that befits the world of H.P. Lovecraft that the film creates. As you can see, I have a bit of a type when it comes to film music, and later in the year, Christopher Nolan’s film “Tenet” delivered another exciting “wall of sound,” this time from Oscar-winner Ludwig Göransson. And if Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross are creating a score, you can bet on not just another powerful, dramatic work, but also something exciting to revisit; the funny thing is, that was less their 1940s nostalgia score for David Fincher’s “Mank”, but their work for Pete Doctor’s latest philosophical treatise for Pixar, “Soul”.
But it wasn’t just Reznor and Ross that made “Soul” such a rich listen; the film also features jazz compositions and arrangements by Jon Batiste, and listening to the way the two work together makes it as great a soundtrack as we’ve gotten this or any year. The combination of songs and score is not always easy to make work, but the Brazilian western “Bacurau” has one that is easy to listen to (and might be the best “driving” soundtrack of the year). For Spike Lee’s Vietnam drama, “Da 5 Bloods”, the combination of Terrence Blanchard score and Marvin Gaye songs gives us an emotional minefield with which to follow the Bloods through. When it comes to more song-oriented soundtracks, the Netflix comedy “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga” delivered some great musical performances, and “Bill & Ted Face the Music” was another rich, cheesy soundtrack in the series that delivered a dynamite, inspiring closing number. And as someone who just discovered the majesty of the Tony-winning phenomenon via Disney+’s release of a recorded performance, “Hamilton” became an instant favorite of mine. Without a question, though, the soundtrack of reggae and R&B songs in Steve McQueen’s “Lovers Rock”, from his “Small Axe” series, shot up the ranks and became my favorite listen of the song soundtracks of 2020. Like the film, it’s filled with joy and life and energy that the right combination of music and images forms to give us a feeling that cinema is capable of at its best.
To close this section, I will point you to my video review of “Fandango at the Wall”, a documentary which follows Arturo O’Farrill to the remote regions of Veracruz, Mexico to meet and jam with the masters of son jarocho folk music, and bring musicians together at for a concert at the US-Mexico border wall. I watched it at the Atlanta Film Festival, and it was an entertaining look at the power of music. Be sure to check it out when you can.
Favorite Performances in 2020
Of course, when you see over 350 movies in a given year, it’s natural that said movie year will feel overstuffed with great performances. Even with that perspective, however, 2020 feels like a profound gift. We’ve gotten multiple great performances by individual actors, great performances abound from a single film, and performances that will stick with you long after the movie has finished up. Topping this year was an original, painful character from Carey Mulligan, as a woman who is seeking revenge for a trauma from several years ago in “Promising Young Woman”– it is the performance of the year, and a character whose way of doing things you will not soon forget. As a drummer feeling anxiety about not just losing his hearing, but getting it back, Riz Ahmed puts us inside the emotional turmoil of the moment in “Sound of Metal”. Next up is, of all people, Wil Wheaton; he plays a video “friend” whose friendship comes with a potential for radicalization into a more twisted type of confidence in “Rent-a-Pal”. As a conservative Vietnam vet leading a group of fellow soldiers in a search for treasure they found in their tour of duty, Delroy Lindo gives the performance of his career with a fire and anger that can only come from a Spike Lee film- in this case, “Da 5 Bloods”. Rounding out my Top 5 is the great Frances McDormand, who is a homeless widower having to take to the road in “Nomadland”.
Just those five alone are all-timers, and yet we also got: Paul Raci as a mentor for the deaf in “Sound of Metal”; Megan Suri as a bullied high schooler having to negotiate with her bullies to get out of high school in “The MisEducation of Bindu”; Adam Kim as a willful boy in “Minari”, which also gives us a grandmother for the ages in Youn Yuh-jung and a struggling father in Steven Yeun; George MacKay and Essie Davis are forces of nature as the iconic leaders in “True History of the Kelly Gang”; Radha Blank as a playwright feeling the need to reinvent herself to have her voice heard in “The Forty-Year-Old Version”; Julia Garner as an assistant to an executive who takes advantage of women in “The Assistant”; Sidney Flanigan as a girl going through the trials of having to procure an abortion in “Never Rarely Sometimes Always”; Carrie Coon is a wife desperate for her ambitious husband to see reality in “The Nest”; Jesse Plemons and Jessie Buckley as a couple with philosophical musings on a trip to his parent’s house in “I’m Thinking of Ending Things”; Pete Davidson as a lackadaisical 20-something who butts heads with adulthood and the great Bill Burr as his potential stepfather in “The King of Staten Island”; David Strathairn as a traveler of the road in “Nomadland”; Chadwick Boseman, who creates a powerful presence as a fallen soldier in “Da 5 Bloods”, while also giving a stunning swan song performance opposite the electrifying Viola Davis in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”; Clayne Crawford as a jealous husband trying to keep his family together in “The Killing of Two Lovers”; Elisabeth Moss, first as a tortured and abused wife in “The Invisible Man”, then opposite assistant Odessa Young as horror author Shirley Jackson in “Shirley”; Bartosz Bielenia as a young man who finds spiritual awakening in “Corpus Christi”; Azura Skye as a wife and mother having a psychological breakdown in “The Swerve”; Rhys Ifans as poet Dylan Thomas in “Last Call (Dominion)”; Anya Taylor-Joy as Jane Austen’s wily heroine in “Emma”; Steve Coogan is at his comedic, and emotional, best in “The Trip to Greece”; Andy Samburg and Cristin Miloti are a joy as people stuck in a time loop at a weekend wedding in “Palm Springs”; Fumi Nikaidô as a transfixing, unusual femme fatale in “Tezuka’s Barbara”; and Lee Marshall and Lauren Beatty as two friends who have codependency issues, and past traumas, to work through in “Bleed With Me”. I’m sure other people will have other performances they can think of, but these were the ones that stood out the most to me of the films I watched this year.
Thank you to everyone who followed the site through this crazy movie year- it was an unexpectedly satisfying one, even if there were fewer blockbusters to pay attention to. I’m curious what 2021 will bring.
If you have any personal favorites you’d like to shout out, leave a comment below.
Viva La Resistance!
Brian Skutle
www.sonic-cinema.com
