Best of 2020

[brokenface]

S+S list is up:

https://www.bfi.org.uk/best-films-2020

Interesting to see two episodes of Small Axe rank highly, inc Lovers Rock at #1. Don't miss these because of TV avoidance, they are very good

(updated this list: https://www.icheckmovies.com/lists/sigh ... rokenface/ - just missing The Inheritance as it wasn't on ICM yet)

--

Guardian is working up their list here:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/d ... ms-of-2020

[pitchorneirda]

S+S list is up:

https://www.bfi.org.uk/best-films-2020

Interesting to see two episodes of Small Axe rank highly, inc Lovers Rock at #1. Don't miss these because of TV avoidance, they are very good

Guardian is working up their list here:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/d ... ms-of-2020

Top 9 is only US or UK

[brokenface]

They're always a bit biased to UK film, it is BFI after all. And generally I think they tend to be dominated by what has made cinemas/streaming this year + festivals. And with cinemas being closed half the year and lack of proper Cannes etc, I'd guess the pool of international film is smaller than usual.

[hurluberlu]

Cahiers du Cinéma (France)

1. City Hall (Frederick Wiseman)
2. The Woman Who Ran (Sang-soo Hong)
3. Uncut Gems (Safdie brothers)
4. Malmkrog (Cristi Puiu)
5. The Things We Say, the Things We Do (Emmanuel Mouret)
6. Hotel by the River (Sang-soo Hong)
7. Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains (Xiaogang Gu)
8. The Salt of Tears (Philippe Garrel)
9. Enormous (Sophie Letourneur)
10. The August Virgin (Jonás Trueba)

[St. Gloede]

And the 2020 toplist time is officially open!

Not seen most of the films from the list so definitely a lot to explore for me.

Slightly disappointed by the country of origin set-up there. The entire top 9 is UK/US, and 36/50 is English language -32/50 being US/US - the other English language films: 2 Australian, 1 Irish, 1 Canadian.

Given how International the coverage for Sight and Sound is, that is a bit surprising.

[St. Gloede]

Top 9 is only US or UK

Love that I was not the only, nor even the first to notice that.

[brokenface]

And the 2020 toplist time is officially open!

Not seen most of the films from the list so definitely a lot to explore for me.

Slightly disappointed by the country of origin set-up there. The entire top 9 is UK/US, and 36/50 is English language -32/50 being US/US - the other English language films: 2 Australian, 1 Irish, 1 Canadian.

Given how International the coverage for Sight and Sound is, that is a bit surprising.

I do think they actively pushing for diversity in some ways though, e.g. majority of top 10 directed by women is pretty notable.

[DareDaniel]

My Top 5:
1. The Forest of Love: Deep Cut (TV Mini-Series)
2. Red Post on Escher Street
3. The Last Dance (TV Mini-Series)
4. Forgiven Children
5. Followers (TV Mini-Series)

[brokenface]

Indiewire's Critic's poll

1. “Nomadland”
2. “Never Rarely Sometimes Always”
3. “First Cow”
4. “Lovers Rock”
5. “I’m Thinking of Ending Things”
6. “Beanpole”
7. “Time”
8. “Da 5 Bloods”
9. “Martin Eden”
10. “Bacurau”

https://www.indiewire.com/2020/12/best- ... 234604554/

[St. Gloede]

And the 2020 toplist time is officially open!

Not seen most of the films from the list so definitely a lot to explore for me.

Slightly disappointed by the country of origin set-up there. The entire top 9 is UK/US, and 36/50 is English language -32/50 being US/US - the other English language films: 2 Australian, 1 Irish, 1 Canadian.

Given how International the coverage for Sight and Sound is, that is a bit surprising.

I do think they actively pushing for diversity in some ways though, e.g. majority of top 10 directed by women is pretty notable.

Missed that, that's both surprising and promising (for the industry).

[Torgo]

2020 is going to look so weird in hindsight with its top lists and productions, and it will carry on with 2021.

I'm curious to see what will be getting nominated for the Academy Awards.

[prodigalgodson]

Damn, guess I gotta prioritize Small Axe. Also love to see the new Hong getting love, and thrilled he's found a regular muse in Kim Minh-hee.

[kongs_speech]

Damn, guess I gotta prioritize Small Axe. Also love to see the new Hong getting love, and thrilled he's found a regular muse in Kim Minh-hee.

They're married.

[prodigalgodson]

Ah did they tie the knot? Bomb, hope he's able to hang onto her.

[kongs_speech]

Ah did they tie the knot? Bomb, hope he's able to hang onto her.

Oh whoops, it turns out there's some legal shit with his old marriage preventing it.

[peeptoad]

Damn, guess I gotta prioritize Small Axe.

I came to the same conclusion after reading that list ...
eta. the first film "Mangrove" was very, very strong. Letitia Wright was fantastic.

[blueboybob]

I wish there was a "They make best of lists" list

Like for each year, add every best of list, and then the one that shows up on the most is top of the list.

Then I can better prioritize the best movies of each year.

[kongs_speech]

I wish there was a "They make best of lists" list

Like for each year, add every best of list, and then the one that shows up on the most is top of the list.

Then I can better prioritize the best movies of each year.

Metacritic does that, at least with the years since they began compiling top 10s.

[brokenface]

I wish there was a "They make best of lists" list

Like for each year, add every best of list, and then the one that shows up on the most is top of the list.

Then I can better prioritize the best movies of each year.

https://criticstop10.com/

[blueboybob]

sweet! tghanks

[Obgeoff]

https://criticstop10.com/

Nice site, thank you for the link. If it wasn't heavily weighted to North American movies it would be perfect.

[brokenface]

Yeah I've never dug into what the sources are definitely appears to be US-centric. Found site via ICM, someone had put a load of the top 50s on there

[hurluberlu]

Les Inrocks (France)

1. Uncut Gems (Safdie brothers)
2. Mank (David Fincher)
3. Adolescent & Little Girl (Sébastien Lifshitz)
4. The King of Staten Island (Judd Apatow)
5. Un soupçon d'amour (Paul Vecchiali)
6. The Things We Say, the Things We Do (Emmanuel Mouret)
7. Richard Jewell (Clint Eastwood)
8. My Best Part (Nicolas Maury)
9. Summer of 85 (François Ozon)
10. Enormous (Sophie Letourneur)
11. The Invisible Man (Leigh Whannell)
12. Dark Waters (Todd Haynes)
13. Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains (Xiaogang Gu)
14. Drunk (Thomas Vinterberg)
15. The Woman Who Ran (Sang-soo Hong)
16. Hotel by the River (Sang-soo Hong)
17. The August Virgin (Jonás Trueba)
18. The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Aaron Sorkin)
19. If It Were Love (Patric Chiha)
20. Ondine (Christian Petzold)

[kongs_speech]

Les Inrocks (France)

4. The King of Staten Island (Judd Apatow)

Yes! Vive la France! By far the most underrated film of the year, probably the high point of Apatow's considerable career. It's a shame Bill Burr won't get a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nod.

[Good_Will_Harding]

The AV Club's top 25

https://film.avclub.com/the-best-films- ... 1845889675

The consensus favorites of the year are really starting to emerge now. Most, if not all the year-end lists have at least a handful of the following:

Da 5 Bloods
Dick Johnson is Dead
First Cow
I'm Thinking of Ending Things
Lover's Rock
Mank
Minari
Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Nomadland
Time

[Good_Will_Harding]

Stuff on my "to see" list that I need to get to before I even remotely consider making a year end "best of" list...

76 Days
Another Round
Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds
Hamilton
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
Martin Eden
News of the World
Nomadland
One Night in Miami
Pieces of a Woman
Promising Young Woman
Soul
Sylvie's Love
The Father
The Killing of Two Lovers

[hurluberlu]

The Current Debate: The Best Films of 2020 by MUBI

[Obgeoff]

The AV Club individual ballots are an interesting read too.

Did a double take on Parasite being the Guardian No. 1 but it was released in February in UK and Ireland. At some stage in my lifetime, hopefully we will get to a stage where worldwide premieres and releases happen throughout the globe so we don’t have the mental gymnastics of which year the film belongs to.

[Onderhond]

so we don’t have the mental gymnastics of which year the film belongs to.

Already very much possible, just don't look at release dates for specific countries

[brokenface]

The AV Club individual ballots are an interesting read too.

Did a double take on Parasite being the Guardian No. 1 but it was released in February in UK and Ireland. At some stage in my lifetime, hopefully we will get to a stage where worldwide premieres and releases happen throughout the globe so we don’t have the mental gymnastics of which year the film belongs to.

Can't see that happening as long as cinemas/festivals exist.

--

Indiewire published their whole top 50, I've stuck it on ICM:

https://www.icheckmovies.com/lists/indi ... rokenface/

[Obgeoff]

Thanks for that list brokenface.

https://film.avclub.com/the-best-films- ... 1845892891 Here are the ballots article I referenced earlier.

12 contributors listed 15 films each. For context, the #8 film was in five lists. Once you get past the top 15 or so it doesn’t take many votes and/or a single high placement for a film to feature so I would take the lower reaches of their top 25 with a grain of salt.

Onderhond, agreed and like many on here, I just go with the worldwide premiere date when doing lists. It is frustrating at this time of year. Most people won’t have had the chance to have seen Nomadland and lots of people will have seen Parasite more than a year ago. Yet they both feature prominently in U.K. lists. For your penchant of Asian cinema, if it weren’t for unofficial means, many would not be seen by Western years until two years after original release if at all (and even then only in specialist venues or shops).

First world problems but it does have real world implications on distribution and the economics of cinema in the next decade. The cinephile audience is shrinking and has discovered other means to get their fix.

[Good_Will_Harding]

Obama drops his 2020 faves:



Probably the first major "list" I've seen that doesn't feature Da 5 Bloods, First Cow, Never Rarely Sometimes Always, Minari, or I'm Thinking of Ending Things. Also, Let Him Go is definitely a random choice - decent film, but I'm definitely surprised to see it here.

[hurluberlu]

He is really a film buff for managing to see Nomadland.

[brokenface]

I'm sure they send him screeners just to try and get on this list. Pretty useful endorsement

[hurluberlu]

Libération (more French love for Apatow)

Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains (Xiaogang Gu)
The Whistlers (Corneliu Porumboiu)
Uncut Gems (Safdie brothers)
Richard Jewell (Clint Eastwood)
Dark Waters (Todd Haynes)
If It Were Love (Patric Chiha)
The Invisible Man (Leigh Whannell)
Tout simplement noir (Jean-Pascal Zadi, John Wax)
Malmkrog (Cristi Puiu)
Abou Leila (Amin Sidi-Boumédiène)
The King of Staten Island (Judd Apatow)
The August Virgin (Jonás Trueba)
Days (Tsai Ming-liang)
Enormous (Sophie Letourneur)
Un soupçon d'amour (Paul Vecchiali)
The Woman Who Ran (Sang-soo Hong)
The Monopoly of Violence (David Dufresne)
Calamity (Rémi Chayé)
A Lua Platz (Jérémy Gravayat)
City Hall (Frederick Wiseman)

Bonus
First Cow (Kelly Reichardt)

[Onderhond]

Certainly not the greatest list, then again it's the same every year. Most 2020 films from Asia will only reach the West in 2021 or even 2022. Still, only 5 4* films is a new low I think.

01. The Day of Destruction [Hakai no Hi] (2020)
02. Possessor (2020)
03. Cadaver [Kadaver] (2020)
04. Crazy Samurai Musashi (2020)
05. Gretel & Hansel (2020)
06. Woman of the Photographs (2020)
07. Spontaneous (2020)
08. Shape of Red (2020)
09. Underwater (2020)
10. Sputnik (2020)

[yllow]

Is this a personal list thread?

[Torgo]

I hope it is not! Let's try to stick to the more official ones / popular blogs.
(Onderhond is a blog, so we will let is pass for one time. )


btw:
I always hated how year lists will be gathered at the beginning of December when 1/12th of the year still has to pass.
It's even more stupid with music lists, where some stuff might be released at Dec 20th and you still need to listen to it and let it sink in. But we had examples of movies in the limbo which were overlooked for their actual year of release and were not eligible for the year after.

Hot take:
Pixar's Soul will be missing on at least one important list and wouldn't so if it were properly released in spring or summer. Or at least earlier than 6 days before the end of the year.

[Onderhond]

Oh, oops! Missed this was for published lists!

[hurluberlu]

NY Times

MANOHLA DARGIS
1. ‘Martin Eden’ (Pietro Marcello)
2. ‘City Hall’ (Frederick Wiseman)
3. ‘Gunda’ (Victor Kossakovsky)
4. ‘David Byrne’s American Utopia’ (Spike Lee)
5. ‘Bacurau’ (Juliano Dornelles and Kleber Mendonça Filho)
6. ‘First Cow’ (Kelly Reichardt)
7. ‘Never Rarely Sometimes Always’ (Eliza Hittman)
8. ‘Collective’ (Alexander Nanau)
9. ‘The Forty-Year-Old Version’ (Radha Blank)
10. ‘Beanpole’ (Kantemir Balagov)

A.O. SCOTT
1. ‘Borat Subsequent Moviefilm’ (Jason Woliner)
2. ‘City Hall’ (Frederick Wiseman)/‘Collective’ (Alexander Nanau)
3. ‘First Cow’ (Kelly Reichardt)
4. ‘Martin Eden’ (Pietro Marcello)
5. ‘The Forty-Year-Old Version’ (Radha Blank)
6. ‘Palm Springs’ (Max Barbakow)
7. ‘Bacurau’ (Juliano Dornelles and Kleber Mendonça Filho)
8. ‘David Byrne’s American Utopia’ (Spike Lee)/‘Lovers Rock’ (Steve McQueen)
9. ‘Dick Johnson Is Dead’ (Kirsten Johnson)
10. ‘Soul’ (Pete Docter)

Funny they didn't manage to pull one single editorial top and to show all the critics' individual selections aside - surely there are other critics than Dargis and Scott @ NYT.