Your 2020 best - Year-by-year poll prep'

[hurluberlu]

With our 2020 year-end poll pushed to July/summer, here is a thread to share the progress of building up your top lists for films and performances !

Feel free to share pics, reviews and thoughts on your viewings.

Where to start:

Forum Best of 2020 published lists thread

Participants and their lists:

beavis
Good_Will_Harding
hurluberlu
Ivan0716
Onderhond
rnilsson19
St. Gloede
Torgo

[hurluberlu]

My Top 20 in construction...

1. Mank ( David Fincher )
2. First Cow ( Kelly Reichardt ) ( 2019 )
3. Enormous / Énorme ( Sophie Letourneur ) ( 2019 )
4. Dark Waters ( Todd Haynes ) ( 2019 )
5. Little Girl / Petite Fille ( Sébastien Lifshitz )
6. The Nose or Conspiracy of Mavericks / Nos ili zagovor netakikh ( Andrey Khrzhanovskiy )
7. City Hall ( Frederick Wiseman )
8. Adoration ( Fabrice du Welz ) ( 2019 )
9. Kill It and Leave This Town ( Mariusz Wilczynski )
10. Tenet ( Christopher Nolan )
11. Egg / Öndög ( Quan'an Wang ) ( 2019 )
12. Druk ( Thomas Vinterberg )
13. Tout simplement noir ( John Wax, Jean-Pascal Zadi )
14. Ema ( Pablo Larraín ) ( 2019 )
15. Soul ( Pete Docter, Kemp Powers )
16. Nomadland ( Chloé Zhao )
17. WolfWalkers ( Ross Stewart, Tomm Moore )
18. Beauty Water ( Kyung-hun Cho )
19. Lupin III: The First ( Takashi Yamazaki ) ( 2019 )
20. Farewell Amor ( Ekwa Msangi )

extended list

21. A Sun / Yangguang puzhao ( Mong-Hong Chung )
22. Josep ( Aurep ) ( 2019 )
23. Dorian Gray, un portrait d'Oscar Wilde ( Jérôme Lambert, Philippe Picard )
24. Kubrick by Kubrick ( Gregory Monro )
25. Il était une fois...: Faute d'amour ( Olivia Mokiejewski )
26. Tom Cruise: An Eternal Youth ( Régis Brochier )
27. Auguste Escoffier ou la naissance de la gastronomie moderne ( Olivier Julien )

Dislikes: Malmkrog, Rizi, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, Da 5 Bloods, Interreflections, Palm Springs

Watchlist: 12 hour shift, Il Peccato/Sin, I am thinking of ending things, La virgen de agosto, Pieces of a Woman, Les choses qu'on dit, les choses qu'on fait, Effacer l'historique, Richard Jewell, The invisible man, The king of staten island, the woman who ran, There is no evil, Train to Busan 2, Upperprint, Mama, The Trial of the Chicago 7, Love after love, The disciple, The swarm, Bye Bye Morons, Shiva Baby, Bye Bye Morons, Calamity, a Childhood of Martha Jane Cannary, Relic, Possessor, My Donkey, My Lover & I, Minari

[beavis]

Because of multiple lockdowns I'm feeling way behind the curve right now (on top of the curve being very skewed itself)... not liking it at all. But I still managed to see 59 movies listed as released in 2020 up till now, and can manage a top 17 that I more or less feel good about

1 - Shirley - 4.5
2 - Ta Fang Jian Li De Yun - 4.5 (the cloud in her room)
3 - Possessor - 4.5
4 - Malmkrog - 4
5 - Birds (Or How to Be One) - 4
6 - Notturno - 4
7 - A l'Abordage - 4
8 - Fellwechselzeit - 4
9 - Atarrabi & Mikelats - 4
10 - Tal Día Hizo un Año - 4
11 - Armour - 4
12 - Mank - 4
13 - Mosquito - 4
14 - Siberia - 4
15 - Maryjki - 4
16 - Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn - 4
17 - A Metamorfose dos Passaros - 4

these are my other "4" scoring movies, any of them could fill up the places 18-20 at the moment, but I think they would certainly fall of when I've seen more

Ammonite - 4
Rizi - 4
Tenet - 4
Luz Nos Tropicos - 4
ADN - 4
Mulan - 4
Wendy - 4

[beavis]

My Top 20 in construction...
13. Ema ( Pablo Larraín )
14. Egg / Öndög ( Quan'an Wang )

There are 2019 movies in your list. I would do the same when it would have been an "end of year" poll, but when it is about the year 2020 that might not be accepted in the poll...?
I loved Ondog too! (and hated Ema! )

[hurluberlu]

My Top 20 in construction...
13. Ema ( Pablo Larraín )
14. Egg / Öndög ( Quan'an Wang )

There are 2019 movies in your list. I would do the same when it would have been an "end of year" poll, but when it is about the year 2020 that might not be accepted in the poll...?
I loved Ondog too! (and hated Ema! )

True, not sure what direction we will take so I will keep them in but mark them to remove them more easily if needed.
Already feel sad for the Asian and late 2019 releases that won’t get any attention actually...

I need to screen your list harder as they are a lot of titles I was unaware about.

I really struggled with Malmkrog, wrote few lines about it after watching it:
« Shot in lavish 19th century settings, our patience is tested with 3h+ of polite verbiage on war, religion and morale from the time. If construction is intriguing, the film suffers from the same language vanity the original text is denouncing. »
I still see as a painful and bitter experience because this could have been my kind of films but turned as a lengthy disappointment.

[rnilsson19]

1. Atarrabi & Mikelats (Eugene Green)
2. Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets (Bill Ross IV/Turner Ross)
3. The Woman Who Ran (Hong Sang-soo)
4. The Brilliant Biograph: Earliest Moving Images of Europe (1897-1902)
5. L'année dernière à Dachau (Mark Rappaport)
6. Anna/Nana/Nana/Anna (Mark Rappaport)
7. Sportin' Life (Abel Ferrara)
8. First Cow (Kelly Reichardt)
9. Days (Tsai Ming-Liang)
10. Undine (Christian Petzold)

[beavis]

Malmkrog is a difficult one indeed, not just because of the length and the unusual choice of source it translates to film. But the cinematography and control of the subject is top notch! And I loved the fact that this was more or less an integral adaptation of the original fin-de-siecle (technically slightly later, but still...)philosophical text. I am a sucker for that period too, and I was intrigued by the text. I am sure deeper studies can be made and maybe hypothesis thought up about if (and what) the director might want to say something about the state of Europe with the movie (I have not read up on any of this), for me it was placing the text at the time it was written and getting onto that dynamic that gave me enough food for thought and I just admired the style, the balls and the originality (as in not following anything that is popular, well known or wanted) of it all.

[Onderhond]

https://www.onderhond.com/toplist/custom?year=2020

01. 4.5 - The Day of Destruction [Hakai no Hi] (2020)
02. 4.0 - Daughters (2020)
03. 4.0 - Gretel & Hansel (2020)
04. 4.0 - Greener Grass (2020)
05. 4.0 - Cadaver [Kadaver] (2020)
06. 4.0 - Possessor (2020)
07. 4.0 - Crazy Samurai Musashi (2020)

Way too early for me though, seeing how long it takes most Asian films to reach our shores.

[Torgo]

Mh yeah, as you'd guess, not the brightest year in film history so far. 2021 will probably look even worse.

1. Soul
2. Tenet
3. Never Rarely Sometimes Always
4. WolfWalkers
5. Palm Springs
6. My Octopus Teacher
7. Undine
8. Onward
9. The Trial of the Chicago 7
10. Hamilton

11. The Invisible Man
12. David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet
13. Feels Good Man
14. On the Rocks
15. The King of Staten Island
16. The Social Dilemma
17. His House
18. Mank
19. Freaky
20. Promising Young Woman
... and I'm Thinking of Ending Things


Mh meh: The Midnight Sky, Enola Holmes, Eurovision Song Contest, Project Power, WW1984, Sonic the Hedgehog, Bad Boys for Life, ...
Bah: Birds of Prey, Mulan
Simply lol: 365 Days, Jiu Jitsu

Not seen and probably will make Top 20 in descending order: Druk, Minari, Nomadland, Possessor, The Call, Pieces of A Woman, Da 5 Bloods, News of The World
Also worth a look I guess: One Night in Miami, Emma, Kajillionaire, The Half of It, I Care a Lot, Greyhound, Gretel & Hansel, La vita davanti a sé, ...

[Torgo]

2. First Cow ( Kelly Reichardt )
4. Dark Waters ( Todd Haynes )

extended list

21. A Sun / Yangguang puzhao ( Mong-Hong Chung )

Only a few of which I recognize as 2019 on IMDb. (Either we go with that or it will become chaos, mh?)

[hurluberlu]

2. First Cow ( Kelly Reichardt )
4. Dark Waters ( Todd Haynes )

extended list

21. A Sun / Yangguang puzhao ( Mong-Hong Chung )

Only a few of which I recognize as 2019 on IMDb. (Either we go with that or it will become chaos, mh?)

Actually there are five others...
But seriously who has seen First Cow in 2019 ?
I am going to be in favor of sticking with year-end rules then. After 2-3 years and full public release, we can be strict working with IMDb year.

[Onderhond]

So can I count Cocolors, which is a 2017 film but only got a BR release last year? I don't understand these rules to be honest.

[Torgo]

Actually there are five others...
But seriously who has seen First Cow in 2019 ?
I am going to be in favor of sticking with year-end rules then. After 2-3 years and full public release, we can be strict working with IMDb year.

That's why tried to say that these are only a few I recognize (because I don't know every of the films and would have to look them up ).
I totally understand what you mean and it's been the same with films like Enter the Void in the past, but there were so many films - especially from Asia - which were excluded from year-lists due to the strictness of this rule. To be honest, how many people saw Nomadland before 2021? Looks like another festival-only release so far.

If you vote for Dark Waters, I will vote for Uncut Gems.

[hurluberlu]

Actually there are five others...
But seriously who has seen First Cow in 2019 ?
I am going to be in favor of sticking with year-end rules then. After 2-3 years and full public release, we can be strict working with IMDb year.

That's why tried to say that these are only a few I recognize (because I don't know every of the films and would have to look them up ).
I totally understand what you mean and it's been the same with films like Enter the Void in the past, but there were so many films - especially from Asia - which were excluded from year-lists due to the strictness of this rule. To be honest, how many people saw Nomadland before 2021? Looks like another festival-only release so far.

If you vote for Dark Waters, I will vote for Uncut Gems.

Yeah I didn't realize I had so many until you made me look into it.
I don't mind for Uncut Gems but it ended up at #6 in our 2019 top list last year while Dark Waters was only mentionned in one list.
Nomadland... I guess by July it will be ok for everyone to have access to it a way or another - it could have been one for 2021 with our usual poll timeline I agree.

[Good_Will_Harding]

Despite having seen most of what I've been interested in at this point, I'm not entirely confident in my abilities to come up with an adequate list just yet. I've still got COVID on the brain most days and don't think I'll be able to rank and assess these in the same way I've been able to previous years. So at the very least, I'm grateful for the extra time allotted and will just separate most of the list contenders into "triers" until I feel I can order them in any meaningful way...

Top trier (will almost certainly appear on my list)

The Assistant
Bad Education
Minari
Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Nomadland
Soul
Wolfwalkers

Also great (most of which are likely to show up)

Another Round
Da 5 Bloods
Lovers Rock
Mank
Martin Eden
The Nest
Possessor
The Prom (my "guilty pleasure" pick of the year - probably won't make my final list though)
Red White & Blue
Sound of Metal
True Mothers
The Wolf of Snow Hollow

On the fringes / needs a re-watch (honorable mentions or films that could rise in ranks after repeat viewings)

76 Days
A Sun
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
The Climb
Emma
First Cow
La Llorona
Mangrove
News of the World
On the Rocks
Palm Springs
The Personal History of David Copperfield
Promising Young Woman
Saint Maud
Sorry We Missed You
Tenet
Time
Trial of the Chicago 7
The Vast of Night
Zombi Child

Still a few I need to see yet, but otherwise, this looks to be as well rounded of a lineup as I'm able to compile right about now.

[Ivan0716]

Only seen 43, no favourite yet, not even a decent top 10.
https://letterboxd.com/ivan0716/list/2020-ranked/

You know it's a bad film year when Another Round is one of the most acclaimed films of the year. It's a Vince Vaughn comedy through and through. The last 5 minutes might have been cathartic, but the 2 hours leading up to it? Dry(ironically) and predictable.

[St. Gloede]

Only seen 24 films so far, only the top 3 are likely to remain by the end of the year.

1. Uppercase Print (2020, Radu Jude) 9/10
2. Sheytan vojud nadarad / There is No Evil (2020, Mohammad Rasoulof)
3. A Metamorfose dos Pássaros / The Metamophosis of Birds (2020, Catarina Vasconcelos) 8.5/10
4, Ar Condicionado / Air Conditioner (2020, Fradique) 8/10
5. Emma. (2020, Autumn de Wilde)
6. Circumstantial Pleasures (2020, Lewis Klahr)
7. Lúa vermella (2020, Lois Patiño)
8. Été 85 (2020, François Ozon)
9. Eyimofe / This is My Desire (2020, Arie Esiri, Chuko Esiri)

[Torgo]

Only seen 43, no favourite yet, not even a decent top 10.
https://letterboxd.com/ivan0716/list/2020-ranked/

Someone who enjoyed The Night Clerk more than Druk! That's rare.