The 50 Best Films of 2020 (and the first part of 2021)

For a practically immeasurable number of people, 2020 sucked in every possible way, and 2021 hasn’t gotten off to a better start. Between the pandemic, politics, and any number of staggering setbacks that fell in-between, it’s pretty much safe to say that the year was a write off for almost everyone. Time became immaterial, the outside world sort of drifted away, and for millions around the world, the only way to safely watch a film was to do it from home.

And yet, despite all the ink that’s been spilled about the dire state of the film industry at home and abroad as a result of the global pandemic, 2020 (and the first couple of months of 2021, which will see the release of some major Oscar contenders, thanks to the Academy’s extended deadline) has yielded a bumper crop of great films. 

How many great films, you might ask? So many that I had to push back my publishing of this list a full month later than usual to make sure I saw as many films as possible, and somehow I still ended up with 37 honourable mentions when trying to come up with a list of the 50 best. And of those 37 “runner-ups” are some cuts that were positively brutal to make.

The criteria to make this list is pretty loose. Did it come out in theatres or on VOD or a streaming service in 2020? It’s eligible. Is it eligible for Oscars and comes out sometime in the first part of 2021? Eligible. Is it feature length? Also, eligible. Things have been too much of a mess these days to overthink this more than I already have.

Honourable Mentions (in alphabetical order): 76 Days, American Selfie: One Nation Shoots Itself, The Assistant, Bad Education, The Beastie Boys Story, The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?, Bill and Ted Face the Music, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, Crip Camp, Da 5 Bloods, The Dissident, Emma, Extra Ordinary, Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds, Gunda, Hamilton, I Care a Lot, Let Them All Talk, Martin Eden, The Mauritanian, One Night in Miami, Our Friend, The Outpost, The Personal History of David Copperfield, The Projectionist, The Reason I Jump, Rewind, Softie, Stray, Supernova, A Thousand Cuts, The Trial of the Chicago 7, White Lie, The Willoughbys

But first, before the proper list…

3-way extra special honourable mention: Bad Boys for Life, Malang, and Tenet

In 2020, I saw five movies in a theatre. Two of these trips to the cinema – to see the unnecessarily dull pseudo-remake of The Grudge and the unbearably awful horror reboot of Fantasy Island – are outings I’d just as soon forget. But the other three movies I saw in theatres reminded me of how much fun going to the cinema can be, and why these places need to keep being supported in spite of all their obvious flaws.

In January, on the snowiest day of the season to that point, I ventured out by myself to see Bad Boys for Life in one of those fancy, schmancy VIP cinemas. Full disclosure: I have a borderline unreasonable love for the first two films in the Will Smith/Martin Lawrence action franchise, so unless Bad Boys for Life (which is the unlikely title holder for the highest grossing American film of 2020) did something incredibly awful like… I don’t know… forgot to actually play, I was probably going to like it. On its own merits as a film, it’s a fun, fine outing that rejuvenated a franchise that spent over a decade in mothballs. However, watching it in a cinema where drinking mojitos is encouraged made for a positively transcendent experience in turning off one’s brain; a comforting bit of Miami sunshine that washed over me while the weather outside was frightful.

One afternoon in February, I cut out of work early to check out Malang, an Indian action thriller from director Mohit Suri. I have a soft spot for Indian cinema, and more specifically for the types of fence swinging blockbusters produced there. When I saw the trailer for Malang – a film about a recently released prisoner out for revenge against the cops who put him away and ended his relationship with a pretty young woman – my interest was captured. The afternoon screening was attended by two other people: a man who fell asleep and a woman who left around the halfway point. While they weren’t all that enthused, I was caught up in the sheer energy of the whole thing, and riveted to every twist and misdirection offered up. While I wish I hadn’t actually watched the trailer before seeing Malang – as it literally gives away the movie’s biggest final reveal – Suri’s film scratched a major itch and left me chasing its high until the film dropped on Netflix early in the summer and I could watch it again. If anyone wants to remake Malang for North American audiences, I would happily drop everything I’m working on to focus on that instead.

Then, in the summer, I saw Christopher Nolan’s much hemmed and hawed about mindbender Tenet at a press screening in an enormous IMAX theatre. While I’m still not sure I entirely understand just how the heck the film’s elaborate depiction of time bending and physics adds up, I can’t say that the experience wasn’t a comforting outing during trying times. I honestly wouldn’t have gone to see Tenet in a theatre if it wasn’t under the controlled circumstances of a private press screening – which still came with a certain degree of anxiety – but I was glad that I did. Tenet is a film that benefits exponentially from being viewed in the largest, loudest auditorium possible. How much so? I was sent a Blu-Ray of Tenet a couple of months ago (for critical awards consideration purposes), and I still haven’t touched it. Tenet was made for the cinema, and it’s hard to imagine the experience measuring up otherwise. There was also something uniquely beautiful of stepping out of a dark, air conditioned theatre and back out into the summer sunshine.

All three of these experiences produced memories that I will treasure and forever link to the films that I saw. Were they the best movies of the year? Not really by any excusable metrics, but looking back on them makes me smile and raises my eagerness to return to cinemas when it’s safe to reopen the majority of them once again.

And on a side note, all three films have songs on their soundtracks that are such earworms that I haven’t been able to get them out of my head all year.

And now, on with the countdown:

50. Pieces of a Woman (Netflix)

While my feelings on the overall effectiveness Kornél Mundruczó have softened since seeing it at the (online) Toronto International Film Festival this past fall, there’s still no denying that Pieces of a Woman looks at the fraught process of grieving and trauma from a nuanced and often uncomfortable perspective. Bolstered nicely by the slow burning performance of Vanessa Kirby in the leading role – as a woman whose life and marriage are crushed following an unbearable (and perhaps avoidable) tragedy) – Pieces of a Woman deserves to be commended for showing how overcoming loss is a sliding scale for everyone touched by it. And the lengthy opening scene is truly one for the ages (even if the rest of the film is incapable of topping it). [Now available to stream on Netflix]

49. Identifying Features (Kino Lorber)

A gut-wrenching, remarkably layered debut feature from Fernanda Valadez, Identifying Features is the story of a Mexican mother (an outstanding Mercedes Hernandez) desperately trying to find out what happened to her missing, and presumed dead son, who tried to make the border crossing into the United States. Less a mystery and more of a dramatic expose on the sorts of dangers and bureaucratic injustices families face under such situations, Identifying Features has been racking up awards season momentum (including wins for Best International Feature at the Gothams and a screenwriting prize at Sundance), and it’s easy to see why. It’s the sort of drama with the power to change opinions and haunt the memories of all who see it. [Currently streaming via virtual cinemas across North America, including digital TIFF Bell Lightbox, Sudbury Indie Cinema, and Winnipeg Cinematheque]

48. Coded Bias (7th Empire Media/Women Make Movies)

An incendiary and eye opening look at how “technological convenience” can further oppression in the workplace, Shalini Kantayya’s documentary Coded Bias was one of the best films to play Hot Docs this past spring, and it’s thankfully seeing a proper Canadian release in the very near future. Using research into facial recognition software conducted by MIT researcher Joy Buolamwini as a jumping off point – which concluded that these often corporate used programmes are biased against dark skinned people – Coded Bias lays bare how machines and algorithms have no concern for human rights issues because they weren’t constructed to recognize them. In a world that’s inching closer towards wide-scale implementation of biometrics, Coded Bias is an impassioned call to action and oversight before it’s too late to turn back. [Available via Hot Docs’ Virtual Cinema starting on February 11, 2021]

47. You Cannot Kill David Arquette (Elevation Pictures/Super LTD)

In a year when many were prone to deep moments of self-reflection, few documentaries provided unlikely food for thought like David Darg and Price James’ documentary You Cannot Kill David Arquette, a look at the titular actor’s attempts to right career wrongs of the past and a coming to terms with his own anxieties and neuroses. Arquette, a lifelong fan of professional wrestling who was once controversially handed a major title as a means of promoting an upcoming movie in the early 2000s, was never able to shake the feeling that he did something wrong. Darg and James follow the 40-plus actor’s attempts to make a genuine go at being a full-time wrestler, with unexpectedly moving and overwhelmingly honest results. It’s a serious and poignant look at a pursuit that many might see as being silly at best and dangerous at worst. And if there’s any image in a film from this year that sums up 2020 better than Arquette dressed in a wizard cloak and vaping on horseback at sunset (while Carly Simon plays on the soundtrack), I’d really like to see it. [Now available to stream on Netflix in Canada and to rent on VOD.]

46. She Dies Tomorrow (Elevation Pictures/Neon)

Writer/director Amy Seimetz’s surrealist thriller She Dies Tomorrow preys on an everyday paranoia to create what truly amounts to a parable for our times. What if the unwavering belief and conviction of a woman (played brilliantly by Kate Lyn Sheil) that she’s going to die in the very near future was contagious to everyone around her? Although it was produced long before the pandemic hit, it’s impossible not to see parallels between Seimetz’s stylish and foreboding work and the current global situation. By that same token, She Dies Tomorrow normalizes the discussion of a fear that’s rarely talked about with such candor and emotional resonance. It’s a thriller that feels like one is watching an outright reckoning. It would be just as potent in any era, not just the one we’re currently living through. [Now available to rent on VOD in Canada.]

45. Spontaneous (Paramount Pictures)

In a year filled with a scant number of original “high concept” romps, screenwriter Brian Duffield’s directorial debut Spontaneous emerged as one of 2020’s most welcome surprises. The story of a teenage couple (a wonderful Katherine Langford and a sweet Charlie Plummer) trying to keep their relationship afloat after their classmates are plagued by unexplainable bouts of spontaneous combustion, Duffield’s finest work to date as a writer playfully takes modern genre and teen movie conventions to deliciously gory new heights here. It’s a blast for the first half, but it’s the film’s darkly comedic and unexpectedly moving second half that makes Spontaneous a worthy cult hit in the making. [Now available to rent on VOD in Canada.]

44. The Way Back (Warner Brothers)

It might not sound like a high bar to clear, but there’s something to be said about sports movies that aren’t entirely about the game that’s built around them. Director Gavin O’Connor’s latest – The Way Back – is one of those rare films where the outcome of “the big game” doesn’t matter in the slightest when compared to the well being of the characters involved. Ben Affleck delivers – hands down – the best performance of his career as Jack Cunningham, a broken down alcoholic who returns to the Catholic high school where he was once a star basketball player to coach a team with few tangible bright spots and prospects. While there’s plenty here about how Jack turns the team and the lives of some of his players around, the real drama in The Way Back comes from hoping that Jack can slowly back away from the brink of self-annihilation. The Way Back feels deeply personal to those involved, with O’Connor creating the best overall sports film since Friday Night Lights, and the best basketball movie since Hoosiers. Affleck deserves all the praise that has come his way for this, but the film as a whole deserves just as much. [Now available to stream in Canada on Crave and to rent on VOD]

43. Soul (Disney/Pixar)

What’s brilliant about director and co-writer Pete Docter’s latest Pixar effort, Soul, is the way that it can mean different things to different people who watch it. On one hand, this story of a fledgling teacher and jazz musician (voiced by Jamie Foxx) dying suddenly and being accidentally transported to an otherworldly realm where human souls are formed can be seen as a reflection on the fragility of life. On many others, it’s a look at work-life balance in darkly comedic terms, fears of death and the great beyond, the various ways talents are formed and cultivated, and how to better appreciate what one has rather than pining what they don’t. It’s also as uniquely entertaining, funny, moving, thoughtful, gorgeous, and subversive as most anything else Pixar has put out. Strangely, it’s not even my favourite offering from the studio in 2020, but its place in the animation outfit’s continually growing canon of exemplary films is deserved. [Now available to stream on Disney+]

42. Ammonite (Elevation Pictures/Neon)

Writer-director Francis Lee’s stunning and subdued romantic drama Ammonite is the type of film that can say more with quiet, knowing glances shared between its two exceptional leads than any amount of dialogue could ever hope to convey. Kate Winslet – as a 19th century archaeologist who lives a solitary life by choice – pairs perfectly with Saoirse Ronan’s layered performance as a grieving, unhappy, overlooked, and unappreciated housewife. The romance between the two of them builds slowly towards an outpouring of emotion and inevitable complications, but Lee and his actors keep things consistently level and grounded without ever devolving into melodrama. It’s one of the most delicate and passionate films of the year. [Now available to stream on VOD platforms, including digital TIFF Bell Lightbox]

41. Shirley (Elevation Pictures/Neon/Amazon Prime Video Canada)

Elisabeth Moss delivers one of her wittiest, darkest, and most detailed performances to date in director Josephine Decker’s atypical biopic about a specific period in the life of famed horror novelist and The Haunting of Hill House writer Shirley Jackson. The equally severe, sarcastic, and playful script from Sarah Gubbins gives Moss plenty to work with as the titular character; a mentally unstable and arrogant artist who becomes fascinated by a married couple that pays Shirley and her professor husband an extended visit. It’s an intelligent and often eerie piece of work that creeps up on the viewer like a growth of ivy thanks to Decker’s unique background in avant garde arts, and a wealth of supporting performances from the likes of Odessa Young, Logan Lerman, and Michael Stuhlbarg that are just as impressionable as Moss’ leading turn. One of the most welcome oddities of the year. [Now available to stream in Canada on Amazon Prime Video]

40. Residue (Array/Netflix)

Merawi Gerima’s sociologically, stylistically, and psychologically fascinating and impassioned debut feature Residue is built around one of the most complicated main characters in recent memory. Screenwriter Jay (played by Obinna Nwachukwu) returns to his hometown of Washington D.C. after fifteen years of trying to unsuccessfully peddle a film in Hollywood based on his experiences growing up. Upon his return, Jay sees the past he so dutifully tried to document has been erased as a result of gentrification. Gerima, utilizing a wealth of real life footage, taking community concerns to heart and mind, and placing her black actors above any direct depictions of the overwhelmingly white gentrifiers, makes a deeply personal work that blurs the lines between reality and fiction in bracing, important ways that play with memories of the past and visions of a not-so-rosy future. [Now available to stream on Netflix.]

39. First Cow (MK2 Mile End/A24)

Although it feels like a minor-key film – even by the standards of observant, slow cinema auteur Kelly Reichardt – this unlikely tale of friendship, crime, and survival is one of the most unique films about the art of the con ever crafted. John Magaro and Orion Lee shine brightly as a pair of mismatched, down on their luck drifters who decide to form a business of their own in the 1820s with the help of a landowners’ prized dairy cow. A film made of equal parts nervous tension and camaraderie, First Cow (adapted from Jonathan Raymond’s novel The Half Life, with help from the author) is an outlier in Reichardt’s filmography that slots nicely against her other “heist” flick Night Moves. But it’s just as easy to immerse oneself in as any of her other quietly epic efforts. [Now available in Canada on VOD]

38. Onward (Disney/Pixar)

I know that I’m in the minority on this one, but I found Pixar’s other major release this year – the fantastically minded Onward – to be a more lastingly memorable effort than the heavily lauded Soul. Both are fine films in their own way, but Onward takes a much simpler concept – young sibling elves (voiced by Tom Holland and Chris Pratt) who’ll do anything to spend one more day with the father they lost years ago – and crafts a spectacularly moving piece of entertainment around it. There’s something more traditionally magical and wondrous about the escalation of events in Onward, and it builds to revelations about life and death that I would argue are better delivered here than in Soul. It’s all splitting hairs, but I for one think that Onward – which was released in theatres just as the pandemic was starting to take hold – already deserves a critical reassessment. [Now available to stream on Disney+ and to rent on VOD]

37. The Broken Hearts Gallery (Elevation Pictures/Sony)

I’m a sucker for a well made romantic comedy, and Canadian filmmaker Natalie Krinsky’s charming effort The Broken Hearts Gallery takes a solid meet-cute concept and plugs it into a tried and true formula for better than average results. Geraldine Viswanathan (who also had a memorable turn as a student reporter in HBO’s dark comedy Bad Education, which just barely missed this list) is an anxious delight as a brokenhearted artist who turns her pain into a community sourced gallery exhibition through the help of a put-upon and increasingly indebted restaurateur, played by Dacre Montgomery. The stars have exceptional chemistry, and the script is one of the snappiest and most vibrant to hit the genre in years. In the ultimate metaphor for the film, the main character’s exhibition might not seem like high art to snobbier minded critics, but it’s something you love to see just the same. [Now available to rent on VOD.]

36. Dating Amber (Vortex Media/Samuel Goldwyn)

One notch better than the other romantic comedy on this list is Irish filmmaker David Freyne’s equally charming, but thematically richer Dating Amber. Set in the mid-90s, shortly after the decriminalization of homosexuality in Ireland, Freyne’s film concerns two gay teens (Fionn O’Shea and Lola Petticrew) with vastly different temperaments agreeing to a sham relationship in a bid to go unnoticed for the rest of their high school days. Effortlessly funny and appropriately bittersweet, Dating Amber treats its characters like flesh and blood human beings with real fears and desires rather than standard teen movie archetypes. Of all the films on this list, Dating Amber might be the one that has flown the furthest under the radar in North America, but I like to think that time will be kind to this one as more audiences – particularly young ones – find their way around to seeing it. [Now available to rent on VOD in Canada.]

35. Herself (Amazon Prime Video)

Although theatre veteran Phyllida Lloyd does a fine job of directing the domestic abuse drama Herself (delivering her best feature film effort to date in the process), the film is commanded most brilliantly by star and co-writer Clare Dunne, who stars as a mother of two who’s literally attempting to build a home of her own after fleeing an abusive husband. Inspirational without being corny and harrowing without being manipulative, Herself is a measured, unflinching depiction of trauma and the impact domestic violence has on families. It’s also a film where tearful catharsis often isn’t found in grand gestures or via showstopping speeches, but rather through simple acts of kindness that happen at just the right times. When the world and its bureaucracy have been destroying someone as much as they have Dunne’s protagonist, sometimes all one needs is a helping hand and a kind word to keep going. [Now available to stream on Amazon Prime Video in Canada.]

34. The Killing of Two Lovers (Elevation Pictures/Neon)

American filmmaker Robert Machoian’s latest and best film, The Killing of Two Lovers, has a harsh name and memorably uncomfortable tone for something so relatively austere. In what can only be described as a career reinvention, actor Clayne Crawford delivers a revelatory performance as David, a rural scrapper and labourer who’s struggling with a trial separation from his wife. While it’s hinted that David is growing increasingly unstable with the idea that his ex has begun dating again, Machoian’s penchant for elegantly realized long sequences keeps the audience guessing as to where The Killing of Two Lovers will lead next, and eventually building to some of the most dramatic and tense climactic material in any film this year. Although it premiered at Sundance last year, it’s a film that practically begs to be viewed in isolation. [Coming soon to Canada.]

33. Anne at 13,000 ft. (MDFF/Cinema Guild)

Another hypnotic, emotionally observational effort from Canadian filmmaker Kazik Radwanski, Anne at 13,000 ft. is one of the year’s best and purest character studies. Elevated in no small part by a tremendous leading performance from Deragh Campbell as an aloof daycare worker whose mental health is slowly crumbling under the weight of expectations, Anne at 13,000 ft. is – like most of Radwanski’s work – deceptively simple on the surface, yet boiling with dramatic tension and a wealth of detail. Few directors and actors can pull off just the right balance of abrasiveness and embracing that Anne at 13,000 ft. needs to succeed, but Radwanski and Campbell pull it off brilliantly. [Available to stream in Canada via digital TIFF Bell Lightbox starting on February 19, 2021]

32. Promising Young Woman (Focus Features)

Killing Eve creator Emerald Fennell’s first feature film Promising Young Woman has become one of the most divisive and hotly debated films of this current awards season, for some valid reasons, and one imagines that everyone involved with this razor sharp provocation wouldn’t have it any other way. This “darker than the bottom of the ocean” comedy casts a menacing, but sometimes sympathetic Carey Mulligan as a predator who targets male abusers who constantly hide behind the guise of being “nice guys.” While that’s a perfect story for our times, Fennell keeps layering on moral complexity while imbuing Promising Young Woman with rousing entertainment value. I’ll be the first to admit that Promising Young Woman won’t be for everyone, and its merits and messages will be hotly debated for years to come, but that seems to be the point. Promising Young Woman, right up until its admittedly bonkers conclusion, is meant to be a conversation starter, not an ender; the type of film where viewers will get out of it exactly what they bring into it. In an era where people demand their film discourse to be broken up into digestible soundbites and tweets, it’s refreshing to see a film that demands to be discussed in totality. [Now playing in select theatres – where open – and available to rent on PVOD.]

31. Preparations to be Together for an Unknown Period of Time (FilmsWeLike)

A romantic mystery of sorts that focuses on themes of loneliness, memory, and workplace sexism, Hungarian filmmaker Lili Horvat’s unique and focused Preparations to be Together for an Unknown Period of Time will keep thoughtful, patient viewers guessing and reflecting throughout its economic running time. This story of a single, middle aged, female neurosurgeon whose love interest one day claims to have never met her is both enigmatic and straightforward at the same time. Horvat shows a true love for all her characters and their unique – possibly imagined – situations, while constantly analyzing the nature of attraction itself. It’s a film built on practical lies and emotional truths, neither of which can be fully moralized or defined. It’s also a lot more entertaining than all of that critical jargon makes it sound. [Now available via virtual cinemas across Canada, including digital TIFF Bell Lightbox, Gorge Cinema, and Highland Cinema] 

30. Mangrove (Amazon Prime Video)

Although Amazon is somewhat confusingly choosing to promote the five titles in Steve McQueen’s groundbreaking Small Axe series as a television show for the sake of Emmy consideration instead of entering them individually for Oscar contention, most critics (myself include) have chosen to honour them as what they are – films. The first and longest of these being Mangrove, which depicts the struggles of a West Indian business owner (Shaun Parkes, in one of the year’s best performances) who’s constantly being harassed by the racist police in 1970s London, and how those actions blossom into part of a larger community uprising and court case. It’s easily the best courtroom drama of the year (apologies to Aaron Sorkin), and the case of the Mangrove Nine carries with it an astounding amount of political and social relevance. If it weren’t for the exquisite production design, one unfamiliar with the true story Mangrove is based on could be forgiven for thinking it took place this very year. [Available to stream in Canada on Amazon Prime Video.]

29. The Climb (Mongrel Media/Sony Pictures Classics)

A hilarious look at a patently toxic male friendship, The Climb finds director/actor Michael Angelo Covino (who viewers can also see in a great supporting turn in the recently released News of the World) and collaborator/co-star Kyle Marvin digging into each other’s hearts, minds, and throats across several lengthy, but formative scenes strung niftily together to form a cohesive whole. Although The Climb only starts off during a cycling trip through France, Covino and Marvin’s resolutely American film feels uniquely European throughout. By focusing on key moments in the core, perpetually fractured friendship of its characters (also named Michael and Kyle) The Climb achieves narrative and technical profundity, while still delivering the best cringeworthy moments of humour this year. Covino’s manic turn plays nicely against Marvin’s charming, kindly straight arrow, and the choice to use lengthy takes makes the viewer feel like they’re locked in a room with them. It’s the first truly great Odd Couple riff in the new millennium. [Now available on VOD in Canada.]

28. Rocks (levelFilm)

Sometimes hard to watch, but frequently empowering and eye-opening, Sarah Gavron’s Rocks is an insightful, nuanced, and highly believable slice-of-life story about a black teen in London (Bukky Bakray, playing the titular character) trying to take care of her little brother after their mother has seemingly abandoned them. While “Rocks” wants to be self-sufficient, she needs help from her friends to ensure that neither herself or her brother gets put into foster care, a tactic that will strengthen some friendships and ruin others beyond repair. Gavron’s realistic take on trying to make it on one’s own as an impoverished teen never reduces the characters’ situations to cliche, nor does Rocks ever feel like it’s being miserable for the sake of being miserable. It’s a wildly modern take on the type of work fellow Brit Ken Loach has built his entire career upon, only a lot more relevant and youthful. [Now available in Canada on VOD, including at digital TIFF Bell Lightbox]

27. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Netflix)

Although the roots and foundation of August Wilson’s final play from his “Century” cycle are still proudly on display, the crisp direction of George C. Wolfe and a bountiful number of show-stopping performances make Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom a true filmmaking achievement. Led by Viola Davis as the titular blues diva – who’s trying to cut a record with her backing band on her own demanding terms – and the late Chadwick Boseman as her arrogant, hot shot trumpeter, not only does Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom feel like a masterclass in acting (one that extends to an exemplary supporting cast), but a genuine attraction that has to be seen to be believed. Few films about the link between art, the artist, and history have been as daring and electrifying as this. [Now available to stream on Netflix.]

26. Mank (Netflix)

Although David Fincher’s look back at the writing of Citizen Kane through the eyes of broken down screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz (which was written by the director’s late father) hasn’t drummed up the sort of passionate fervor most of his films are greeted with, I stand by my assessment that Mank is one of his finest and most interesting projects. Showing a deep love for his subject – played with expected excellence from Gary Oldman in the lead – Fincher’s look back on old Hollywood heavyweights is as impassioned as it is earnest. It’s almost like a Capra film with a Hard-R rating and a lot of darkness around the periphery. Most impressively, unlike a lot of Fincher’s work, Mank feels personal in ways that many of his other superbly made productions have not. It’s also one of the films on this list that most benefits from repeat viewings. [Now available to stream on Netflix.]

25. Blow the Man Down (Amazon Prime Video)

I was thoroughly disappointed to see Amazon dump Bridget Savage Cole and Danielle Krudy’s coastal and crusty noir Blow the Man Down onto their streaming service at the height of the pandemic with little to no fanfare whatsoever. It’s a chilly, witty, and female driven Coen-esque thriller about two adult sisters (Morgan Saylor and Sophie Lowe) trying to survive in a coastal New England town after losing their mother and becoming involved in a cat and mouse game with a local madame (a deliciously evil Margo Martindale). Sufficiently twisted, with exceptional writing and pacing, Blow the Man Down was the most entertaining film I saw at TIFF in 2019. In 2020, a rewatch proved it to be one of the best films I watched this year, too. Do yourself a favour and seek this one out immediately. It runs less than ninety minutes. Go on. I know you have the time. There are sea shanties. Those are all the rage right now. You love sea shanties. [Now available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.]

24. Dick Johnson is Dead (Netflix)

Documentarian Kirsten Johnson’s loving ode to her father in Dick Johnson is Dead is part dark comedy, part living wake, and part performance art. And all of it is packed to bursting with emotion, love, and frustration. Johnson follows along with her father, a retired psychologist, as he deals with the early stages of dementia and the memory loss that accompanies it. Dick Johnson, who’s a game participant throughout, gets to experience what it would be like to die in a variety of different ways and theorize about the afterlife. It’s a premise that could be exploitative in lesser hands, but the Johnsons do a fantastic job of laughing in death’s face and doing it until they both need a good, long cry to let it all out. It’s playful and potent. [Now available to stream on Netflix]

23. The Nest (Elevation Pictures/IFC Films)

A razor sharp look at the slow dissolution of a 80s marriage following a litany of lies and a relocation to England, Sean Durkin’s The Nest finds actors Jude Law and Carrie Coon at the top of their game and with material that most performers would kill to get their hands on. The palpable discomfort and mounting resentment in Durkin’s drama makes The Nest feel almost like a thriller and less like a domestic drama. Durkin (who constructed the material in part from some of his own experiences growing up) has total control of his film’s pointed narrative, and he’s perfectly comfortable to give his stars plenty of space to flesh out their characters and performances. It’s more than enough to make one wonder why this is only Durkin’s second film in the past decade. [Now available to rent on VOD in Canada, including on digital TIFF Bell Lightbox.]

22. Saint Frances (Game Theory Films/Oscilloscope)

Much more than just another charming tale of an immature adult bonding with a precocious toddler and learning about life and happiness in the process, director Alex Thompson and writer-star Kelly O’Sullivan’s Saint Frances uses genre familiarity to pull viewers into a complex, thoughtful, frequently funny, and sometimes heartbreaking look at womanhood. Tackling everything from faith and abortion to middle aged anxieties and young people learning to take responsibilities for their actions, Saint Frances’ tale of a thirty-four year old in a rut (played by O’Sullivan) and her time spent as a nanny for a difficult kid (Ramona Edith-Williams) who has troubles of her own earns all of its laughs and dramatic beats simply by valuing the varied input of its vastly different characters and their experiences. It’s a crowd pleaser that makes the audience think quite a bit instead of offering passable entertainment. [Now available in Canada on VOD.]

21. Wolfwalkers (Apple TV+)

The best animated film of the past year, Wolfwalkers is a visually stunning, epically written romp that stitches together classic Irish mythology, storybook fables, and contemporary themes with ease and grace. This story of a budding young hunter teaming up with a feral “wolfwalker” who can communicate with animals forging a friendship against a background of persecution and danger for the latter of the two is the work of directors Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart, who previously made the equally resplendent and moving Song of the Sea and The Secret of Kells. It’s a film the whole family can enjoy, yet intelligent and artful enough for the most discerning of adults. [Now available to stream on Apple TV+]

20. Beanpole (Kino Lorber)

Russia’s selection for Oscar contention last year, Kantemir Balagov’s Beanpole is one of the harshest films of the year to sit through, but also one of the most rewarding and moving. Looking at the toll of living as a woman in a post-World War II, communist, patriarchal society, Beanpole is a deliberately paced film depicting the lives of two women struggling with guilt and loss. Iya (Viktoria Miroshenichenko, delivering another of the year’s finest performances) is the titular “beanpole,” a taller than average young woman suffering from neurological damage sustained in the war, and the PTSD that accompanies it. Masha (Vasilisa Perelygina) is Iya’s closest ally and friend, a female soldier returning from battle only to find out that something terrible has happened to her young son. That incident drives a wedge increasingly further between Iya and Masha, and Balagov handles the bleak subject matter with a great degree of tact and empathy. Terrible things happen and bad decisions are made throughout Beanpole, but Balagov – who’s still a young filmmaker – never casts any sort of blame or scorn upon an already awful situation. Beanpole is a perfect example of how one can make a mournful film without being tacky or exploitative. [Now available to rent on VOD in Canada]

19. The Forty-Year-Old Version (Netflix)

Star, director, and writer Radha Blank’s debut feature, The Forty-Year-Old Version is one of the most brutally honest films of the year. More or less playing herself, Blank’s film chronicles the struggles of an (almost) middle-aged playwright who finds herself struggling to follow through on the praise and promise that was showered upon her in her twenties, eventually finding a new outlet for her feelings and ideas via hip-hop. I’m just writing a blurb about The Forty-Year-Old Version here (I wrote more extensively on it here), and simply reducing Blank’s work to a soundbite feels a bit disingenuous. It’s a dexterous, layered, and passionate film that’s as confessional and personal as cinema tends to get these days. It also helps that Blank oozes star power and confidence, making me excited to see where she goes from here. Her arrival as a filmmaking force feels long overdue. [Now available to stream on Netflix.]

18. His House (Netflix)

It’s often said that the best horror films revolve around real fears that have been amplified. In the case of British filmmaker Remi Weekes’ first feature, His House, those fears are unique, relevant, and specific to people who are rarely seen in genre cinema: recent immigrants. This chilling and unexpectedly moving film revolves around a husband and wife who fled from South Sudan to England to build a new life. Not only do they find it hard to acclimate to their new surroundings – with their governmental aides offering little tangible support and a lot of condescension – but the ghosts that they left behind might’ve followed them to their new home. Riveting, sad, and politically loaded, His House has been one of the most critically slept on films of the past year, and easily the best horror film in a year that many thought was scary enough as it is. [Now available to stream on Netflix.]

17. The Father (Elevation Pictures/Sony Pictures Classics)

Anthony Hopkins delivers his best performance since the early 90s in writer-director Florian Zeller’s adaptation of his own play, The Father. A story of living with dementia told from the unreliable perspective of the person who’s suffering (in this case Hopkins), The Father is a wholly original reimagining of the traditional daughter (played here wonderfully by Olivia Colman) returning home to deal with an ailing parent narrative. It’s also the rare example of a play-to-screen adaptation that retains the intimacy of its source material, while also finding clever ways of making things a lot more cinematic. The film mostly belongs to Hopkins’ tremendous leading turn, but The Father is a story worth such an effort. [Coming soon to Canada.]

16. My Little Sister (Film Movement)

Stéphanie Chuat and Véronique Reymond’s tale of sibling love and support, My Little Sister, could’ve been just another “family struggles with disease” drama, but Switzerland’s selection for Best International Film Oscar contention this year is something a lot deeper on an emotional level and far more intellectually stimulating that a passing glance might suggest. A smart, dramatic literary deconstruction wrapped in a surprisingly unpredictable story, My Little Sister follows a woman (the usually reliable Nina Hoss) who’s doing everything she can to care for her dying, and oh-so-slightly older fraternal twin (Lars Eidinger). There’s a toll taken on both siblings – the woman’s devotion to her husband crumbles, while her brother feels ostracised from his love of acting – but Chaut and Reymond’s story never takes all the expected and cliched directions. It’s the best kind of tear jerker: a film that comes by its emotional weight honestly, and one that gives viewers something they genuinely haven’t seen before. [Now available to stream via virtual cinemas, including digital TIFF Bell Lightbox]

15. Cowboys (Vortex Media/Samuel Goldwyn)

Anna Kerrigan’s modern day western Cowboys is the type of film some might dismiss as being “small,” but it packs a socially relevant and highly entertaining punch. Steve Zahn, who delivers the best performance of his career, stars as a bipolar ex-con fresh out of prison that “kidnaps” his transgender son (Sasha Knight) and tries to take him to Canada because his ex-wife (Jillian Bell) doesn’t accept the kid’s sexual identity. The most original western since Brokeback Mountain, Cowboys is a powerful look at a lost soul trying their hardest to make sure their child doesn’t suffer a similar fate under different circumstances (i.e. bullying, misgendering). It caught me unaware when I first saw it during this year’s Inside Out festival, and Cowboys has stuck with me ever since. The topics of being young and transgender and living with a parent who has mental illness are rarely treated with such tact, grace, and complexity. [Available to rent in Canada on VOD starting February 12.]

14. Collective (Mongrel Media/Magnolia Films)

Romanian filmmaker Alexander Nanau’s documentary Collective might take the title for being the most depressing documentary of the past year, which certainly says something for the year 2020. It’s also one of the most eye opening looks at how cost cutting measures employed by world governments and hospitals can put patients’ lives at risk. In the weeks following a massive 2015 nightclub fire that killed 27 and injured 180, survivors began to pass away at an alarming rate; not from their burns or injuries, but from preventable infections. Nanau follows a former sports reporter turned one of the country’s most respected investigative journalists and a former patients’ rights activist turned health minister as they try to get to the bottom of what happened, where corners were cut, and who’s responsible. Collective starts and ends in pretty rough places for all involved, but in his fly-on-the-wall account of events, Nanau exposes how corrupt politicians can hold their own in a storm by distorting facts and refusing to come clean. It’s a document of staggering, heartbreaking accountability. [Now available to rent on VOD in Canada.]

13. Between the World and Me (HBO)

Not quite a drama and not quite a documentary, Between the World and Me finds theatre director Kamilah Forbes remounting the stage version of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ open letter to his son that she helped create for the famed Apollo Theatre. It proved to be one of the best uses of quarantine and lockdown time possible, with Forbes enlisting a wide array of black actors (working either from home or other safe locations) to help deliver a heartfelt plea just when the Black Lives Matter movement needed to hear it most. They might be speaking Coates’ words and recounting his life experiences, but everyone involved with Between the World and Me unwaveringly takes the subject matter to heart. Some break down into tears, but no one falters, and the results are powerful, unforgettable, and hopefully impactful. [Now available to stream in Canada on Crave.]

12. Time (Amazon Prime Video)

One of the finest documentaries ever made about the need for prison reform, Time is a story of love and family that knows no bounds or bars. Director Garrett Bradley tells of the love between Rob Richardson and Sibil Fox, partners since the age of sixteen who have been separated for two decades after committing a bank robbery borne from extreme economic desperation. Sibil, who was pregnant, got released, and she has been trying to get her love’s sixty year sentence reduced. Filmed in black and white and making great use of the home movies Sibil shot over the years, Time analyzes the inherent lack of empathy within the judicial and prison systems through a lens of love and tenderness. The situation is severe, but Sibil’s resolve is as bottomless as her desire to see Rob return home. Some of the setbacks, contradictions, and brush offs faced by Sibil will leave viewers rightfully angry, but Time proves the old adage that love is something worth fighting for. [Now available to stream in Canada on Amazon Prime Video.]

11. Boys State (Apple TV+/A24)

Anyone wondering why American politics in the year 2020 were such an inscrutable mess need look no further than Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss’ teenage microcosm Boys State. McBaine and Moss are on hand to document a yearly gathering of politically minded, male teens from across the state of Texas who are tasked with creating their own political parties and platforms, while nominating and voting on their preferred elected officials from among the attendees. Boys State might sound like a privileged, antiquated way to show teens civic responsibility, and while it totally is just that, the issues at hand, blatant misinformation, dirty tactics, prejudices, and wildly different levels of caring among McBaine and Moss’ chosen subjects speaks to a larger problem about the American political divide in general. It’s rousing, entertaining, and sometimes morally disgusting. There’s some hope for the future to be found in Boys State, but there are also going to have to be a lot of changes. [Now available to stream in Canada on Apple TV+]

10. The Kid Detective (levelFilm/Sony)

The biggest overall surprise of the year is also the best Canadian film of the year. Evan Morgan’s dark comedy and gumshoe thriller The Kid Detective takes a perfectly cast Adam Brody as a once great teen private eye and turns him into a burnt out thirty(ish) shell of his former self. The mystery involving the titular character’s investigation into the murder of a high schooler’s boyfriend is an exciting and cleverly paced one to follow along with, but Morgan and Brody are just as committed to the sometimes unlikable protagonist’s existential crises. Each repeat viewing of The Kid Detective doesn’t unearth new clues to the mystery that I didn’t previously put together, but new layers in the characters and Morgan’s assured storytelling. I would happily place The Kid Detective alongside Brick and Fletch when it comes to mysteries that are able to effortlessly blend danger and acerbic wit. [Now available to rent on VOD in Canada.]

9. Bacurau (Kino Lorber)

Juliano Dornelles and Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Most Dangerous Game inspired genre mash-up Bacurau is a weird and wild blast. Set in a fictional Brazilian town that has been cut off from receiving even the most basic of supplies (including water), Bacurau is a sprawling pastiche that bounces back and forth between the struggles of the innocent, endangered, and hearty townspeople and a shady cadre of wealthy villains (including Udo Kier!). For Filho – one of his country’s best and most heady independent filmmakers – it’s a wild break from the expected, darting around effortlessly between varied tones, settings, and characters. The fact that Bacurau is able to come up with something this coherent, engaging, and socially fascinating is a testament to the talent behind the camera. It’s also a lot more entertaining, viscerally satisfying, and accessible than its art house reputation might suggest. [Now available to rent on VOD in Canada.]

8. City Hall (Zipporah Films/PBS)

Master documentarian Frederick Wiseman has been making longform observational documentaries since reinventing that filmic style with 1967’s controversial Titicut Follies. Wiseman has never shown signs of letting up, even at the age of 90, and his latest, a look inside Boston’s City Hall that was shot between the fall of 2018 and winter of 2019 is one of his absolute best. While some might balk at the four and a half hour running time of City Hall (in which case, almost none of Wiseman’s films would be for them), this examination of the various political consultations with members of the public that are conducted by the city’s various elected and appointed representatives is a rare example of the good that can come from American democracies. People get upset with each other in City Hall, but they always listen, process, and respond with carefulness and kindness. Though his tried and true “show everything as it happened” style, Wiseman has created something uniquely comforting during a dark time for America.  These days, we all need to remember the power of working together, sharing concerns, and not working against each other. [Coming soon to DVD]

7. Lovers Rock (Amazon Prime Video)

Another entry from Steve McQueen’s Small Axe series of films to make this list, Lovers Rock is an intimate look at the goings on at a West Indian house party in early 1980s London. While there are occasional flashes of darkness to be found (the lingering threat of the cops showing up to stop the fun, an uncouth party guest who might have a vendetta), Lovers Rock is the filmmaker’s most chill and laid back effort to date, and in the year 2020, it has the power of a giant exhale. It eventually morphs into a touching, memorable love story, but Lovers Rock is also one of the most inviting and inclusive efforts of the year. It has the feel of stepping into a time machine and immediately being invited into someone’s home (provided that you don’t mind setting up before the guests arrive). It’s comforting, but told with the kind of eye for detail and cultural richness that McQueen brings to all of his films. Like any great party, one wishes Lovers Rock would never end. [Now available to stream in Canada on Amazon Prime Video]

6. Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets (Utopia)

Another film about a grand party, and yet another movie on this list that blurs the lines between documentary and drama, Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets visits a Las Vegas dive bar on its final day of operations. Filmmaker brothers Bill and Turner Ross are two of the most interesting and accomplished documentarians of the modern era, and Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets is their magnum opus; a movie where their love of humanity and zest for life come together spectacularly. The Ross’ spend their entire day at Roaring 20s, from the sparsely attended day shift, to the closing night party getting a bit rowdier, to the bitter end when things are starting to get weird, melancholic, and very, very drunk. Viewers get to know all of the regulars, the bartenders, and all of their closest friends and family members like they’ve known them all for years. It’s a unique addition to the party movie canon, but a welcome one. Much like Lovers Rock listed above, Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets is the next best thing to being there and having a grand old time with everyone. [Now available to rent in Canada on VOD.]

5. Judas and the Black Messiah (Warner Brothers)

Director and co-writer Shaka King’s Judas and the Black Messiah is the most timely political and historical drama of the year. Based on the true story of how petty Chicago car thief William O’Neal (Lakeith Stanfield) was goaded by the FBI into becoming an informant in a bid to get closer to Black Panther party chairman Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya), Judas and the Black Messiah shows what happens to the message of an organization when the person at the heart of a movement is turned into a myth that’s created by their enemies and oppressors. King bounces back and forth between William’s hesitancy to snitch on a cause he gradually starts to believe in, and Hampton’s struggles to keep the fracturing Panthers together by forging new alliances in the community. King’s direction and eye for 1970s historical detail is brilliant, and the script is structured like a fast-paced political thriller. But the film is commanded largely by Kaluuya, who holds court over everything like a polished, well spoken, and impassioned leader should. It’s the sort of film where the performances are so all around dazzling that any artifice melts away. [Available to rent in Canada on PVOD starting Friday, February 12.]

4. Sound of Metal (Pacific Northwest Pictures/Amazon Prime Video)

Riz Ahmed gives the most powerful performance of the year in director and co-writer Darius Marder’s Sound of Metal, the story of a noise metal drummer whose sudden hearing loss leads him down a depressive path that could undo years of carefully earned sobriety. Placing viewers in the shoes of Ahmed’s character, Ruben, Marder crafts a technically powerful piece of cinema told largely from the perspective of being deaf. Never before has a film’s sound design – which is the definition of Oscar worthy – mattered so much to a narrative, performance, or directorial vision. Sound of Metal isn’t only one of the best dramas of the year, it’s also one of the most original and empathetic. Sound of Metal’s look at hearing loss and personal demons is also an exemplary look into trauma and recovery. [Now available to stream on VOD in Canada, including on digital TIFF Bell Lightbox.]

3. Nomadland (Searchlight)

Nomadland finds director Chloe Zhao’s outstanding ability to weave a fictional story of survival into a preexisting reality put to its finest use yet. Frances McDormand, in another career highlight performance, stars as Fern, a woman who travels across America living out of the back of a van, becoming part of a modern day subculture of nomads who choose to do the same. While Fern’s story and her reasons for unplugging from “polite” society are complex and dramatically compelling, and Nomadland looks as visually stunning as Zhao’s previous efforts, the director’s latest shows a distinct love for humanity and richly layered storytelling. Looking beyond the obvious one sees more than a single woman’s story. They see the story of America. [Coming soon to Canada.]

2. Minari (Elevation Pictures/A24)

Writer-director Lee Isaac Chung’s semi-autobiographical Minari – a look at growing up Korean in rural America – is a film in perfect harmony. The family at the heart of Minari – led by Steven Yuen, who continues to remind viewers just how terrific of an actor he is – face a wide range of cultural stumbling blocks once they relocate to their prefabricated home in the Ozarks; some of them general, some of them regional, and others that are wholly specific to the Korean-American experience. Chung never picks one of these elements to exclusively focus on, instead looking at Minari from a unique point of view that’s both intimate and overwhelming at the same time. It’s packed to bursting with heartbreaking drama, sly humour, and most importantly of all, a lot of empathy. [Available on PVOD in Canada starting February 26, 2021.]

The best film of 2020(ish): Never Rarely Sometimes Always (Focus Features)

No film this year left a bigger impact on me than Eliza Hittman’s Never Rarely Sometimes Always. The emotionally devastating story of a Pennsylvania teenager (Sidney Flanigan, in a star making debut performance) who travels in secret to New York City with a close friend (Talia Ryder) to get an abortion, Never Rarely Sometimes Always lays bare the struggles faced by many young women in an uneven society that can’t decide if it wants them to succeed or fail before their lives even begin. The anxiety felt by these young women is nerve jangling, but rooted in richly layered details and fears without ever once devolving into preachiness. A great film about a bad situation should make the viewer wish they could intervene and make some of the pain go away, and Never Rarely Sometimes Always is precisely that kind of film (especially during the lengthy, gutting “questionnaire” sequence that gives Hittman’s film its title). It has stayed with me longer than anything else I’ve seen this year. [Now available to rent in Canada on VOD and to stream on Crave.]