So many great movies were released in 2020 that I had to create a Top 40! I already posted #’s 21 – 40… here are #’s 11 – 20, and I’ll finish up with the Top 10 soon.
#11 – THE VAST OF NIGHT – After reading a rave review from a fellow Chlotrudis member, Brett, I was mightily intrigued to see this film. Essentially a radio play in consummate 1950’s style, with remarkable visuals added (the cinematography is astounding), each element of Andrew Patterson’s film is sheer perfection. The scattershot dialog, the long opening tracking shot through the gym, the parking lot and down the street, the intimacy of the telephone operator’s office, to the glorious final moments of the film. In any other year, this would have been Top 5!
#12 – TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH – Yoko is the host of a popular Japanese travel show. While filming at various cultural landmarks in Uzbekistan, we see Yoko shooting hip deep in a lake supposedly filled with large, mysterious fish, repeatedly riding a nausea-inducing, carnival ride, and eating not quite cooked food at a local eatery. On camera, she does this all with a smile and a perky, upbeat demeanor, but off-camera, Yoko is brooding and withdrawn, missing her boyfriend in Japan, and putting up with her dismissive, male director and cameramen. Director Kiyoshi Kurosawa is known for his more chilling, horror-themed films, and he uses some of those talents to highlight Yoko’s isolation and fear at being a woman alone in a foreign city. Beautifully understated with some striking moments of musical magic.
#13 – MOUTHPIECE – A marvelous return to form from Patricia Rozema, who adapts a uniquely challenging play bringing all her strengths to bear: a feminist perspective, an intellectual analysis, and an emotional heart. It helps that the playwrights, and lead actresses from the play also star in the film. Having two people play a single character, representing her different aspects is greatly aided by the pair that have lived in her skin for so long. Another beautiful analysis of the affects of grief, and another film with startling moments of musical magic.
#14 – HOUSE OF HUMMINGBIRD – Despite its roots in actual events (the film feels very autobiographical) the central coming-of-age focus makes it less historical and more personal. 14-year old Eun-hee is searching to find her place in the world as she enters into that adolescent period were every decision seems both completely irrelevant and life-changing at the same time. Her family is caught up in the middle-class struggle to improve. Casual neglect, abuse by her brother, misunderstandings in adolescent love, and a tragedy involving a true historical event add up to make writer/director Bora Kim’s narrative film debut something really special.
#15 – MONSOON – Kit returns to his birthplace in Saigon after fleeing post-war Vietnam over thirty years ago with his parents. Nothing seems the same, as he struggles with his heritage. Hong Khaou’s film is another story about grief that resonated with me strongly given my mothers Filipino heritage. She never went back after coming the America after World War II, and now I feel if I visited, it wouldn’t be the place she knew. Henry Golding does a great job as Kit, and the opening scene contains some spectacular imagery that inspires both calm and tension. A later scene that depicts a family harvesting lotus flowers for tea is similarly outstanding.
#16 – BEANPOLE – The setting is post World War II Leningrad, and when we’re watching a Russian film after World War II, you can count in it being pretty grim. The central characters are Iya and Masha, two young women who experienced the war first-hand. Iya, toweringly tall and eerily pale, fought on the front lines until a concussion sent her back to the City where she now serves as a nurse tending men, many of whom have had their lives permanently shattered. She’s also taking care of a young, preternaturally cute toddler. Problem is, her concussion also sends her spiraling periodically into numbing fugue states where her body seizes and she becomes unaware of what’s going on around her. One such moment, early in the film, sets the devastating tone for much of the rest of the film especially after Masha returns.
#17 – THE TRUTH – In a normal year, Hirokazu Koreeda’s English language debut would be in the Top 5, but the competition is fierce this year. Koreeda goes to France and assembles an international cast including Catherine Deneuve, Juliette Binoche, and Ethan Hawke, but sticks close to his favorite theme of family. In this case it’s the strained relationship between a mother, Fabienne, star of French cinema, and a daughter, Lumir, a screenwriter, now living in New York with her husband and daughter. You see, Fabienne has just published her memoirs which has caused some additional friction in the relationship. She’s also starring in new science fiction film where her own mother never grows old, unearthing her own insecurities about aging and her relationship with her own daughter. Another triumph for the master!
#18 – THE NEST – Sean Durkin (MARTHA, MARCY MAE, MARLENE) has created a simmering drama modeled on the classic haunted house horror story, but where the supernatural element that is haunting the unfortunate family within is represented by wealth. THE NEST tells the story of a family that is falling apart due to the pressures and excesses of the late 1980’s culture. Led by outstanding performances by the always exciting Carrie Coon, and a surprisingly mature Jude Law. This one stuck with me and my appreciation of it grew with the passage of time.
#19 – HAM ON RYE – High School children from all across town ritualistically prepare for a big event then travel in small groups to a common destination. Is it prom? It’s hard to tell, but when the destination appears, the town deli, and the rituals continue, from everyone touching the entryway sign as they arrive, or the amusing dance sequences, we understand there’s something else going on. For anyone who has ever grown up… which is pretty much all of us, this surreal and beautifully shot film is for you. Writer/director Tylor Taormina’s feature debut makes its mark boldly and beautifully.
#20 – SHE DIES TOMORROW – A fascinating premise reveals a psychological malady spreading from person to person that causes them to believe with certainty that they will die tomorrow. Actress Amy Seimetz wrote and directed this film after going through a bout with severe depression, and she captures the isolation and foreboding perfectly. What makes this film so fascinating is how each person so afflicted responds quite differently. Jane Adams is that standout in a quirky but realistic supporting role.