Wednesday, February 24, 2021

The Wallys: Best in film 2020


What is a film? What is a year? These are perhaps the least pressing questions of 2020 and, yet, they afford a refuge from even larger existential questions. I'm even later than usual with this year's roundup and my choices even more eccentric.

Three of my favorite films of 2020 are considered a TV show by some critics, even as the vast majority of films were seen on television. I've chosen to apply a very loose definition because Steve McQueen's 6-part Small Axe series is just so cinematic!

Meanwhile, I've grown a lot more strict about what I consider a "2020 film." Nomadland is a wonderful film with yet another fantastic Frances McDormand performance but I didn't see it in 2020 so it'll show up here in February 2022.

Them's the breaks. 🙈🙉🙊

THE TOP TWENTY:

1. LOVERS ROCK (U.K., dir. Steve McQueen)

2. FIRST COW (U.S., dir. Kelly Reichardt)

3. KAJILLIONAIRE (U.S., dir. Miranda July)

4. PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE (France, dir. Céline Sciamma)

5. BEANPOLE (Russia, dir. Kantemir Balagov)

6. SOUL (U.S., dir. Pete Docter)

7. PALM SPRINGS (U.S., dir. Max Barbakow)

8. THE WILD GOOSE LAKE (China, dir. Diao Yinan)

9. MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM (U.S., dir. George C. Wolfe)

10. THE ASSISTANT (U.S., dir. Kitty Green)

11. COLLECTIVE (Romania, dir. Alexander Nanau)

12. CORPUS CHRISTI (Poland, dir. Jan Komasa)

13. THE PAINTER AND THE THIEF (Norway, dir. Benjamin Ree)

14. BIRDS OF PREY (U.S., dir. Cathy Yan)

15. TIME (U.S., dir. Garrett Bradley)

16. MANGROVE (U.K., dir. Steve McQueen)

17. LA LLORONA (Guatemala, dir. Jayro HIGH-RO Bustamante)

18. THE FORTY-YEAR-OLD VERSION (U.S., dir. Radha Blank)

19. I’M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS (U.S., dir. Charlie Kaufman)

20. RED, WHITE & BLUE (U.K., dir. Steve McQueen)


BEST PICTURE

Beanpole

First Cow

Kajillionaire

Lovers Rock

Portrait of a Lady on Fire


BEST DIRECTOR

Kantemir Balagov (Beanpole)

Miranda July (Kajillionaire)

Steve McQueen (Lovers Rock)

Kelly Reichardt (First Cow)

Céline Sciamma (Portrait of a Lady on Fire)


BEST ACTOR

Riz Ahmed (Sound of Metal)

Chadwick Boseman (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom)

John Boyega (Red, White and Blue)

Delroy Lindo (Da 5 Bloods)

Mads Mikkelsen (Another Round)

Honorable Mentions: Bartosz Bielenia (Corpus Christi), Ge Hu (The Wild Goose Lake), Hugh Jackman (Bad Education), Orion Lee and John Magaro (First Cow), Jesse Plemons (I’m Thinking of Ending Things)


BEST ACTRESS

Radha Blank (The Forty-Year-Old Version)

Jessie Buckley (I’m Thinking of Ending Things)

Viola Davis (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom)

Julia Garner (The Assistant)

Alfre Woodard (Clemency)

HM: Haley Bennett (Swallow), Carrie Coon (The Nest), Sidney Flanigan (Never Rarely Sometimes Always), Cristin Milioti (Palm Springs), Evan Rachel Wood (Kajillionaire)


BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Aldis Hodge (Clemency)

Udo Kier (Bacurau)

Paul Raci (Sound of Metal)

Steve Toussaint (Red, White and Blue)

Glynn Turman (Ma Rainey's Black Bottom)

HM: Caleb Landry Jones (The Outpost), J.K. Simmons (Palm Springs), Michael Stuhlbarg (Shirley)


BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Maria Bakalova (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm)

Candace Bergen (Let Them All Talk)

Gwei Lun-mei (The Wild Goose Lake)

Adèle Haenel (Portrait of a Lady on Fire)

Amanda Seyfried (Mank)

HM: Allison Janney (Bad Education), Margarita Kenéfic (La Llorona), Robyn Nevin (Relic)


BEST ENSEMBLE

First Cow

Kajillionaire

La Llorona

Lovers Rock

Mangrove

HM: Bacurau, The Outpost, Palm Springs


BEST BODY OF WORK

Haley Bennett (The Devil All the Time, Hillbilly Elegy and Swallow)

Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm and The Trial of the Chicago 7)

Steve McQueen (“Small Axe” film series)

Elisabeth Moss (The Invisible Man and Shirley)

Anya Taylor-Joy (Emma. and “The Queen’s Gambit”)


BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Kantemir Balagov and Aleksandr Terekhov (Beanpole)

Kitty Green (The Assistant)

Miranda July (Kajillionaire)

Céline Sciamma (Portrait of a Lady on Fire)

Andy Siara (Palm Springs)


BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Christina Hodson (Birds of Prey)

Eric Johnson and Paul Tamasy (The Outpost)

Charlie Kaufman (I’m Thinking of Ending Things)

Jonathan Raymond and Kelly Reichardt (First Cow)

Ruben Santiago-Hudson (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom)


BEST ANIMATED FILM

Soul

Weathering with You

Wolfwalkers


BEST DOCUMENTARY

Collective

Dick Johnson Is Dead

The Mole Agent

The Painter and the Thief

Time


BEST FOREIGN FILM

Beanpole

Corpus Christi

La Llorona

Portrait of a Lady on Fire

The Wild Goose Lake


BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Christopher Blauvelt (First Cow)

Dong Jinsong (The Wild Goose Lake)

Shabier Kirchner (Lovers Rock)

Claire Mathon (Portrait of a Lady on Fire)

Kseniya Sereda (Beanpole)

HM: Karim Hussain (Possessor), Piotr Sobocinski Jr. (Corpus Christi), Lukasz Zal (I’m Thinking of Ending Things)


BEST EDITING

Dana Bunescu, George Cragg and Alexander Nanau (Collective)

Chris Dickens and Steve McQueen (Lovers Rock)

Andrew Dickler and Matt Friedman (Palm Springs)

Kelly Reichardt (First Cow)

Gabriel Rhodes (Time)

HM: Michael Duthie (The Outpost), Robert Frazen (I’m Thinking of Ending Things), Igor Litoninskiy (Beanpole)


BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

Beanpole

I’m Thinking of Ending Things

Possessor

Relic

Swallow

HM: Color Out of Space, Kajillionaire, Lovers Rock, Mangrove, Palm Springs


BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Erin Benach (Birds of Prey)

Lisa Duncan (Mangrove)

Jacqueline Durran (Lovers Rock)

Dorothée Guiraud (Portrait of a Lady on Fire)

Trish Summerville (Mank)

HM: April Napler (First Cow), Ann Roth (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom), Olga Smirnova (Beanpole)


BEST HAIR & MAKEUP DESIGN

Birds of Prey

Color Out of Space

I’m Thinking of Ending Things

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Shirley


BEST MUSIC SCORE

Terence Blanchard (Da 5 Bloods)

Emile Mosseri (Kajillionaire)

Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Jon Batiste (Soul)

Colin Stetson (Color Out of Space)

William Tyler (First Cow)

HM: Evgueni Galperine (Beanpole), Thomas Newman (Let Them All Talk), Tamar-kali (Shirley)


BEST SONG SCORE

Ed Baille and Abi Leland (Lovers Rock)

Gabe Hilfer and Season Kent (Birds of Prey)

Susan Jacobs (Bad Education)

Dawn Sutter Madell (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom)

Robin Urdang (Palm Springs)


BEST SOUND DESIGN

La Llorona

Lovers Rock

The Outpost

Possessor

Sound of Metal


BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Birds of Prey

Color Out of Space

The Midnight Sky

Soul

Tenet


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