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
