Best of 2020: Our favourite films of the year

2020 was a challenging year for film fans. Many of the most anticipated releases of the year were either pushed back to 2021 and beyond or unceremoniously released on-demand or via streaming services. While it’s hard to advocate for going to the theatre in the midst of a pandemic (unless you’re lucky enough to live in New Zealand), the loss of a theatrical run for most of the films on this list made it harder for these releases to build up the sort of audience buzz that truly creates a film’s cultural impact. On the other hand, it’s never been easier to see great new films from the safety of your home — you simply have to know what you’re looking for, given the glut of new releases on the increasing number of new streaming services every week.

Below we’ve compiled our favourite films of a year we can’t wait to see behind us. The majority of these are now streaming or available to rent or buy digitally, making it a cinch to essentially program your own killer film festival just as we enter another lockdown period. Let us know your favourite releases of the year in the comments below.

Note: Our best horror films list of the year is coming up next! We’ve omitted any of those titles from our list below to not double up on any titles and allow us to spotlight as many films as possible.

10. First Cow
Kelly Reichardt’s First Cow is many things; a period piece about the American frontier, a meditation on the crushing effects of capitalism, and an endearing buddy comedy about a pair of desperate men swindling milk for the popular oily cakes they sell on the street. The pace may be fairly languorous at times, but if you can put away your phone for two hours and commit yourself to the way Reichardt lets the story of Cookie (John Magaro) and King Lu (Orion Lee) unfold, you’ll be treated to one of the most incredible films of the year, one that oscillates seamlessly between moments of pure comedy and outright dread.

9. Da 5 Bloods
Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods is a sprawling and riveting look at the experiences of a tight-knit group of Black soldiers who served in The Vietnam War, and how those experiences have shaped the ensuing decades of their lives. With an all-star cast including Delroy Lindo, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Peter Clarke, and the late and great Chadwick Boseman in one of his final roles, the story of a group of middle-aged soldiers returning to their former battleground in search of a hidden treasure is both a fiery commentary on the contribution of Black American soldiers and the lingering effects of colonialism across the globe, mixed with an often hilarious heist movie. Featuring an outstanding performance from Delroy Lindo as a rage-filled MAGA hat-wearing conservative, Lee manages to weave in today’s prejudices and fears into the story of these men, demonstrating just how little has changed in the nearly 50 years since their war ended.

8. Shithouse
Just 23-years-old when Shithouse was released, Cooper Raiff wrote, directed, produced, and stars (!) in this semi-autobiographical story of a sensitive young man trying to adjust to life away at college. A smart romantic comedy with a beating heart-on-the-sleeve emotional core, Raiff’s story of loneliness and fear in the face of a major life change was intensely relatable this year when most of us were also missing our family and any sense of stability or normalcy. This is a truly remarkable debut that puts a new spin on the traditional coming-of-age story for a new generation. With strands of early Richard Linklater and Kevin Smith but with a clear identity of his own, Cooper Raiff is an exciting new voice to keep an eye on.

7. Minari
Despite the Hollywood Press’ recent controversial decision to classify Minari as a foreign film for the Golden Globes due to characters speaking Korean for much of the film, Minari is an American story through and through. Written and directed by Lee Isaac Chung, Minari is a semi-autobiographical take on Chung’s upbringing and stars the always great Steven Yeun (Burning) as Jacob Yi, a father determined to start a farm to provide for his family in rural Arkansas in the 1980s. The Yi family are immigrants from South Korea, and the transition to rural American life impacts them each in different ways as they try to prosper in their new homeland.

A moving film about the bonds of family and assimilation, Minari features incredible performances from the entire main cast, including a scene-stealing performance by the family’s caring yet tough grandmother Soonja (Youn Yuh-jung), as well as the family’s precocious son David (Alan Kim), who will likely inspire a whole meme industry once the film is widely released in 2021.

6. 76 Days
Hao Wu and Weixi Chen’s 76 Days is a harrowing documentary focused on a hospital’s efforts to deal with the initial coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China. The filmmakers were given remarkable access to the hospital’s staff and infected patients, for a heartbreaking fly on the wall effect as they follow the overworked hospital staff in their efforts to handle the growing influx of patients suffering from the virus which was only beginning to be understood back in February.

No film to date has captured the human toll of the outbreak like 76 Days. It’s both an incredibly depressing and ultimately hopeful look at how this terrible virus can bring about the best in us if we all work together to combat its spread. That may sound daunting, but it works — life is finally getting back to normal in Wuhan after their months of catastrophic losses, which should inspire even the most ardent anti-maskers out there to take this virus seriously if we ever hope to regain a semblance of normal life again.

5. The Assistant
Kitty Green wrote, directed, produced, and edited this quietly devastating film about a young woman (Ozark’s Julia Garner) working for a Harvey Weinstein-type film producer. Without ever showing the boss’ face, Green explores the culture of fear and silence that allows a predatory monster like a Weinstein to thrive, and all of the individuals that play a part in maintaining the status quo, from the staff that brings in the young women for their “meetings” to the associated Hollywood stars that continue to lend legitimacy to the horrible behaviour happening behind closed doors. Garner manages to convey all of this in an incredibly restrained and powerful way, with a hard-set determination not to succumb to the pressures of her role, all while questioning how her job is supporting an ecosystem of exploitation.

4. Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Eliza Hittman’s films have been accused of being excessively slow, but that tendency to take a beat and actually sit with her characters does wonders in Never Rarely Sometimes Always, a heartbreakingly frank look at a young girl travelling from Pennsylvania to New York City to get an abortion. Sidney Flanigan turns in an achingly intimate performance as 17-year-old Autumn, who convinces her cousin Skylar (Talia Ryder) to make the trip with her, one that gets increasingly more complicated once they reach their destination. Hittman’s film says so much about the struggles of young women to take control of their bodies without ever feeling like a polemic. Like its teenage protagonists, Hittman mixes in moments of humour to balance out the heaviness, resulting in one of the most impactful films of the year.

3. Sound of Metal/Mogul Mowgli
This tie may be a bit of a cheat, but Sound of Metal and Mogul Mowgli truly feel like companion pieces. Both films star Riz Ahmed (who is having an incredible year) as a musician who is suddenly faced with the onset of a life-altering physical condition, and how that challenge shapes the life of each character.

In Sound of Metal, Ahmed plays Ruben Stone, a recovering addict, and drummer in a punk/metal duo with his partner Lou (Olivia Cooke). When Ruben’s hearing suddenly begins deteriorating rapidly, Lou convinces him to check into a rehab for the deaf community, run by the tough but compassionate Joe (Paul Raci). Joe’s message is simple: being deaf is not an issue to overcome, but a way of life. Ruben pushes back against that notion, and the film follows his journey as he tries to adapt to his hearing loss and what that means for his life, career, and relationship. Filled with actual deaf actors, Sound of Metal is a rare and fascinating look into a world we rarely see portrayed in film and a meditative examination of the ways in which we choose to live our lives.

For Mogul Mowgli, Ahmed keeps things closer to home, playing Zed, an up-and-coming rapper (Ahmed is also an MC) who is struck with a rare auto-immune disease just ahead of a major tour. The narrative feature directorial debut from Bassam Tariq, Mogul Mowgli is a searing and often hallucinatory journey through Zed’s mind as he lies in a hospital facing nightmarish visions that make him question his faith, identity, his career, the cultural implications of working in a medium created by and inspired by Black artists, and the violent past his parents escaped from when the British imposed the Pakistan/India partition a generation earlier. There is a lot going on in this film, but Tariq keeps things anchored by focusing on Ahmed’s multi-layered performance, with some welcome moments of levity provided by the great Alyy Khan as Zed’s father. Mogul Mowgli is a deeply moving film about cultural identity and how our past can’t help but inform our future.

2. Soul
Is Pixar even trying to make movies for kids anymore? Their latest animated feature focuses on Joe Gardner (Jamie Foxx) a middle-aged high school music instructor who still dreams of making his mark in the jazz world. When he unexpectedly dies on the way to perform at what might be his big break, Joe’s soul is sent to The Great Beyond. Refusing to accept his fate, he then manages to escape to The Great Before, the area where souls are formed. He is quickly paired with “22” (Tina Fey), a grumpy soul in development, who he latches onto as a way to get back into his body on Earth.

Soul is by far the weirdest and most moving Pixar film yet. Directed by Pixar mainstay Pete Docter (Toy Story, The Incredibles), Soul is an existential look at what it means to be human, and how to make the best of the days we have left on Earth. If that wasn’t a heavy enough topic for a children’s film, Soul is balanced with off-kilter, trippy visuals of the afterlife, and filled with a jazz piano soundtrack and a pulsing score from Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. The end result is a strange and overwhelming emotional life-affirming film that will shake adults to the core while leaving their kids wondering what their parents are sobbing about. Get those tissues ready when Soul debuts on Disney+ on Christmas Day.

1. Lover’s Rock/Mangrove
Another cheat, but it was too difficult to parse out which one of these two films (or “episodes”) of Steve McQueen’s Small Axe series should clinch the top spot of the year. Putting aside the ongoing discussion of whether these should be classified as films or a TV series (McQueen has gone on record as stating they are films), the Small Axe project is the most exciting and welcome release of the year. Focusing on the lives of London’s West Indian immigrants throughout the 70s and 80s, the films operate like The Wire, with each focusing on a specific time and place that together form an illuminating mosaic of cultural identity, set against the institutional racism of the UK during that period.

Lover’s Rock may be the most joyous film experience of the year. In just 68 minutes, McQueen takes us through a night at a West London house party in the 80s. The film is ostensibly about a pair of lovers (Micheal Ward and Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn) who meet at the party, but Lover’s Rock works almost like a party simulator, with McQueen’s camera wandering through the sprawling house to show us the various partygoers and their cliques, and especially the dance floor, packed with people lovingly grinding and dancing to the Lover’s Rock reggae hits played by the infectious DJ/hypeman. McQueen somehow places his camera right between the dancefloor action, getting up close between tightly-pressed bodies and moving through them to the next couple in a spellbinding way. While much of the world has been cooped up at home for the better part of a year at this point, seeing the communal joy and celebration when the crowded dancefloor bursts into an extended a capella singalong to Janet Kay’s “Silly Games” is easily the most thrilling scene of the year.

Mangrove is a film made to get your blood boiling. Based on the true story of the Mangrove Nine, a group of protestors charged with inciting a riot after their protest against police harassment of Mangrove Cafe, a West Indian restaurant and gathering spot in London’s Notting Hill, the film is a tense courtroom drama that highlights the rampant racism and targeted violence of London’s police force against the West Indian immigrant community. The film demonstrates the cavalier racism of the police and how their continued unsubstantiated raids of the Mangrove and their brutal treatment of its customers eventually pushes them to stage their protest, which is then targeted by the police, resulting in the arrests and trial that make up the backbone of the film. The entire cast is strong, with Shaun Parkes turning in a moving and nuanced portrayal of the Mangrove’s owner Frank Crichlow, Malachi Kirby delivering an emotional scene-stealing take on activist Darcus Howe, and Letitia Wright’s fiery portrayal of Black Panthers member and protest coordinator Altheia Jones-LeCointe. Mangrove highlights a vital moment in London’s history that many may be unfamiliar with and does it within a moving and incredibly entertaining courtroom drama overflowing with potential Oscar nominees. The soundtrack is heavy on music from the late and great reggae legend Toots Hilbert, which is truly the icing on the cake.

Runners-up

Mank
The Forty-Year-Old Version
Shiva Baby
Boy’s State
I Used to Go Here
Small Town Wisconsin
Totally Under Control
Tenet
David Byrne’s American Utopia
I’m Thinking of Ending Things
Another Round
The Painter and the Thief