The COVID-19 pandemic is big, it’s the pictures that got small
Way back at the start of this year I wrote my usual moviesI-can’t-wait-to-see article for the Post. Turns out I can wait. We all can.
My 2020 preview listed 36 movies. Of those, just 10 actually opened in cinemas — 11 if you include Wonder Woman 1984, which most people will watch on demand when it gets released next week. Most of the ones that made it to the big screen were January and February releases.
A further seven of those movies went directly to streaming services or VOD rental.
And fully half, including blockbuster titles like No Time to Die and Black Widow, have been delayed until some time next year. And yet for all the mayhem and cancellations, there were actually some worthy movies on screens small and large this year. Here’s a pandemicthemed list of what 2020 had to offer.
BEST PRE-PANDEMIC RELEASE: THE INVISIBLE MAN
Usually, January and February are the cinematic doldrums, full of crappy movies the studios just want to get off their hands in the hopes of earning a few bucks. Which is what made The Invisible Man such an unexpected, delightfully frightening surprise. (Not unlike The Silence of The Lambs, 1991’s best picture Oscar winner, which opened on Valentine’s Day.) This one, starring Elisabeth Moss, is a spousal abuse drama and revenge thriller with the pacing of a supernatural horror story. And it is nail-bitingly, heart-stoppingly intense as hell. As I wrote at the time, The Invisible Man isn’t something you see every day.
BEST INADVERTENTLY TIMELY RELEASE: BLOOD QUANTUM
First Nations filmmaker Jeff Barnaby wrote and directed this smart, politically charged horror movie in which a pandemic starts turning people into zombies — all except the Mi’kmaq residents of the Red Crow reservation, who find themselves immune. With First Nations issues dominating the news this year almost as much as COVID-19, this film hit all the buttons. It’s a pity it didn’t get a big-screen release, but the upside is you can rent it now!
RUNNER-UP: BORAT: SUBSEQUENT MOVIEFILM
British provocateur Sacha Baron Cohen dusted off his moustache and quasi-Kazakh accent for this shot-duringthe-pandemic sequel to the insane 2006 original. Between footage of Vice-President Mike Pence promising that, with only 15 COVID cases, the U.S. was “ready for anything,” to that jaw-dropping, almost pants-dropping scene of Rudy Giuliani, Borat 2 was 2020 in a bottle.
BEST FILM WE NEEDED THIS YEAR: AMERICAN UTOPIA
Opening the Toronto International Film Festival under the bizarre title of Spike Lee’s David Byrne’s American Utopia, this filmed version of the former Talking Heads front man’s recent Broadway show is infectious in only the best ways. Byrne, backed by a rambunctious multinational troupe of musicians and dancers, rocks out songs old and new, and sometimes quiets down for some funny, thought-provoking monologues I’m going to call stand-up philosophy. The raucous finale as he dances through the packed theatre is a reminder of what life was like and will one day be again.
BEST LAUGH WE NEEDED THIS YEAR: PALM SPRINGS
“Andy Samberg comedy” does not seem like the kind of film that would deliver laughs and also something deeper. But that’s just one of the pleasant surprises in this romantic comedy, set during “one of those infinite time loop situations that you might have heard about,” as Samberg’s character puts it. In a year in which every day feels like, at best, a mild variation on every other day, this film offers hope. I wouldn’t say it’s better than Groundhog Day, but it’s … different. And as Groundhog Day taught us, anything different is good.
BEST SPORTS MOVIE: NADIA, BUTTERFLY
We all know baseball movies and boxing movies, but how many swimming movies can you name? This luminous drama from Quebec writer/director (and former competitive swimmer!) Pascal Plante is the only one you need. Katerine Savard stars as Olympic medalist Nadia Beaudry, wrestling with the emotional quandary of planning to retire at an age when most people are just starting their careers. Quiet and wistful, this film takes the gold.
BEST ADVICE IN A TITLE: LET THEM ALL TALK
Steven Soderbergh took an all-star cast — Meryl Streep, Dianne Wiest, Candice Bergen, Gemma Chan and Lucas Hedges — aboard the Queen Mary 2 last year and shot this sharp, trenchant drama about a famous writer (Streep) reconnecting with some old friends. Most of the dialogue was improvised, including fascinating conversations and soliloquies on the difficulty of human
BEST SCIENCE-FICTION: THE MIDNIGHT SKY
George Clooney directs and stars in this meditative story of a lonely astronomer in the High Arctic trying to contact the crew of a spacecraft on its way back from a mission to Jupiter. We never find out what happened to the rest of humanity — some kind of pandemic? — but it’s the least of our concerns as viewers. If you liked Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar — and I know, not everyone did — you may find yourself similarly drawn into this quiet, powerful tale of loneliness, connection and redemption.
BEST BIOPIC: I AM WOMAN
The story of Australian singersongwriter Helen Reddy (winningly played by fellow Aussie Tilda Cobham-Hervey) chronicles her struggles as an artist but also her enduring musical legacy, including the 1971 hit and feminist anthem that gives the movie its title. Good luck not singing along with the chorus, whatever your sex. In a sad coda, Reddy died this year, not long after the movie was released.