Best movies of the year so far
From Greta Gerwig’s Little Women to Netflix’s The Half of It, these are the flicks you should have seen. James Croot reports.
So far, 2020 has been a cinematic year like no other. Covid-19 brought Hollywood to a halt in March, shuttering movie theatres across the globe (including New Zealand for two months). That forced the essential abandonment of the northern summer blockbuster season, left distributors and producers scrambling to re-think their release strategies, and audiences in lockdown had to discover new ways to get their movie fix.
It means that, as we reach the halfway stage of the year, the best flicks we’ve seen have come from a range of platforms. If you haven’t seen any of these yet, you’re in for a treat.
The Assistant
(In select cinemas, available to stream on Lightbox from Wednesday)
Shot in just 18 days, Australian film-maker Kitty Green offers a masterclass in building tension and creating atmosphere, while making the audience complicit in what New Yorkfilm company dogsbody Jane (a magnificent Julia Garner) is observing around her.
Uncomfortable, unusual angles make us almost appear as if we are leering at her, invading her space and privacy. Equally cleverly, Green keeps her ‘‘shark’’ offscreen. We never really see Jane’s boss, but anyone who has read anything about Hollywood since late 2017 will know, just by his alleged, reported behaviour, who he is a cipher for.
Bad Education (Neon)
Filled with colourful characters, fabulous dialogue and pitch-perfect pacing, director Cory Finley’s based-on-real-life tale of a corrupt school district superintendent has the feel of a true-crime documentary delivered by a top-notch cast of actors that include Allison Janney and Ray Romano.
Those who enjoyed I, Tonya or American Animals will lap up this recreation of a littleknown, but highly engrossing and shocking story. However, the sell wouldn’t truly sizzle without such a fabulous turn from the former Wolverine and PT Barnum, Hugh Jackman.
Blow The Man Down (Amazon Prime Video)
Bridget Savage Cole and Danielle Krudy’s feature debut is a pitch-black comedy set on America’s northeast coast. This is Waking Ned Devine ,or Whisky Galore!, if reimagined by the Coen brothers.
Filled with memorable characters, a fabulous virtually all-female cast that includes veterans such as Margo Martindale, June Squibb and Annette O’Toole, and a quirky, atmospheric soundtrack, their story all comes to the boil nicely, then delivers a killer ending. If you love a good crime comedy, then Blow will bowl you over.
Dark Waters (In select cinemas, just arrived on Lightbox, YouTube)
Based on the brilliantly titled 2016 New York Times
Magazine article The Lawyer Who Became
DuPont’s Worst Nightmare, Todd Haynes (Carol, Far From Heaven) has delivered a stunning and rage-inducing real-life environmental courtroom drama. This Erin Brockovich-meets-John Grishamesque drama will make you look at your Teflon cookware in a whole new, chilling, light.
Playing it with same understated compellingness he brought to 2015 Oscar winner
Spotlight, Mark Ruffalo is outstanding as a man willing to risk his career and life to expose the truth about perfluorooctanoic acids and the ongoing effects they can have on livestock and human health.
The Extraordinary (iTunes)
The French film-making duo of Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano have done it again. After the twin delights of The Intouchables and C’est La Vie, the pair return with another engrossing, crowdpleasing charmer that will draw the whole gamut of emotions from viewers.
Inspired by the real-life work of Stephane Benhamou and Daoud Tatou, The Extraordinary focuses on two interlinked Paris organisations dedicated to helping young autistic people abandoned by the state system. The result of two years’ immersion in the lives of the two associations, it does the remarkable job of delivering heart and a very vivid depiction of life on the frontlines of mental healthcare.
The Half Of It (Netflix)
Right from its endearing opening animated sequence, this is a movie guaranteed to charm its way into your heart. It’s a high-school teen comedy that deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Easy A, Booksmart, The Edge of Seventeen and Juno, a film that feels timeless and timely, filled with compelling complicated characters, smart, erudite dialogue, and universal struggles viewers of all ages and walks of life can relate to.
At its heart, writer-director Alice Wu’s (2004’s Saving Face) Cyrano De Bergerac-infused tale is the story of expert introvert Ellie Chu (winningly portrayed by Leah Lewis).
Little Women
(Lightbox, YouTube, iTunes, DVD/Blu-Ray)
This eighth cinematic adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s much-loved 1868 novel might initially come as something of a shock to purists, but the result is a bold, bubbly and bravura retelling that makes this classic tale timely as well as thrilling.
Writer-director Greta Gerwig manages to seamlessly splice contemporary concerns, and still evoke the sights and sounds of late-1860s America. However, her real ace is the cast.
Eliza Scanlen, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh and Saoirse Ronan (ironically an Australian, two Brits and an Irishwoman) really are a magnificent quartet.
Motherless Brooklyn (Lightbox, iTunes)
Welcome back Edward Norton, we’ve missed you. Yes, this beautifully crafted, deliciously compelling, chillingly atmospheric film noir is a fabulous showcase and reminder of the talented
50-year-old actor. In his first major acting role since 2014’s Oscar-winning Birdman and only his second stint calling the shots, Norton has delivered not only a stunning performance, but a captivating old-school tale of corruption that reminds one of
1974’s Chinatown or 1997’s LA Confidential.
With expert production and costume design and a fantastic jazz-infused score by Daniel Pemberton, Norton truly brings the story to life in all its gloriously grimy glory.
1917
(In select cinemas, Lightbox, YouTube, iTunes, DVD/Blu-Ray)
Like Sir Peter Jackson’s superb documentary They Shall Not Grow Old, this is inspired by the exploits of the film-maker’s grandfather in ‘‘The Great War’’. Sir Sam Mendes says the story (co-written with Penny Dreadful’s Krysty Wilson-Cairns) was based around a ‘‘fragment’’ Alfred Mendes told to him.
But while the story itself is engrossing, Mendes elevates it to another level by making it seem to play out in real time and via a single, continuous shot. The breathless action, excellent sound design and Thomas Newman’s urgent, driving score ensure it is very much a cinematic spectacle.
The Vast Of Night (Amazon Prime Video)
Magnificently framed as an episode of a Twilight Zone-style anthology television series this is a beautifully rendered homage to the science-fiction movies and television of the 1950s.
Andrew Patterson’s directorial debut has a Wes Anderson-like feel to it, a world full of quirky characters spouting memorable dialogue, brought vividly to life via unhurried pacing and a production design that offers a real sense of space and place.
Patterson cleverly keeps his camera close to his protagonists, drawing the audience into the lives of Cayuga, New Mexico’s, residents Everett and Fay, as we hang on their every word.