REEL STARS OF 2020
IF it hadn’t been for Wonder Woman 1984 and Tenet, multiplexes would have been superspy- and superhero-free zones last year. Thankfully, while the pandemic saw off most of the blockbusters, it didn’t kill off cinema. In fact, in many ways it thrived.
Without the big studios hogging all the attention, smaller productions managed to find audiences on home-streaming and in socially distanced theatres.
These are my favourite films of the year…
THIS shockingly good Brit flick shines a light on an often-overlooked figure, the casting director.
Lucy Pardee spent a year searching for youngsters to star in this drama, set in the shadow of the city of London and it looks as authentic as it sounds.
A wonderful Bukky Bakray leads a multicultural cast as 16-year-old Shola who has to look after her little brother when her mum walks out.
On paper, this sounds like a standard lottery-funded miseryfest but, thanks to its young cast, it’s surprisingly uplifting.
THE Thick Of It writer Armando Iannucci provided much-needed laughs with a riotous adaptation of Charles Dickens’ most life-affirming story.
Shot more like a TV sketch show than a dusty Victorian novel, it follows ambitious orphan David (Dev Patel) down a very winding road to success.
Laughs:
Along the way he meets an array of delightfully quirky characters played by a racially diverse cast, sometimes within the same fictional family.
Benedict Wong channels WC Fields as thirsty accountant Mr Wickfield, Peter Capaldi is an infectiously optimistic Mr Micawber and Hugh Laurie turns back the clock to his Blackadder days as the potty Mr Dick.