BEST FILMS OF 2020
Ten top films we watched (at home) this year
It has been a contrasting year for cinema. The big screen has suffered hugely with the global pandemic shutting down theatres and causing the shelving of due-to-be-released blockbusters; but that has inevitably led to gains for streaming platforms. If the landscape of film was already changing, this year has likely only accelerated its transformation.
For many of us, this has been a year in which we’ve actually seen more movies. Perhaps you’ve invested in a new TV or soundbar to immerse yourself further in your viewing, or maybe it’s been the nudge you’ve needed to go full home cinema and splash out on that projector and surround speaker package. Whatever your set-up, we’ve gathered ten of our favourite feature-lengths we’ve seen over the past 12 months.
BABYTEETH
Adapted from a stage play by Rita Kaljenais, who also wrote this sparkling film script, Shannon Murphy’s directorial debut is bursting with life. An odd choice of words, perhaps, to describe a story principally about a 16-year-old girl with terminal cancer; but this is a love story above all, and Murphy captures all its energy in an effortless transition to the big screen.
COLOR OUT OF SPACE
Nicolas Cage, HP Lovecraft and Richard Stanley – directing a feature film for the first time in almost 25 years – make for a divine trinity when it comes to B-movie sci-fi horror. This adaptation of Lovecraft’s short story about a family who, after a meteor lands in their garden, witness a colour never before seen by the human eye is undoubtedly a future cult classic.
DRIVEWAYS
Thrills might not be on the menu in Andrew Ahn’s understated indie, but its delicate portrayals of grief, longing and friendship certainly offer an emotional workout. Brian Dennehy’s final performance, as a war veteran and widower next door to whom a mother and son move in temporarily while clearing out the house of her deceased sister, is arguably his best.
FIRST COW
Another slow burn, First Cow is the story of a pair of unlikely friends and business associates who, using milk stolen from a dairy cow, attempt to climb the economic ladder by selling delicious oily cakes. Adapted from Jonathan Raymond’s novel The Half Life, set nearly 200 years ago, its rural setting and gentle approach is set against the jeopardy of the characters’ enterprise despite their heartening bond.
HIS HOUSE
Remi Weekes’ His House is terrifying on two levels: that of the haunted house, which is its crux, set against the refugee experience in an unwelcoming UK. The former is undoubtedly the one to make you jump – and how refreshing for this genre to exist outside a rickety old mansion – but the latter is a reality impossible to shake after the closing credits.
RELIC
Natalie Erika James’s feature debut doesn’t let you in fully on exactly what it is. On the surface, another haunted house flick, its themes of dementia and mother-daughter relationships lead to the question, how much of it is metaphor? Most impressively, though, it feels as though this is an experience we’ve lived within each of its characters perspectives.
ROCKS
Love as a theme is rarely delivered as soulfully as this. Rocks follows Olushola as she fends for herself and younger brother Emmanuel, having been abandoned by their mother. The warmth of her love not only injects joy into the bleakest of subjects but makes it feel as if we’re watching from her sibling’s perspective.
THE PAINTER AND THE THIEF
Despite its intriguing leads, the star of this documentary is often Benjamin Ree’s understanding that it’s the lightest of directorial touches that best tell extraordinary stories such as these. As the title suggests, it explores the friendship between Czech artist Barbora Kysilkova and Karl-bertil Nordland, the gangster who stole two of her paintings.
THE WILD GOOSE LAKE
We’ll be lucky if this decade delivers even a handful more films as stylish and visually lavish as Diao Yinan’s The Wild Goose Lake. Not that it’s without substance, heavily salted with bitter twists and betrayals, but this is a film we could quite happily see a second and third time even with the sound off.
WELCOME TO CHECHNYA
It’s a sad reflection that this year’s most harrowing film is David France’s Welcome to Chechnya, a documentary focusing on the atrocities inflicted upon the Chechen LGBT+ community and the heroic group of activists working to help its victims flee. Using deep-fake technology rather than blurring to conceal identities retains the victims’ humanity, but leaves an even nastier taste of this current event.