Favorite Movies (... of the Best Picture Nominees 2020)

 It was a weird year. I saw no more than 5 movies in theaters (the previous year I clocked in around 80). I don't think I saw enough actual release movies to make an actual list of my favorites (or least favorites) of the year. Here we are. 

The Oscars are rolling around in t-minus 1 month, and while the nominees leave much to be desired (and I think it's an incredibly weak year), here is my chance to vent about the 8 films nominated - my opinions, thoughts, etc, and perhaps we could potentially categorize this as a "best of" list in some aspect or another. 

The nominees (in order of preference, worst to best) are: 

8. THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7

One of the most boring, utterly forgettable Best Picture nominees I can remember in at least 10 years. It plays like a parody of an "Oscar bait" movie, and feels artificial and saccharine all the way down to the large ensemble cast and cringey one-liners. It's not Aaron Sorkin's best screenplay, but it might be his worst screenplay. I was bored within 15 minutes and nothing ever managed to grip me along the way. Virtually every nomination this film received was undeserved. 

7. MANK

I dare you to find someone who actually loved this movie. What might have been an intriguing peek behind the scenes of the making of CITIZEN KANE instead turned into a snoozefest with an uninspired Gary Oldman performance at its heart. From the abysmal sound mix (made to sound as though you are in the echo of a grand theater... straining) to the tedious, churning screenplay, I was left puzzled as to how so many utter legends in front and behind the camera could make such bland material. 

6. PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN

I thought I really liked this movie the first viewing, despite the incredibly challenging conclusion that left me feeling uneasy. A second viewing confirmed my suspicions - that this movie is merely a colorful pop of design with not a whole lot to its substance. Carey Mulligan is effective as a woman hell-bent on revenge, but the aspects of her plot (luring men in bars while pretending to be drunk) raise more questions than they do create tension. The soundtrack is memorable and Emerald Fennell's direction is certifiably her own (one of two female Best Director nominees this year... a first). Overall, I don't think I could stomach a third viewing. 

5. JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH

Dare I say that Daniel Kaluuya gives the year's best performance as a Black Panther leader in Chicago - a leader whose own life and work is spied on by an FBI plant (Lakeith Stanfield) with the ultimate aim of bringing down a revolution. This is certainly one of the most exciting films of the year, full of a richness in dialogue, razor sharp editing, and some of the best sequences of the year. This movie left me floored. I'm so pleased to see it with so many nominations.

4. THE FATHER

The last of the Best Picture nominees I saw, and in many ways the most challenging. A story of an old man succumbing to dementia and his daughter who struggles with the ramifications. Anthony Hopkins is giving bar-none the best performance of his life and easily the best performance of the year in any category. The film is so brilliant in the way it shows dementia from his point of view - that is to say that scenes begin and end with no warning, characters change, furniture moves, and everyone but Hopkins seems to be in on it. It's unnerving, at times magical, and ultimately an incredibly moving portrait of a mind slowly beginning to unwind. 

3. NOMADLAND

Chloe Zhao (the director, soon to be only the second woman to win Best Director) made one of my all-time favorite films a few years back called "The Rider." Here, she finds similar themes to explore in the American west, a modern western of unemployed and disparate people searching for meaning in a life that is anything but normal. Frances McDormand is so perfectly modulated as Fern, a woman whose husband has died and drives from odd job to odd job over the course of a year. The film is virtually plotless - the characters are sparse (and mostly non-actors). The ultimate story seems to be of a woman learning to let go and go on living her life. It's the best ending of the year of any movie I saw. 

2. SOUND OF METAL

Just brilliant, sublime, powerful filmmaking. The story of a heavy metal drummer (Riz Ahmed) who suddenly begins to lose his hearing, and the journey he takes on the road towards recovery (or so he thinks). First, he enters a rehab clinic run by a deaf veteran (Paul Raci in my favorite supporting performance of those nominated) who teaches him in the ways of ASL and learning to live without hearing. All the while, Ahmed seeks to return to normalcy with cochlear implants. The sound design is bar none the main highlight of the film. We see the world through his perspective. And the ending - an utterly devastating blend of tragedy and acceptance. I couldn't heap more praises on this movie if I tried. 

1. MINARI

The real gem of 2020 for me was MINARI, easily my favorite movie I saw all year. It's the story of a Korean family who emigrates to southern America in the 1980s. The father dreams of farming, of growing crops, of living the American dream... His wife is more skeptical. Their children are merely along for the ride. It's so perfectly packed with heartwarming moments, and scene after scene is a perfect realization of all that great cinema can be. If there's one movie that could represent 2020 and help ease all the suffering of the year, this must be it. No villains, no death, no heartbreak - I was left with nothing but warm feelings.