Film Essay: Top Ten 2020 — The Gourmand Film Writer

As always here is an alternative view from my favorite film critic and good friend at Grouchoreviews.com: http://grouchoreviews.com/features/263

A Year in Review:

I hope the world never sees another year like 2020. It will be remembered in history as a year the world changed: from the formalization of Britain’s exit from the European Union, to the insanity of the American Presidential election and a lame duck President who continually undermines our election process, to the ravaging affects of COVID leading to massive job loss, economic depression. America has lost more of its community to COVID on a single day than to the terrorist attacks on 9-11. Americans have also witnessed more Americans passing away due to COVID then American soldiers who died fighting WWII. Natural disasters due to climate change have unleashed their destruction upon the world in seemingly record numbers. In my home state of California, we have witnessed non-stop wildfires; the result of climate change and drought, not forest management. America lost important Civil Rights icons in both Congressman John Lewis and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. It has been a hell of a year.

For the film industry, this year also harbingers a future of uncertainty. As a general rule, volatility and uncertainty are enemies to business. Movie theaters were suffering financially prior to the COVID outbreak, and now, face not only audience fears to return, but film distributors who are releasing major films on stream, bypassing the traditional agreement that movie theaters will have exclusive rights to show films for the first seventy days without competition from streamers or television. Without this agreement, movie theaters are on the verge of extinction. This concern obviously does not compare to those who have lost loved ones nor their livelihood or jobs, but I fear we are losing something special. I know that many people complain about seeing films with strangers as some are on their phone, or talk during the film, etc. But there is something special about having the communal experience of seeing a film. When an audience laughs together, a film feels even more humorous than it often deserves. I will never forget the ovations from audiences at the fight first in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or the lightsaber fight between Yoda and Count Dooku in Star Wars, Episode II: Attack of the Clones. Watching Avengers: Infinity War, I loved when a Black woman in the theater, reacting to Black Panther’s death, yelled “Awww hell naw!”; nailing the importance of the first American culturally accepted Black Superhero. I remember going to the midnight showing of Nightmare Before Christmas at the Sunshine in New York City on Halloween and singing along to every song with the entire audience. In a time when we are so isolated, movies theaters, prior to COVID, offered a chance to experience a story with others.

In sitting down to do a Top Ten of the year, I realized how many films I have not seen this year. I usually see a large number of films in theaters, but obviously that hasn’t happened since March. In fact, the last movie I saw in theaters is one of my favorites of the year, The Invisible Man. Since I have seen so few of the major films released this year, I struggled with doing a traditional Top Ten or whether I should compose an alphabetized list or create a list of memorable films by category. By the time I reviewed all of the films I had seen this year, I realized that I did have thirteen selections for my favorite films of the year. With thirteen films I would consider worthy of a praise, a traditional Top Ten seemed in order. Perhaps a little bit of normalcy to a crazy year. This comes with the caveat that I have seen a fraction of the films that I usually do in a given year. Here are my selections of the Ten Best Films of 2020:

10. TIE: Invisible Man *** ½ and The Assistant *** ½

We are living in a horror film renaissance. Whether it is Jordan Peele’s films (Get Out, Us) or Ari Aster’s films (Hereditary, Midsommar), or various other films (It Follows, Ghost Story, Lighthouse, The Babadook), new horror films explore themes of social justice. Two “horror” films this year are the first horror films of the Me-Too movement. They use the genre of horror to explore sexism, misogyny, and male sexual predatory behavior in frightening and thought-provoking ways. These two films also have incredible lead performances at the center of them.

Invisible Man stars Elizabeth Moss and is a traditional horror film. It turns the male sexual predator into a supernatural / scientific predator, yet there is not question what the film is talking about. The Assistant, on the other hand, stars Julia Garner in a film that most people would say is a drama, possibly a psychological thriller. That being said, the suspense in the film and the realism with which it goes to show the insidious nature of male predatory behavior shows a real-life horror that far too many women must deal with.

Both films rely on the power of their leading actress. They each have numerous scenes where they are alone and we have to understand what they are thinking, experiencing without words. Both are testaments to the strength of women and the societal acceptance of male predatory figures like Harvey Weinstein, which hopefully thanks to the Me-Too movement is beginning to come to an end.

9. Wolfwalkers *** ½

Wolfwalkers evokes childhood memories of Irish folklore my mother used to read to me before bed. It looks as if those watercolor paintings in the books I used to read came to life. I miss hand-animated films…

Completing Cartoon Saloon’s Irish Folklore trilogy (The Secret of Kells and Song of the Sea), Wolfwalkers tells the story of a young British girl whose father has been sent by Oliver Cromwell to hunt the wolfs attacking a British outpost in Ireland. While stuck at the outpost among Irish kids who make of her as an outsider, she leaves and discovers that the wolfs are actually people in a spirit form. As she befriends the creatures that her father has been sent to hunt, she comes to understand that there is no differences between the Irish and themselves, nor between nature and humanity.

Steeped in its culture, Wolfwalkers evokes a mythical time with a sense of authenticity that only animation can approach. While I saw better films this year, they may not be films that I wish to return to often. I see myself adding Wolfwalkers to the list of animated films I see every year; films like Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, How to Train your Dragon, The Little Mermaid, and Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse.

8. The Truth ****

“Artists use lies to reveal the truth” – V from V from Vendetta

In the film V for Vendettta, V attempts to justify his actions in a fake prison, torturing Evey, by creating a narrative from which she can learn the truth. That film needed to deal with the real implications of his torture of Evey in a more direct manner, but the thematic idea of stories (lies) being used to tell truths is a powerful concept. Hirokazu Koreeda’s latest film, The Truth, deals with this concept through the lens of acting. To explore this idea, he recruits two of the great French actresses: Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche. The film might be called a soap opera by some, but to me, it is reminiscent of one of the great Hollywood Golden Age films All About Eve.

Fabienne Dangeville (Catherine Deneuve) has had a legendary career as an actress while her daughter Lumir (Juliette Binoche) has a struggling, but successful screenwriting career. Now, in the twilight of her career, Fabienne stars in a Sci-Fiction film where she plays a daughter of a mother who never grows old. To make matters worse for the relationship between Fabienne and her daughter, Fabienne has also just penned an autobiography, becoming a successful writer, invading her daughter’s space. In telling her “life story”, questions arise of the authenticity of the mother’s account. Certainly, Lumir doesn’t think it is accurate. As mother-daughter relationship takes center stage, the film within the film acts as a mirror to what is happening in reality, begging the question of whether the film within the film contains more of the truth then their actual relationship.

7. The Social Dilemma ****

I have a confession to make. I still use Facebook. I wish I didn’t. For me, it is the one social media platform that I do use. It allows me through messenger to connect to a lot of friends I don’t otherwise see. The Social Dilemma should be mandatory viewing in every school, and perhaps, for the general population as well. I remember almost a year ago when the New York Times published an article about CEOs of tech companies that restrict the social media use of their children because they knew of the impacts that it is having… well, now we all know.

It is not merely a matter of social isolation, although that can be one side effect of social media. In trying to attract users, tech companies have made algorithms that track and predict the desires of its users and, through repeated use, actually rewire our brains. The Social Dilemma’s power comes from the people chosen to deliver this message: Tech Company CEOs. They inform us that as a result of the constant use of social media, social media users begin to read and watch only videos or content that they agree with, taking cognitive dissonance to an extreme level. Social Media users also become extremely conscious about what they put out into the social media sphere. For example, there is a desire to have a post liked and the most outrageous posts receive more likes, forcing us to alter what we post in order to try and receive more likes. This distorts the reality around us by not revealing the truth of the situation.

Rarely do I recommend a documentary merely for its educational value. Here, I am doing it. It is not the most entertaining or well put together narrative in a documentary this year, but it is one of the most important messages being put out there.

6. Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm ****

When the first Borat film came out, I praised its keen social awareness and satire. At the time, its willingness to take on the anti-Semitism and racism was audacious, but did not seem prophetic of the age we now live in. Looking back on it, the movie gave a glimpse into the dark underbelly of America that became exposed when Donald Trump ran and won the Presidential election in 2016. Now, Sasha Baron Cohen has returned with a timely sequel, which satirizes Donald Trump’s America.

Comedians have been flummoxed on how to best take on the outrageous behavior of President Trump and his administration. After all, in a world as absurd as one where the President of the United States says that there are good neo-Nazis, where children are locked in cages along our border, where there was a uterus doctor sexually mutilating immigrant women at a detention center… and the list can go on. Anyone who claims that Borat’s comedy is in bad taste ignores the world we are currently living in.

Sasha Baron Cohen’s comedy routine, honed through years of the Ali G Show, places his fictional character in situations with unknowing real people and allows insanity to unfold. Not only are the set pieces hysterical in this film, but nearly every element of the film follows suit. This is one of the funniest films I have ever seen. Laughing out loud constantly whether at a visual joke in the camera or a look from Borat to the larger social implications, Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm allowed me to laugh in a way I have not since President Trump’s election.

5. I’m Thinking of Ending Things ****

The first time I saw Charlie Kaufman’s opus, Synecdoche, New York, I hated it. Walking out of the theater, I couldn’t help but shake the feeling that I had missed something. Charlie Kaufman remains the most original filmmaker currently working. Yet, here I was hating his most recent film. I decided that I had missed something. I bought another ticket and went back in and saw it a second time. When I came out, I believed I had seen one of the best films of the century.

I’m Thinking of Ending Things may be the most mysterious film that Kaufman has ever made. That is saying something. My experience with the film was not as profound as Synecdoche, New York, but it certainly was similar. I appreciated I’m Thinking of Ending Things the first time I saw it; liked it the second time; and, only after the third viewing, do I feel that I have begun to understand its implications.

I plan to do a much more nuanced review of the film at some point, so without spoilers, there is haunting performance at the center of the film by Jessie Buckley, who is credited as “young woman” but whose name is Lucy in the film. She is dating Jake, played by Jesse Plemons, who is taking her to meet his parents. Driving up to his parent’s house proves one of the most awkward car rides in film history. You see, Lucy is thinking about ending it. Her narration brings us into the story, but Jake seems to be able at times to read her mind; directly interrupting her and commenting on what she is thinking. This feeling of eeriness becomes more profound in a soon to be legendary dinner scene. The dinner with Jake’s parents is on par with David Lynch’s Eraserhead for its creepy and hypnotic nature. In this film, the parents continually change ages during the dinner without warning. The performances are so calibrated to create an atmosphere warning us that something is terribly wrong with this scene.

Ultimately, I’m Thinking of Ending Things is what all of Kaufman’s films are about: the human mind. It is about the power of fantasy to create our world, but it comes with a catch. If fantasy can be as real as reality, how can one control a fantasy that one creates? The fantasy itself can take on a life of its own. Charlie has encouraged people to interpret his movies on their own. After three viewings, I think I understand most of the film, but then again, perhaps I don’t. I’m Thinking of Ending Things remains a mystery, but one worth the multiple viewings.

4. Da 5 Bloods ****

Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman was one of the most restrained and cohesive films he’s made in decades. It was a great movie. But to be honest, I prefer Spike’s sprawling messes. No one makes movies with so many tangents and threads that don’t always work, yet remain powerful and moving. The best example of this is Do the Right Thing, but his forgotten about masterpiece from 2015, Chiraq, is another example. Here, with Da 5 Bloods, Spike gives us the Black Vietnam War film. Like all Vietnam War films, it does fail to give authentic voice to the Vietnamese, but it does succeed where few films have in illuminating the Black American struggle.

The film begins with a quotation from Muhammad Ali explaining his reasoning for protesting against the Vietnam War. Rather than setting the movie in the Vietnam War, the movie occurs in present day, when four veterans decide now is the time to return to Vietnam to try and reclaim a stolen treasure they buried. Their cover is that they have been given permission to exhume the body of a fallen comrade they buried in Vietnam. Joining the four surviving veterans is one of their sons on this journey. As if that wasn’t enough, each of the four members brings with them their own demons they are trying to deal with. One had an affair with a sex worker while in Vietnam. They hope to use her to help them in their endeavor to recover the treasure. While going on this journey, the film is intercut with flashbacks of the war. In a budgetary decision, but one that creatively works so brilliantly, the current actors without make up, play younger versions of themselves in flashbacks, showing that they have never truly left Vietnam.

The film not only references and deals with Vietnam war movies, but also, the era of films that came out in the 1980s like Rambo demonstrating White males reclaiming their virility by going back to Vietnam to kill. Da 5 Bloods also is heist film, interested in recovering the treasure. Like Chiraq being loosely based on Aristophanes Greek comedy, Lysistrata, Da 5 Bloods is based on John Houston’s The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Da 5 Bloods then ends with a quotation from Martin Luther King Jr. Wow…

As I said, it’s a mess. A movie with five major protagonists, each with their own storyline, set in the present and the past, dealing with the Vietnam War, as well as the Hollywoodization of the conflict, citing Civil Rights Icons, based in two genres, and made in homage to The Treasure of the Sierra Madre… yeah… it’s a mess, but it’s a brilliant mess.

3. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom ****

In the 1920’s, Ma Rainey, the fictionalized character based on the real Blues singer, is a true rarity. A bisexual blues singer of amazing talent that white producers want to commercialize. In a world where to be Black means that you had no power, she relishes the power that she earned through her singing for the first time in her life. She doesn’t just deserve it. She has earned it. And she’s going to remind her white producers of that as often as she can. At best, she knows they view her as something they can sell. She also knows they consider her an n-word.

In the film adaptation of August Wilson’s first play, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Ma Rainey is played with guts and drive by Viola Davis. Viola Davis has long proved herself to be one of the great actresses. Here, she is given a role unlike any she’s had before. She almost always plays smart characters, but rarely has she played a character who flaunts their sexuality the way Ma does. Yet, it is not her outrageous theatrics that endear us to Ma. There is a brilliant scene where Ma demands a cold coke. She is not going to perform without it. She wants her White producers to deliver it to her. They want to record the music now. In the end, they bend to her will. In this moment, we understand, it’s not about the coke. This is why we love Ma.

Ma’s opposite is Levee, a new and upcoming trumpeter that wants what Ma has. He not only want Ma’s younger girlfriend, but also Ma’s career, and most importantly, her power. He is played by Chadwick Boseman in his final performance. Chadwick has such a presence on screen. His talent as a performer is clearly on display as he has to compete with Ma’s outlandish behavior for screen presence. He succeeds. Boseman infuses Levee with a desire for fame that oozes out of his character. His mistake is that White society will only allow one Black performer to have power. Ma understands this as well. She sees the threat that Levee poses to her. She is not going to lose everything she has gained. Their battle is heartbreaking because it should be the White producers who are their target instead of each other…

2. Nomadland ****

Chloe Zhao’s The Rider is one of the great movies ever made. It made my Top Ten in 2018. In writing about the film, I said: “In trying to think of how to describe the style of Chloe Zhao’s The Rider, I immediately thought of Terrence Mallik, Zhang Yimou, Federico Fellini, Louis Malle, and then I stopped myself. Wow, the fact that I would instinctively compare her to these great and distinctively different directors should be all you need to hear to want to see this film. This is only her second movie and it is made with a confidence rarely found in sophomore films.”

Now, she has followed up her masterpiece with another: Nomadland. If it wasn’t for City Hall, this movie would without question be my best of the year. The other films on this list are great, but none are close to the brilliance of this film.

Just like The Rider, Zhao uses cinematography to capture the beauty of America. In The Rider, the American plains and pastures create a vision of what spoke to settlers about the great western expanse. And to the Native Americans before them. Here, her images have changed, but she still captures its beauty.

Fern, the main character played by Frances McDormand, is a quintessential modern American. She lived in the small town of Empire, Nevada and had a good, although a poor life, until the gypsum plant, where she had long worked, closed. The town disappeared as did the zip code. Shortly after that, she loses her husband to illness. Now, she is a nomad, traveling for seasonal work at Amazon warehouses. This is the America of today. This movie could have easily descended into melodrama or be rife with political commentary, but Zhao is more interested in showing not only the fear, tragedy, grief, and destruction of the American dream, but also capturing the beauty of all life. The performance by McDormand, her best in a long, incredible career, provides a real anchor to every scene that allows Zhao to infuse the visuals with the poetry of the American landscape and life. Even in these dark times, there is still beauty in the small things in life. Still beauty in the connection to a stranger. Still reasons to keep going.

1. City Hall ****

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This is not a film most people will enjoy starting to watch; yet it is a film that everyone should see. The difficulty lies not in its subject matter. It is not gory, nor subversive. However, City Hall like all of Fredrick Wiseman’s documentaries, captures truth in a humbling and profound manner. It is simple and it is long, clocking in at 272 minutes.

Documentaries are finally having a heyday in terms of popularity with series like Tiger King and other works, but, long before this renaissance of documentaries, Fredrick Wiseman has been quietly working. As a director, he refuses to use all but the most basic of cinematic techniques. He will not use Erol Morris’ Interrotron to interview subjects directly. He does not use Ken Burn style narration, nor Ken Burns style visual montages. No. Wiseman sets up cameras in locations and just lets them film. He collects hundreds, thousands of hours of raw footage. For City Hall, he films Boston city hall, his hometown, over a period of a few weeks from late 2018 to 2019. Do not expect interviews or talking heads or narration. It is simply footage of the people of city hall going about their business.

That being said, City Hall is another of Wiseman’s masterpieces. Unlike his other movies, this is his only documentary to have a “central character”, who could be called a protagonist: Marty Welsh, Boston’s mayor. However, this is not a biography. We meet others involved in the government. We witness a marriage and the joy and elation of the presiding elected official. We go behind the scenes to see the Mayor’s advisors discuss policy involving climate change, race, and more. Ultimately, City Hall demonstrates as well or better than West Wing how government can be a positive force. In a time when politicians are often rightfully vilified, we forget that government is an institution of service, where people can come together to lift up those who are on the margins of our society. City Hall is a joyous reminder of the power and possibility of governance, of compromise, of acting out of goodwill and charity. I can think of no better movie for our time than this.

Runners-up: Another Round ***, Mank ***, Soul ***

Selections for the “Best of” 2020:

Best Actor: Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Runner-up: Mads Mikkelsen, Another Round

Best Actress: Frances McDormand, Nomadland

Runner-up: Viola Davis, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Best Supporting Actor: Delroy Lindo, Da 5 Bloods

Runner-up: Glynn Turman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Best Supporting Actress: Juliette Binoche, The Truth

Runner-up: Amanda Seyfried, Mank

Best Cinematography: Joshua James Richards, Nomadland

Runner-up: Erik Messerschmidt, Mank