Turns out, 2020 was a pretty good year for films
Above: Sidney Flanagan stars in Eliza Hittman's "Never Rarely Sometimes Always." (Photo: Focus Features)
One of the things that movie critics love to do is list their favorites of the year. Some critics call their lists the “best” films of the year. Others just say they are the “best” of what they saw.
Since it’s impossible for any critic to see every movie released in a single year, the “best” of what you’ve seen seems like the more honest choice.
Anyway, I co-host a weekly movie-review show for Spokane Public Radio with Nathan Weinbender and Mary Pat Treuthart (who happens to be my wife). And a couple of weeks ago we announced our choices for the best of what we saw in 2020.
It occurred to me that I hadn’t published our lists anywhere. So here they are.
Strangely enough, even though the year was marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced the closing of the country’s major theatrical chains for a good portion of the year, the three of us had no problems filling out our Top 10 lists, with enough good choices to make a second 10. Most, if not all, are available on one streaming service or other..
Mary Pat’s list:
“Small Axe” (British filmmaker Steve McQueen’s five-film compilation)
“The 40-year-old Version”
“Never Rarely Sometimes Always”
“Time”
“Collective”
“And Then We Danced”
“First Cow”
Her honorable mentions:
“Wild Goose Lake,” “Portrait of a Woman on Fire,” “What the Constitution Means to Me,” “Sound of Metal,” “Trial of the Chicago 7,” “The Nest,” “Miss Americana,” “A Secret Love,” “Boys State,” “David Byrne’s American Utopia.”
Nathan’s list (he put them in reverse order of preference):
10. “A White, White Day”
9. “Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets”
8. “First Cow”
7. “Never Rarely Sometimes Always”
5. “I'm Thinking of Ending Things”
4. “Sound of Metal”
3. “David Byrne's American Utopia”
2. “Portrait of a Lady on Fire”
His honorable mentions:
“And Then We Danced,” “Another Round,” “The Assistant,” “Bacurau,” “Collective,” “Crip Camp,” “The Forty-Year-Old Version,” “I'm No Longer Here,” “The Invisible Man,” “Sorry We Missed You.”
My list (in no particular order):
“Sorry We Missed You”
“Never Rarely Sometimes Always”
“David Byrne’s American Utopia”
“Dick Johnson Is Dead”
“The Assistant”
“The Wolf House” (played at February's Spokane International Film Festival)
“Small Axe” (all five films as one)
“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
My honorable mentions:
“What the Constitution Means to Me,” “I’ll Be Gone in the Dark,” “The Social Dilemma,” “Boys State,” “Crip Camp,” “Rewind,” I’m Thinking of Ending Things,” “Time,” “Sound of Metal,” “Collective.”
And that’s all for 2020. On to 2021.