Top 10 Movies I Watched In 2020
With some aggregated notes from the Sebastià of 2024.
To say that 2020 has been a weird year is an understatement. The coronavirus pandemic has changed our way of living, and we’re entering an economic crisis that will be difficult to overcome. Lots of industries have been hit hard, and the cinema industry is not an exception. Even with the scarcity of major releases since March, I wouldn’t say that 2020’s cinema has been dreadful, and there have been some great movies. Unfortunately, I haven’t had the opportunity to go watch lots of those because of the pandemic, but I still managed to watch 78 new movies this year (not all of them released in 2020, though), of which I’m going to review my Top 10. The complete list can be found on my letterboxd profile.
As always with these kinds of lists, this is not a definitive opinion about the movies, and don’t be offended if your favourite movie is not on the list, this is just a list of my favourite movies I watched in 2020 and why they are here. So, without further ado, let’s start with…
10. Bad Education — Cory Finley
Unpopular opinion, but I really love biopics, it’s like reading Wikipedia but in audiovisual form, dramatised and engaging yourself in the story. In fact, Selma (Ava Duvernay, 2014) almost got this spot, but eventually, I decided to put Bad Education here because it’s more rewatchable for me, and also because I didn’t know the story at all. For those who haven’t seen it, Bad Education follows an embezzlement scandal in a small town in Long Island that caught the country’s attention because of the sheer magnitude of the money that was stolen. Even though it may sound boring and procedural, that’s far from the truth, as this movie is funny, exciting and endearing, feeling for all of the characters.
Besides the fantastic acting by Hugh Jackman, who is having lots of fun and enjoying each moment he’s on-screen, I think the highlight of the movie is the script. Written by Mike Makowsky, he has a first-hand point of view of what happened, as he was a student of the Roslyn Union Free School District, in seventh grade when everything happened. To me, that’s what differentiates the story from other biopics I’ve seen this year, the direct involvement of the writer on the story.
9. 1917 — Sam Mendes
I arrived late and with low expectations to watch 1917. To be honest, I was even a bit tired of the theme of the movie: another war film with an all-male cast doing macho stuff, or at least that’s what I was expecting. The only two things that caught my attention beforehand were Sam Mendes’ directing and Roger Deakins’ cinematography. I doubted if I would even watch it because I couldn’t catch it at the cinema and thought this was a better experience on the big screen, but I’m happy I watched it in the end, even if it was from the comfort of my computer when it was released on Amazon Prime.
The story itself probably is the less important aspect of the movie, and the script itself is not amazing, but it is engaging enough to make you care about the main character’s journey. The action is fast-paced, the acting is pretty good, and it conveys the absolute chaos war must be. The sound editing is also very good, and the balance between turmoil and peace is almost perfect. Also, I can’t avoid talking about the cinematography, one of the most amazing I’ve seen in my life.
8. Uncut Gems — Josh Safdie, Benny Safdie
After Good Time, I was excited to see what the Safdie brothers were going to do next, and when I read that the plot involved Kevin Garnett and basketball, I was completely sold on Uncut Gems. However, I wasn’t prepared for the stream of anxiety that I had coming my way. To be honest, I think that watching it on a plane flight full of turbulence didn’t help at all, but even then I enjoyed this a lot.
In a better world, Uncut Gems would have gotten the recognition it deserved, award-wise, and Adam Sandler would have walked out with, at least, an Academy Award. That’s how good his acting is. The cinematography is distressing, the script raw, and the ending, brutal. I would have never thought I could be so invested in a basketball match I already knew how it ends. But that’s the magic of cinema, and I’m waiting for the next thing the Safdie brothers have in store for us.
7. Clueless — Amy Heckerling
Was I expecting to like this movie THAT much? As if!
This is a classic, and I understand now why. It has all of the iconic moments you can think of, plus the fantastic underlying classical story to make it work perfectly. Teen comedies own a lot to Clueless and after watching it, I can understand why. I can’t imagine 10 Things I Hate About You now if Clueless had never existed, and neither I can imagine Paul Rudd having such a successful career (and endearing public image) if it wasn’t for Clueless. What it does, it does perfectly, and it’s an engaging watch, funny and redeeming. If you like teen movies and romantic comedies, this is totally your shit.
6. Palm Springs — Max Barbakow
And another romantic comedy on the list, who would have thought? Well, everyone who knows me a bit, probably. I love well-made romantic comedies, I think that being based on a so well-established genre gives a certain freedom that allows you to change things and still get away with it, and when that is well done, you get fantastic movies that you will remember for a long time.
Palm Springs obviously owns a lot to Groundhog Day, that’s undeniable, but at the same time, you shouldn’t watch it expecting something like that. There’s the same nihilism in both movies, the same kind of despair and depression with the main character, but while Bill Murray’s character tries to fight it and becomes a nihilist, Andy Samberg’s character has been long in the nihilist wagon and is through Cristin Milioti’s character’s neverending optimism that he is able to get out of the cycle of depression that haunts him. At the same time, Cristin lets go of the guilt that pursues her and has her waiting to be dead thanks to the world that Andy shows her. Highly recommended for everyone who loves romantic comedies, you won’t regret it.
5. The Lighthouse — Robert Eggers
Robert Eggers is one of the most exciting directors of our time, and I’m so grateful to be able to watch his movies, and that’s saying something given that he has only two. While The VVitch left me uncomfortable and I just wanted to forget about it so I could sleep at night, The Lighthouse made me more interested in everything about it, eager to explore each and every aspect of the mythology, language and mannerisms of the movie. I wanted to know more, keep watching. I could feel the salt in the air, the isolation (watching it during lockdown didn’t help, I’m sure of it), the madness taking over Young and Old.
Everything in the movie is amazing, from the acting to the cinematography to the script… I am so jealous of Eggers for being able to come up with such an eerie story, not easy for everybody, but still engaging and exciting. I had a great time watching it and couldn’t take my eyes off it. I will revisit it again and is probably one of the most rewatchable to me on the list as I will always notice new things I haven’t before.
4. The Farewell — Lulu Wang
Now we’re in the “it’s one of my favourites” section of the list. From this point on, I will have this as one of my favourite movies of all time. And starting this section, The Farewell, the sophomore movie by Lulu Wang, a based-on-real-facts movie that acts as a window to the Chinese-American family struggles of a family that reunites to say goodbye to the matriarch of the family, diagnosed with terminal cancer.
This movie is funny, touching, tense, awkward… just like life. It’s based on a real story and makes you feel like you’re living it like you are one of the characters that is saying goodbye to your grandmother. There are some amazing moments in the movie that I will remember for years to come. This was an inspiring movie to me that urged me to get better at my craft, and when something touches me that way, I know I found something special.
3. Soul — Pete Docter
And talking about special, the new Pete Docter film after Inside Out definitely is. While The Farewell inspired me, Soul moved me beyond words. It may be because of the personal situation I’m in at the moment, or it may be because I was emotional when I watched it, but Soul is a mandatory watch for everybody who wants to pursue an artistic career.
I understand some of the criticisms that the movie raised, maybe being overcomplicated for the younger audience this movie is for, but I wish I had some references like this growing up. Soul tells you it’s ok to be just normal, and that’s refreshing in an industry where most kids’ movies are about a special one, a chosen one, a hero… this shows you that it’s alright to not be special, to not know what you’re supposed to do with your life and to not have an amazing career in order to be happy and live. Please, watch it now.
2. Little Women — Greta Gerwig
Finally, the “soon-to-be-a-classic” area. These two last movies are masterpieces and will be remembered as some of the best movies of all time in a few years. That’s something impressive for an adaptation of a book that has already had two other adaptations, and not bad ones at all. Little Women manages to give a refreshing point of view of a story we all know, talking about the role of women in society and art, and how, after all these years nothing has really changed that much.
While it should be impressive that this is Greta Gerwig’s second film as a director, it’s not if you consider her first was Lady Bird, one of the best coming-of-age movies I’ve seen. This is clearly a very important story for Gerwig, and also for everyone involved in it, and that goes beyond what you see on the screen. Everyone in this film gives their best, and if a movie with Timothée Chalamet is second on my list, it’s because it’s worth it.
I don’t have anything against Timothée, I think he’s a great actor, but Lord is he on too many movies.
1. Parasite — Bong Joon-ho
Unexpectedly for everyone who knows me a bit, Parasite is my favourite movie of 2020. Not only because I think it is one of the best movies I’ve seen in my entire life, but also for what it meant to see that great of critical acclaim for a non-Hollywood movie. Bong Joon-ho is one of the most exciting directors/screenwriters working nowadays, being able to switch between genres seamlessly and keeping you intrigued by what he’s telling you.
It amazes me that there is some people that still don’t understand this movie, and see it as a Capitalism-rules tale, while it’s one of the sharpest criticisms of the system I’ve seen. Every character in this movie is a product of its environment, the savage and merciless capitalist world we live in, and as it happens with today’s society, not a lot of people can see beyond it and fight to become what they despise, instead of fighting to change the world we live in.
This is a tense movie, but an amazing one nevertheless.
That’s it! These are my favourite movies I watched in 2020, and I hope that you watch some of them and enjoy them as much as I did. Leave a comment or talk to me directly with your opinion and your top 10 movies of the year.
Thank you for reading!
Future Sebastià here!
I’m going to comment a bit on this list because while I still stand by most of it, I would like to make some changes. They say that hindsight’s 20/20, and four years later, I can mention some changes that I would make on the list:
The Farewell has since become one of my favourite movies of all time, so it definitely would be bumped up to number 2.
Parasite is as good as it was, and it deserves every praise it got.
Now that Soul is at #4, I think that I can put The Lighthouse before it. At the moment, I loved Sould so much, but after 4 years, I can see most of its flaws and it wasn’t even my favourite animated movie for those Academy Awards, so I think it’s fair to change it.
So, the final list is:
#10-#6 stays the same.
#5 - Soul
#4 - The Lighthouse
#3 - Little Women
#2 - The Farewell
#1 - Parasite
Not many comments more, just that I have been writing in American English for so many years now that it’s weird seeing my British English emerge. I prefer BE, but force of the habit, I guess.
See you soon!