My best films of 2020

Arguably the best movie of 2020. One of the best films (and a disturbing one) taking a stand against capital punishment. A hair-raising view of life in Iran, if you choose to take any stand that goes with your conscience but conflicts with the views of the Islamic government. Rasoulof, in my view, is a more interesting director than Jafar Panahi, and this is his most hard hitting critique of life in Iran. (His second best work is Goodbye made in 2011). Panahi and Rasoulof, both face suspended jail sentences for their films that have offended Iranian authorities. It richly deserved the Golden Bear at the 2020 Berlin film festival. The film is a highlight of the Denver Film Festival as well--but will the Oscar authorities stand up to recognize it, knowing full well that Iran is not likely to put it up as its official entry? Without a doubt this film 0n a disturbing moral subject is one film that will make any viewer sit up, as no other film on the subject, including Kieslowski's "A Short Film About Killing" (1988) which is an extended version of Kieslowski's "Dekalog 5." If you look at all the Iranian films made to date this will rank among the top five. It is in many ways a Christian, a Buddhist, a Jainist and a humanist film made by an Islamic cast and crew. Most of all it is a film about love for humans and for animals following the Commandment "Thou Shalt Not Kill" of the Abrahamic religions. My detailed review is at https://moviessansfrontiers.blogspot.com/2020/10/257-iranian-director-mohammad-rasoulofs.html

Winner of major awards at Venice and Chicago film festivals 2020, and one of top 5 picked by the National Board of Review, USA, it is a remarkable screenplay written by the director and his co-scriptwriter Elena Kiseleva (they have collaborated on 4 feature films, 3 of which I have seen) with the director's wife Yulia Vysostskaya playing the main role. Their works are slow paced but gather steam only as you reach the thought-provoking and stunning ends in each film. The one film that eluded me thus far of the 4 films is "Sin" (2019), a biopic on sculptor/painter Michelangelo, a copy of which was presented to the Pope by Putin. And the Pope is apparently an admirer of the director. An example of the Konchalovsky-Kiselava collaboration of fascinating and loaded screenplays are in this film as well, when Yulia's character comments on the Nobel Prize winning novel "And Quiet Flows The Don" by Mikhail Sholokov. These are films for an attentive viewer.

The film is very realistic, rare for an American film capturing grief with subtlety. Ludovico Einaudi's composition for piano (Low Mist Day 7) is wonderful and appropriately used in the film. The performances of Frances McDormand and David Strathairn (remind me of Strathairn's work in Sayles' 2000 film "Limbo") carry the film, Director Chloe Zhao is a talented editor. It richly deserved the Venice Golden Lion and Denver's Rare Pearl awards. The cinematography is commendable, too.

An exceptionally well-written screenplay by Jack Fincher for a biopic on yet another talented scriptwriter. Both are dead. Jack Fincher was the father of David Fincher. If they give a posthumous Oscar for a screenplay writer, he deserves it, and it is sad that this was his only work for films. I have never read his essays or his other published work. I will now attempt to locate and read them. Great talent. David Fincher' casting of Gary Oldman and Amanda Seyfried was very astute, both delivering Oscar winning performances. I have always felt Ms Seyfried (whose birthday I share) had great potential for more meaty roles ever since I viewed her in her second and unfortunately little discussed film she worked in called "Nine Lives" (2005). Finally, kudos for the cinematography of Eric Messerschmidt, (or is it director David Fincher?) who seems to have borrowed a lot of visual ideas from Konchalovsky's award-winning Russian film "Paradise." Charles Dance, who plays William Randolph Hearst, seems to reprise his role as director D. W. Griffith in the Taviani brothers' equally remarkable film on Hollywood called "Good Morning, Babylon" (1987). Though I am not a die-hard David Fincher fan, this is his best work for me.

Fascinating tale on human contradictions, visually narrated, economizing on spoken words. My detailed review is at http://moviessansfrontiers.blogspot.com/2020/10/256-italian-director-mauro-mancinis.html

A visual treat. Mosese is Africa's most promising director alive. He has put Lesotho on the world's quality cinema map with this film. Beautiful cinematography, art direction, sound management and original scriptwriting. The film has bagged 19 awards thus far, five of which were for the lead actress. My review: http://moviessansfrontiers.blogspot.com/2020/11/259-lesothos-film-director-lemohang.html

I am at a disadvantage not having read Jack London's book. I do not know if the credit for the end sequence should go to London or to the film's co-scriptwriters--Maurizio Braucci and director Pietro Marcello. Because that end-sequence is absolutely well-developed and unforgettable. The choice of music (Bach and Debussy) and the performances of Luca Marinelli and Carlo Cecchi are the mainstay of this film.

Another personal film from Abel Ferrara, looking back at his past with real life wife and son in the film playing some characters--here as a Russian girl and his son respectively (as in his earlier "Tommaso".) It is a meta-film with hallucinations that resemble a horror film (which it definitely is not) with 5 huskies pulling his sled in snow and accompanying him to a hot Sahelian desert oasis. Clint (Willem Dafoe) is once again Ferrara's alter ego searching for philosophical answers to his own life thus far from his family and practitioners of the "dark arts." The answer he gets from one of them is that he lacks compassion, and that he should forego reason. A fish that he ate the previous night outside his burnt abode in the snow comes alive. Ferrara seems to accept a larger force that defies reason.

A well-made film that may not appeal to many. Narrated by Anne Morgan, the film contrasts the quiet, reflective Tesla with the very verbose Edison and his nonchalant world of the electric chair executions. The script can confound many but the script is exploring Tesla's mind and behavior, and the effect of JP Morgan's daughter Anne and her father on his life and Sarah Bernhardt's interest in him.

The best Vinterberg film for me to date--and Vinterberg is good. Full marks for Vinterberg and Mads Mikkelsen for the final choregraphed sequence. Reminds one of Anthony Quinn dancing in Cacoyannis' "Zorba the Greek" though the reasons for the respective dances are not even remotely connected. It is the feeling from deep down that reflects the best of Soren Kierkegaard. A film that underscores love in marriage.

A contemplative cinematic essay on mothers of various hues and ages. My full review is at http://moviessansfrontiers.blogspot.com/2021/06/264-japanese-film-director-naomi.html

A sophisticated, delicate independent film from USA released in 2020 is this debut feature film from Henry Butash. My full review: moviessansfrontiers.blogspot.com/2020/11/258-us-director-henry-butashs-debut.html

For me, the most impressive work of Larrain among the last 5 feature films he directed. Editing by Sepulveda (The Club and Jackie), who is a director (The Quispe Girls) as well, the performance of the lead actress, and the creative use of Nicholas Jaar's music, the scientific sun footage,, the use of vibrant colors for sets and costumes and the parallels with Verhoeven's Basic Instinct make the film memorable.

One of the best films on blacks in USA by a black director--his debut. Good visuals. Restrained and very magnetic acting by non-professionals. The film is about the gradual "gentrification" of Q street in Washington DC, not very far from the White House. The final words are from a white couple who feel safe now that the black community is a lot less. The "Residue" are the blacks who refuse to move out of Q street.

An interesting filmmaker from Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast)-- young Philippe Lacote. Amazing prison film with French actor Denis Lavant (Holy Motors, Lovers on the Bridge) stealing the scenes. it is a Scheherazade tale with a difference, African cinema is making waves! My detailed review is at http://moviessansfrontiers.blogspot.com/2021/01/260-cote-divoires-ivory-coasts-film.html

Ms Schanalec is Germany's Roy Andersson. The long silences sandwich loud outbursts. Are humans like animals (ref: opening and final sequences)? Hamlet enacted by school children without costumes. The effect will only dawn on viewers who are familiar with the play. Interesting performances--especially by younger actors. As satisfying as a good crossword puzzle that you can crack with some effort.

Impressive cinematography (Christopher Blauvelt) and editing (by the director herself). Appropriately chosen music. Shall watch out for other works of this director. The opening quote in the film is well chosen: "The bird a nest, the spider a web, man friendship"--William Blake in "Proverbs of Hell." Evidently Blake has influenced other directors as well--Jim Jarmusch in "Dead Man," and Martin Scorsese in "Mean Streets." Had I seen this film in 2019, it would have been one of my top 20 films of the year.