Top 15 Films of 2020 – Allen’s Picks

January 15th, 2021 | POSTED BY Allen Almachar

11) The History of the Seattle Mariners

Is this entry a bit of hometown bias? Maybe. But there is no denying that Jon Bois and Alex Rubenstein has made arguably the best documentary of the year with The History of the Seattle Mariners. As part of the Secret Base YouTube channel (under their “Dorktown” banner) Bois and Rubenstein guide us through the ups and downs (mostly downs) of the only baseball team to never make a World Series appearance. Utilizing a staggering display of charts, graphs, newspaper clippings, and gameplay footage, the doc builds an argument that the Mariners are the most fascinating team in the MLB. What was a six-part series was combined into a near four-hour epic – which is saying a lot given that the team has not been relevant in two decades. From arson, jello pranks, synchronized vomiting, and a magical playoff series where the stars aligned for one shining moment, The History of the Seattle Mariners is a story that goes far beyond the game. 

 10) Hamilton

Is Hamilton a film or a recorded stage play? The answer is both. Shot over a three-day span in 2016 with the original Broadway cast (many of whom would depart the show soon after filming), the musical covers the life of founding father Alexander Hamilton during and after The Revolutionary War. The brainchild of writer/star Lin-Manuel Miranda, the show is filled to the brim with R&B, hip-hop, soul, funk, and traditional show tunes. It is a moving and contagious story of America’s birth featuring a cast representative of the modern day. Every performer is in peak form, handling the avalanche of dialogue/lyrics with passion and energy. The cinematography and editing cuts between wide angles and intimate closeups. No other musical this year hits with as much power and grace – I have not been able to get the music out of my head since watching it.

9) His House

The best horror film of the year is writer/director Remi Weekes’ His House. But to simply call it a “horror film” would be an injustice. At its heart, the story shows the struggles of immigration – how people uproot themselves from their native countries in search of a better life but never fully leave their pasts behind. Sope Dirisu and Wunmi Mosaku star as Sudanese refugees who have moved to an unnamed English town only to confront micro-aggressive bigotry. To make matters worse, something has followed them from Sudan and is now haunting the walls of their rundown apartment. His House shows how the choices we make live within us, whether we want it to or not. It is equal parts insightful with its social commentary and terrifying with its scares. 

8) The Vast of Night

Borrowing elements of The Twilight Zone, Steven Spielberg, and Cold War era sci-fi, The Vast of Night is an ingenious tale of a small New Mexico town being invaded by…something. The narrative takes an old school approach with a modern twist. The intelligence of the writing (Andrew Patterson, Craig Sanger) and direction (Patterson) keep us on the edge as we watch two young people (Sierra McCormick, Jake Horowitz) try to uncover the mysterious presence in their community. The sound design and dialogue are razor-sharp, not only in building suspense but in revealing character traits as well. It’s rare to find a movie made up mostly of small conversations to be this engrossing, tense, and entertaining.

7) Da 5 Bloods

Spike Lee’s war film is big, bold, messy, passionate, and visionary. He follows a group of black Vietnam War veterans returning to Vietnam to not only recover the remains of their squad leader (the late Chadwick Boseman), but to retrieve a cache of gold bars they hid there. They each grapple with the effects of not only participating in battle but fighting for a country that treated them as second-class citizens. At the center is Delroy Lindo – giving a career best performance – as a character so traumatized by his experiences that he flirts with losing himself to the darkness. Lee tackles the material with the eye of a cinephile, playing with editing, film stock, screen ratio, narrative structure, and so on – all to create a piece of art that is quintessentially his own. It’s refreshing to see an experienced filmmaker swing for the fences, and with his latest Lee has hit a homerun.

6) I’m Thinking of Ending Things  

What is Charlie Kaufman’s I’m Thinking of Ending Things about? Is it about a young woman (Jessie Buckley) meeting her boyfriend’s (Jesse Plemons) parents? Is it about an old janitor (Guy Boyd) fantasizing about his youth and a lost love? Is it both, is it neither? While we could go down the very deep rabbit hole that is Kaufman’s narrative, what I took away were the emotions. I thought of love, loss, and of people dwelling in the nostalgia of their past while yearning for a better future. It is equal parts hilarious and terrifying, and by the end I was deeply moved. While the surreal nature may be a turn off for some, I embraced the fact that I had no idea where the story was going. Sometimes the best movies are the ones that require active participation from the audience. In this case, the reward is worth the effort.

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A Sun, Alex Rubenstein, American Murder, American Utopia, Andrew Ahn, Andrew Patterson, Another Roun, Bacurau, Bad Education, Bad Hair, Banana Split, Beastie Boys Story, Big Time Adolescence, Bill & Ted Face the Music, Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn, Black Box, Blow the Man Down, Borat Su, Boys State, Brian Dennehy, Chadwick Boseman, Charlie Kaufman, Chloé Zhao, Craig Sanger, Da 5 Bloods, Delroy Lindo, Driveways, Education, Eliza Hittman, Eva Whittaker, Featured, First Cow, Fox Rich, Frances McDormand, Garrett Bradley, Guy Boyd, Hamilton, Hannah Bos, His House, Hong Chau, Honor Kneafsey, Horse Girl, Jake Horowitz, Jay Wadley, Jesse Plemons, Jessie Buckley, John Magaro, Jon Bois, Juliano Dornelles, Jungleland, Kelly rei, Ki Jin Kim, Kleber Mendonca Filho, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Lovers Rock, Lucas Jaye, Lucky Grandma, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Mads Mikkelsen, Mangrove, Minari, Never Rarely Sometimes Always, News of the World, Nocturne, Nomadland, Orian Lee, Palm Springs, Paul Thureen, Possessor, Promising Young Woman, Red White and Blue, Remi Weekes, Ride Your Wave, Rob Rich, Shirley, Sidney Flanigan, Sierra McCormick, Sope Dirisu, Soul, Spaceship Earth, Spike Lee, Sputnik, Steve McQueen, Swallow, Sylvies Love, Talia Ryder, The Assistant, The Booksellers, The Half of It, The Hater, The History of the Seattle Mariners, The Invisible Man (2020), The Lodge, The Next, The Outpost, The Painter and the Thief, The Platform, The Rental, The Social Dilemma, The Sound of Metal, The Vast of Night, The Way Back (2020), Thomas Vinterberg, Tigertail, Time, Toby Jones, Tommaso, Totally Under Control, Troop Zero, Vampires vs The Bronx, Wolfwalkers, Wunmi Mosaku