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My Best Film: 2020


Devon Malcolm

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As great as I though The Invisible Man was, 1917 probably tips it for me as my film of the year. When it came out I'd just about finished my first viewing of it (nefarious sources), in absolute pieces and with tiers in my eyes from the shot towards the end of the soldiers going over the top, when my Mrs came downstairs and asked if I'd mind watching it again. We restarted it and I ended up bawling my eyes out in the same place. Just a beautifully shot film that probably tipped me over the scale emotionally because of how much my late grandad would have loved it.

Palm Springs gets my comedy of the year. Andy Samberg can do no wrong.

True Romance gets my Film Of The Year What I'd Never Seen Before 2020 And Regret Not Seeing Sooner.

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There's clear choices of film for 2020 for me between heart and mind.

My brain says Parasite is the best thing I've seen all year. When no cinema was showing it here in philistine Essex (until after it won, then they scrambled to show it) a mate and I took a trip to the excellent Picturehouse Stratford to watch it. I took great pains to avoid everything about it - not even a synopsis - and was mesmerised by it's ability to swerve between genres, take unexpected directions with the story, yet still be immaculately made - the editing in particular is top notch. 

But my heart says A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. I'm a sucker for Tom Hanks anyway, but I finished watching it weeping with joy. It made me want to be a better person by example, and I'm not sure a film can do more for you than that (can't guarantee I'll manage it, but hey aspiration is halfway there).

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35 minutes ago, johnnyboy said:

Have you seen the documentary "Won't You Be My Neighbor?"  It's a fantastic companion piece and crosses over with the events portrayed in the film.

I have it ready to watch once I clear out all the Christmas playlist. Plus another similar doc.

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I need to rewatch Parasite. It didn't click with me first time round, but I did watch a YouTube video a while back which shows the lengths Bong Joon-ho went in his direction

Spoiler

For example having visible lines on screen between characters from the two different families to reiterate the difference in class

My top 4 for 2020 would be Invisible Man, Tenet, Da 5 Bloods and Chicago 7 with maybe Onward or Happiest Season rounding off the top 5. There are so many gaps this year though, I haven't seen any of the Small Axe films yet, or most of the films in the opening post (I've heard Wolfwalkers is fantastic and can't wait to see that). 

Other highlights of the year were His House, Old Guard, Soul and Enola Holmes. The Harley Quinn movie was also ok.

Fucking hated I'm Thinking of Ending Things

I would agree that Midnight Family was the best doc this year, unless we count Dick Johnson Is Dead as a documentary? If so that wins it for me.

I am renowned for my poor taste in films (hopefully not Stewdogg levels) and to prove that I really enjoyed Artemis Fowl this year despite the rest of the world hating it!

Edited by waters44
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I'm yet to watch Parasite but when I went to watch it last night i noticed there's a black and white and a colour version, I'm tempted by the b + w version but can anyone who's seen both say if one version would be the better version to experience first? I'm tempted by the black and white but don't want the impact of whatever it is to be lessened if it's better to watch in colour first. I've managed to avoid hearing much about it but want to see it from the little I've heard.

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19 minutes ago, Harry Wiseau said:

I'm yet to watch Parasite but when I went to watch it last night i noticed there's a black and white and a colour version, I'm tempted by the b + w version but can anyone who's seen both say if one version would be the better version to experience first? I'm tempted by the black and white but don't want the impact of whatever it is to be lessened if it's better to watch in colour first. I've managed to avoid hearing much about it but want to see it from the little I've heard.

I’ve yet to watch the B&W version yet, but I’d see it in its originally released version first personally. 

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I've been trying to put together a top 10/20 the past few weeks but I'm struggling, it's been a cracking year for films really. Parasite, The Invisible Man, Uncut Gems, A Beautiful Day In The Neighbourhood and Portrait Of A Lady On Fire would all be high up there. Really enjoyed The Gentlemen too. Trial Of The Chicago 7, Mank, Happiest Season and Uncle Frank would probably round it out. 

There has been some right stinkers the past year too. I'm still angry that fucking Tenet is the last thing I watched in a cinema. She Dies Tomorrow and I'm Thinking Of Ending Things were colossal wastes of time. Downhill was probably the most boring thing I've seen all year. Vivarium was shite. 

 

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With apologies to @Keith Houchen for the post x2 but I forgot to link to this. I rated all but the bottom three of these 4 stars or above, so it was a really strong year even despite the interruptions. And those bottom three are also really good.

https://letterboxd.com/settingsun/list/top-50-2020/

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I really enjoyed Fourteen, Bloody Nose Empty Pockets and Never Rarely Sometimes Always this year, all slightly scruffy looks at relationships between fairly normal people along with societal issues (although more about how they affect the individual characters rather than a bigger picture thing). I'm a big fan of the small, quiet, well observed kinda films, beauty in the mundane and all that. BNEP does have a fairly interesting stylish conceit (it's sort of a documentary but it's also definitely not a documentary..) in terms of the more cinematic side of things.

Beanpole and Bacurau were both very stylish / arty looks at different cultures in difficult times. Both kinda horror films but very in their own ways

Invisible Man suprised me at how good it was (although realising afterwards it was by the chap who did Upgrade made me realise that shouldn't have been a suprise and I was basically just being snobby because it looked like generic blockbuster trash)

Relic was a well done horror that I though got elevated by a beautiful final scene.

Writing this down it would appear the things that resonated most for me this year were either small scale stuff about real feeling people talking/interacting with other or horror (and I tend to watch a fairly diverse range of films, those two styles aren't necessarily my go tos). Not exactly suprising but hadn't realised quite how clear the pattern was ;)

Edited by organizedkaos
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I have to say that nothing beat watching UNCUT GEMS in a packed cinema in January. It was such an incredible feeling, made even more so by the fact that the cinema experience has been missing for going on a year. So it was my film of the year followed closely by SAINT MAUDE and PARASITE

Also a shout out for EMMA which I saw just before the world went to shit and thoroughly enjoyed. Anya Tayloyr-Joy had a helluva year. Going to be a huge star

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9 hours ago, organizedkaos said:

Relic was a well done horror that I though got elevated by a beautiful final scene.

Glad to see this get a mention. I was expecting it to be another recent horror film where nothing happens until the end but it was really rather good. Shame it didn't get a shot at the cinema.

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Saint Maude is the last film I saw in my local Cineworld before it shut down and given that it was effectively the season finale of cinema for me, I’m really glad it turned out to be as brilliant as it is. There isn’t a film from last year that I enjoyed anywhere near as much, it’s utterly masterful.

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1 hour ago, RedRooster said:

Saint Maude is the last film I saw in my local Cineworld before it shut down and given that it was effectively the season finale of cinema for me, I’m really glad it turned out to be as brilliant as it is. There isn’t a film from last year that I enjoyed anywhere near as much, it’s utterly masterful.

I caught it just before lockdown as well. Easily one of the best films of the year. Absolutely shit myself at the end shot too.

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