January 29, 2020
Welcome to part two of my favorite films of 2020. If you missed part one, you can find it here. It’s funny, as I was working on this series of my thoughts on the year in film, and especially after recommending In & Of Itself last week, I find myself sometimes worried about providing suggestions that people may not like. That’s why when I write about a movie I try to explain why it resonated with me, and why I liked it. Oftentimes if someone asks for a suggestion, my first response is, “Well, what do you like?” At the end of the day, connecting with a movie is all about personal preference. That being said, I hope you are enjoying this retrospective series and have found some good recommendations. On to the top 5.
#5 – Nomadland, directed by Chloé Zhao
You may not have heard of this movie, or its director, but it’s safe to say that you will over the next few months. Nomadland is one of the many films that faced a challenging release schedule. I was fortunate to catch a screening during a virtual film festival last Fall, and was very impressed. It has played sporadically in drive-ins and online screenings, but will not see a wide release until early February. The good news is that Hulu has picked up the streaming rights and will premiere it in mid-February. The reason you’ll be hearing more about Nomadland is because it is the current Oscar favorite for Best Picture and Best Director, after winning a number of critics’ awards the last several weeks.
Frances McDormand stars as Fern, a woman who is struggling to get by after losing her job during the Great Recession following the 2008 financial crisis. She works a seasonal job at an Amazon distribution center, but decides to buy a van and travel out West, living the life of the nomad. She meets a wide variety of people who show her the keys to surviving this kind of lifestyle. While this may sound like a romantic way of life, we see firsthand how difficult it can be to live like this, especially when things we take for granted are hard to find. It was hard to watch this film and not think about the millions of people currently suffering from the pandemic and the ripple effect on jobs and income in this country. Fern adapts to the nomad life pretty quickly, although she runs into financial difficulties along the way. She travels to see her sister who helps her out, but just can’t fathom why Fern has chosen to live like this. Fern may not know exactly what she wants in life, but knows that she needs to continue her search for the purpose in her life.
Nomadland is a beautiful character study with stunning landscapes of the American West filmed by director Chloé Zhao. McDormand is excellent in the movie, as is the supporting cast, which includes David Strathairn and many real-life “nomads” who bring authenticity to the community feel of the movie. They genuinely care for each other and even though they know they may not live in the same place for very long, they commit to always being there for each other. As one of the nomads tells Fern, they never say “Goodbye.” Instead, they say “We’ll see you down the road.”
#4 – Mank, directed by David Fincher
A year ago, in writing about my favorable film of 2019, Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood…, I started by saying that it might not be for every Tarantino fan. I have the exact same thought about David Fincher’s latest film, the story of Herman Mankiewicz, a Hollywood screenwriter in the 1930s. If you fire up Mank expecting something like Fight Club, Zodiac, or Gone Girl, you might be disappointed. That’s not to say it’s a subpar movie. On the contrary, I found Mank to be a tremendous achievement of filmmaking, with a very good story. It’s just a very different film from Fincher. There isn’t the usual suspense, tension, or violence that we’ve seen from his previous movies. Instead, Mank is a passion project, based on a screenplay that his father wrote over thirty years ago. Fincher intended to make it a few times, but could never find a studio willing to let him make it the way he wanted to – in black and white, with the feeling that it was a movie from the 1930s. Thanks to his successful relationship with Netflix these last several years, including creating the series House of Cards and Mindhunter, they gave him the funding and freedom to make the film his way.
You may have heard that Mank is about the making of Citizen Kane, which Mankiewicz co-wrote with Orson Welles. In fact, that’s what I thought when I first watched it, and was surprised how much “other plot” was in the movie. Actually, while the core of the film is Mankiewicz, played by Gary Oldman in a knockout performance, struggling to write the screenplay for Kane, Fincher takes us back to various points in Mank’s life that influenced the themes of Kane. So, we see his relationships with the leadership of movie studio MGM, his brother Joseph (also a screenwriter, who would go on to win four Oscars for writing and directing), and his wife Sara. His relationship with William Randolph Hearst, the powerful publishing mogul and inspiration for the title character of Citizen Kane, and Marion Davies, the mistress of Hearst, are also front and center in the film. When I first watched the movie, I was confused why there was so much attention about a California gubernatorial race, but after doing a little reading after I saw Mank, I realized that the themes of media and politics heavily influenced the themes of Kane, so it made more sense.
I left my viewing of Mank having two conflicting thoughts. The first was that the movie is a technical masterpiece – the beautiful black and white texture, the lighting, the production design, the performances (besides Oldman, Amanda Seyfried is wonderful as Davies), and especially the score, which was written by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, frequent collaborators on Fincher’s films. They went the extra mile for authenticity, having the score performed on instruments that were only available in the 1940s. The score is beautiful and is now in my rotation of music I listen to while writing, along with another gem from Reznor and Ross, the score of Pixar’s Soul. What a year those two had. Fincher also went above and beyond to create the look and feel that you would expect watching a film from this era. He said in interviews that he wanted it to feel like you found this movie in a basement, next to a copy of Citizen Kane. The “burn circles” you see during the movie, which were common in the old days when film reels were changed in the theater, are intentional – a touch of the old Hollywood from Fincher.
The second thought I had after my initial viewing was that I wanted there to be more “writing of Citizen Kane” and less “California politics.” But, when I read more about the film, especially this article which I found instructive, I had a much higher appreciation for the story and the themes. And then I thought, “Well, if the whole movie was Gary Oldman dictating a script, that would be kind of boring.” I was able to watch the film again recently and really enjoyed it the second time, especially when you look at the whole package. It’s not just about Citizen Kane and it’s not just about Mankiewicz. It’s about Old Hollywood and the intersection of movies, media, politics, and power. I’ve been asked if you should watch Citizen Kane first and I think the answer is yes. It’s not because Mank is any kind of sequel, but for two other reasons. First, I think Citizen Kane is one of the best films ever made (especially when you consider Welles was 25 when he made it, and it was his debut as a director) and second, the themes of power, media, and politics will resonate between the two films (try not to laugh out loud when there is a newspaper headline that says “Fraud at the Polls” in Citizen Kane), not to mention the homages that Fincher pays to Welles with the look and feel of Mank. It may feel like homework, but sometimes to get a full appreciation of a masterpiece, it requires a little extra effort.
#3 – Tenet, directed by Christopher Nolan
The film that garnered probably the most headlines as the pandemic raged around the world and turned the movie industry upside down was Tenet, the latest from ambitious director Christopher Nolan. While movie studios scrambled and either pushed their releases to 2021, or sent their films directly to streaming or video on demand, Warner Bros. (Nolan’s long-time producing partner) held firm to release Tenet in theaters in September. The box-office results were lukewarm and the reviews (from critics and consumers) were divisive to say the least. As I recently wrote here, Warner Bros., which owns HBO Max, made the decision to move all of their 2021 releases to a combination theater and streaming release on the same day, with the streaming option available for only 30 days. The first film released under this format was Wonder Woman 1984 on Christmas. The move sent a shockwave through the industry – Are theaters dead? Will other players follow? Who made the decision and who was consulted?
The answers are complicated. Other studios have not followed, but it seems the next move will be to push releases out as far as possible when vaccine adoption can loosen theater restrictions in the U.S. and around the world. Netflix, in a typical ho-hum fashion, released a teaser trailer of all of their films coming out this year, casually noting that they will release a new film every week in 2021. The biggest criticism came from the directors and actors who had contracts tied to box office results and weren’t consulted on the move. Some received payouts to compensate them and others are probably calling their attorneys. Warner Bros. has stressed that this is just a one-year exception, but they have ruffled a lot of feathers in the industry. Why am I bringing all of this up? Because the biggest critic was Nolan himself, who was pissed that the studio took this action, even though it didn’t impact one of his movies. He is a firm believer in the importance of the theater model, and worries the industry will regress into everyone watching movies on their phones. Recent reports indicate that he is done with Warner Bros. and will be making his next film with a new studio.
Whew – that’s a lot of drama about the industry. How about the movie? Upon initial viewing, most people find it a little confusing to follow the plot. This was the movie that brought me back to a theater for the first time in six months and I thought it was really cool. I certainly didn’t understand it all and couldn’t piece everything together, but the set pieces and action sequences were incredible. One difficulty I had was that it was a little hard to hear some of the dialogue in the theater. Nolan has a tendency to love cranking up the sound in his movies, so I recommend closed captioning if you are like me and too many concerts has left you a little compromised in hearing dialogue in movies.
If you go into Tenet with a mindset of “just going with the flow,” not trying to dissect every plot point exactly, and enjoying the action sequences, it’s a fun ride. Yes, the plot is kind of confusing, especially the first half, but it comes together in the second half. But Tenet is more than a puzzle – it’s an action movie, a heist film, with elements of time shifting (or time inversion as it’s described), with excellent performances from John David Washington and Robert Pattinson. When you are done with Tenet, you will likely try to piece together everything you saw and ask yourself if you truly understood it and if you missed any clues along the way. The plot moves quickly in a propulsive manner (so put down your phone while watching this one), so it’s easy to miss some key developments. As much as I needed to rewatch Mank to fully appreciate it, a second viewing of Tenet is even more rewarding. After watching it a second time a few months later, a lot of the threads and clues connected for me and it moved way up my list of favorite movies this year.
While the sound mixing was one of the criticisms of Tenet, there were also some complaints that there was too much “exposition,” where two characters are explaining what is happening during a conversation that is a blatant attempt to inform the viewers. If you ever watched The West Wing and remember when Donna would ask Josh a question about how something in government worked, when he explained it to her, his answer was also for us as viewers – that’s “exposition.” Tenet certainly has elements of this throughout the movie as characters explain to each other the “rules” of the universe they are occupying. In film circles, “exposition” is sometimes deemed “lazy” screenwriting. Critics would rather see a screenplay “show” us, not take the easy way out and “tell” us. I can understand that criticism, but I’m also ok if a filmmaker wants to leave me some breadcrumbs during the movie if their plot is convoluted. I’m not that smart of a guy – sometimes I need a hammer over the head to get it. Early in the movie, when Washington’s character is learning about time inversion, the woman he is talking with says to him, “Don’t try to understand it. Feel it.” That’s Nolan telling us to not pick apart every minute of the film – just sit back and enjoy the ride.
#2 – Sound of Metal, directed by Darius Marder
While I needed a second viewing of Mank and Tenet to truly appreciate their brilliance, there were two movies I watched this year that had an immediate impact on me and they are the top two films on my list. Unlike other movies on my top ten list, Sound of Metal is a quiet independent film with a small budget and a small cast. It is the story of Ruben, a drummer in a two-piece heavy metal band with his girlfriend. In the opening section of the movie, Ruben starts to realize that something is wrong because he no longer hears anything. He quickly moves from panic to problem-solving, visiting a pharmacy and a doctor looking for someone to fix his hearing. When he is told that his problem is permanent and will likely get worse, he can’t believe it is real. He grasps for any possible solution, including cochlear implants. His girlfriend brings him to a home that helps deaf individuals acclimate to their new world, where he resists the reality that his life has changed, instead thinking this is a temporary problem until he can fix it.
I saw Sound of Metal back in October, during a virtual film festival and it had a profound effect on me, and I think it’s because I have such a deep connection with music. Watching someone going through this personal hell was heartbreaking to watch. I can’t even imagine having experienced the joy of sound for your entire life, and then to have it ripped away in an instant. Riz Ahmed delivers such an amazing performance as Ruben, demonstrating how hard he worked to prepare for filming, having taken drum lessons and learning sign language. In a strong supporting role, Paul Raci stars as Joe, the man who runs the house where Ruben stays. Joe demonstrates some empathy for Ruben’s situation, but also shows him the tough love that this is his new world, there are many others just like him, and he needs to adapt to a new way of life. The filmmakers of this movie did a phenomenal job of mixing the sound as we experience what Ruben is hearing (or not hearing) throughout the film. I expect there to be some Oscar attention for Sound of Metal, particularly for the sound design, Ahmed, Raci, and potentially more. A truly inspiring and magnificent film.
#1 – Small Axe / Mangrove, directed by Steve McQueen
Whenever I watch a movie for the first time, I start to think about how it compares to others I’ve seen, especially if it is part of a ranking I am doing for a blog post. Sometimes it’s difficult to compare wildly different stories, but when you have two films that explore the story of protest and social injustice with a courtroom trial, it’s hard not to compare the two movies directly. And that’s probably a little unfair to both The Trial of the Chicago 7 and Mangrove, my favorite film of 2020, but that’s what we do.
Mangrove is the first in the Small Axe series of five films directed by Steve McQueen, Oscar winner for 12 Years a Slave. The series premiered on BBC, who helped finance the project, before debuting on Amazon Prime in late 2020. While it may be described as a “series”, McQueen has indicated that he looks at each of these pieces of the project as films, even if a few of them are barely longer than an hour. Small Axe explores the racial tensions of a West Indian community in London over the course of the 1960s – 1980s. Each of the stories are unique in nature, but with similar themes that extend across the whole series. Mangrove is the true story of The Mangrove Nine, a group of individuals who protested police harassment and brutality in their community, including the Mangrove restaurant where they frequently gathered. The owner of the restaurant, Frank Crichlow, suffers the vast majority of the harassment, and with the help of his friends, decides to rise up and fight the injustice. After a number of them are arrested, we are taken through their trial and witness firsthand the infuriating behavior of the police put on trial.
I was mesmerized by this story throughout the entire two hour runtime of the film. The cast was virtually unknown to me, which I think helps avoid any overacting or distractions based on previous experiences we’ve had with the actors. McQueen did an excellent job of weaving wonderful music throughout the story in a perfect combination of celebratory music while the friends are enjoying their time at the restaurant, with tense music during the harassment and protest scenes. The trial itself is presented in such a way that we get to the meat of the matter and see the key developments, without getting too bogged down in legal minutiae. As much as Aaron Sorkin made his back and forth flashback style work for The Trial of the Chicago 7, I preferred McQueen’s style of linear storytelling, so we can see the weight of the events of the movie build on the characters over time. I often say that the key to a successful story is a compelling plot, a tight script, strong performances, the appropriate amount of tension, a complimentary score, and an ending that delivers. Mangrove delivers on all fronts and that’s why it’s my favorite movie of the year.
Honorable Mentions
So, that’s all for my top ten films of the year. If you are interested in more of my favorites, you can find a list of my top 50 narrative features of 2020 here on Letterbxd, a really good social media site for movie lovers. If you’d like to find any of the movies I’ve covered here, you can go to JustWatch.com or my Film Index. And if you’d like to be notified of future posts, you can subscribe here. Thanks again for reading and we’ll see you again soon.