Although 2020 was not the best year for various things humans like and need (I’ll leave the rest to your imagination), films, it seems, were good, even great, nonetheless.
Even amidst the challenges from a delayed, postponed or hindered production environment, some shows triumphed. The greater the struggle the more beautiful the butterfly, it would appear.
Every year AP compiles lists of the best movies of the year and these are at the absolute top of the list:
First Cow:
Set in the early 19th century, in a settlement near Columbia River, what is now Oregon. Two settlers, one a skillet cook, the other a Chinese immigrant partner up to make their fortune on the frontier. Their success, depends on one valuable ingredient, the prized dairy cow that neither of them owns. Jonathan Raymon wrote the script based on the novel “The Half-Life”, directed by Kelly Reichardt and stars: John Magaro and Orion Lee.
Time calls the film “song of this weird, rough-edged stretch of stolen land we call America, a place where tenderness is still the most precious commodity”
Nomadland:
Frances McDormand stars in the drama as a widow, unable to afford her home during the recession, sells her home and packs up all her necessities into her van. There she embarks on journey through the American West, living in her van, as a modern-day, nomad, picking up seasonal work and relying on the compassion and generosity in her travels. Written, edited and produced by Chloé Zhao.