[D66] The 'Best' Films of 2020 (NYT)

[R.O.]

[Marxism] The Best Films of 2020 (So Far), and They’re All Streaming - 
The New York Times
Louis Proyect lnp3 at panix.com
Sun May 24 21:05:35 MDT 2020


On 5/24/20 10:24 PM, Erik Toren wrote:
 > Behind a capitalist paywall. Which films are they? Asking for us
 > proletariats. 😎
 >
 > Erik
 >
 >

(Sorry, I can't forward the links but there should be enough info to
track them down.)

The Best Films of 2020 (So Far), and They’re All Streaming
Yes, it’s been a weird year for movies, but our chief critics have still
found plenty of gems. Here are their top picks.


Leah Lewis in “The Half of It.”
Leah Lewis in “The Half of It.”Credit...KC Bailey/Netflix
Stephanie Goodman
By Stephanie Goodman
May 22, 2020

Theaters closed in March because of the pandemic, and studios delayed
the release of several much-anticipated films till the fall or even
2021. So you’d think there might not be much to recommend so far this
year. But our chief critics, Manohla Dargis and A.O. Scott, are having
none of that: they are championing several movies that hit theaters
before the shutdown or were released online afterward. If you’re looking
for new movies that will challenge you, here are their picks.

Both critics recommend …
‘Beanpole’

The story: Set in Leningrad just after World War II, the freakishly tall
nurse of the title tends to wounded soldiers in a hospital. But Beanpole
fought in the war as well, and struggles, alongside her friend Masha, to
overcome traumas of her own.

What we said: “This is only the second feature from the sensationally
talented Russian director Kantemir Balagov (who was born in 1991), and
it’s a gut punch,” Manohla Dargis wrote. “It’s also a brilliantly told,
deeply moving story about love — in all its manifestations, perversity
and obstinacy.”

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Read: The full review.

Watch the movie: Stream it on Mubi; rent or buy it on Amazon, Google
Play, iTunes or Vudu.

A.O. Scott recommends …
1. ‘The Half of It’

The story: A riff on “Cyrano de Bergerac,” the movie stars Leah Lewis as
high schooler Ellie Chu, an outsider several times over in her small
town: she’s an Asian-American lesbian who’s also a gifted writer. She
unexpectedly bonds with a star football player (Daniel Diemer) who has a
crush on the same girl she does.

What we said: The film, directed by Alice Wu, “transcends the
limitations that frequently serve as obstacles to ingenuity in young
adult movies,” Kyle Turner wrote. “By exploring issues of race and
queerness with emotional complexity, it treats teenagers with the
sophistication they deserve.”

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Read: The full review.

Stream it: On Netflix.

2. ‘Beyond the Visible: Hilma af Klint’

The story: The Swedish abstract painter Hilma af Klint (1862-1944) was a
trailblazer whose reputation was eclipsed by that of male artists. But
in 2018 a career survey that stopped at museums including the Guggenheim
tried to rectify that, and so does this documentary by Halina Dyrschka.

What we said: “‘Beyond the Visible’ bristles with the excitement of
discovery and also with the impatience that recognition has taken so
long,” A.O. Scott wrote. “It refreshes the eyes and the mind.”

Read: The full review.

Watch the movie: Via Kino Marquee, a video on demand service that
benefits local theaters.

3. ‘The Traitor'

The story: Tommaso Buscetta was a real-life member of the Sicilian Cosa
Nostra who turned on his partners in crime in the 1980s, ultimately
testifying in open court. In Marco Bellocchio’s feature, he’s played by
Pierfrancesco Favino as a not entirely admirable figure out for revenge.

What we said: “Bellocchio’s approach to the story is at once coolly
objective — the movie is part biopic, part courtroom procedural — and
almost feverishly intense,” Scott wrote. “He has a historian’s
analytical detachment, a novelist’s compassion for his characters and a
citizen’s outrage at the cruelty and corruption that have festered in
his country for so long.”

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Read: The full review.

Watch the movie: Rent or buy it on Amazon, FandangoNow, Google Play,
iTunes or Vudu.

4. ‘Beastie Boys Story’

The story: Spike Jonze directs a cinematic version of the 2018 “Beastie
Boys Book,” the tale of how Ad-Rock, Mike D and MCA morphed from punk
rockers into best-selling rappers.

Would you like recommendations for more stories like this?

Yes
What we said: The film “has its own kind of beauty, even if the
aesthetic is more dad rock than hip-hop,” Scott wrote, adding, “It’s a
jaunt down memory lane and also a moving and generous elegy.”

Read: The full review.

Stream it: On Apple TV Plus.

Manohla Dargis recommends …
1. ‘Bacurau’

The story: In near-future Brazil, a small town mourns the death of a
matriarch. Then the town disappears from the map. The filmmakers Kleber
Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles mix elements from westerns and
science fiction to create a wholly new story.

What we said: “An exhilarating fusion of high and low, the movie takes a
shopworn premise — townsfolk facing a violent threat — and bats it
around until it all goes ka-boom,” Dargis wrote.

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Read: The full review.

Watch the movie: It’s available to rent in virtual screening rooms that
benefit individual theaters, or on FandangoNow, Google Play, iTunes or Vudu.

2. ‘Sorry We Missed You’

The story: Ricky Turner drives for a delivery company dropping off
packages ordered online (the title refers to the note he leaves for
absent owners), and his wife, Abby, works for a subcontractor providing
home health care in Ken Loach’s moving British drama about the gig economy.

What we said: Loach is “almost without peer as a filmmaker formidably
committed to exposing the sins of our wages,” Wesley Morris wrote,
adding, “He knows you’re unlikely to cancel anything. But he damn sure
wants you to think long and hard about that next one-click buy.”

Read: The full review.

Watch the movie: Via Zeitgeist Films, which offers a list of online options.

3. ‘The Invisible Man’

The story: After Cecilia (Elisabeth Moss) flees the abusive tech-pioneer
Adrian, he turns up dead. But her troubles aren’t over: when she finds
herself being menaced by an unseen presence, she becomes convinced it’s
Adrian, only no one believes her.

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What we said: The director, Leigh Whannell, “does a lot that’s smart
here, including the way he uses bodies in rooms,” Dargis wrote, adding,
“Moss’s full-bore performance — anchored by her extraordinarily supple
face — gives the movie its emotional stakes.”

Read: The full review.

Watch the movie: Rent or buy it on Amazon, FandangoNow, Google Play,
iTunes or Vudu.

4. ‘Crip Camp’

The story: An upstate New York summer camp welcomed disabled children at
a time when they had few rights or champions. Some of those campers
would go on to become leaders in the 1970s movement for accessibility,
as chronicled in this documentary by Nicole Newnham and Jim LeBrecht, a
former camper himself.

What we said: “Ultimately, ‘Crip Camp’ has a universal message:
Inspirations that begin in youth can lead to radical, world-changing
results,” Ben Kenigsberg wrote.

Read: The full review.

Stream it: On Netflix.

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