The 10 Best Films of 2020, Now Available to Stream

As a lead-up to this year’s installment of the Scene's annual Jim Ridley Memorial Film Poll — coming in print and online Jan. 14 — here’s my own personal "Best Of" for the cinema of 2020, as well as where they can be streamed, rented or bought. So many things can be said about 2020, most of them unpalatable to delicate sensibilities. But despite major studio release plans getting scuttled, dumped or punted ahead to 2021, it has been a superb year for film. Dig in and enjoy — it’s still safe to do so.

1. Possessor

Too much. That’s a good way of describing 2020 in general, but it also works as an assessment of what makes Possessor, Brandon Cronenberg’s second feature, such an unforgettable biopsy of modern life. No matter how fast technology evolves, the path that the money takes is already established. The circuits of power are well laid-out. And whatever it is that you can do, even if it’s projecting empath murder, how you fit in is already determined. The company always comes out ahead, no matter what you do. And though the graphic violence and the “uncut” branding have driven the conversation about the film, it’s the perfectly plausible moral universe it inhabits that sticks in the back of your brain. (On VoD/DVD/Blu-ray in both R-Rated and Uncut versions. Be sure and check.)

2. Lovers Rock

A sensual riot of so many of the human experiences we’ve put on hold during the pandemic. The bass soothes, the walls sweat, and like the ostracized telepaths in Scanners, we find a moment of transcendent peace in the middle of the siege the outside world holds. “Silly Games” and “Kunta Kinte Dub” will find their way into your emotional playlists. (Streaming on Amazon Prime Video as part of director Steve McQueen’s Small Axe quintet, all of which is worth checking out. There is no physical media incarnation of this film.)

3. She Dies Tomorrow

She Dies Tomorrow is of those films that feels like it’s watching you while you watch it. It finds the heart of the viewer’s anxieties and the unease of the peace that comes from acceptance. Writer-director Amy Seimetz didn’t have to tell 2020 about itself so extensively, but I am glad she did. (Streaming on Hulu. Though there is a commercially available DVD, this film has not been released on Blu-ray, which is a disgrace.)

4. First Cow

The history of American capitalism, with no punches pulled and no exceptionalist myths to obscure the chaotic collision between innovation, greed and social expectations. And yet First Cow is one of the kindest and funniest films of the year. Stars Orion Lee and John Magaro are both superb, the score (from Nashville’s own William Tyler) is haunting, and director Kelly Reichardt remains one of the most perceptive illustrators of human behavior and friendship that we have. You will want doughnuts and also to call your loved ones. (Streaming on DirecTV, Fubo and Showtime.)

5. Bacurau

A little bit Mad Max, a little bit Two Thousand Maniacs and stuffed to the gills with whatever you’re looking for. Resonance for a world on fire? Exploration of matriarchal succession? Strikeforce Udo Kier? Sex positivity versus unchecked capitalism? Bacurau has all of these things and more, a film that truly has something for everyone. Directors Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles take their righteous fury at the predatory fascists of the world and deliver a funny, violent and deeply satisfying film that calls to mind the grindhouse classics of Brian Trenchard-Smith and John Carpenter. (Streaming via The Criterion Channel and Kanopy.)

6. Vitalina Varela

I tend to get tripped up on my words when I think about this film. It is sad, beautiful, haunting and relentless, and its central, titular performance is unforgettable — this is Vitalina Varela’s life, refracted, with the deepest of emotions depicted. The look that director Pedro Costa and cinematographer Leonardo Simões have found is as revolutionary as if someone had given Caravaggio an HD camera. When I say that the movie theater is like church for me, this film is a sacrament. (Streaming via The Criterion Channel.)

7. After Midnight

A film of many surprises (seriously, don’t read too much about it, just have a look-see) and superb performances. Imagine if Richard Linklater’s Before series had an installment involving a monster attack. (Streaming on Hoopla and Kanopy.)

8. American Utopia

Kinetic, inspirational and full of imagination, this collaboration between David Byrne and Spike Lee is one of the grand musical extravaganzas of the year. (See also: Kylie Minogue’s Infinite Disco.) It's a worthy sibling to 1984’s Stop Making Sense, and a remarkable portrait of what being an American artist both can be and can do. (Streaming on HBOMax. There is no physical media incarnation of this film.)

9. Zombi Child

A singular experience; Zombi Child is equal parts historical exorcism, tone poem, teen drama, cautionary tale and cogent illustration of how the legacy of colonialism is an inescapable part of contemporary history. Any film that gets into the historical actuality of zombiism as a form of worker exploitation as well as what happens when white teens start dipping toes in ancient magical currents is a film worth exploring. (Streaming via The Criterion Channel, Film Movement+ and Shudder.)

10. Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan

This Hindi-language musical from writer-director Hitesh Kewalya has all the emotional beats you’d want from a sprawling family drama, several staggering musical numbers (personal fave: “Pyaar Tenu Karda Gabru”) and a progressive heart that understands what it means when family binds you to someone you can never truly understand. Stars Ayushmann Khurrana and Jitendra Kumar are charming and relatable and will hopefully help broaden some minds. (Streaming on Amazon Prime. There is no physical media incarnation of this film.)

Honorable Mention:

And Then We Danced, Ask Any Buddy, Crip Camp, Gretel and Hansel, The Invisible Man, Nomadland, Welcome to Chechnya, The Whistlers

Direction:

Brandon Cronenberg (Possessor), Spike Lee (Da 5 Bloods), Steve McQueen (Lovers Rock). Osgood Perkins (Gretel and Hansel), Amy Seimetz (She Dies Tomorrow), Leigh Whannell (The Invisible Man), Chloe Zhao (Nomadland)

Lead Performance:

Chadwick Boseman (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom), John Boyega (Red White and Blue), Sidney Flanigan (Never Rarely Sometimes Always), Betty Gilpin (The Hunt), Kate Lyn Sheil (She Dies Tomorrow), John Magaro (First Cow), Vitalina Varela (Vitalina Varela)

Supporting Performance:

Jane Adams (She Dies Tomorrow), Sandra Hüller (Sibyl), Jennifer Jason Leigh (Possessor), Amy Seimetz (Archenemy), Charlene Swankie (Nomadland), Bachi Valishvili (And Then We Danced), Henry Zebrowski (After Midnight)