If there is just one thing that almost every person on the face of this Earth can agree on, it’s how much 2020 sucked and how ready we are to put the year it was behind us for good.

Despite life in 2020 being what it was for you, I hope that there are some valuable learnings, reminders and experiences to extract from it and take into the New Year. For me, 2020 became an opportunity to really focus on physical and mental health, find innovative ways of having fun when daily life became monotonous and discover newfound appreciation for the simple things in life I never noticed or took for granted before.

For instance, I will never again take for granted something as simple and pleasurable as venturing to the cinema! Despite being able to see just 20 movies on the big screen in 2020 (a fitting number, in hindsight!), I still managed to watch 133 new releases alone. Furthermore, thanks to all of you and the support of my wonderful co-writers, Jell and Jemma, we absolutely smashed our previous year’s record of visitors and views on this website! In fact, we beat 2019’s final tally in May 2020! This is something I am extremely grateful for and proud of. Thank you so much, readers and followers 🙂

While 2020 certainly ended up being something we prefer to flush down a toilet, it actually began as cinematic bliss, with the first two new releases I saw both earning 5 stars and finishing 1st and 2nd in my best movies of 2020 list. Scroll down a little further for those film titles to be revealed.

Despite the postponing of many appealing cinema releases until 2021 and the lower volume of new releases seen in 2020, I still managed to put together a top 20, almost all of which earned 4 out of 5 stars, or more. As usual, let’s begin with number 20 and countdown from there. Enjoy the read 🙂

20 – 23 Walks
19 – Human Nature
18 – For Sama
17 – Proxima
16 – The Extraordinary (Hors Normes)
15 – Babyteeth
14 – Richard Jewell
13 – David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet
12 – The Social Dilemma
11 – On the Rocks

10 – The Endless Trench (La Trinchera Infinita)

9 – The Hunt

8 – A Hidden Life

7 – Sound of Metal 

6 – Just Mercy (4 ½ stars)

5 – Les Miserables (4 ½ stars)

Not the Les Misérables story you know. First-time writer and director Ladj Ly’s remarkable debut is a starkly and powerfully realistic film throughout with a gripping finale that completely overwhelmed me. A riveting experience.

4 – My Octopus Teacher (4 ½ stars)

Breathtaking, touching and stunning. Who would have thought that a Netflix documentary depicting the relationship between a man and an octopus would be one of the best and most touching films of the year!?

3 – The Biggest Little Farm (4 ½ stars)

What a perfect way to share a dream and present it coming to fruition with its risks and rewards, trials and tribulations, and all. The Biggest Little Farm is immensely engaging, endearing and beautifully captured. A stand-out documentary feature that is so much more exciting and fulfilling than it may have sounded on paper. A must-see for everyone.

2 – Little Women (5 stars)

My very first Little Women experience could not have been more perfect. A magnificent ensemble of some of the absolute best and (my personal) favourite actors and faultless filmmaking in every aspect elevate the total joy and poignant moments there are to be had watching Little Women. This film is accessible to all ages and audiences, and is everything I just love about cinema!

1 – The Best Film Released in Australia in 2020

1917 (5 stars)

A ground-breaking feat for this genre of cinema that will make its mark in the history of filmmaking in years to come. Showcasing stunning cinematographic work by Roger Deakins, 1917 blew me away by just how artistically and seamlessly everything has been so effortlessly captured and edited to appear as a single long take from beginning to end. It is a testament to the innovative and inspired vision of Sam Mendes, who sincerely is one of the greatest filmmakers of our time. This is his finest work to date and is simply unmissable.

What better place to drop a bombshell and reveal my worst movie experience of 2020 right after I’ve proclaimed and glorified 1917 as the best motion picture release of the year?

After cinemas here in Melbourne were closed down for several months during one of the strictest lock downs in the World, I felt like a wrongfully convicted felon being set free and returning to his loved ones when re-uniting with the silver screen! Like a kid at a candy store, I went bonkers at the candy bar and loaded myself up with popcorn, coke zero and a choc top; a trifecta I usually prefer to avoid, for the highly-anticipated experience. In the end, my irritable tummy was the least of my concerns, yet exacerbated my frustrations greatly at giving in to gorging myself over a movie that ultimately was better off not seeing altogether.

The Worst Film Released in Australia in 2020

Tenet (1 star)

What an anti-climax that was! Christopher Nolan’s most mind-boggling and pretentious film yet is even more ridiculous to watch than it would sound trying to explain several things that occur throughout to someone. For so many reasons, I absolutely loathed Tenet.

Before we move onto movie moments and performances, there are several movies released in 2020 that I am yet to see, which may very easily find their way into my top 20. There are also a couple of releases that could even dislodge Tenet from rock bottom. The most notable films to mention are;

Corpus Christi
David Byrne’s American Utopia
Soul
Waves
Wolfwalkers
Collective
Wolfwalkers
Da 5 Bloods
The Wild Goose Lake
Bloodshot
Like a Boss

Finally, here are the acting performances, movie moments and more from films in my top 20 that shine above all others…

>The innovative cinematographic feat achieved and several set-piece sequences in the epic war picture 1917
>The magnificent ensemble cast of Little Women and Greta Gerwig’s direction of the remake, which left me an emotional mess
>The often breathtaking and stunning imagery and moments captured on camera in documentary feature, The Biggest Little Farm
>The witnessing of Craig Foster’s unique experience and relationship, along with the dazzling imagery in the gorgeously filmed and tenderly scored documentary, My Octopus Friend
>French powerhouse Les Miserables‘ striking realism and superb screenplay
>Michael B. Jordan’s performance in Just Mercy
>The cinematography and the riveting final scene in The Endless Trench
>Betty Gilpin’s outrageous character, that character’s scene and line when buying a $6 packet of cigarettes and her outrageously brilliant performance in The Hunt
>Hidden’s stunning Austrian Alps filming locations and cinematography
>Bill Murray’s performance in On the Rocks
>Paul Walter Hauser’s breakthrough performance as Richard Jewell in Clint Eastwood’s Richard Jewell
>An outstanding Eva Green in sci-fi drama, Proxima
>A terrific Vincent Cassel in The Extraordinary (Hors Normes)
>Babyteeth! Where to begin? Outstanding acting performances from Eliza Scanlen and Toby Wallace. Great supporting performances from seasoned actors Ben Mendlesohn and Essie Davis. First-time director Shannon Murphy’s brave and rewarding effort behind the camera
>The very engaging and impressive writing, strong directing and natural performance of Radha Blank in The Forty-Year-Old Version
> Riz Ahmed in Sound of Metal. The supporting acting performances of Paul Raci and Olivia Cooke are also worthy of a mention. I also thought this film’s screenplay, directing and sound editing stands out.

Last, but not least, here are the acting performances, movie moments and more from films that didn’t make my top 20 that also stand-out and deserve a mention…

>Action choreography and stunt work in Birds of Prey
>Ben Affleck’s fine performance in The Way Back
>Outstanding music score in Motherless Brooklyn
>The crafty twists up the sleeves of the Helen Hunt thriller, I See You
>Hugh Jackman and Alison Janney in Bad Education
>The perfect fit Tom Hanks made as Fred Rogers in A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood
>The freshness in a newfangled Adam Sandler performance in Uncut Gems
>The bewilderment exuded in I’m Thinking of Ending Things
>Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown as Enola Holmes in Enola Holmes
>Elia Suleiman’s scene of arrival in the U.S in comedy It Must Be Heaven
>Cate Blanchett in Richard Linklater’s Where’d You Go, Bernadette
>Did Chaswick Boseman save his best performance for his final one in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom? There’s a decent chance the Academy Awards might think so
>Glenn Close and Amy Adams getting their best hillbilly suits on in Hillbilly Elegy
>Vasilisa Perelygina’s impressive debut performance in Beanpole (Dylda)


Compiled by Leigh for Moviedoc
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