As we close out the year 2020, I wanted to spend a post writing about the new film discoveries I made this year, directly due to being stuck in quarantine for so many months. These are the films I probably wouldn't have watched if 2020 played out the way we all thought it would back in January. I'm leaving out all the films from before 1980, which were mostly watched for other projects. The movies below are unranked, and ordered by release date.
I want to emphasize that these are not the best films that I watched - just my favorites.
Twenty Years Later (1984) - Also known as "A Man Marked For Death." This is a Brazilian documentary about an unfinished film. In 1964, an attempt was made to make a biopic on João Pedro Teixeira, a farmworker organizer who had been recently assassinated. Director Eduardo Cotinho tracks down the people who were involved, including Teixeira's widow, who takes the opportunity to come out of hiding and try to reunite with some of her scattered children.
Earth Girls are Easy (1988) - A wildly campy artifact of the '80s follows a Valley girl manicurist, played by Geena Davis, as she searches for true love. She spurns her square fiancé for the charms of three wacky aliens who crash land in her pool - and happen to be played by Jim Carrey, Damon Wayans, and a very sexy Jeff Goldblum. Featuring Julie Brown as a ditzy blond for the ages, and endless sendups of LA culture, it's so cheerfully goofy and sex-positive, I couldn't resist.
The Wedding Banquet (1993) - Ang Lee's first real breakthrough success. It follows a gay Taiwanese immigrant, who decides to marry one of his tenants to placate his traditional parents - all the while hiding his relationship with his white boyfriend. This film gave me everything I wanted from "The Farewell" - a real tug of war between Eastern and Western values, filial piety versus personal fulfillment, and a happy ending for everyone. And Lee's cameo is one for the ages.
Open Your Eyes (1997) - It's fascinating how this film works in all the ways that its remake, "Vanilla Sky," does not. Eduardo Noriega and Penelope Cruz are perfect as the dreamer and the dream girl. The genre elements really sneak up on you, and pay off beautifully. Moreover, the size of the film is right, and the mood and the tone are right, creating a poignancy to the love story that proved very, very difficult to recreate. I liked "Vanilla Sky," but there's really no comparison.
Legally Blonde (2001) - Of course I was familiar with Elle Woods the character, but I'd somehow gotten away with not having seen her film until now. "Legally Blonde" is utterly predictable all the way through, but that doesn't negate the effortless charm of Reese Witherspoon, or the joyous girl power oomph of Elle's triumphant legal career. I wish I'd seen this earlier, back when it first came out, because I got more nostalgia from it than anything else. And fabulous fashion tips, of course.
The Ring (2002) - I think this is the film people still think of when they talk about Gore Verbinski films. It's such an effective piece of horror, using every trick in the digital tool box to create this terrifying universe full of unsettling images, and then actively erasing enough of the fourth wall to leave the audience traumatized for life. I wish the characters were a little more substantial - especially the Naomi Watts part - but the filmmakers really came through where it counted.
Pride and Prejudice (2005) - In the back of my head I always thought of this as a Keira Knightley vehicle, when it's really a beautifully balanced ensemble piece that's absolutely stuffed with sterling acting talent, with Joe Wright at the helm. This was actually Wright's feature debut, and you can see the beginnings of his more fanciful cinematic tics developing. To date, this is the only filmed version of the novel I've seen, and certainly my favorite Austen adaptation, period.
Apocalypto (2006) - It's easy to be cynical about "Apocalypto," which is essentially an exercise in a couple of Western filmmakers applying a very Hollywood style narrative to the struggles of indigenous South American peoples in the face of exploitation and colonization. On the other hand, it's so well executed, and when have you ever seen another production of this size starring all unknowns speaking Mayan throughout? More epic blockbusters should be taking notes.
Boy (2010) - Taika Waititi's deeply personal film about a Maori kid in the '80s who has to come to terms with the truth about his absent father. The film is pure Waititi - fanciful, funny, accessible, and not afraid of tackling some deeply painful subject matter. And I love that Waititi himself plays the deadbeat dad, who has the worst possible reasons for coming back into his kids' lives. You can trace every one of Waititi's subsequent cinematic successes back to this film.
The Interview (2014) - The screen duo of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg have confounded and annoyed me over the years, but they finally found a target for their deeply immature antics that I approve of - North Korea! I don't know if it's the Randall Park performance as Kim Jong-un, or the stupid but highly effective bit with the dog, but I was totally on the same wavelength with the comedy for the entire film. It's the opposite of smart and insightful - but it sure is funny.
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