With the year nearly over, we now have 2020 to look forward to. Luckily, I have seen quite a few movies expected to be part of the 2020 release calendar — whether they were seen through the 2019 festival circuit or private screenings, I’ve gathered 12 films that should stamp a major mark on the upcoming cinematic year.
The Lodge [Review]
“When the film finally arrives at its provoking and unusually violent climax, it does feel like a slight disservice to the slowly-revealed terror that appeared prior. And yet, it still shocks, and Franz and Fiara prove once again they are two of the best in the biz at unsettling cinema. Appropriately frosty and aloof, “The Lodge” is a meditative plumbing of the darkest parts of the human psyche, our vulnerabilities, and self-doubts and it’s these personal fears that resonate loudly. And what it has to say about trust and family? If “The Lodge” isn’t already scary enough as it is, the spooky movie’s comment on trauma, truths and the people we put our faith in is downright frightening.”
Bad Education [Review]
“Jackman and Janney are the perfect match to carry “Bad Education” forward, both delivering darkly comedic performances. In fact, this could very well be a career peak for Jackman, an Aussie actor who has had plenty of commercial hits in his career but has not always had his talents taken seriously by critics. His Frank is a man who can be liable one second and repugnant the next. “
Young Ahmed [Review]
“The Dardennes are the most influential European filmmakers of the last 20 years, their social-realist handheld camera style has become a sort of cliche for the Euro arthouse world, but why complain that the developers of a certain style of filmmaking cannot continue making such films? If their last effort, 2016's "The Unknown Girl," felt a little off, "Young Ahmed" is no doubt a unique film in their cinematic oeuvre because it tackles a controversial character that feels relevant to 21st Century realities.”
Bacurau [Review]
“Once the Americans show up, we are in full-on B-movie mode. The body count piles up. The beheadings and rituals submerge the film into the grindhouse. To counterattack the American coalition, the townspeople convince Lunga, the prodigal son who left for a vicious life of crime, to come back to save his people. It thus turns into this incredibly invigorating revenge saga that, at times, feels empty rather than cathartic. I felt like I needed some popcorn to fully embrace this 134 minute ride.”
Mektoub, My Love: Intermezzo [Review]
“‘Intermezzo’ is the darker, more ambitious companion to ‘Canto Uno.’ It can feel overwrought at times, but the urban naturalism that Kechiche pushes for is damn-near breathtaking to behold. Kechiche has always had a keen eye for the way people speak and act in real life. As you watch these two Mektoub films, no doubt being turned into a trilogy, you do wonder how much of it is improvisation, how much of it is written dialogue and how much of it may very well have been actually experienced on camera. That blurring of the lines is absolutely fascinating to watch here.”
Beanpole [Revew]
“Clearly influenced by the austere Romanian new wave, the film’s realist but minimalist style sometimes feels like a little too much. But the young filmmaker is wise enough to craft in some respite too. For all the tense moments that Balagov creates in the film, and there are many, he also adds dark humorous touches like one in an afternoon lunch near the climax of the film. However, he has a knack for letting scenes run far too long; almost too in-love with the shots he uses. Regardless, his ambitions are lofty, and his potential as an even more celebrated filmmaker is entirely on display in “Beanpole.” It helps that Perelygina delivers a brilliant performance in her first movie role — she far outshines her co-leads quieter but nevertheless nuanced performance. In a film that is so disinterested to conforming to accustomed mainstream movie audiences taste and rhythms, and is committed to its sometimes difficult choices, the bold and exacting “Beanpole” sometimes feels damn-near radical.”
Lux Aeterna [Review]
Gaspar Noé was tasked with shooting a 15-minute Yves Saint Laurent ad and turned it into a 50-minute existential tackling of filmmaking itself. Béatrice Dalle, fabulous in the lead role as herself, plays a director on a train-wreck of a film shoot. Charlotte Gainsbourg (also playing herself) is the lead actress, playing a modern-day witch being summoned to the cross for death. Noé doesn’t give his audience much time to breathe, going from one set-piece to the next at breakneck speed. Noé isn’t interested in the plot as much as he is with defying audience expectations at every turn. It all ends with a very Noé-esque barrage of seizure-like stereoscopics. This only cements Noé’s reputation as an iconoclast visionary whose body of work seems to be aging tremendously well with time.
White Lie
A female undergrad student fakes cancer to nab as many donations as she can. This small Canadian indie is not just about deception, but about the fear of being on the wrong side of the moral compass. A film like “White Lie” won’t be everyone’s cup of tea because it doesn’t ask for empathy to be showered towards its main character — if anything, directors Calvin Thomas and Yonah Lewis’ timely film is about the public’s willingness to endorse and support a cause without investigation. An insightful and terrifying film, it is also helped by a strong lead performance from Kacey Rohl, which is filled with subtle gestures that further develop the mysterious enigma of her character’s twisted psyche for attention.
Ayka
I saw this stunner-of-a film from Russia at Cannes 2018, where lead actress Samal Yeslyamova won the Best Actress and award, yet, here we are and it still hasn’t been properly released close to two years after its premiere. What gives? Filmmaker Sergey Dvortsevoy thrusts us right in the thick of the drama as young Ayka just gave birth. Currently unemployed, with debts reaching the rafters, and not even a room for her and the newborn, Ayka clearly can’t afford to raise the child. But her motherly instincts kick in, and survival mode is in high gear, as the film gains tragic dimensions with the kind of humanist voice akin to last decade’s potent Romanian new wave cinema. Dvortsevoy means to show us a woman ready to do anything she can to survive.
The Sound of Metal
Riz Ahmed has never been better. Playing a metal drummer who starts to lose his hearing, Ahmed turns “Sound of Metal” into a heartbreaking tale of redemption as it goes along, culminating in a final shot that is both necessary and absolutely perfect. Kudos to Nicolas Becker’s landmark sound editing, which deserves an Oscar nomination.
Rocks
After her mother abandons them with just a letter, a teenage girl finds herself struggling to take care of herself and her younger brother in lower-end London. The exuberant naturalism that director Sarah Gavron gets from her non-professional actors is filled with the kind of uber-realism rarely seen in movies today. Covering the highs and lows of female adolescence, as seen through the eyes of an unprivileged black girl, Gavron works the empathy machine wondrously here, with a potent work about childhood, which also makes her a director to watch in the coming decade.
About Endlessness
Director Roy Andersson was at it again at this year’s Venice Film Festival, where he won the Silver Lion for Best Direction. His latest, titled “About Endlessness” is another reflection on human life from the Swedish auteur. Focusing on both the beauty and cruelty of life lived, this dream-like statement wanders through time, showing us both mundane and historic events: a couple floats over a war-torn Cologne; on the way to a birthday party, a father stops to tie his daughter’s shoelaces in the pouring rain; teenage girls dance outside a café; a defeated army marches to a prisoner of war camp. If anything, the film should have been titled “About Existence.”
Tim Blake Nelson has been making films for thirty years and hasn't directed a narrative feature in more than ten. "The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd," is the best thing he's done since "The Grey Zone.”