The strangest cinematic year is about to come to an end. 2020 was filled with stoppages in theatrical releases and the full embracement of VOD and other such streaming platforms. Is it any wonder then that only 5 of the 20 most critically-acclaimed movies of the year were released exclusively in theaters?
The Searchlight-distributed and Chloe Zhao-directed “Nomadland” has been named the best movie of 2020, at least according to a group of film critics, journalists, bloggers, and entertainment reporters. Zhao’s heartland road trip of a movie, which was featured in nearly 60% of the lists sent, towered over its closest competition, Eliza Hittman’s “Never Rarely Sometimes Always” and Kelly Reichardt’s “First Cow.” That’s right, the top 3 most critically-acclaimed movies of the year were all delivered by female filmmakers.
Almost 100 critics submitted their picks for the poll. Participants included leading critics from IndieWire, Variety, USA Today, The A.V. Club, Forbes, and Rolling Stone. Critics were asked to submit a list of up to 5-10 films, unranked, with a release date set between January 1st and December 30th, 2020. With a lack of theatrical films, many opted for high-quality TV movies including “Bad Education,” which was picked up last September at the Toronto International Film Festival and aired on HBO in late April, the BBC’s Steve McQueen-directed “Lover’s Rock,” and HBO’s “American Utopia.” Despite not having a U.S. release date, nor a distributor to its name, Roman Polanski’s Venice-winning “An Officer and a Spy” was mentioned on 4 lists.
Of note, when polled, most of the critics who participated had already seen upcoming December releases, which include Pixar’s “Soul”, David Fincher’s “Mank”, George C. Wolfe’s “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” Regina King’s “One Night in Miami,” and Emerald Fennell’s “Promising Young Woman.”
1) Nomadland (49 votes)
2) First Cow (41)
3) Never Rarely Sometimes Always (40)
4) Da 5 Bloods (35)
5) Minari (34)
6) I’m Thinking About Ending Things (32)
7) Lovers Rock (29)
8) The Invisible Man (26)
9) Trial of the Chicago 7 (25)
10) Mank (21)
11) Bacurau (21)
12) David Byrne’s American Utopia (21)
13) Palm Springs (20)
14) Tenet (19)
15) Dick Johnson Is Dead (19)
16) Bad Education (18)
17) Promising Young Woman (18)
18) The Assistant (17)
19) Vitalina Varela (16)
20) Pixar’s Soul (15)
21) Time (14)
22) The Father (14)
23) The Nest (14)
24) City Hall (14)
25) Collective (13)
26) Kajillionaire (13)
27) Mangrove (12)
28) She Dies Tomorrow (12)
29) The Climb (11)
30) Bloody Nose Empty Pockets (11)
31) Sound of Metal (11)
32) Martin Eden (9)
33) Boys State (9)
34) One Night in Miami (10)
35) Shirley (9)
36) The Vast of Night (8)
37) The Outpost
38) Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (8)
39) Beanpole (8)
40) Pieces of a Woman (7)
CRITICS
Thelma Adams, AARP
Carlos Aguilar, RogerEbert
Fernando Andres
Ethan Alter, Yahoo News
Nicholas Bell, IONCINEMA.COM
James Berardinelli, ReelViews
Alex Biese, Asbury Park Press
Alex Billington, First Showing
Chuck Bowen, Slant Magazine
Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
Richard Brody, The New Yorker
Sean Burns, WUBR
Amy Campbell, GQ
Erik Childress, WGN Radio
Sara Clements, Next Best Picture
Laura Clifford, Reeling Reviews
Jordan Cronk, Film Comment
Freja Dam, Sound Venue
A.A. Dowd, The AV Club
Mark Dujsik, RogerEbert
Alonso Duralde, The Wrap
Kate Erbland, IndieWire
Chris Evangelista, Slash Film
David Fear, Rolling Stone
Isaac Feldberg, ArtsFuse
Marshall Fine, NYFCC
Candace Frederick, Harper’s Bazaar
Roger Friedman, Showbiz 411
Jon Frosch, The Hollywood Reporter
Keni Fujishima, Freelance
Jean-Jacky Goldberg, Les Inrockuptibles
Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona
Karen Gordon, CBC Radio
Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly
Glenn Heath Jr.
Odie Henderson, RogerEbert
Barry Hertz, The Globe and Mail
Matt Hoffman, Film School Rejects
Jake Horowitz, Producer/Director
Peter Howell, Toronto Star
Andrea Hudson, Freelance
Wendy Ide, The Guardian
Richard T. Jameson, Film Comment
Nate Jones, New York Magazine
Dave Karger, TCM
Don Kaye, Den of Geek
Robert Koehler, Film Comment
Eric Kohn, IndieWire
Harry Knowles, Aint It Cool News
Joanna Langfield, The Movie Minute
Pascal LeDuff, Critique Film FR
Benjamin Lee, The Guardian
Willow Catelyn Maclay, Patreon
Joey Magidson, Awards Circuit
Steven Mears, Film Comment
Scott Menzel, We Live Entertainment
Todd McCarthy, Deadline
Jared Mobarak, The Film Stage
Roger Moore, Movie Nation
Jack Moulton, Letterboxd
Noel Murray, The AV Club
Matt Neglia, Next Best Picture
Johnny Olekisnki, New York Post
Van Papadopoulos, Cannes Classic
Claudia Puig, USA Today
Jordan Raup, The Film Stage
Mara Reinstein, US Weekly
Nathaniel Rogers, The Film Experience
David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Film Comment
Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out New York
Jordan Ruimy, World of Reel
Dan Sallitt, Director
Dan Schindel, Hyperallergic
Michael Sicinsky, Freelance
Zack Sharf, IndieWire
Radheyan Simonpillai, Now Toronto
David Sims, The Atlantic
Jeff Sneider, Collider
Danielle Solzman, Solzy at the Movies
Collin Souter, RogerEbert
Marlow Stern, The Daily Beast
Sasha Stone, AwardsDaily
Bob Strauss, San Francisco Chronicle
Cedric Succivalli, Venice Days
Amy Taubin, Film Comment
Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert
Andrea Thompson, Freelance
Brian Truitt, USA Today
Boyd Van Hoeij, The Hollywood Reporter
Jeffrey Welles, Hollywood Elsewhere
Susan Wloszczyna, Gold Derby
Emily Zemler, Shondaland
Stephanie Zacharek, Time Magazine
Alex Zalben, Decider
Paul Greengrass’ "The Uprising," starring Andrew Garfield, opened to $3.2M from 2,068 theaters this weekend. Yikes. The budget hasn’t been disclosed, but is said to be in the $20-$30M range.