6 Movies From the Year 2020 That Are 10/10 Masterpieces
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Back in 2020, when lockdown shrank life down to repetitive loops like scrolling through a phone half-asleep, reheating tea for the third time, and losing track of what day it was, movies became an anchor. A handful of films stood out because of the vivid moments they left behind. A scene of someone running through the woods, a quiet game of cards with a grandmother, or an entire room belting out a song brought a sense of life back into the room long after the credits rolled.
That is what great cinema does when everything else is on pause. It stays alive in the smaller moments, like a look across a dinner table, a track to hunt down on Spotify, or a decision that feels open to debate forever. Those lasting details are what set this ranking. The number one pick in this list is simply the movie worth putting on again tonight, even with the ending spoiled by memory.
6
‘Wolfwalkers’ (2020)
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In Wolfwalkers Robyn (Honor Kneafsey) begins convinced she can do her father’s (Sean Bean) work by carrying a crossbow into the woods to kill wolves. The Lord Protector (Simon McBurney) keeps the town behind its walls, and Robyn’s father has been hired to hunt the animals outside them. Then she meets Mebh (Eva Whittaker), a girl who runs barefoot through the forest and becomes a wolf while asleep. Their friendship is not instant softness. Mebh is furious, suspicious, and busy trying to find her mother, Moll MacTíre (Maria Doyle Kennedy), who is trapped in wolf form.
Robyn’s choices become harder in specific ways as she must hide Mebh, question what her father has told her, and face the fact that the hunt threatens the people she wants to protect. The animation makes the town’s straight streets and the forest’s movement feel different to watch, but the most memorable moment is plain. A child sees a frightened mother in a cage and knows the adults are wrong. The rescue gives Robyn courage. But, it does not make her suddenly fearless.
5
‘I’m Thinking of Ending Things’ (2020)
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At first, Jake’s (Jesse Plemons) girlfriend (Jessie Buckley) is rehearsing a breakup in her own head while Jake drives her through snow to meet his parents. It is already an unbearable car ride because he keeps talking, changes the radio, and misses her cues while she cannot decide what she means when she imagines ending things. At the farm, his mother (Toni Collette) and father (David Thewlis) age and change between visits, and dinner becomes a test of whether she belongs there. She notices the basement door and does not go down. Later, she does.
I’m Thinking of Ending Things refuses to let anyone settle on who this woman is or what happened. At the high school, the janitor (Guy Boyd) cleans hallways and watches a student production of Oklahoma!, while the film ties him to an older version of Jake. At the barn, they find a pig covered in maggots. Anyone watching leaves wanting to rewind the opening just to hear how much their car conversation has already told them. Even the small changes in her name feel like clues missed while listening to Jake.
4
‘Minari’ (2020)
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Jacob (Steven Yeun) and Monica’s (Han Ye-ri) new Arkansas home is a mobile house on dry land. The water tastes wrong, the soil is hard, and Jacob tells the family he can grow Korean vegetables there. David (Alan Kim) has a heart condition, so his parents watch him closely. Then Soon-ja (Youn Yuh-jung) arrives from Korea to live with them, and David decides she is not a proper grandmother because she swears, plays cards, and does not bake cookies.
Small details stand out the most, such as Soon-ja teaching David Go-Stop, their walk down to the creek where she plants minari, and his resentment giving way to affection. When her stroke leaves her confused, she accidentally starts a fire that destroys Jacob’s crop storage. Nobody has the energy for a neat apology. Later, David runs after her when she tries to leave and guides her back home. Minari lets the family be tired, proud, frightened, and loving in the same scene, making every change in David’s face feel believable.
- The first film not in the English language to win Best Picture, in the Academy’s
92-year history to that point. - It took four Oscars in one night: Picture, Director, Original Screenplay and International
Feature. - It won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2019 by a unanimous jury vote, the first Korean film
to do so. - The Park family’s modernist house was not a location. It was built from scratch on an
outdoor lot.
- Seven Oscars, including three acting wins for Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee
Curtis. - Michelle Yeoh became the first Asian woman to win Best Actress.
- The visual effects were handled by a team of fewer than ten people, most of them
self-taught. - Ke Huy Quan had all but left acting for two decades before this role brought him back.
- Seven Oscars, including Nolan’s first wins for directing and for Best Picture.
- Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr. both took their first Academy Awards for it.
- Kodak engineered a black-and-white 65mm stock that did not previously exist so Nolan could
shoot those sequences on IMAX. - A three-hour, R-rated drama about theoretical physics that passed 950 million dollars
worldwide.
- Four Oscars, among them Best Picture and Best Director for Iñárritu.
- Emmanuel Lubezki’s win here was the middle of three consecutive cinematography Oscars,
after Gravity and before The Revenant. - Antonio Sánchez’s improvised drum score was ruled ineligible for the score category,
which caused a minor uproar. - The long-take illusion was built from a handful of extended shots joined by hidden cuts.
- Four Oscars: Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, and Supporting Actor for Javier Bardem.
- Adapted from Cormac McCarthy’s 2005 novel, with much of his dialogue carried over
intact. - Carter Burwell’s score runs about sixteen minutes and is nearly inaudible by design.
- Roger Deakins was nominated twice that year, for this and The Assassination of Jesse James,
and won for neither.
3
‘The Father’ (2020)
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The Father keeps changing the room while Anthony (Anthony Hopkins) insists that the space is familiar. A daughter named Anne (Olivia Colman) says she is moving to Paris, but later, a man named Paul (Rufus Sewell), whom Anthony does not recognize, is living in the flat and says he is Anne’s husband. Anthony searches for his watch, questions the people caring for him, and tries to catch the lie that will explain why his life no longer adds up. That disorientation surfaces through the smallest interruptions, like a face replaced, furniture shifted, or a conversation repeated with one detail changed.
Anthony reacts with sharp irritation when people correct him, shifts to charm when he thinks he holds the upper hand, and collapses into terror when he cannot place his own daughter. Right before the credits roll, he cries for his mother. He asks to go home. Unraveling which version of the flat is real no longer matters. Someone just needs to stay with him. Someone needs to answer gently.
2
‘Lovers Rock’ (2020)
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Before Martha (Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn) arrives, people are carrying chairs, choosing records, cooking, and doing each other’s hair. The room fills. Couples dance close, friends shout across the music, and plates get passed along. Franklyn (Micheal Ward) notices Martha, and they flirt and dance, then slip away briefly from the crowd.
The most memorable moment centers on Janet Kay’s Silly Games. The DJ lets the song play, then the crowd sings so loudly that the track almost disappears. People who have been dancing in pairs now sing together, still shoulder to shoulder, and nobody rushes them to move on. That is the pleasure of Lovers Rock, where a few hours feel important because the people in the room make them so. When Bammy (Daniel Francis-Swaby) sexually assaults Cynthia (Ellis George) in another room, the evening changes, and the others respond with anger and care. The film does not pretend the party makes the assault less serious. Standing at the edge of that room for just one song would be enough.
1
‘Nomadland’ (2020)
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Nomadland follows Fern (Frances McDormand), whose home is a van, and she has learned the small maintenance tasks that keep it usable, such as finding work, parking overnight, keeping her belongings in order, and deciding what she can carry. After the gypsum plant closes in Empire, Nevada, she takes seasonal work at an Amazon warehouse and meets fellow travelers Linda May (Linda May) and Swankie (Charlene Swankie).
The film does not treat every day as freedom. Fern’s hands are tired after work, she has to find a bathroom, fix what breaks, and decide whether to accept Dave’s (David Strathairn) invitation into his family life. When she visits his son, the baby is there, the house is warm, and Fern could stay. However, she leaves. Later, she returns to Empire and walks through the empty house where she lived with Bo before going back to her van. That choice hurts because Dave is asking her into a real family, and she cares about him. Fern’s life is hers, and the film lets anyone feel what it costs her to keep choosing it.
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