32 | DECEMBER 31 • 2020
ARTS&LIFE
FILM
I
n another life, I was a film
critic. This was, of course,
before movie theaters
became an endangered species
in the wake of the COVID-19
pandemic.
But the movies still marched
on in 2020, even though our
ability to actually watch them
outside of our homes became
severely limited, and most of
the big ones disappeared. (We’ll
have to wait until December
2021 to see Steven Spielberg’s
remake of West Side Story, for
example.)
With normal life still months
away, some of you may be look-
ing for quality cinema to enjoy
at home any way you can. You
may even be willing to take a
chance with new and unfamil-
iar kinds of movies you never
would have watched before.
So, here are my picks for my
favorite movies of 2020, along
with where you can, or will
soon be able to, watch them.
(Please also support our local,
Detroit-area independent the-
aters if you can.)
#1: SMALL AXE
This British anthology series,
from Oscar-winning director
Steve McQueen, follows various
real and fictional West Indian
immigrants to the U.K. from
the 1960s-80s. Technically
Small Axe is five films: a stirring
courtroom drama (Mangrove);
a sensual romance (Lovers
Rock); a provocative meditation
on policing (Red, White, and
Blue); a compelling biopic of
a writer caught between two
worlds (Alex Wheatle); and a
story about a school system
that horribly fails its students
(Education).
Individually, these movies
are wonderful and capture the
struggles and victories of an
immigrant community with
many parallels to our own.
Together, as one sweeping
artistic statement addressing
decades of lost (screen)time,
Small Axe is a monumental
cinematic achievement. Best
paired with an order of jerk
chicken and fried plantains
from Yumvillage restaurant in
Detroit’s North End.
Where to watch: Amazon
Prime.
#2: NOMADLAND
Frances McDormand delivers
a performance for the ages as
Fern, a widow crisscrossing
modern America looking for
work, in director Chloé Zhao’s
luminous drama based on the
nonfiction book of the same
title. Living out of her van, Fern
hits the road to join up with
other, real-life nomads — many
playing themselves as docu-
mentary and fiction intertwine.
So McDormand is both acting
and reflecting, using her craft
to draw out the real-life stories
of the many vibrant souls the
American economy has left
behind. It’s a true marvel.
Where to watch: After a brief
awards-qualifying run, it will
have a formal release in late
February.
#3: FIRST COW
A frontier saga with real heart,
and delicious recipes to boot.
In the Oregon Territory in the
1820s, a chef and an aspiring
businessman team up to sell
homecooked “oily cakes” to
hungry prospectors. To do that,
they’ll have to steal milk from
the only cow in town, import-
ed to this hostile land by a
wealthy entrepreneur. Director
Kelly Reichardt is an expert at
evoking human struggles in
uncharted territory, and here
she tells a parable of boot-
strapped businesses, compro-
mise and the humanity that can
still shine through.
Where to watch: Showtime;
also available for rental.
#4: BACURAU
The weirdest of my favorites
this year, by a bloody mile. This
Brazilian sci-fi Western is set in
a rural separatist village that has
become the target of govern-
ment forces and foreign merce-
naries literally trying to wipe its
residents off the map. To fight
back, the villagers will turn
to historic weaponry … and
psychotropic drugs. If you gave
One Hundred Years of Solitude
to horror-action director John
Carpenter and told him to go
nuts, you might get something
like this.
Where to watch: Kanopy;
also available for rental.
#5: DAVID BYRNE’S
AMERICAN UTOPIA
More than 35 years after Stop
Making Sense, David Byrne
is still rocking. This joyous
concert film from the former
Andrew’s
Top 10
Movies
of 2020
ANDREW LAPIN EDITOR
Small
Axe
PARISA TAGHIZEDEH/AMAZON PRIME
Nomadland
SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES
First
Cow
A24 FILMS
David Byrne’s
American Utopia
DAVID LEE/HBO