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