2020 Recap – The Top 100 of the Year

TOP 100 OF 2020

Once again I methodically tracked everything I watched in 2020, compiling a massive master list of my favorite films and placing them in some rough order of preference as I went along. As of the publication of this feature, I’d watched 442 features for the first time, 184 of which were domestic U.S. releases from the past calendar year or are scheduled to be available during the first quarter of 2021. With that in mind, here were the Top 100 films of 2020 as I saw them.

Please note, unlike on previous pages documentaries have not been sorted out. It’s all just one giant glorious bundle. Enjoy sifting through them all.

1. Nomadland (D. Chloé Zhao)
2. Never Rarely Sometimes Always (D. Eliza Hittman)
3. Shirley (D. Josephine Decker)
4. Promising Young Woman (D. Emerald Fennell)
5. One Night in Miami… (D. Regina King)

6. Swallow (D. Carlo Mirabella-Davis) [Interview with Carlo Mirabella-Davis]
7. The Invisible Man (D. Leigh Whannell)
8. Lingua Franca (D. Isabel Sandoval)
9. A Good Woman is Hard to Find (D. Abner Pastoll) [Interview with Abner Pastoll]
10. Gretel & Hansel (D. Osgood Perkins)

11. Proxima (D. Alice Winocour)
12. His House (D. Remi Weekes)
13. Summerland (D. Jessica Swale) [Interview with Jessica Swale]
14. Palm Springs (D. Max Barbakow)
15. I’m Your Woman (D. Julia Hart)

16. Possessor (D. Brandon Cronenberg)
17. Bacurau (D. Kleber Mendonça Filho, Juliano Dornelles)
18. Da 5 Bloods (D. Spike Lee)
19. Relic (D. Natalie Erika James)
20. Sound of Metal (D. Darius Marder)

21. The Lodge (D. Veronika Franz, Severin Fiala)
22. Beanpole (D. Kantemir Balagov)
23. The Assistant (D. Kitty Green)
24. The Vast of Night (D. Andrew Patterson)
25. The Nest (D. Sean Durkin)

26. Small Axe Anthology (D. Steve McQueen)
27. The Way I See It (D. Dawn Porter)
28. First Cow (D. Kelly Reichardt)
29. Hamilton (D. Thomas Kail)
30. La Llorona (D. Jayro Bustamante)

31. Birds of Prey (D. Cathy Yan)
32. Sylvie’s Love (D. Eugene Ashe)
33. Underwater (D. William Eubank)
34. News of the World (D. Paul Greengrass)
35. The Outpost (D. Rod Lurie)

36. John Lewis: Good Trouble (D. Dawn Porter)
37. Minari (D. Lee Isaac Chung)
38. Color Out of Space (D. Richard Stanley)
39. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (D. George C. Wolfe)
40. Love and Monsters (D. Michael Matthews)

41. Synchronic (D. Aaron Moorhead, Justin Benson)
42. Enola Holmes (D. Harry Bradbeer)
43. The Wolf of Snow Hollow (D. Jim Cummings)
44. Soul (D. Pete Docter, Kemp Powers (co-director))
45. Greenland (D. Ric Roman Waugh)

46. The Fight (D. Eli B. Despres, Josh Kriegman, Elyse Steinberg)
47. Alone (D. John Hyams)
48. Olympic Dreams (D. Jeremy Teicher) [Interview with Jeremy Teicher]
49. The Dark and the Wicked (D. Bryan Bertino)
50. Pieces of a Woman (D. Kornél Mundruczó)

51. Onward (D. Dan Scanlon)
52. Zappa (D. Alex Winter)
53. The High Note (D. Nisha Ganatra)
54. Amulet (D. Romola Garai)
55. Born to Be (D. Tania Cypriano)

56. The Whistlers (D. Corneliu Porumboiu)
57. Military Wives (D. Peter Cattaneo)
58. Supernova (D. Harry Macqueen)
59. She Dies Tomorrow (D. Amy Seimetz)
60. The Traitor (D. Marco Bellocchio)

61. Spontaneous (D. Brian Duffield)
62. Run (D. Aneesh Chaganty)
63. Mulan (D. Niki Caro)
64. The Trial of the Chicago 7 (D. Aaron Sorkin)
65. Sometimes Always Never (D. Carl Hunter)

66. VFW (D. Joe Begos)
67. A Call to Spy (D. Lydia Dean Pilcher)
68. Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind (D. Laurent Bouzereau)
69. Once Upon a River (D. Haroula Rose)
70. Greyhound (D. Aaron Schneider)

71. Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (D. David Dobkin)
72. Rogue (D. M.J. Bassett)
73. Bad Boys for Life (D. Adil El Arbi, Bilall Fallah)
74. Sputnik (D. Egor Abramenko)
75. Bit (D. Brad Michael Elmore)

76. Beats (D. Brian Welsh)
77. 12 Hour Shift (D. Brea Grant)
78. The Croods: A New Age (D. Joel Crawford)
79. The Craft: Legacy (D. Zoe Lister-Jones)
80. Monster Hunter (D. Paul W.S. Anderson)

81. 1BR (D. David Marmor)
82. Koko-di Koko-da (D. Johannes Nyholm)
83. Freaky (D. Christopher Landon)
84. The Boys in the Band (D. Joe Mantello)
85. The Mauritanian (D. Kevin Macdonald)

86. Happiest Season (D. Clea DuVall)
87. Bull (D. Annie Silverstein)
88. The Old Guard (D. Gina Prince-Bythewood)
89. Tenet (D. Christopher Nolan)
90. Come Play (D. Jacob Chase)

91. Queer Japan (D. Graham Kolbeins)
92. Homewrecker (D. Zach Gayne)
93. My Spy (D. Peter Segal)
94. The Trip to Greece (D. Michael Winterbottom)
95. The Sonata (D. Andrew Desmond)

96. Ride Like a Girl (D. Rachel Griffiths)
97. Let Him Go (D. Thomas Bezucha)
98. You Don’t Nomi (D. Jeffrey McHale)
99. The Prey (D. Jimmy Henderson)
100. Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Story (D. David E. Talbert)

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