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The annual year-end best of things returns December 1st...see you soon!

THE TOP 10 BEST FILMS OF 2020...

 

Like the state of the Oscar Best Actress Race this year, the release dates in the Covid-era has been all over the place, But, film survives and thrives even with cineplex locations closed. The list is very much impacted by the times but art replicates the trauma around it into many forms as these films reveal.

I warn you, there are many, many  surprises here.

Here we go...

 

1. MINARI (directed by Lee Isaac Chung): 

• based partially on Chung's childhood, Minari is the story of every minority immigrant in America. We go through the stages with the family: we hope the crops grow, we pray for the loneliness to ease and we are so here for the battle between David (Alan Kim) and grandma (Youn Yuh-jung) as they duel to the point of love. Unlike Parasite, Minari has no deep or surface family machinations and that's okay...they just are trying to be.
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2. DA 5 BLOODS (directed by Spike Lee): 

• let's first acknowledge incredulity that Lee's film only received one Oscar nomination. Da 5 Bloods is about black Vietnam vets heading back to the country for lost gold, recently uncovered after a landslide. What follows is sheer mania and surprising action that never gets out of hand. Of course, there's Delroy Lindo as Paul, the unofficial leader of the pack and we witness his crumble into instability, nearly taking everyone with him. 
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3. SOUND OF METAL (directed by Darius Marder): 

• when a metal rock drummer starts to lose his hearing, he recognizes that it signals big changes. Riz Ahmed stunningly takes us on a rollercoaster of emotions, endearing us in the process to his life as he battles to keep his sanity and life. Kudos to, as well, a star turn by Paul Raci. 
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4. TENET (directed by Christopher Nolan): 

I won't pretend to fully understand what Nolan was trying to achieve here but suffice it to say I was hooked the entire time. He is pulling these puzzling masterpieces as if from will now and that's the sign of a master on top of his game.

5. NOMADLAND (directed by Chloé Zhao): 

beautifully shot and grittily acted by McDormand yet it's the surrounding stories and actors that make Nomadland such a quiet joy. From Swankie bravely dealing with her imminent cancer-related death to Dave (an underappreciated David Strathairn) hoping, pleading that Fern will fall in love with him. McDormand plays to her strengths of juxtaposing tension and resolve, almost blindingly, and always alienating loved ones against the backdrop of a broken system that discards its aging. 

6. NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS (directed by Eliza Hittman): 

a must see for young women facing the possibility of a pregnancy and all that comes along with it. The film pristinely looks at how Autumn (Sidney Flanigan) internalizes her pain and anguish during her unplanned pregnancy, thankfully with her cousin Skylar (a touching performance by Talia Ryder). They head to New York and in the process of terminating life, find harsh realities as well.

7. HOST (directed by Rob Savage):

it shouldn't have work as well as it did but the innovation of filming Host was noteworthy but everything else exceeds expectations: the creepiness, the special effects, the story itself. This was the scariest film last year and one of the shortest and not a second was wasted.

8. DATING AMBER (directed by David Freyne):

she's gay, he's gay and both are closeted teens trapped in a small Irish town with no future prospects. Then she, the titular Amber (Lola Petticrew) comes up with the genius idea of them going out together as a couple. What ensues is at turns sheer joy, heartbreak and most importantly, a bond of friendship. 

 

9. UNCLE FRANK (directed by Alan Ball):

when the patriarch of a family dies, his outcast gay son returns and reunites with his family. Simple yet touching on many inner demons that love finally conquers. 

10. THE CLIMB (directed by Michael Angelo Covino):

Covino also stars in this charming buddy film that, like the first The Trip film, keeps things fresh despite tackling familiar tropes. 

The Top 30 ALBUMS of 2020: Part Three (#1--10)...

 

This year may have been ravaged with Covid19 but instead of defeating musicians, they found ways to cope and indeed thrive. More inspiringly, these ten records really are works of deconstruction of humanity and the layers being examined by different styles and ideas. 

Here are the best albums of the year:

1. Yves Tumor HEAVEN TO A TORTURED MIND: 

Tumor has spent quite a lot of time working on not just themself but the notion of what it means to be a modern-day rock star. I use the phrase "rock" loosely of course because it really means a larger-than-live personality that is woke to the point of not even using stereotypical pronouns. And that is exactly what Heaven To A Tortured Mind captures so greatly---the immense acceptance of one's weird self and rocking the fuck out just because the music is great and the spot that you have laboured so hard to get to is finally here.

 

 

2. Perfume Genius SET MY HEART ON FIRE IMMEDIATELY:  

Hadreas has been piecing his albums together to create a reimagining of body pop and Set My Heart On Fire Immediately is his best work yet of revenging himself of years where he couldn’t get others to see his fabled work. I liken this opus to fashion’s iconic LBD: every strand carefully stitched to allow the listener to pull back and marvel at its fastidiousness.  

 

 

3. Fiona Apple FETCH THE BOLT CUTTERS:  

inspired by a line uttered by Gillian Anderson, Fetch The Bolt Cutters is Apple arriving to the contemporary struggle faced by women that has been very public in this #MeToo era . Tracks like Newspaper and Ladies are a call to arms to unite vis-à-vis tearing each other apart to get a man’s approval. The irony of Apple being the one to evoke this most musically this year isn’t lost on anyone who has been following her career since its inception ad the controversial video for “Criminal” some twenty-three years ago. Time…it does eventually grant you leeway to get all your points in and it’s just a matter of when your listener shows up nd not if.

 

4. JPEGMafia EP!: 

if it feels as if JPEGMafia is trolling us then you’d feel justified on the opening track “Bald” which lays into NBA Hall Of Famer Ray Allen but it’s still stunning focus. The album sprawls into a hodgepodge of styles thereafter and it is new territory for the hybrid of styles that he has been highlighting for a few years now. Songs begin then dissipate then mutate into different directions before well, mutating again. And I’m very much here for it!

 

5. Moses Sumney GRAE:  

Grae, released over a two part arc this year, feels like Sumney painting an ornate yet decidedly complicated look at what his concept of boyhood into manhood looks and feels like. He isn’t afraid to add side spins like doubt, duality and uncertainty into the mix either and this allows us to focus on the personal battles below the headlines and gloss.   

 

6. Denzel Curry & Kenny Beats UNLOCKED:  

Curry streaks into whatever Beats sends his way and that makes Unlocked chaotic and, frankly, messy but that’s the point. If Curry wasn’t an effective rap ringmaster then the album would have failed or at least not be as prominent as it is but everything leading up to standout “Diet” can hold its own so much so that he’s just cruising and showing off thereafter.

 

7. Thundercat IT IS WHAT IT IS: 

 for the uninitiated, it seems as if what Thundercat does can seem overcooked but hemming a homogenous batch of songs, which pipping the production at the right levels, is no easy feat.

 

8. Jean Dawson PIXEL BATH: 

there are some artists who take a while to reveal the talent hidden with but then there are others that you spot the potential right away. Jean Dawson is in the latter camp. I bet by the time you read this you have no idea who he is but I also bet by the time you start to listen to him that you get it right away. Dawson is in that class of upcoming artists that listens to everything and is at comfort with every genre and it shows. I expect great things from him as this is just the starting point.

 

9. Shamir CATACLYSM/ SHAMIR: 

Shamir’s yin and yang albums of his young career succeeds primarily because he has taken time to craft them as personal tools. If Cataclysm is the slow-burning alternative rock seed that he can carefully germinated within himself then his self-titled effort incorporates his level of fabulousness in a way too many young black artists just can’t seem to get right.

 

10. Marlowe MARLOWE 2:  

proving that old school hip/hop can be run through contemporary lenses.