A Year in Shadows: 2020

52 films, in order of appearance: The Gentlemen, 1917, Waves, The Personal History of David Copperfield, Queen & Slim, Parasite, Emma, Greed, True History of the Kelly Gang, Onward, The Wolf Hour, Uncorked, Trolls World Tour, Love Wedding Repeat, Extraction, Bad Education, The Half of It, Capone, Scoob, Snowpiercer, A Rainy Day in New York, Days of the Bagnold Summer, Da 5 Bloods, Fanny Lye Deliver'd, Eurovision Song Contest, The Old Guard, Palm Springs, Stage Mother, Summerland, An American Pickle, Waiting for the Barbarians, Tesla, Tenet, Mulan, The Roads Not Taken, The Devil All the Time, Monsoon, The Glorias, Mangrove, Supernova, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, WolfWalkers, The Human Voice, Ammonite, Small Axe, Happiest Season, Nomadland, The Prom, WW84, Soul.

TRIVIA ALERT!

• Two solo covers: George MacKay and Tilda Swinton.
• Twice on one cover: John David Washington.
• One solo and one shared cover: Henry Golding, Letitia Wright, Robert Pattinson and the film Mangrove.
• Two shared covers: Elle Fanning.
• Two shared covers, one as himself and one as an animated character: James Corden.
• Most crowded: Trolls World Tour (11), The Gentlemen (7).
• Most films on one cover: Small Axe (5).

Solo on one cover: Bong Joon Ho, Chris Hemsworth, Dev Patel, Frances McDormand, Gal Gadot, Mamoudou Athie, Maxine Peake, Naomi Watts, Rosamund Pike, Sacha Baron Cohen, Seth Rogen, Steve Coogan, Tom Hardy, Yifei Liu.

Sharing one cover: Alexa Demie, Alicia Vikander, Allison Janney, Amarah-Jae St Aubyn, Andy Samberg, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Hunnam, Charlize Theron, Clarke Peters, Colin Farrell, Colin Firth, Cristin Milioti, Dan Levy, Daniel Diemer, Daniel Kaluuya, Delroy Lindo, Earl Cave, Ethan Hawke, Eve Hewson, Gemma Arterton, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Hugh Grant, Hugh Jackman, Isiah Whitlock Jr, Jacki Weaver, Jeremy Strong, Janelle Monae, Javier Bardem, Jessie Buckley, John Boyega, Johnny Depp, Johnny Flynn, Jodie Turner-Smith, Julianne Moore, Kate Winslet, Keira Knightley, Kelvin Harrison Jr, Kenyah Sandy, Khali Best, Kristen Stewart, Leah Lewis, Luca Marinelli, Mark Rylance, Matthew McConaughey, Matthias Schoenaerts, Meryl Streep, Micheal Ward, Michelle Dockery, Monica Dolan, Norm Lewis, Olivia Munn, Oscar Moreno, Rachel McAdams, Sam Claflin, Saoirse Ronan, Stanley Tucci, Timothee Chalamet, Will Ferrell.

As the voice of an animated character: Amanda Seyfried, Anna Kendrick, Anthony Ramos, Chris Pratt, Eva Whittaker, Frank Welker, Gina Rodriguez, Gustavo Dudamel, Honor Kneafsey, Jamie Dornan, Jamie Foxx, Justin Timberlake, Kelly Clarkson, Kenan Thompson, Kunal Nayyar, Rachel Bloom, Ron Funches, Tina Fey, Tom Holland, Will Forte, Zac Efron ... as elfs, trolls, souls, wolf-girls, a cat and a dog.

And for the first time, here are the covers that were drafted but never used, mainly due to shuffling pandemic release schedules: Just Mercy, Oscar/Parasite, A Quiet Place Part II, All Day and a Night, Can You Keep a Secret, Arkansas, The Wrong Missy, Da 5 Bloods (alternate version), Greyhound, Animal Crackers, The Boys in the Band, The War With Grandpa, Black Box, County Lines. (Note that Mulan was originally designed for 27th March, then revised for 4th September.)

The Best of 2020: 40th Shadows Awards

To put it mildly, this has been an unusual year. So there has been a wider range of films eligible, as I've included titles released direct to streaming services. I saw all of these in the calendar year 2020, regardless of release dates. My top film of the year is a true original, a blur of drama and documentary that has a lot to stay about the state of the world at the moment. The performances, improvised dialog, camerawork and editing are simply gorgeous. Some of these categories were very difficult to whittle down to 10 - it was often painful cutting the list off there, especially for lead performances.

There is rather a lot more posted on the website, including longer lists and a dazzling array of additional categories and trivia to wrap up the year: 40th SHADOWS AWARDS. Here are the top 10s...

BEST FILM:

1. 
   Nomadland (Chloe Zhao)
2. Mangrove (Steve McQueen)
3. The Mauritanian (Kevin Macdonald)
4. System Crasher (Nora Fingscheidt)
5. Notturno (Gianfranco Rosi)
6. The Half of It (Alice Wu)
7. Da 5 Bloods (Spike Lee)
8. Soul (Pete Docter)
9. The Perfect Candidate (Haifaa Al Mansour)
10. On the Rocks (Sofia Coppola)

DIRECTOR:

1. 
   Steve McQueen - Small Axe
2. Kevin Macdonald - The Mauritanian
3. Chloe Zhao - Nomadland
4. Spike Lee - Da 5 Bloods, David Byrne's American Utopia
5. Nora Fingscheidt - System Crasher
6. Florian Zeller - The Father
7. Christopher Nolan - Tenet
8. Haifaa Al Mansour - The Perfect Candidate
9. Sally Potter - The Roads Not Taken
10. Melina Leon - Song Without a Name

SCREENWRITER:

1. 
   MB Traven, Rory Haines, Sohrab Noshirvani - The Mauritanian
2. Pete Docter, Mike Jones, Kemp Powers - Soul
3. Christopher Hampton, Florian Zeller - The Father
4. Alice Wu - The Half of It
5. Haifaa Al-Mansour, Brad Niemann - The Perfect Candidate
6. Chloe Zhao - Nomadland
7. Alastair Siddons, Steve McQueen - Mangrove
8. Jayro Bustamante, Lisandro Sanchez - La Llorona
9. Eliza Hittman - Never Rarely Sometimes Always
10. James Montague, Craig W Sanger - The Vast of Night

ACTRESS:

1. 
   Julia Garner - The Assistant
2. Helena Zengel - System Crasher, News of the World
3. Jodie Foster - The Mauritanian
4. Elisabeth Moss - The Invisible Man, Shirley
5. Letitia Wright - Mangrove
6. Frances McDormand - Nomadland
7. Joanna Scanlan - After Love
8. Jessie Buckley - Misbehaviour, I'm Thinking of Ending Things
9. Carey Mulligan - Promising Young Woman, The Dig
10. Aubrey Plaza - Black Bear, Happiest Season

ACTOR:

1. 
   Tahar Rahim - The Mauritanian
2. John Boyega - Red, White and Blue
3. Cosmo Jarvis - Calm With Horses
4. Anthony Hopkins - The Father
5. Chadwick Boseman - Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Da 5 Bloods
6. Riz Ahmed - Mogul Mowgli, Sound of Metal
7. Lee Byung-hun - The Man Standing Next
8. Sacha Baron Cohen - The Trial of the Chicago 7, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
9. Christopher Abbott - Possessor, Black Bear, The World to Come
10. Robert Pattinson - Tenet, The Devil All the Time, Waiting for the Barbarians

SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

1. 
   Maria Bakalova - Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
2. Olivia Colman - The Father
3. Amanda Seyfried - Mank
4. Cherry Jones - A Rainy Day in New York
5. Dhay - The Perfect Candidate
6. Lesley Manville - Misbehaviour, Let Him Go
7. Talia Ryder - Never Rarely Sometimes Always
8. Orla Brady - Rose Plays Julie
9. Shailene Woodley - The Mauritanian, Endings Beginnings
10. Laura Linney - The Roads Not Taken, Falling

SUPPORTING ACTOR:

1. 
   Barry Keoghan - Calm With Horses
2. Lance Henriksen - Falling
3. Leslie Odom Jr - Hamilton, One Night in Miami
4. Jonathan Majors - Da 5 Bloods, Jungleland
5. Benedict Cumberbatch - The Mauritanian
6. Nicholas Hoult - True History of the Kelly Gang, Rebel in the Rye
7. Steve Toussaint - Red, White and Blue
8. Sverrir Gudnason - Falling
9. Harris Dickinson - County Lines
10. Alfredo Castro - The Prince

WORST FILM:

1. 
   Fantasy Island (Jeff Wadlow)
2. Jexi (Jon Lucas, Scott Moore)
3. Hillbilly Elegy (Ron Howard)
4. Buddy Games (Josh Duhamel)
5. Love, Weddings & Other Disasters (Dennis Dugan)
6. Fatal Affair (Peter Sullivan)
7. The Last Days of American Crime (Olivier Megaton)
8. Come Away (Brenda Chapman)
9. The Ringmaster (Soren Juul Petersen)
10. Ava (Tate Taylor)

N O N - F I L M   D I V I S I O N

TV SERIES:

1. 
   Schitt's Creek (CBC)
2. The Good Place (Netflix)
3. Ted Lasso (Apple)
4. The Mandalorian (Disney)
5. We Are Who We Are (HBO)
6. Dave (FX)
7. Staged (BBC)
8. Normal People (BBC)
9. I May Destroy You (BBC)
10. Shameless (Showtime)

SINGLES:

1. 
   No Time to Die - Billie Eilish
2. Hurt - Arlo Parks
3. Head & Heart - Joel Corry & MNEK
4. Coffee for Your Head - Powfu & Beabadoobee
5. Cuz I Love You - Lizzo
6. Watch Your Step - Disclosure & Kelis
7. Diamonds - Sam Smith
8. This Is the Place - Tom Grennan
9. Far Away - Jessie Reyez
10. Rainfall - Stormzy & Tiana Major9

Critical Week: Joy to the world

Happy Christmas from locked-down London! I had a barrage of timed awards-consideration screening links this week that changed what I was planning to watch. This meant that I saw quite a few contenders, and the common adjective to describe highbrow movies this year seems to be: "dour". Thankfully, each has something to recommend in it, usually strong performances that lift the tone. And some of these films have been wonderfully upbeat too.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK: 

One Night in Miami • Soul 

Promising Young Woman 

News of the World • AK vs AK 

The Dissident • Luz 

ALL REVIEWS >

Hugh Bonneville stars in the Roald Dahl biopic To Olivia (above), a downbeat film that's beautifully played by its cast, including Keeley Hawes as Dahl's wife, the actress Patricia Neal. Tom Hanks gives yet another wonderful performance in Paul Greengrass' earthy Western News of the World, matched by a fierce turn from the wondrous Helena Zengel. Vanessa Kirby and Katherine Waterston yearn for each other in the aching period drama The World to Come. Jude Law and Carrie Coon find cracks in their high-flying life in the insidious 1980s drama The Nest. Sophia Loren shines brightly in the terrific Italian comedy-drama The Life Ahead. Diane Lane and Kevin Costner have a happy life in Let Him Go, until they really, really don't.

There were also a few guilty pleasures this week. Gerard Butler stars in the catastrophic comet strike thriller Greenland, which is far more entertaining than expected. Hilary Swank is downright nasty in Fatale, a dopey noir-style semi-erotic thriller. And Bollywood superstar Anil Kapoor takes on director Anurag Kashyap in the clever pastiche action comedy AK vs AK.

Indie movies included Steven Yeun leading a terrific ensemble in the acclaimed drama Minari, about a Korean family in Arkansas; Boaz Yakin's swirling gender-bending dance-infused drama Aviva; the naturalistic, finely observed immigrant drama Farewell Amor; and the fiercely artful surreal thriller The One You Feed. From Colombia, Luz: The Flower of Evil is a wonderfully stylised horror packed with bonkers touches. And there were two seriously intense documentaries: The Dissident traces the horrific assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudis in Turkey, while the thriller-style Welcome to Chechnya following activists trying to rescue young gay people hunted down in Russia.

I'm taking a few days off from movies around Christmas. Then I'll dive in and watch Judi Dench in a new all-star version of Blythe Spirit, Michelle Pfeiffer in French Exit, the comedy Freshman Year, the Greek drama Apples and the Italian documentary The Truffle Hunters. Others are bound to pop up before voting deadlines close in soon.

Critical Week: Ask tough questions

London has been shifted back into severe third-tier restrictions. But cinemas are closed again, as are theatres and restaurants (all places where it's easy to remain distant), but inexplicably not shops, schools, gyms (where it isn't). Thankfully, I had a few actual cinema screenings in between lockdowns, including Kevin Macdonald's superb The Mauritanian, starring Jodie Foster (above) along with Tahar Rahim, Shailene Woodley and Benedict Cumberbatch. It's the powerful true story of a Guantanamo detainee. An even bigger screening was WW84 (that's the film's only title on-screen), the Wonder Woman sequel, which was screened to us on the huge BFI Imax screen. It's a lot of fun, if a bit messy in the final act. What a shame that it can't open in London cinemas as planned this week.

 

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Education • The Prince
American Utopia
PERHAPS AVOID:
Come Away • Modern Persuasion
ALL REVIEWS >

Steven Soderbergh's all-star comedy Let Them All Talk is also good fun, with a lively ensemble led by Meryl Streep improvising dialog while sailing from New York to London. And George Clooney dons a Santa beard to save the world in The Midnight Sky, which isn't a Christmas movie: it's a smart sci-fi adventure that's intriguing and moving.

Alicia Silverstone is terrific in Sister of the Groom, a likeably odd concoction that feels like it should be a romcom but is actually a serious family drama. Alicia Witt leads a nutty ensemble in Modern Persuasion, a present-day take on Jane Austen that's actually another rather corny romcom. From Argentina, The Weasels' Tail is a madcap play on old-world cinema glamour defending itself from corporate sharks. From Mexico, I Carry You With Me is a beautiful drama about connections between people and cultures. And The Boy Is Mine is a collection of five well-made shorts from five countries, each tackling an aspect of youthful masculinity.

This coming week I have another eclectic bunch of films to watch, including the Roald Dahl biopic To Olivia, Celia Imrie in Love Sarah, Rupert Everett in The Warrior Queen of Jhansi, the Kiwi drama Savage, the Swedish drama Are We Lost Forever, the Mexican drama Identifying Features and probably a few more awards season contenders, as they're coming in by the minute.

Critical Week: Learn that dance

It's awards season, so I had two more virtual screenings this week accompanied by cast and crew zoom-style Q&As. Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is a faithful adaptation of the acclaimed August Wilson play, and it's somewhat overplayed and stagebound. But the actors are superb, including the late Chadwick Boseman (all other actors should abandon Oscar hopes this year) and Viola Davis. And Carey Mulligan and Ralph Fiennes star in The Dig, an unusually earthy period film about a history-changing archaeological discovery. Without the accompanying Q&As, I also caught up with Soul, in which Pixar outdoes even themselves with flat-out awesome animation and a staggeringly deep story, and Steven Soderbergh's Let Them All Talk, in which a starry cast (Streep! Bergen! Wiest!) explores deep themes in an offhanded shipboard comedy.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
The Stand In • Alex Wheatle
Funny Boy • The Prom
Song Without a Name
ALL REVIEWS >

The final two episodes of Steve McQueen's unmissable Small Axe series screened: Alex Wheatle is a superb biopic about the awakening of an acclaimed novelist, while Education is an exhilarating drama that takes on racism in Britain's school system. Riz Ahmed is simply stunning as a drummer dealing with deafness in Sound of Metal. Tessa Thompson transcends the muted period vibe in the romance Sylvie's Love. And Sienna Miller shines in the moody odyssey Wander Darkly. 

I also caught up with two excellent foreign films: Funny Boy is a moving, gorgeously made drama from Sri Lanka by ace filmmaker Deepa Mehta, while Cocoon is a German coming-of-age drama that catches an intimate perspective. And there was also one film screened in a cinema, and the freaky British horror Saint Maud is definitely worth seeing on a huge screen with a rumbling sound system.

This coming week, I have two more screenings in actual cinemas: delayed blockbuster Wonder Woman 1984 and the true conspiracy drama The Mauritanian starring Tahar Rahim, Jodie Foster and Benedict Cumberbatch. There's also Diane Lane in Let Him Go, Alicia Silverstone in Sister of the Groom, Alicia Witt in Modern Persuasion, the dance-based romance Aviva and the shorts collection The Boy Is Mine.

Stage: Life is but a dream

Pricked: Sleeping Beauty Got Woke
by Tim Benzie and Paul Joseph
dir Tim McArthur
musical director Aaron Clingham
with Lucy Penrose, Robert McNeilly, Grant Cartwright, Fia Houston-Hamilton, Charlie Wood
Royal Vauxhall Tavern • 4.Dec.20-7.Jan.21

The RVT's adult-oriented panto is always one of the funniest shows of the year, and this year's team has outdone itself. There isn't a dull moment in this blissfully silly musical-comedy extravaganza, as it spirals in surreal directions that leave the audience trying to stifle laughter under social distancing rules. And the show even has a trick for that.

Being the story of Sleeping Beauty, the script plays heavily on the idea that much of 2020 feels like a bad dream. Fairy Merryweather (Penrose) is our guide through the mayhem, although even she's not terribly sure what's going on as the gloriously evil Maleffluent (McNeilly) has cursed Princess Aurora (Cartwright) to fall into a deep sleep if she pricks her finger before her 18th birthday. Maleffluent is assisted by a jittery Raven (Wood), who intercepts the thrusting Prince (Houston-Hamilton) as he seeks to rescue Aurora from her castle-tower prison.

Characters break into song at the drop of a hat, with witty twists on iconic pop tracks as well as musical theatre numbers from vintage shows like The Sound of Music, Annie and The Wiz. There are even two hilarious songs lifted from last summer's Eurovision Song Contest comedy, including Ya Ya Ding Dong, which elicits a riotous bell-ringing number. Show-stoppers include the Raven singing a duet of I'm Like a Bird with a fed-up Prince, plus magnificent nods to Cheryl Cole and Queen. Throw in a bit of tap dancing, lots of references to both Covid and Brexit, rude jokes about Amanda Holden and Lorena Bibbity Bobbity Boo. Flashbacks and dream sequences escalate the sense that this show is utterly out of control, and indeed it goes full-meta at one point.

The performances are excellent across the board, with Houston-Hamilton emerging as the star of the show due to her rambunctious attitude and gifted timing with both comedy and music. McNeilly is also terrific as the astoundingly busty villain of the piece. And Wood has a lot of fun shrieking around the stage as the nervous Raven. Unsurprisingly, the show's lead character is the least colourful, but Cartwright gives it some oomph. The salient question is whether a sleeping princess can give consent to be kissed.

Cleverly, the production team has come up with ways for the audience to be involved, pressing buttons to trigger the call and response elements and teaching us various insinuating hand motions to interact with the characters. The staging is clever and lively, and it's such a fast and hilarious show that it's impossible to catch all the references. It even wraps everything up in a Mariah-hued bow.

photos by Chris Jepson • 5.Dec.20

NB. This show was forced to shut down just a few days into its run by another Covid lockdown. It was revamped and restaged a year later: REVIEWED HERE.

Critical Week: Dancing in the aisles

Being awards season, there are quite a few screenings that include a Q&A with the cast and crew - all held virtually this year. I had three of these this past week: Promising Young Woman is a vicious, blackly comical thriller with a terrific Carey Mulligan (pictured above with Bo Burnham). It's sharply pointed and darkly entertaining. The Prom is a glittery musical concoction from Ryan Murphy starring Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, James Corden, Andrew Rannells and Kerry Washington, among others. It's over-the-top in many ways, but has nicely serious undercurrents. And Pieces of a Woman is a very dark drama starring Vanessa Kirby and Shia LaBeouf. It's involving and beautifully put together, but rather grim.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Red, White and Blue
Nomadland • Ammonite
Falling • Black Bear • Host 
PERHAPS AVOID:
Buddy Games
Love, Weddings & Other Disasters 
FULL REVIEWS>

Otherwise it was the usual eclectic bunch. Drew Barrymore has both lead roles in The Stand In, a comedy that's not as silly as it looks, knowingly skewering show business myths. This week's Small Axe movie by Steve McQueen is the breathtaking Red, White and Blue, starring John Boyega as a young cop with a conscience. Viggo Mortensen writes, directs, stars in and composes the score for Falling, a pungent drama about a man dealing with his senile, increasingly bigoted father (a terrific Lance Henricksen). Parallel is a crowd-pleasing sci-fi concoction with a twisty plot and a hint of thematic depth, while Muscle is a gritty British drama that takes an unsettling dive into toxic masculinity. There was also Jack and the Beanstalk, a deliciously hilarious traditional British panto shot in back gardens during the pandemic. And The American Boys is a collection of six sensitive coming-of-age shorts, all very well made.

I have a lot to watch over the coming week, including the final two Small Axe films Alex Wheatle and Education, Riz Ahmed in Sound of Metal, Tessa Thompson in Sylvie's Love, Sienna Miller in Wander Darkly, Laura Dern in Trial by Fire, and acclaimed foreign titles Funny Boy, The Weasel's Tale and Cocoon. I also have an actual physical catch-up screening of the British horror Saint Maud. Yes, cinemas are open again, again.