Babyteeth (2020)

Direction: Shannon Murphy
Country: Australia

Orchestrated with bittersweet notes, this fine Australian coming-of-age drama also takes romance to interesting levels of satisfaction. In her feature debut, director Shannon Murphy materializes an ultra-sensitive stage play, written by Rita Kalnejais, without falling into a typical tearjerker. And that's because the story can be utterly sad and maniacally offbeat at the same time. There’s some weird, comedic tones that make the heavier moments feel almost worry-free, and then there’s the talented cast enhancing what was already a well constructed course of events.

Eliza Scanlier (Little Women) is Milla, a terminally ill teenager who falls in love for the first time. However, the homeless boy she brings home, Moses (Toby Wallace), is a salvageable drug addict with a good heart. Milla’s parents - the emotionally unstable Anna (Essie Davis) and her psychiatrist husband Henry (Ben Mendelsohn) - are visibly disturbed with the situation but, little by little, concede this whim to their dying child. All characters have their burden, and the film becomes as moody and volatile as they can be. Hence, its emotional ebbs and flows keep us immersed in a flux of tension and release that pays off.

Avoiding to cut through superficial surfaces of distress, Mrs. Murphy builds a tale of implacable clarity. Babyteeth isn’t perfect, but it feels real, even in moments of chaos.

Tesla (2020)

Direction: Michael Almereyda
Country: USA

In recent times, American director Michael Almereyda has been increasing significantly his group of admirers with curious films such as Experimenter (2015) and Marjorie Prime (2017).  However, he unsuccessfully attempts to inject chunks of modernity (e.g. a laptop, a cell phone, roller-skates and modern pop songs weren’t suppose to appear in a reconstruction of the late 1800s) in Tesla, a dismal biographical account of the Serbian-American inventor who majorly contributed to the development of the AC electricity supply system. 

Although not technically exhaustive, the film drags for several periods of time while building up a husky atmosphere with a slightly tense score and lifeless visuals. 

Played without brilliance by Ethan Hawke, the humorless and low-profile Tesla is seen disputing electrical theories with his former employer Thomas Edison (Kyle MacLachlan), bashfully flirting with Anne Morgan (Eve Hewson) - the film’s narrator and the daughter of his powerful financier, J.P. Morgan (Donnie Keshawarz) - and bewitching the famous French actress Sarah Bernhardt (Rebecca Dayan).

The film also takes time to address the issues found in the very first execution by electric chair. However, if the pace needed intensification, then the low budget certainly hampered Almereyda to shot the film in 35mm as it was planned. Still, the worst moment of the film coincides with Tesla’s cheap interpretation of Tears For Fears’ "Everybody Wants to Rule the World", a smashing hit from the 1980's.

Like Tesla, perhaps Almereyda wanted to look ahead. Yet, this loosely adapted biopic never goes in the right direction with its unstylish retro-modern hybridity.

Synchronic (2020)

Direction: Justin Benson, Aaron Moorhead
Country: USA

I was never a big fan of the presumptuous, convoluted and gimmicky stories presented by the team of American filmmakers/producers Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead (Resolution; Spring; The Endless). Their fourth feature, Synchronic, is the most accessible thus far, but despite the creators' attempts to engulf us in the mystery, it remains frustratingly limited, especially plot-wise. As usual, Benson wrote the script while Moorhead took responsibility for the cinematography.

This half-psychedelic sci-fi thriller revolves around two paramedics and best friends - Steve (Anthony Mackie) and Dennis (Jamie Dornan) - who start feeling depressed, not just with what’s going on in their personal lives, but also while working night shifts. The reason is a new synthetic drug, Synchronic, which is doing a lot of damage. Its consumers whether get severely harmed or vanish without a trace. Following the mysterious disappearance of Dennis’ teenage daughter, Brianna (Ally Ioannides), Steven decides to investigate further by exposing himself to the drug. He finds that Synchronic is a time-travel pill that can give you a 7-minute regression to an indistinct point in time but can also trap you in there forever. In any case, physical pain is real.

Few scenes come off as entertaining, and the experience becomes even more nonsensical if we think about the geographical factor of the experience - the location you are when the drug kicks in determines to where you will travel.

This new Benson/Moorhead oddity depicts friendship, courage and sacrifice, but feels contrived at every move. In the end, I mourned a dog, turning my back to all the other unremarkable characters.

Mank (2020)

Direction: David Fincher
Country: USA

Mank recreates the dispute over the writing credits of the 1941 masterpiece Citizen Kane. The adversaries in this contend are director Orson Welles and screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz. The film, shot in classic black-and-white and evoking Hollywood in the 1930s, is not only about the friction between these two talents but rather a biographical drama centered in the polemic, washed up and alcoholic Mankiewicz (shortened Mank), brilliantly portrayed by Gary Oldman (Darkest Hour; Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy). 

After a car accident, the plain-spoken Mank is taken to a house to recover from the injuries. Rushed by an avid Orson Welles to write something in 60 days for him to direct, he is put under the care of a nurse and a self-assured British typewriter, Rita (Lily Collins), who, in the course of time, gets to better understand his weaknesses and strengths. Through flashbacks, Mank reinforces his discontentment with the hypocrisy and games of interest lived in the movie industry, recalling several situations with the friend-turned-foe actress Marion Davies (Amanda Seyfried), his younger brother - the director Joseph L. Mankiewicz (Tom Pelphrey), the MGM boss Louis B. Mayer (Arliss Howard), and the newspaper publisher and influential businessman William Hearst (Charles Dance), whose life story inspired the writings of Citizen Kane.

Directing for the first time in six years, David Fincher (Seven; The Game; Fight Club) works from a screenplay by his late father, Jack Fincher. The film, also working as a homage to the latter, can be considerably dense and cathartic at times, with many characters and subtle lines that may not be obvious to the common viewer. Yet, it still exudes an untiring energy all the way through. Against all and everything, Mank refused to change the script that earned him an Oscar, and more than that, he didn’t give up from the recognition he deserved. His frankness is remembered in this well-acted biographical drama, which, even not as bold as other Fincher’s films, is stylish and passionately crafted.

Palm Springs (2020)

Direction: Max Barbakow
Country: USA

First-time director Max Barbakow teams up with screenwriter Andy Siara, and the result is a low-impact romantic comedy with fantasy. 

During a Palm Springs wedding, the easygoing Nyles (Andy Samberg) hooks up with Sarah (Cristin Milioti), the dissatisfied sister of the bride. He ends up fleeing the place when chased by Roy (J.K. Simmons), a relentless man who keeps trying to murder him for quite some time. The reasons aren’t immediately obvious, but Nyles involuntarily drags Sarah into a secret cave that concedes them immortality in exchange of getting them stuck in a perpetual time loop. They just have to live the same day over and over again, the best they can. However, pain and suffering are real.

The idea of behaving like crazy with no rules and no guilt is attractive, prompting myriad possibilities for the plot. However, Barbakow and Siara squandered the chance of turning this comedy into something more than just a pair of laughs. As the time passes, the humor whether becomes more infrequent or descends into a basic level. If this is not enough, the nuanced repetitions grow a bit tedious. 

Despite of a promising start, Palm Springs runs out of inspiration, settling down in a thousand unremarkable ‘wake ups’ that lead to nowhere.

The Truth (2020)

Direction: Hirokazu Koreeda
Country: France

The first film to be released outside Japan from acclaimed director Hirokazu Koreeda (Nobody Knows; Shoplifters) is a simple, focused and engrossing drama perfectly suitable to the French reality. Based on a short story by Ken Liu, The Truth preserves the family topic (Koreeda’s favorite) well intact. The filmmaker works on this mature cinematic canvas with realism, probing in an effective way the ambivalent feelings that arise from a complex mother/daughter relationship. 

Fabienne Dangeville (the majestic Catherine Deneuve), a far-famed actress just released her memoir. For this reason, her daughter, Lumir (the natural Juliette Binoche), a scriptwriter living in New York, arrives with her American husband, Hank (Ethan Hawke), a minor actor with a drinking problem, and their daughter, Charlotte (Clémentine Grenier). In the meantime, Fabienne accepted to participate in a sci-fi film in which she acts alongside the trendy young actress Manon Lenoir (Manon Clavel). The film is also about a mother and a daughter, whose wounds need to be healed. In the meantime, Lumir gets shocked with the book’s inaccuracies.

Vanity, coldness and even abandonment are treated with candor by Koreeda, who is normally more interested in conciliate than to set apart. His peaceful tones and introspective ways find some beautiful, tender moments by the end. At that point, the film releases all the tension to hold a glimmer of optimism and forgiveness. This French experience might not have the strength of many of Koreeda’s domestic dramas, but there’s still a lot to appreciate here.

The Painted Bird (2020)

Direction: Vaclav Marhoul
Country: Czech Republic

The Painted Bird gets my prize for best cinematography 2020, a feat by Vladimír Smutny. Yet, this bleak war tale is also one of the most difficult watchings I’ve experienced, depicting the agonizing hell lived by a young Jewish boy forced to endure abuse in its physical, sexual and mental forms. Czech director Vaclav Marhoul (Tobruk) adapts Jerzy Kosinski’s novel of the same with rawness and spunk, making prevail all the desolation, creeds, alienation, atrocities and indecency described in the book. 

In the midst of WWII, the young Joska (Petr Kotlár) goes to live with an aunt in a remote village in Eastern Europe while his parents attempt to escape the Nazis. After her death, the boy becomes a victim of agonizing incidents that will take his innocence away. At the outset, he is considered a demon and a vampire by an ignorant rural community and sold to an esoteric woman; he then witnesses the wrath of a jealous man; joins a drunk bird catcher; is sexually abused by a religious man and a nymphomaniac, and falls into hands of the Nazis and the Red Army alike.

I know... it’s like having all the torments in the world, scene after scene, in a single flick. And what bothers me most here, is that Marhoul seems to take a strange pleasure in shocking us with sickening, detailed scenes. While some images are too painful to describe, others can be beautiful in its horror - like when the boy is attacked by a group of ravenous crows - or even touching, like the memorable finale.

Even touting a repulsive spectacle for most of its duration, the film, immaculately acted, oozes an aching sadness expressed through precise camera shots that often recall the work of masters Andrei Tarkovsky, Larisa Shepitko and Bela Tarr. Definitely not for the fainthearted.

Rifkin's Festival (2020)

Direction: Woody Allen
Country: USA / Spain / Italy

Wallace Shawn, who stunned in Louis Malle’s 1981 masterpiece My Dinner With Andre, stars in Woody Allen’s Rifkin’s Festival, a comedy where there are incantations and personal supplications to be found. By comparison with Allen's recent work, I must admit this one presents something more to pull it slightly above the average. But that doesn't mean it's free of clichéd situations. 

The story is set in the Spanish city of San Sebastian during its film festival, and follows Mort Rifkin (Shawn in his sixth collaboration with Allen), a failed writer and pleased film teacher who is ignored by his wife, Sue (Gina Gershon), as she obsesses with a pretentious, narcissistic French filmmaker (Louis Garrel). The lonely Mort is assaulted by weird dreams, a wide range of anxieties and imaginary conversations with family and people from his past. His inner fears take the expression of uncomfortable chest pains that, all of a sudden, go away after he sees Doctor Jo Rojas (Elena Anaya).

Allen paints both dreams and flashbacks in black-and-white as well as some fragmented recreations of European classics - his homage to Bergman, Godard, Truffaut, Fellini, and Buñuel - which are artfully wrung into the plot. There can be little doubt that certain plot points don’t add up to a story that is very much Allen’s. Yet, he sort of gets away with this melting pot of contemporary and classic cinema that plays as inoffensive as warm-hearted.

Mulan (2020)

Direction: Niki Caro
Country: USA / Canada / Hong Kong

Since 2002, eclectic New Zealander writer/director Niki Caro has been struggling to reach the same level of accomplishment of Whale Rider, her sophomore feature film. After the passable dramas North Country (2005) and McFarland, USA (2015), and the expendable The Zookeeper’s Wife (2017), she returns with Mulan, a live-action adaptation of the 1998 animation feature of the same name by Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook. For this Disney-production, Caro engages in a simplistic tale, a sweet candy confection filled with a feminist prowess that, despite well-intended, favors style over substance.

Mulan (Yifei Liu) is a fearless girl who, disguised as a male warrior, undertakes an incredible journey as she joins the imperial army to save her aging father (veteran Tzi Ma) from the burden of war and potential death. The film also welcomes acclaimed Chinese-born Singaporean actress Gong Li as the witch Xianniang, and action star Jet Li as the Emperor of China.

The dazzling physical battles, captured under the supervision of cinematographer Mandy Walker (Tracks; Hidden Figures), are insufficient to overcome the petty humor (the stinky smell joke about the heroine is repetitive) and faint romance. What should have been edgy and thrilling turned into a disappointing routine. If nothing else, Mulan looks gorgeous.

Tenet (2020)

Direction: Christopher Nolan
Country: USA

Christopher Nolan’s Tenet gets off to an intriguing start when a loyal CIA agent, merely referred as The Protagonist (John David Washington), is recruited by an obscure organization to save the world from the hands of an abominable Russian oligarch, Andrei Sator (Kenneth Branagh). A war world with calamitous consequences is about to happen, and in order to accomplish his time-travel mission, our hero will count on Sator’s aesthete wife, Kat (Elizabeth Debicki), a hired handler, Neil (Robert Pattinson), and a fixer, Mahir (Himesh Patel).

The film, which took Nolan nearly two decades to develop and put together, has its thrilling moments but the plot is an intricate house of cards that proves too ambitious for its own good. The inverted time concept with occasional overlaps induces an intrinsic complexity that makes the story feel derivative and unexciting. Hence, the constant back and forth in time becomes fatiguing as the mission proceeds.

This is unmistakably Nolan in his love for highly layered tales and puzzling structures (remember Memento and Inception?), but this time he overstuffed the plot to the point of not making much sense out of it. Moreover, Ludwig Göransson’s (Black Panther; Creed) ominous score often feels intrusive while Washington's performance is not as sharp as in BlackKklansman.

We are told in the film that the word Tenet will open the right doors but also some wrong ones. Well, Nolan seemed to have open the wrong ones for this mediocre espionage sci-fi thriller.

The Witches (2020)

Direction: Robert Zemeckis
Country: USA

Robert Zemeckis, the director who gave us Back to the Future and Forrest Gump, fails to provide adequate entertainment with The Witches, a cinematic flop with serious issues imposing to any valid credentials in the categories of animated fantasy and horror comedy. Anne Hathaway as The Grand High Witch, and Octavia Spencer as a witch-sensitive grandma, star in a flabby adaptation of Roald Dahl’s 1983 novel of the same name, which had been successfully tackled by Nicolas Roeg (Don’t Look Now; Walkabout) in 1990.

The script was penned by Zemeckis, Kenya Harris and Guillermo Del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth; The Shape of Water), with the latter being also credited as a co-producer together with Alfonso Cuáron (Gravity; Roma). The narration is by Chris Rock. 

The promising beginning quickly morphed into a ridiculous fantasy - an authoritarian Hathaway floats and shouts annoyingly, witches evaporate in the air, kids are transformed into ludicrous mice… everything is so painfully boring. The competent photography by Don Burgess, who has been working intermittently with Zemeckis since Forrest Gump, is not enough to make us waste almost two hours of our time with this terrible mess. Zemeckis and his associates really overdid, losing the sense of focus. This isn’t a fun one to watch, and it’s not even weird enough to make me like it a little.

Beasts Clawing at Straws (2020)

Direction: Kim Yong-hoon
Country: South Korea

Beasts Clawing at Straws is a gritty neo-noir thriller that runs fast and twisted. In his first feature-length film, director Kim Yong-hoon adapted Keisuke Sone’s Japanese novel of the same name, depicting its relatively complex interconnections between characters with positive results.

The story, told in six chapters, revolves around a lost bag of money highly coveted by the indebted people that come across with it, including a former restaurant owner turned into bathhouse clerk (Bae Seong-woo), an insidious customs officer (Jung Woo-Sung) and his wild and merciless ex-girlfriend (Jeon Do-yeon ), a violent loan shark (Jung Man-sik) and the gut-eater assassin who works for him (Bae Jin-woong).

Brutal violence occurs but not in an exaggerated extent, and you can indulge in a trillion betrayals and scams, aspects explored in a way that are truly emblematic of the genre. Well-shot with apt camera angles and filled with energy, the film has no dull moments despite of its many dull characters.

Farewell Amor (2020)

Direction: Ekwa Msangi
Country: USA

Going back and forth in time, Farewell Amor tells the story of an Angolan family - husband Walter (Ntare Mwine), wife Esther (Zainab Jah) and teen daughter Sylvia (a notable debut by Jayme Lawson) - that reunites in Brooklyn, New York, after 17 years apart.

However, and despite the tranquil storytelling envisioned by the Tanzanian-American writer/director Ekwa Msangi, their relationships are far from placid. Walter, fled the Angolan civil war to pursue the American dream, whereas his wife moved to Tanzania with their baby daughter, waiting for things to get better. But the years have passed… Walter found solace and strength in another woman and a small supportive Angolan community, whereas Esther became not just a strict and lonely person but also a religious fanatic. Figuring how to adapt to the new culture, Sylvia dreams to be a dancer, an idea instantly discouraged by her mother but supported by her estranged father.

Gladly, this emotionally-driven immigrant song doesn’t feed on tears. Msangi turns her affectionate eyes to the center of the adversities while gently pushing the family into harmonious comfort, restoring hope. A fair dose of honesty and terrific performances by the three leads contributed to a sympathetic debut feature.

The Outpost (2020)

Direction: Rod Lurie
Country: USA

Rod Lurie’s factual war film, The Outpost, reconstructs the tormenting moments lived by 53 American soldiers under heavy Taliban fire while stationed at Combat Outpost Keating, located in a remote valley in eastern Afghanistan. The occurrence, known as the Battle of Kamdesh, took place in October 2009. The script by Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson - the duo behind The Fighter (2010) and Patriots Day (2016) - was based on the book The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor by CNN journalist Jake Tepper.

With no much time available to get inside the characters, everything develops quickly and forthright, yet the film never engages in pyrotechnic flourishes, preferring instead to dive in a raw realism that goes hand-in-glove with the bursts of tension. The responsive ensemble cast is at its best during the frenetic action scenes, but the film also emphasizes rather than examines the psychological disorders experienced by soldiers in distress. 

Being Lurie’s best film to date, The Outpost is an unsparing look at the frustrations of fighting against hundreds of invisible enemies armed to their teeth. Furthermore, it makes us ponder about how the massacre could have been easily avoided.

David Byrne's American Utopia (2020)

Direction: Spike Lee
Country: USA

American helmer Spike Lee captures a brilliantly staged rock concert put together by British-American singer and conceptualist genius David Byrne, the former leader of the rock band Talking Heads, for a Broadway show in which he and his band perform wireless.

The visuals are arresting and the music, hit after hit, delivers pivotal messages that include the necessity to vote, interpersonal connections, racial inclusion and immigration, climate change, connections of the brain, and many more. The film not only includes the Heads’ biggest hits - “Once in a Lifetime”, “This Must Be the Place” and “Road to Nowhere” (a memorable conclusion with Byrne leading his 11-piece group to circle around the audience) - but also some solo Byrne material and a powerful version of the protest song “Hell You Talmbout" by Janelle Monáe.

The camera work under Lee’s supervision is excellent, and you’ll feel enlivened by the vibrant energy of these quirky pop/rock songs arranged with tribal rhythms, funky chords, and powerful lyrics.

Da 5 Bloods (2020)

Direction: Spike Lee
Country: USA

With a hot topic but overhyped in its violent scenes, Da 5 Bloods was originally written by Danny Bilson and Paul de Meo in 2013. Director Spike Lee re-adapted the script together with Kevin Wilmott (following their successful collaboration in BlackKklansman) to fit the African-American reality, after Oliver Stone has given up the project in 2016.

The story follows four black veterans (Delroy Lindo, Clarke Peters, Norm Lewis and Isiah Whitlock Jr.) who decide to return to Vietnam to retrieve a buried box with gold and locate the body of their former leader, Stormin’ Norman (the late Chadwick Boseman). 

Protracted and unpolished, this post-war treasure-hunt film is somewhat repetitive in some of the ideas, and it could have been even worse if it wasn’t for Lindo's strong performance. The director plays with flashbacks, real footage and photography to better center his subtexts and motivations, but outside of the moderately thrilling war sequences, there’s little to justify the film’s two-and-a-half hour runtime. This jungle trip, not deprived of challenges and problems itself, only intermittently sparks.

Pinocchio (2020)

Direction: Matteo Garrone
Country: Italy

Crammed with fantastic creatures and characters, Pinocchio has here its most eccentric version in the hand of Rome-born director Matteo Garrone, whose quirky style is on full display. The endless possibilities within the imaginative plot is synonym of an expansive creative mind already identified in films like Gomorrah (2008), Reality (2012), and Dogman (2018). Garrone co-wrote this darkly magical adventure with Massimo Ceccherini, taking advantage of the acting skills of actors Roberto Benigni (Life is Beautiful; Down By Law) and the young Federico Ielapi, in his first major role. By the way, as a curiosity, Benigni directed himself a poor version of Pinocchio in 2002, in which he stars as the title character.

After skipping school to attend a local puppet theater, Pinocchio (Ielapi) gets lost from his beloved father and creator, Gepetto (Benigni). While the latter sets foot in the world outside to search for his wooden child, Pinocchio gets tricked twice by the opportunistic and grotesquely famished Fox (Ceccherini) and Cat (Rocco Papaleo). He keeps involved in a series of perilous episodes while trying to learn his way back home. 

Besides offering life lessons and providing tremendous fun with unceremonious sophistication, Pinocchio also benefits from an incredible mise en scène, a well-versed costume design and an inviting photography.

Listen (2020)

Direction: Ana Rocha de Sousa
Country: Portugal / UK

Portuguese actress-turned-director Ana Rocha de Sousa left her mark in Venice with Listen, a debut feature brandishing a realistic style à-la Ken Loach. This is the drama of a struggling Portuguese couple living in the suburbs of London, Bela (Lucia Moniz) and Jota (Ruben Garcia), who does everything to keep their three children at their side and impede forced adoptions to proceed after they have been unjustly targeted by the inflexible British social services.

The film grabs our attention in its first third but gradually steps into precarious paths that leads to repetitive family gatherings and a zealous court scene that expressly seeks for emotional intensity. The screenplay, co-authored by Rocha and producers Aaron Brookner and Paula Alvarez Vaccaro, battles for consistency with an approximate number of hits and misses. Aiming for higher narrative stakes, the film rushes a few scenes and fades away nearly as fast for an undistinguished conclusion.

Love and Monsters (2020)

Direction: Michael Matthews
Country: USA

If you’re craving adventure/fantasy flicks, Love and Monsters can be a valid option. South African director Michael Matthews (Five Fingers for Marseilles) invites us to join his 24-year old hero, Joel Dawson (Dylan O’Brien), in a risky 80-mile enterprise to find his girlfriend, Aimee (Jessica Henwick), who has been away from him for seven years due to a Monsterpocalypse.

Traversing monster-filled forests and unruly places, Joel finds the courage to leave his bunker and his colony and sets foot into the wilderness armed with a bow, arrows and his apocalypse diary. Along the way, he adopts a cool stray dog, is helped by a survival expert (Michael Rooker) and his young protégé (Ariana Greenblatt), and fights incredible beasts such as a giant toad, a giant centipede, a Queen Sand-Gobbler, and a monster crab. He also contacts with a dying robot from the advanced Mavis line in the most touching scene of the film.

More eye-catching than cerebral, this feel-good fantasy, conceived and co-written by Brian Duffiels, provides an amusing session. 

Rebecca (2020)

Direction: Ben Wheatley
Country: UK / USA

Working from a script by Jane Goldman, Joe Schrapnel and Anna Waterhouse, British director Ben Wheatley (Sightseers; A Field in England; High-Rise) doesn’t succeed in adapting Rebecca, the famous novel by Daphne du Maurier and immortalized as a motion picture by Alfred Hitchcock in 1940.

There’s an embarrassing lack of freshness in this remake that will hamper many viewers from being charmed, thrilled or even intrigued by this emotionally-bland, color version of the aforementioned literary work.

The splendorous decors and an adequate performance by Kristin Scott Thomas as the villainous housekeeper - in opposition to the unconvincing acting of Lily James and Armie Hammer as the newly married de Winters - are the best this romantic psychological thriller has to offer. The soundtrack revealed to be another setback together with an inadequate lightness in a storytelling that required more dramatic grandeur and emotional depth.