Minari (2021)

Direction: Lee Isaac Chung
Country: USA

Writer-director Lee Isaac Chung’s semi-autobiographical family drama set in 1980’s, Minari, is certainly a serious competitor for the best film of the year. Accumulating moments of truth and insight, the film follows a Korean-American family - Jacob Yi (Steven Yeun), his wife Monica (Han Ye-ri) and their two kids, Anne (Noel Kate Cho) and David (Alan Kim) - that relocates to rural Arkansas to start over again and try to fix what went wrong in California. The couple had already agreed and arranged the details to work at a local poultry farm, but living in a caravan in the middle of nowhere was sort of a shock for Monica, who expected more for a matured, married couple.

This option had to do entirely with Jacob’s dream of owning a 50-acre piece of land where he could grow Korean vegetables and sell to the immigrant community, a task he undertakes with the help of an ultra-religious local, Paul (Will Patton). Meanwhile, the sensitive seven-year-old David has a weak heart and his blood pressure needs to be monitored every day. His health starts to improve after the arrival of his atypical yet incredibly warm grandmother (Youn Yuh-jung), the responsible for the funniest situations in the film. 

This lovely piece of work combines dramatic sweep and aesthetic power, providing a sublimely moving experience that stays with us long after the final credits roll. It’s all very real, narrated with poise and shot with a glowing perspective that encompasses compassion, intimacy, suffering and resilience. A tough-minded tale that is impossible to resist as it expertly captures the daily life of these empathetic characters with candor. Only rarely is a film this observant, and it felt good to see that director Chung (Munyurangabo) didn't opt to sacrifice narrative identity in favor of tone. In this case, one can’t live without the other. The encouraging finale is left open to our imagination in a memorable portrait of an immigrant family in search of its own dream.

Promising Young Woman (2020)

Direction: Emerald Fennell
Country: UK / USA

Promising Young Woman marks the feature directorial debut of English actress turned director Emerald Fennell. This hybridized solution of rape revenge thriller and eruptive romance works pretty well thanks to a top-tier performance by Carey Mulligan (An Education, 2009; Suffragette, 2015; Never Let Me Go, 2010). She is Cassie, a 30-year-old medical school quitter who has been living in grief since she lost her best friend, a victim of rape while drunk at a school party. 

Having no social life whatsoever aside from working in a small cafe during the day is a source of deep concern to her parents with whom she lives for seven years. Notwithstanding, she keeps secret her high-risk night-time activity, even further when Dr. Ryan Cooper (Bo Burnham), a former classmate who always had a crush on her, appears out of nowhere to infuse some hope in her inconsolable life.

Expertly written and stringently executed, the film flows effortlessly within a well-mounted narrative structure; things only tremble in the very last chapter. Symbolizing the indignation of all women who had to deal with the torments of extreme sexism, Mulligan exhibits a previously unseen range of talent. Although this isn’t the best movie that could have been made about the subject, it’s invariably entertaining, filled with interesting moments en route to an unorthodox ending.

Nomadland (2021)

Direction: Chloé Zhao
Country: USA

Based on Jessica Bruder’s 2017 novel Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century, this drama film radiates optimism and freedom, benefiting from a warm direction by Chloé Zhao, who already had caused a sensation with The Rider in 2017.

Nomadland follows one year of struggle and self-discovery in the life of Fern (the impeccable Frances McDormand), a recent widow and former employee of the extinct US Gypsum plant in Empire, Nevada. She now lives in an old, démodé RV, but, as she makes sure to clarify, she’s houseless, not homeless. 

Because anticipating retirement wouldn't provide her enough to live, she keeps searching for seasonal jobs here and there as she travels the West part of the country. This lifestyle is marked by so many hellos and goodbyes, some of them special and involving unforgettable people. These are the cases of fellow nomads David (David Strathairn), Linda (Linda May) and Swankie (Charlene Swankie). It's curious to notice that the latter two are real-life nomads who contribute authenticity to a tactful story that completely eschews sentimentality.

Despite the setbacks and afflictions during the journey, I see Fern’s human experience as immensely rich and illuminating. It’s peaceful in a certain way to see that Fern never deviates from who she is. Loneliness, the economic struggle and the nomadic life are stripped to the bones, providing a raw and touching cinematic experience that will heavily reward those with the courage to embrace it and feel it. 

Inundated with affection, Nomadland goes into uncharted territories, and if there’s aridness in the landscape, then barely none of it inhabits the heart of these compassionate travelers.

Run (2020)

Direction: Aneesh Chaganty
Country: USA

The sophomore feature from writer/director Aneesh Chaganty, Run, is as much thrilling as it is flawed. Even with some scenes working far better than others, this murky domestic thriller provides fair entertainment, stepping up what was presented in  2018 with the disappointing Searching, which, regardless the inanity, managed to be noticed.

The story, co-written by Chaganty and Armenian-American Sev Ohanian, follows the insanity of a mother, Diane Sherman (Sarah Paulson), who medicates her homeschooled 17-year-old daughter, Chloe (Kiera Allen), since she was born. The latter was born with a series of health complications - including arrhythmia, hemochromatosis, and diabetes - but when college becomes a real possibility for the smart Chloe, her mother resorts to unsuitable, dangerous medication to keep her at home. When the youngster realizes what are her mother's real intents, she comes across with more disturbing findings.

Chaganty does well here in regard to tone and intensity, and some afflictive scenes can nearly take our breath away. However, some other - e.g. Chloe in the pharmacy and Diane during the final act - are too farfetched for us to swallow them without complaining. Thus, we have great acting in service of a plot, whose flaws makes the outcome a bit more vulnerable. Still curious, it made me wonder how far an anguish person goes for the love of a child that is her only reason to live.

Martin Eden (2020)

Direction: Pietro Marcello
Country: Italy

Told with an interesting, old-fashioned-style charisma and counting on the crisp acting skills from Luca Marinelli and Jessica Cressy, this hooky cinematic version of Jack London’s 1909 novel Martin Eden exudes political turmoil and dramatizes a passion-fueled yet ill-fated romance marked by social inequalities.
Marinelli, winner of the Volpi Cup at Venice Film Festival, plays the title character with zeal, outlining an individual personality that changes drastically with the time. 

Martin Eden, a penniless brave sailor with a knack for words, decides he wants to be a writer shorter after he meets Elena Orsini (Cressy), an elegant upper class young woman with whom he instantly falls in love. The relentless man becomes self-instructed, writing about the world of sadness, addiction and despair that he knows so well, but employing a raw, incisive style that doesn’t please the aristocrats. He then befriends Russ Brissenden (Carlo Cecchi), a socialist poet who owns a local newspaper, and his ideas become centered in individualism rather than the collectivism that unites slaving workers against greedy bosses. Naturally, such a rebellious behavior causes a painful rupture in his relationship with Elena. Despite the success of his literary work, Eden feels helpless to prevent that loneliness, doleful sarcasm and perpetual bitterness take possession of his next stage of life. 

Writer/director Pietro Marcello, who is also a documentarian, opts for a cheesy soundtrack, but compensates with a compelling storytelling and stalwart imagery, driving us into the strange lyrical world of a character, who, straddling between two different worlds, never vacillates in the purpose to be true to himself.

Hence, if you go for the romance, prepare yourself to be engulfed by a socio-political context that turns out as poignant and merciless as the love story itself.

The Vast of Night (2020)

Direction: Andrew Patterson
Country: USA

Mounted as a retro sci-fi mystery film by debutant director Andrew Patterson, The Vast of Night might feel naive and rudimentary in its plotted intrigue but takes your mind beyond what it’s been presented through an uncanny atmosphere and arresting storytelling. 

Wonderfully photographed by M.I. Littin-Menz (Machuca; Violeta Went to Heaven), the film, set in the 1950s in the small town of Cayuga, New Mexico, revolves around a previously unheard pulsating noise captured by the telephone switchboard operated by 16-year-old Fay (Sierra McCormick), a science buff, who was replacing her diligent mother. Soon she gets help from Everett Sloan (Jake Horowitz), a technology geek and radio host, who, during his nightly program, broadcasts an African-American caller affirming to know more about the audio signal. This coincides with a massive unidentified flying object detected in the sky. Equipped with recording material and encouraged by another caller, the lonely Mabel Blanche (Gail Cronauer), the two protagonists take the mystery in their hands. 

Alluding to the Twilight Zone, the film, which took Patterson one whole year to edit, may feel like an exercise in mood but provides a great deal of entertainment in addition to technical competence. It’s very pleasing to see that unwarranted alien invasions are still able to produce excitement today. In this particular case, the fact that we are transported to a previous decade also affects the chemistry in a positive way.

Tommaso (2020)

Direction: Abel Ferrara
Country: Italy / USA / other

In Tommaso, cult director Abel Ferrara (Bad Lieutenant; King of New York; Pasolini) puts forward a confessional semi-autobiographical work where his real wife and daughter - Cristina Chiriac and Anna Ferrara, respectively - star alongside his first-choice actor, Willem Dafoe (their fifth collaboration). The latter gives a powerful central performance as the title character, an American filmmaker living in Rome.

As a recovered alcoholic and drug addict, Tommaso doesn’t miss a rehab session, also spending time giving acting classes and practicing yoga, whose breathing techniques pacify his busy mind. However, he’s going through a tough phase with his autonomous wife Nikki (Chiriac). The communication between them is lacking and Tommaso is gradually pushed into a vortex of madness and anger.

With surrealistic injections that take the form of erotic, sinister or fatalistic episodes in accordance with the main character’s state of mind, this gritty drama also mixes the earthly and the esoteric, revealing a philosophical ambiguity that keeps us seeking for answers and unbroken lines to follow. Ferrara shots with substance and quirkiness and provides a very human experience.

Husband and wife have their secrets, but love can’t be bought. Reality or illusion, we sense a tragedy coming across with very cinematic sensibility. That’s the nature of Ferrara’s world; a world where pleasure and pain can’t stay apart from each other.

All things considered, this is all about feelings, and both Dafoe and Ferrara denote enough inspiration to prevent this idiosyncratic statement to sink into oblivion.

The Midnight Sky (2020)

Direction: George Clooney
Country: USA

George Clooney stars in and directs The Midnight Sky, a futuristic survival tale incapable of keeping up with the intriguing tone of its preface. Before going from mildly entertaining to disgracefully stagnant in its first two thirds, the film becomes unbearably soppy in the third act. Screenwriter Mark L. Smith (The Revenant) was at the wheel of this meager adaptation of the 2016 book Good Morning, Midnight by Lily Brooks-Dalton.

Clearly seeking paths of least resistance in detriment of an imaginative vitality, Clooney devises a two-front odyssey - with the story scuttling back and forth between Earth and space - whose articulation becomes problematic. In truth, its sections operate as a mechanism with a deficit of authenticity, and neither of them, on its own, are particularly fascinating.

The plot centers on a dying scientist, Dr. Augustine Lofthouse (Clooney), who remains at a remote observatory located in the Arctic. Everyone else had left the place, except for a little girl named Iris (Caoilinn Springall). He then tries to communicate with the crew of a stranded spaceship, whose mission was to find the next habitable planet for the human race in response to the harmful radiation that’s been hitting the surface of the Earth. 

This slogging post-apocalyptic fiction composed of space inanity and uninspired snow routes crawls right toward disappointment, lacking smart moves and shaping up as a collage of other already existing ideas. A monumental let down.

Saint Maud (2020)

Direction: Rose Glass
Country: USA

It's a remarkable debut feature for Rose Glass this Saint Maud, a profoundly imaginative and skillfully framed allegory solidly anchored in religious and supernatural themes and bolstered by unblemished performances by Morfydd Clark and Jennifer Ehle. Expect to be dragged into dark and sinister places.

Alone and utterly devout to Roman Catholicism, Maud (Clark) is a hospice young nurse whose new job consists of providing palliative care to a once celebrated dancer/choreographer, Amanda Kohl (Ehle). As she peeks the latter’s erratic behavior, Maud becomes utterly judgmental and controlling, progressively feeding this freaky obsession that she will become the savior of her patient’s soul. However, the relationship between them deteriorates before that happens, and the nurse is fired at a time that we want to know more about her mysterious past. Unemployed and emotionally unstable, she descends into a personal hell of sin, self-penitence and punishment.

Ms. Glass reveals to be a master at her craft, and the tension-rich premise is not wasted for a single minute. During this bizarre journey you’ll find moments of unexpected power that will keep you in a permanent unsettling state.

Saint Maude is a visceral piece of cinema that can be considered too radical by the easily scared, but, on the other hand, brings competence and freshness to the saturated horror genre. It’s an all-front winner that captivates our attention through arresting imagery, psychological distress and demented moods.

The Way Back (2020)

Direction: Gavin O’Connor
Country: USA

The eighth feature film from American director Gavin O’Connor (Tumbleweed; Warrior), The Way Back, is a clichéd and overlong mix of addiction drama and revitalizing sports, whose unbalanced parts diminish the force of the whole. 

Ben Affleck (Argo; Gone Girl) stars as the miserable Jack Cunningham, a construction worker and former basketball all-star who spends his nights drinking like a fish as a consequence of the loss of his little son to cancer and subsequent separation from his wife, Angela (Janina Gavankar). The first opportunity for redemption arises when he’s invited to coach the catholic high school basketball team of Bishop Hayes. Jack reformulates the team, promoting the introverted Brandon Durrett (Brandon Wilson) to captain. The latter lacks confidence, going through a similar problem with his father as Jack went in his youth. But miracles do happen, and the team step up efforts to reach the playoffs, having a sober Jack at the helm. Yet, a relapse puts everything in jeopardy.

While the script by Brad Ingelsby (The Dynamiter; Out of Furnace) never quite crackles as it might, O’Connor tries to infuse some heart in the execution, only succeeding from the sports point of view. In the end, regardless of an Affleck fully committed to his role, we have an ordinary film, respectable in terms of message but with a superfluous flair for melodrama. 

The Way Back brings nothing new and its authors seem satisfied with the overdramatic artifice set to obstruct imagination.

Driveways (2020)

Direction: Andrew Ahn
Country: USA

Notably generous and affecting, Driveways is a low-key drama film about transitions in life, which gets its primal source of emotion from a sweet inter-generational friendship. 

The lonely 8-year-old Cody (Lucas Jaye) accompanies his single-mother, Kathy (Hong Chau), to her older sister’s house, which is abandoned since her death. While she cleans up what seems to be a hoarder’s nest, the fragile, sensitive Cody befriends the Korea war-vet next door, Del (veteran Brian Dennehy passed away last May at 81), preferring to hang with this widower than with the kids of his age.

Filmed with delicate sensitivity and acted accordingly, Driveways borrows the placid tones of Hou Hsiao-hsien, Hirokazu Koreeda and Andrew Yang for its own good. Yet, even developing under a familiar ambiance, writer/director Andrew Ahn (Spa Night) never allows it to sink into draining melodrama. He directs with a cool, steady hand, renouncing to shaky or brusque camera movements in order to take the best introspective abilities from the young Jaye, who is the real star here.

Transitions are not just related to physical moves from one place to another, but also to learning from life in its different stages. It was quite touching to see Cody and Del open up with each other about their concerns. 

Although the languid pace won’t serve every viewer’s motivation, Ahn manages to give the story a nice simple touch and warm coloration.

Bad Education (2020)

Direction: Cory Finley
Country: USA

Cory Finley’s follow up to his well-received debut feature, Thoroughbreds (2017), is this crackling fact-based drama, Bad Education, in which he further explores directorial capabilities by giving the film an adequate pace, structural organization and gradual emotional intensification. 

The film builds its case around the painful truth of embezzlement - the biggest in the American history - occurred in Long Island’s Roslyn High School in 2004, when assistant superintendent Pam Gluckin (the always infectious Allison Janney) and the fake-to-the-bone district superintendent Frank Tassone (a charismatic Hugh Jackson proving he can be more than just Wolverine) have stolen more than 11 million dollars from the district’s public funds.

Although with small branches in the accuracy, the script by Mike Makowsky was found pretty effective, developing with a fine perspective and giving the audiences an inside look on how hedonists operate and think, just as if they were above any regulation or authority. 

Jackson gives a tour-de-force performance, portraying Tassone with incredible alertness and spontaneity. His deceptively practical character fully emerges as his luxurious double life is gradually exposed and his name implicated in first class flights, expensive hotel bookings, fancy suits, facial plastic surgeries, exotic vacations for two, and more, all with stolen money from the school.

The lack of integrity and the disrespect shown by these spenders are outraging, and Finley was able to convey that aspect with lucidity and competence.

Relic (2020)

Direction: Natalie Erika James
Country: Australia / USA

Relic, an adrenaline-charged horror film built on a proper crescendo, is the solid feature debut from Natalie Erika James, who sets up that sort of mood that, as a rule, keeps you on your toes. The story, written by the director and Christian White, centers in a mother and daughter who are deeply affected by a generational curse. 

Kay (Emily Mortimer) leaves Melbourne and heads to the remote area where her missing mother, Edna (Robyn Nevin), lives alone. Accompanied by her own daughter, Sam (Bella Heathcote), she finds an empty house when she arrives. But suddenly her mother, who has dementia, comes back from nowhere. She seems fine, except for an unexplainable black round bruise placed right in the middle of her chest. From then on, the supernatural activity in the house grows from mild to persistent. Edna behaves weirdly and talks about a strange presence in the house, the one she sometimes talks in a low voice. Is it just dementia? Kay and Sam will find out while crossing hidden rooms and labyrinthine corridors.

The film is a composite of classic startles and creepy scenes drawn from the horror mechanics compendium. Although ingeniously crafted, the somewhat tacky ending didn’t work for me. Having said that, Mrs. James is a gifted young filmmaker to keep an eye on in the future. 

Sound of Metal (2020)

Direction: Darius Marder
Country: USA

In his first feature film shot in four weeks, Darius Marder tells us a painful story about a heavy metal drummer in the pitiable situation of completely losing his hearing. Apparently, this is something he seems incapable to overcome. Marder, who teamed up with Derek Cianfrance in the writing process (both had collaborated in the latter’s The Place Beyond the Pines), offered the main role to Riz Ahmed (Four Lions; The Sisters Brothers), here solidly supported by Olivia Cooke, Paul Raci and Mathieu Amalric.

Ruben Stone (Ahmed), a former heroin addict who grew up a bit everywhere in America, found his balance when he met his girlfriend, Lou (Cooke), with whom he formed a successful heavy metal duo. They have been living in a RV for the past four years, fully committed to touring and recording. However, due to extreme noise exposure, Ruben is on the verge of becoming deaf. The concerts became agonizing experiences, and the frustration and panic sometimes lead to attacks of fury. We can sense the anxiety in the air.

Forced by Lou, Ruben attends a program for deaf recovering addicts where he is not allowed to have any contact with the exterior world. Under the supervision of Joe (Raci), an ex-alcoholic who lost his hearing in the Vietnam war and believes that deafness is not a handicap, Ruben learns from and gives a lot to the program. But he still has his own plans. What he didn't realize immediately was that the world around him has changed; thus, the same ‘rhythm’ is no longer possible.

The story oozes emotional poignancy, but loses force as it moves forward, partially thwarted by a predictable finale. Nevertheless, Marder grabs us, not so much with the vociferous metal music or any type of artistic pose, but rather with an effective sound design and narrative quality. 

Sylvie's Love (2020)

Direction: Eugene Ashe
Country: USA

Tessa Thompson (Dear White People; Thor: Ragnarok) and former NFL player Nnamdi Asomugha (Crown Heights), who also co-produced, star in Sylvie’s Love, a romantic tale that, transpiring passion and charm in its initial phase, becomes nearly strangled by melodramatic pressures just when both the emotional maturity and professional responsibilities of the characters emerge. 

Director Eugene Ashe directs with warmth from a script he wrote, in which a jazz musician, Robert (Asomugha), falls in love with his boss' daughter, Sylvie (Thompson). The inconvenience, though, is that Sylvie is engaged to a well-positioned man. After a five-year separation, they run into each other again, abandoning themselves to the fickle wind of destiny and deciding to work diligently against difficulties. Still, all the domestic conflicts are exclusively depicted as emotional by avoiding any sort of verbal confrontation. This maintains a lightness in the storytelling that, refusing to take the magic of love out of the air, doesn’t always cause a profound impression. 

With all the schmaltzy deceptions arriving by the end, Sylvie’s Love may still find its place in the hearts of those looking for undemanding romantic dramas.

Soul (2020)

Direction: Pete Docter
Country: USA

Gifted writer/director Pete Docter has been a stalwart in the animation genre, gifting us with delightful features such as Monsters Inc. (2001), Up (2009), and Inside Out (2015). His latest gem, Soul, is another superbly crafted and keenly felt computer-animated spectacle that hypnotizes and captivates in its visual, sonic and emotional forms.

This time the story centers in a jazz pianist, Joe Gardner (Jamie Foxx), who refuses a full-time job with all the benefits as a teacher to follow his dream of gigging. His opportunity arrives when he is hired to join the celebrated saxophonist Dorothea Williams (Angela Bassett) in her residence at the Half Note (a recognizable illustration of the iconic NY venue The Village Vanguard). Unfortunately, on the day he was supposed to debut with the group, he has an accident while walking on the busy streets of New York. While in a state between life and death, his soul appears at the gates of the Great Beyond, but he will try to return to his body with the help of the unsettled, cynical Soul 22 (Tina Fey).

The film is about finding your own spark among all the troubles of having to live on Earth. Soulful in every aspect, the story is also a love letter to New York, warmly depicting its beauty and bustling activity - rats dragging pizza slices, people eating heros, characteristic barber shops, peculiar subway stations… it’s easy to grow deeply fond of a film that manages to keep things at the peak without ever descending to the valley.

Whereas the original music of the metaphysical sequences was composed by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, both from Nine Inch Nails, the New York scenes had in pianist Jon Baptiste an original creator. 

Clever observations and funny lines deliciously intertwine in a eye-grabbing work of art that is both spiritually rich and terrestrially encouraging.

Shirley (2020)

Direction: Josephine Deker
Country: USA

The biographical drama Shirley often takes the form of a psychological thriller as it depicts a particular period in the life of American horror fiction writer Shirley Jackson. The talented director Josephine Deker (Madeline’s Madeline) works from a script by Sarah Gubbins, who, for her part, adapted Susan Scarf Merrell’s 2014 novel.

With riveting central performances by Elizabeth Moss, Odessa Young and Michael Stuhlbarg, the film plays like a slick tale with moral implications. Moreover, it can be considered a brilliantly insidious character study with the virtue of unpredictability. 

Sporting a cast of expertly played characters, the film exposes a frenetic sensibility that hooks you in, especially due to Moss, who steals the show as the emotionally vulnerable title character. She and her husband - the unfaithful, bohemian and opportunistic professor Stanley Hyman (Stuhlbarg) - agree to host an ambitious young couple, Fred (Logan Lerman) and Rose Nemser (Young) at their home in Bennington, Vermont. This occurs at a time when Shirley is utterly depressed as she struggles with writer’s block and a bout of agoraphobia. An unremitting pressure affects all the characters and you witness the tension spreading like a wildfire in dried land. However, what was abusive becomes sensuous and provocative. Is there truth behind the actions or just a mere playground for writing?

Gorgeously shot, with a dazzling camera work and a tone that ranges from disconcerting to subversive, the film is still very much recommended, even when, in its final third, subtle oscillations in intensity and flow are detected. In the end, there's no ambiguity to be found, just pure madness and deception.