My Favourites From 2020 World Cinema

My Favourites of 2020

2020 was a ghastly fu*king year.

It’s been over 10-months since I last updated my blog, an unfortunate consequence of having to start full-time WFH and pick between this and other obligations (includes few new hobbies!!). It’s been quite the year, with the entire industry halted due to covid – 19, I left with popular streaming services, Film Festival Streams, and PPV options as theatres struggled to reopen. But without the cinema this year, how many of us would have the respite we so perilously needed during these covid times?

So, let me first thank every artisan who has given their best into their film-making art, who gave us wonder and escape during these unique times.

This year has been challenging for many reasons. It feels even strange to write up this list when I genuinely believed I hadn’t seen the best movies this year (even after watching 417 films & TV series), and there are some notable omissions too.

Grab the popcorn, guys. You are in for a long ride of films I liked…

Hollywood:

• American Utopia |Spike Lee | 2020 | Musical Documentary | USA
• Bad Education | Cory Finley | 2019 | Biography | USA
• Boys State | Amanda McBaine, Jesse Moss | 2020 | Documentary | USA
• Dark Waters | Todd Haynes | 2019 | Drama | USA
• First Cow | Kelly Reichardt | 2020| Drama | USA
• Hamilton | Thomas Kail | 2020 | Musical | USA
• I’m Thinking Of Ending Things | Charlie Kaufman | 2020 | Drama | USA
• Kajillionaire | Miranda July | 2020 | Crime | USA
• Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom | George C Wolfe | 2020 | Music | USA
• Minari | Lee Isaac Chung | 2020 |Drama | USA
• Never Rarely Sometimes Always | Eliza Hittman | 2020 | Drama | USA
• Nomadland | Chole Zhao | 2020 | Drama | USA
• On The Record |Kirby Dick, Amy Ziering | 2020 | Documentary | USA
• Onward | Dan Scanlon | 2020 | Animation | USA
• Palm Springs | Max Barbakow | 2020 | Comedy | USA
• Rewind| Sasha Josepg Neulinger | 2019 | Documentary | USA
• Saint Frances | Alex Thompson | 2019 | Drama | USA
• Shithouse |Copper Raiff | 2020 | Drama | USA
• Shirley | Josephine Deckar | 2020 | Drama |USA
• Soul | Pete Doctor, Kemp Powers | 2020 | Adventure | USA
• Sound Of Metal |Darius Marder | 2020 | Music | USA
• Straight Up | James Sweeney | 2019| Comedy | USA
• Time | Garrett Brandley | 2020 | Documentary | USA
• Tenet | Christopher Nolan | 2020 | Sci-Fi | USA
• The 40 Year Old Version | Radha Blank | 2020 | Drama | USA
• The Climb | Micheal Angelo Covino | 2020 | Drama | USA
• The Devil All The Time | Anntonio Campos | 2020 | Drama | USA
• The Half of It | Alice Wu | 2020 | Drama | USA
• The Invisible Man | Leigh Whannell | 2020 | Thriller |
• The Trial of the Chicago 7 | Aaron Sorkin | 2020 | Drama | USA
• The Vast of Night |Andrew Patterson | 2020| Sci-Fi | USA
• The Wolf Of Snow Hollow |Jim Cummings| 2020 | Horror | USA

World Cinema:

• AK vs AK | Vikramaditya Motwane | 2020 | Crime | India
• And Then We Danced | Levan Akin | 2019 | Drama | Swedan
• Another Round | Thomas Vinnterberg | 2020 | Drama | Denmark
• Australian Dream | Daniel Gordan | 2019| Documentary | Australia
• Au Revoir Les Ennfants | Louis Malle | 1987 | War | France
• Avane Srimannarayana | Sachin | 2020 | Adventure | India
• A Whisker Away | Junichi Sato, Tomotaka Shibayama| Adventure | Japan
• Ayyappanum Koshiyum | Sachy | 2020 | Drama | India
• Babyteeth | Shannon Murphy | 2019 | Drama | Australia
• Babenco – Tell Me When I Die | Barbara Paz | 2019 | Documentary | Brazil
• Bom Yeoareum Gaeul Gyeoul Geurigo Bom | Ki Duk Kim | 2003 | Drama | Korea
• C U Soon | Mahesh Narayan | 2020 | Mystery | India
• Cancion Sin Nombre | Melina Leon | 2019 | Drama | Quecha
• Dating Amber | David Freyne | 2020 | Comedy | Ireland
• Dia | K S Ashoka | 2020 | Drama | India
• Der Himmel Uber Berlin | Wim Wenders | 1987 | Fantasy | Germany
• Dveselu Putenis | Dzintars Dreibergs | 2019 | War | Latvia
• Ek Doctor Ki Maut | Tapan Sinha | 1990 | Biography | India
• Domangchin Yeoja | Sang Soo Hong | 2020 | Drama | South Korea
• Eeb Allay Ooo | Prateek Vats | 2020 | Comedy | India
• Escher Dori No Akai Posuto | Sion Sono| Comedy | 2020 |Japan
• Fa Yeung Nin Wah| Kar Wai Wong | 2000 | Drama |Hong Kong
• Kappela | Muhammed Musthafa | 2020 | Comedy | India
• Kis Uykusu | Nuri Bilge Ceylan | 2014| Drama |Turkey
• La Flor | Mariano Llinas | 2016 | Fantasy, Drama |Argentina
• Lunana: A Yak Inn The Classroom | Pawo Choyning Dorji | 2019 | Bhutan
• Nanfang Chezhan De Juhui | Yinan DIao | 2019 | Crime | China
• Nasir | Arun Karthick | 2020 | Drama | India
• Oh My Kadavule | Ashwanth Marimuthu | 2020 | Drama | India
• Om det Oandlinga |Roy Andersson | 2020 | Fantasy | Swedan
• Om Dar-B-Dar | Kamal Swaroop | 1988 | Drama | India
• El Hoyo | Gallder Gaztelu-Urrutia | 2019 | Thriller | Spain
• Paava Kadhaigal | Sudha, GVM, Vignesh, Vetrimaaran | 2020| Drama | India
• Possessor | Brandon Cronenberg | 2020 | Sci-Fi | Canada
• Quo Vadis Aida? | 2020 | Jasmila Zbanic |Drama | Bosnia
• Ram Ke Naam | Anand Patwardhan | 1992 | Documentary | India
• Relic | Natalie Erika James | 2020 | Drama, Horror | Australia
• Rocks | Sarah Gavron | 2020 | Drama | UK
• Sala Samobojcow Hejter | Jan Komasa | 2020 | Thriller | Poland
• Serious Men | Sudhir Mishra | Comedy | 2020 | India
• Sethum Aayiram | Anand Ravichandran | Drama | 2020 | India
• Seules Les Betes | Dominik Moll |2019| Crime | France
• Shaonian De Ni |Derek Tsang | 2020 | Drama | China
• Sir | Rohena Gera | 2018 | Drama | India
• Sorry We Missed You | Ken Loach | 2020 | Biography | UK
• Systemsprenger | Nora Fingscheidt | 2019 | Drama | Germany
• There Is No Evil | Mohammad Rasoulof | 2020 | Drama | Iran
• The Nest | Sean Durkin | 2020 | Drama | UK
• The Painter and the Thief | Benjamin Ree | 2020 | Documentary | Norway
• The Painted Bird | Vaclav Marhoul | 2020 | Drama | Czech Republic
• Vamsa Vruksham | Bapu | 1980 | Drama | India
• Vitalinna Varella | Pedro Costa | 2019 | Drama | Portugal
• Vivek | Anand Patwardhan | 2018 | Documentary | India
• Wandefuru Raifu | Hirokazu Koreeda | 1998 | Fantasy | Japan
• Wolfwalkers | Tomm Moore, Ross Stewart | 2020 | Adventure |Ireland
• Yanhhuang Puzhao | Mong Hong Chung | 2020 | Drama | Taiwan

Television Series:

• Dark | Barann Bo Odar | Mystery | Germany
• Devs | Alex Garland | Sci Fi | UK
• Descendants Of The Sun | Eung Bok Lee | Drama | South Korea
• I May Destroy You | Michaela Coel | Drama | UK
• Its okay to not be okay | Park Shin Woo | Drama | South Korea
• Normal People | Lenny, Hettie Macdonald| Romance | Ireland
• Paatal Lok | Sudip Sharma | Crime | India
• Panchayat | Deepak Kumar Mishra | Comedy | India
• Queens Gambit | Scott Frank, Allan Scott | Drama | USA
• Scam 1992 | Hansal Mehta, Jay Mehta | Biography | India
• The Last Dance | Jason Hehir |Documentary | USA
• The Mandalorian | Jon Favreau | Sci FI | USA
• ZeroZeroZero | Leonardo Fasoli, Mauricio Katz, Stefano Sollima | Crime | Italy

And that’s a wrap!!

I hope you’re all staying healthy and happy out there and maintaining your prudence in these unprecedented times. Last year washed-out in many ways, and here’s hoping that life can proceed more normally in 2021 with some great films. Ciao.

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