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The 20 Best Movies You Missed in 2020

This was an easy year to lose focus with regards to new releases, but we’re here to remind you of the best of the most under-seen movies.
Best Movies You Missed
By  · Published on December 23rd, 2020

15. Lingua Franca

Lingua Franca

Clearly a woman of many talents, Isabel Sandoval wrote, directed, and stars in Lingua Franca as Olivia, a Filipina undocumented immigrant and trans woman who works as a caregiver for an elderly woman. As she becomes involved with the woman’s grandson, their fledgling relationship is complicated by growing crackdowns in immigrant neighborhoods. There’s an urgency to the way that Olivia lives in fear of black vans parked on the corner and threats to her safety that could appear out of nowhere. But there’s also a deeply timeless quality to the film, moments reminiscent of Chantal Akerman’s News From Home — a comparison that I consider to be the highest compliment a film can receive. (Anna Swanson)


14. Deerskin

Deerskin

Deerskin is like Fight Club if Tyler Durden were a jacket. That’s the pitch of the latest film from filmmaker-musician Quentin Dupieux (Rubber). Deerskin follows a troubled man named Georges (Jean Dujardin), who while on the run from his mid-life crisis, purchases a fringed, deerskin jacket at an exorbitant price, only for it to take over his fragile mind. With nothing to his name but a camcorder, a frozen bank account, and a pretty rad piece of clothing, Georges refashions himself as a filmmaker-criminal while also literally refashioning himself with as much deerskin apparel he can get his hands on. Putting the killer in killer style, the film is basically the French cousin of Lars von Trier’s The House That Jack Built, a.k.a. it rules. Deerskin is a surreal, darkly comic, and surprisingly sweet film about masculine insecurity, the power of an amazing coat, and the things we do to save ourselves when our world is crumbling in on us. (Meg Shields)


13. Vitalina Varela

Vitalina Varela

Of all the films this year that give cause to mourn the theatrical experience, Vitalina Varela tops the list. Pedro Costa‘s astounding film is mostly captured in a series of static shots, with precisely assembled tableaus and compositions that call to mind the most beautiful Renaissance paintings. The vast majority of scenes take place at night and the shadows are positively sumptuous, practically begging to be seen on a big screen in a dark room. The film is named after its star, Vitalina Varela, who plays a version of herself as she travels from her home in Cape Verde to Portugal, arriving just days after the death of her estranged husband. Though a non-professional actress, Varela is astounding in her projections of the film’s somber tone. She embodies her character as if, although she’s alive, she’s a ghost haunting a world that doesn’t belong to her. Needless to say, this meditative film is one that commands attention as it unfolds at its own pace. (Anna Swanson)


12. Zombi Child

Zombi Child

In Bertrand Bonello‘s Zombi Child, teenage schoolgirl Melissa uses her Haitian family’s connection to voodoo traditions to make friends at her predominately white French school. This drama bleeds into horror when Melissa’s voodoo culture inspires her classmates to use powers they don’t understand. Many zombie stores of today are disconnected from the original zombie legends. Bonello examines the zombie legacy in Haiti and the effects of French colonialism that still haunt the world. As layered as it is terrifying, Zombi Child is a must-see this year. (Emily Kubincanek)


11. Fourteen

Fourteen

Dan Sallitt‘s gorgeously subdued portrait of friendship follows two women, Mara (Tallie Medel) and Jo (Norma Kuhling), and their tumultuous bond. They’ve been friends since they were fourteen, but as Mara matures into an adult and the plot skips ahead elliptically, Jo stagnates and struggles. They care for each other, but as their lives veer in different directions, their relationship is put to the test. This film has a rare quality in its deft character study and unadorned honesty about friendships. It’s unusual to characterize a platonic pair to be star-crossed, and yet that’s exactly what comes to mind with Mara and Jo. Against the odds (and Mara’s better judgment), the two always come back to each other. (Anna Swanson)

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Anna Swanson is a Senior Contributor who hails from Toronto. She can usually be found at the nearest rep screening of a Brian De Palma film.