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Lucas Hedges Interview

Lucas Hedges is just 24 years of age but he’s already had the chance to work under directors including Wes Anderson, Jason Reitman, Terry Gilliam, Kenneth Lonergan, Greta Gerwig, Martin McDonagh and Steven Soderbergh.  I recently spoke to him about his career to date and his latest performance in Azazel Jacobs’ French Exit…

Matt:  Over the weekend, people were reminiscing on social media about the most bizarre moment in Oscars history when Moonlight won best picture and La La Land was read out incorrectly.  You were there that night as a nominee for Manchester by the Sea sitting just a few rows back from the front.  What’s your memory of how it all played out that crazy night?

Lucas:  It’s so funny I was there and it was such a bizarre moment.  I remember that everything was going to plan with La La Land winning and then I heard somebody gasp and I saw people running back and forth across the stage.  It looked like something bad had happened but I didn’t know what.  Then I heard one of the producers say “we lost by the way”.

The night itself up until that point felt artificial.  There’s a lot of formality like not trying to step on each other and not getting make-up on each other’s shoulders.  The Oscars look much cooler on person than they are in person if I’m being honest.  However, that moment just blew a ton of fresh air into the room.  Suddenly, every single person was part of a real experience and it was like we were all going through a traumatic incident together.

Matt:  They often say that someone is only one great role away from making it in Hollywood and that felt like the case with your superb performance in Manchester by the Sea.  Did it open doors as easily as you thought it might?

Lucas:  It did but I didn’t appreciate how much of a “golden ticket” it would be.  After Manchester by the Sea premiered at Sundance, I thought I’d be going back to drama school and keep studying but the world definitely had different plans for me.  I started working a ton and I haven’t really stopped until the past year.

Matt:  There are actors like yourself and Timothee Chalamet and Zendaya and Florence Pugh who breakout and go from relative obscurity to people who are Googled a thousand times a second by a knowledge-hungry public.  We see it with professional athletes too.  Is it easy to still be your natural self or is there pressure to put up some kind of “brand” of what people expect Lucas Hedges to be?

Lucas:  I keep getting asked to play these very dramatic roles which is something I’d like to change but I think I’ve done a good job doing projects that haven’t pigeon-holed me too much.  It’s a little weird the extent to which people around the world have a relationship with me before I have a relationship with them but that’s also part of the gift of being an actor.  It’s nice being known.

People like Timothee and Zendaya feel like superstar-level pop stars at this point whereas my life is more quiet and reserved.  That said, I haven’t been in public without a mask on for a whole year.  I’ve almost forgotten what it’s like to be recognized which was happening regularly before COVID-19.

Matt:  Leading roles are what many dream of but you’ve had the chance to play supporting to the likes of Casey Affleck, Saoirse Ronan, Frances McDormand, Meryl Streep and now Michelle Pfeiffer.  What do you see as the secret to creating a great supporting performance?

Lucas:  Wanting to be there.  I’ve got to love the story I’m in and want to be a part of the movie.  I don’t think it’s possible to be good in a movie you don’t want to be in.

Matt:  I remember the late Peter O’Toole speaking at the Oscars about how he would draw energy from working with young actors.  Without making you sound too egotistical, do you ever get that feeling yourself – that these experienced, iconic actors love working with you as much as you love working with them?

Lucas:  I’ve gotten a sense from some of them that I’m fun to work with.  Others are more self-sufficient and self-contained and I haven’t felt like I was a huge disruption or inspiration to their acting process.  But yeah, I’ve also been good to the extent that I’m in awe of them and that makes it more fun from their perspective to be around me.

Matt:  Here in French Exit you’re playing Malcolm Price – a young man sticking by his self-destructive mother who is burning through money and doesn’t seem to have any plan.  It’s a very unusual relationship between parent and child and I’ve love to know how you’d describe the connection these two characters share?

Lucas:  I think they have a very codependent relationship.  Malcolm was sent to boarding school and wasn’t raised by his parents until he was 13.  I don’t think he thought of himself as a “real” person and he had no one to validate his existence.  His mum then comes into his life and is like a shooting star across the sky.

Despite how bizarre and self-destructive Frances is, she becomes the basis of his life.  The two are inseparable to the point when she runs out of money and moves to Paris, he chooses to go with her instead of his fiancé because she feels more real to him than his life independent of her.  I think it’s a story of codependence and awe and falling in love with a way of being that reflects a child’s dependence on his mother.

Matt:  Your role is one that doesn’t require a lot of dialogue.  It’s as much about reacting to Michelle Pfeiffer and her character’s eccentric way of doing things.  How do you approach that as an actor?  How do you how you to react and carry yourself in those scenes?

Lucas:  I did and I didn’t know.  I loved the writing so that’s what showed me the way but there were still question marks about the character that I didn’t fully understand.  I was willing to accept that because I loved the story so much.  To answer your question, what guided me most was the moment-to-moment storytelling laid out so beautifully by writer Patrick deWitt and then the thoughts of our deeply sensitive director Azazel Jacobs.

Matt:  And I’ve got to ask – you’re working with one of the best here in Michelle Pfeiffer who picked up a Golden Globe nomination for her performance.  Do you have a favourite memory or a favourite learning from the experience?

Lucas:  The thing that stands out most about Michelle is how much work she puts in and how these days were built on her back.  She carried us every single day without complaining once.  It was as if she was as quiet as an extra and it was amazing how little space she took up.  She knew what she had to do and she just did it.

Matt:  We know COVID-19 has had a huge impact on the film industry and movie theatres.  How has it been from your perspective as an actor?

Lucas:  I live a pretty isolated, hermit-like lifestyle anyway and so it hasn’t changed my life that much.  I’ve missed going to movie theatres.  I can’t speak to how it’s changed my life as an actor because I haven’t found a project I wanted to do and I haven’t worked during COVID-19.  I do hope to be on a set soon and to find a project that feels right. 

Matt:  The Golden Globes are today, the Oscars are coming up next month.  What have you liked over the past 12 months that you’ve love to see honored?

Lucas:  I loved The Dig with Ralph Fiennes and Carey Mulligan.  It’s incredible.  I really liked Malcolm & Marie and I thought Zendaya and John David Washington were great.  Those two stand out to me.

Gregory Kershaw Interview

The Truffle Hunters is a fascinating documentary that recently made the shortlist (top 15 films) for best documentary feature at the upcoming Academy Awards.  I had the chance to speak to one of the film’s two directors, Gregory Kershaw, about the project…

Matt:  A documentary about elderly men and their dogs searching for rare truffles in Northern Italy. Where did the idea for his first come from?

Gregory:  We stumbled on this world by chance.  My filmmaking partner Michael Dweck and I were both obsessed with finding worlds that exist outside the sphere of globalisation and technology.  Those worlds that had maintained their identity and maintained their connection with local history and culture.

We didn’t realise it at the time but one summer, we were both separately travelling through the Piedmont region in northern Italy.  We were struck by the place and it felt like we were moving through a fairy tale land.  It’s spectacular.  Every hill top has a little town, there are beautiful vineyards, and there’s a sense that it’s removed from the modern world in that it moves at a different rhythm.  It hasn’t been taken over by globalised culture. 

As part of our time there, we’d heard about these truffle hunters.  They were a secret society of old men who scoured forests in the middle of the night for the while Alba truffle – one of the rarest and most expensive food ingredients in the world.  Unlike all other types of truffles, this one can’t be cultivated.  It’s beyond the grasp of science and human knowledge.  There’s something delicious about that idea.

We then decided to go back and explore.  Two weeks later, we finished another project we were working on and we started an exploration process that led us into the 3 year process of making this film.    

Matt:  It’s one thing to have an idea but it’s another to make it work. A lot of the people we see are very secretive about their work and so how easy was it to convince them to appear on film?

Gregory:  Everything in this world is a secret.  Even the town keeps the identity of the truffle hunters a secret.  Before starting filming, we had to go into these communities and build relationships with people.  We’d go to a trattoria where they were serving truffles and we’d ask the owner if we could be introduced to the hunter who provided them.  He’d say “I’ve never met him.  I just leave some money in a box and a truffle appears the next day.”  He’d then go “talk to my cousin who a priest” and then the priest would introduce us to someone else and so on.

Slowly, over a very long time, we were finally introduced to the truffle hunters.  They hunt at night because they don’t want anyone to see where they’re going.  Even the market place where they sell the truffles is a secret.  There are black markets on street corners at 3am in the morning that no one knows about. 

It took a lot of time to build up those relationships.  Luckily, we were filming in a part of Italy where the food is fantastic and the wine is plentiful so we had a lot of long meals with them.  We followed the hunters all day and observing the rhythm of their lives and letting them know we loved their world and we wanted to express it on film.

Matt:  The conversations between some of these characters feel so open and candid. Was it easy to achieve that given they would have known cameras were on them?

Gregory:  Something was different about filming in this region and a lot of it had to do with the lack of technology in the lives of these people.  There are so many places in the world were people know what a film is and when you put a camera in front of them, they’re not quite themselves.  They start performing and putting on their idea of what it means to be a documentary or reality television show.  

The people we were filming don’t watch TV and they don’t have an iPhone in their pocket.  They’re not constantly consuming media.  It was a remarkable thing.  Once we started rolling the camera, they would seem to forget about us almost immediately and would just go about their daily lives.

We shot the film in a very unique way in that it was just one shot per day.  That’s unheard of in a documentary.  They love to talk in this region and they use a local dialect.  We’d just set the camera up and let it roll.  Sometimes they’d talk for up to 3 hours where they’d talk about everything going on in their lives.  We’d just take a tiny snippet to use in the film that helped tell the story and highlight the magic qualities of this world we’d discovered.

Matt:  It’s not often I say this about a documentary but the cinematography is quite striking. Set cameras in precise locations as we watch these characters converse. Can you speak a little about that and how the shots were framed?

Gregory:  We wanted to bring a deliberate perspective to the filmmaking.  It’s a documentary but we wanted to capture more than just the facts.  We wanted to go deeper and find a “subjective truth” and translate the feeling of this place to the audience.

It’s like when you have your phone and you’re just snapping pictures.  You can take a photo of some place and use it to remember the fact you were there.  For example, it’ll show there was a building there and it’s capturing the “objective truth”.  For us, we wanted to create images that felt like the place and took you into them and made you feel the same thing we did.

It took us a lot of time to construct those images but at the same time, we’re filming a documentary so we needed to be free enough to capture reality as it was happening in front of us.  That’s part of the reason why the film took 3 years to make.  We were so deeply intertwined in the lives of these people that we’d wait until the moment was right before putting a camera in front of them.

Matt:  You’ve made the short list for best documentary feature at the Academy Awards and some are tipping the film will receive a nomination. What are your thoughts on that?

Gregory:  We hope so and our fingers are crossed.  The reception of this film has been astonishing.  We premiered it over a year ago at Sundance and we finished it the day for its premiere.  Michael and I had seen it with our sound mixer and that was it.  We hadn’t shown it to anyone else and so we had no idea what to expect at Sundance.  Luckily, we had an incredible reaction from people who connected with it.

The film is a celebration of the human spirit and we wanted to make it because we fell in love with the place and these people.  They have a joy, a happiness, an exuberance for life we wanted to share with the audience.  This past year has been challenging for so many people in so many different ways and we wanted to give people something to celebrate and show there’s still beauty and hope left in this world. 

Since 2011, I have been pulling together a list of the best movies of the year according to the Brisbane-based critics who I run into regularly at preview screenings.  Those films to have topped prior year lists have been Drive in 2011, Argo in 2012, Gravity in 2013, Boyhood in 2014, Mad Max: Fury Road in 2015La La Land in 2016, Get Out in 2017, The Favourite in 2018, and Parasite in 2019.

To come up with an overall top 10, I’ve used a simple points system and applied it to the list of each critic. It is as follows:
 - 3 points for the top film on each list.
 - 2 points for the films ranked between 2nd and 5th on each list.
 - 1 point for the films ranked between 6th and 10th on each list.

If two films finished on the same score, the film that appeared on the greater number of top 10 lists is ranked higher (as an indication of wider approval).

There’s no denying 2020 was a peculiar year in the world of cinema.  With theatres closed and the U.S. box-office down 80% due to the impact of COVID-19, streaming services became a necessary refuge for movie lovers.  For that reason, this year’s top 10 list includes movies released in Australian cinemas and also those made available on streaming platforms.  The expanded options created more divergence amongst critics with no film featuring on more than 50% of the lists submitted.

Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland was released in the final week of 2020 and earned enough votes to be Brisbane critics’ top film of the year.  It was closely followed by the direct-to-streaming Sound of Metal and the Oscar-winning World War I drama 1917.  

The overall top 10 includes two horror-thrillers (The Invisible Man and Possessor), a Pixar animated feature (Soul), a Polish drama (Corpus Christi), a quirky crime-comedy (Kajillionaire), an American indie with non-professional actors (Never Rarely Sometimes Always), and an Aaron Sorkin legal drama with a huge cast (The Trial of the Chicago 7).

It’s a superb list of films and hopefully you get the chance to see as many as possible.

 

On that note, here are the top 10 movies of 2020 according to Brisbane critics…

Brisbane Film Critics - Top 10 of 2020
1.  Nomadland
2.  Sound of Metal
3.  1917
4.  Soul
5.  The Trial of the Chicago 7
6.  Never Rarely Sometimes Always
7.  Kajillionaire
8.  The Invisible Man
9.  Corpus Christi
10.  Possessor

You can view a table of all the votes and final scores by clicking here.

A big thanks to all the critics who were able to contribute. Hopefully we'll do it again next year!

You can check out information on all the Brisbane critics (along with their choices for the best and worst of 2020) below.
 


 

Matthew ToomeyMatthew Toomey

Born in Brisbane, Matt Toomey was introduced to the world of cinema when he landed a job at a video store fresh out of high school in 1995. A few years later, he started his own website and reviewed movies regularly on a community radio station. In 2005, he joined the team at 612ABC and can be heard reviewing the latest releases every Thursday morning. He can also be heard weekly on regional ABC throughout Queensland.

Website: thefilmpie.com
Twitter: @ToomeyMatt

 
Top 10 Released Films:
1. Never Rarely Sometimes Always
2. Corpus Christi
3. The Invisible Man
4. Little Women
5. Les Misérables
6. Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
7. The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?
8. Soul
9. The Trial of the Chicago 7
10. A Hidden Life
 
Best Australian Film:
Babyteeth
Best Animated Film:
Soul
Best Documentary:
The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?
Best Performance:
Elizabeth Moss (The Invisible Man)
Worst Film:
After We Collided
Most Surprised To Enjoy:
Happiest Season
Never Rarely Sometimes Always

 

Sarah WardSarah Ward

Sarah Ward is a freelance film critic, arts and culture writer, and film festival organiser. She is the Australia-based critic for Screen International, the film and weekend editor for Concrete Playground, a writer for the Goethe-Institut Australien’s Kino in Oz, and a contributor to Flicks Australia, SBS, SBS Movies, ScreenHub and the Alliance of Women Film Journalists. Her work has been published by the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, AACTA, Birth.Movies.Death, Junkee, FilmInk, Lumina, Senses of Cinema, Broadsheet, Televised Revolution, ArtsHub, Metro Magazine, Screen Education and the World Film Locations book series. She is also the editor of Trespass Magazine; a film and TV critic for ABC radio Brisbane, Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast; and has worked with the Brisbane International Film Festival, Queensland Film Festival, Sydney Underground Film Festival and Melbourne International Film Festival.

Websites: concreteplayground.com
screendaily.com/sarah-ward/1100859.contributor
goethe.de/ins/au/en/kul/sup/kio.html
flicks.com.au/author/sarah-ward/
sbs.com.au/guide/person/sarah-ward
sbs.com.au/movies/person/sarah-ward
awfj.org/blog/author/wardsarah/
trespassmag.com
Twitter: @swardplay

 
Top 10 Released Films:
1. Nomadland
2. Never Rarely Sometimes Always
3. Small Axe
4. American Utopia
5. Kajillionaire
6. Possessor
7. Babyteeth
8. Sound of Metal
9. The Lighthouse
10. Corpus Christi
 
Best Australian Film:
Babyteeth
Best Animated Film:
Wolfwalkers
Best Documentary:
American Utopia
Best Performance:
Chadwick Boseman (Ma Rainey's Black Bottom)
Worst Film:
After We Collided
Most Surprised To Enjoy:
Go!
Nomadland

 

Garry WilliamsGarry Williams

Garry Williams is a reviewer for Film Club, a radio program broadcast on 4ZZZ-FM (102.1FM) each Thursday from 6-7pm.

Website: 4zzz.org.au/program/film-club
Twitter: @thegeegenie

 
Top 10 Released Films:
1. The Current War
2. Mank
3. The Trial of the Chicago 7
4. The Translators
5. Where'd You Go, Bernadette
6. Bombshell
7. Just Mercy
8. 1917
9. City of Lies
10. Tenet
 
Best Australian Film:
The Furnace
Best Animated Film:
The Croods 2: A New Age
Best Documentary:
Brazen Hussies
Best Performance:
Sacha Baron Cohen (The Trial of the Chicago 7)
Worst Film:
Unhinged
Most Surprised To Enjoy:
Becky
The Current War

 

Peter GrayPeter Gray

Peter Gray is a Brisbane based, Rotten Tomatoes certified freelance entertainment writer specialising in film. Currently the entertainment reporter/film reviewer for QNews, Queensland’s largest LGBT publication, head film critic for The AU Review, and regular contributor to Brisbanista, CRPWrites and This Is Film.

Website: rottentomatoes.com/critic/peter-gray/movies
qnews.com.au/author/peter-gray/
brisbanista.com.au/author/pgray/
theaureview.com/author/peter-gray/
crpwrites.com/petergray
thisisfilm.com/author/peter-gray/
Twitter: @ratedPDG

 
Top 10 Released Films:
1. Nomadland
2. Possessor
3. The Peanut Butter Falcon
4. Sound of Metal
5. Waves
6. Soul
7. Monsoon
8. Never Rarely Sometimes Always
9. The Trial of the Chicago 7
10. 1917
 
Best Australian Film:
The Invisible Man
Best Animated Film:
Soul
Best Documentary:
The Bee Gees; How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?
Best Performance:
Sidney Flanagan (Never Rarely Sometimes Always)
Worst Film:
The War with Grandpa
Most Surprised To Enjoy:
Irresistible
Nomadland

 

Ella DonaldElla Donald

Ella is a journalist, casual academic, and writer. She teaches at the University of Queensland, and writes for publications like GQ magazine (Australia, Middle East), Vanity Fair, The Guardian, The Saturday Paper, ABC, and The Sydney Morning Herald.

Website: elladonaldwriter.wordpress.com
Twitter: @ellafdonald

 
Top 10 Released Films:
1. Kajillionaire
2. American Utopia
3. Never Rarely Sometimes Always
4. Nomadland
5. Mangrove
6. Proxima
7. Moonlit Winter
8. And Then We Danced
9. The Assistant
10. Dark Waters
 
Best Australian Film:
In My Blood It Runs
Best Animated Film:
Wolfwalkers
Best Documentary:
Time
Best Performance:
Vanessa Kirby (Pieces of a Woman)
Worst Film:
Where'd You Go, Bernadette
Most Surprised To Enjoy:
Shirley
Kajillionaire

 

David EdwardsDavid Edwards

David Edwards is the editor of The Blurb Magazine and writes about film and television.

Website: www.theblurb.com.au
Twitter: @TheBlurbMag

 
Top 10 Released Films:
1. Corpus Christi
2. Shirley
3. The Lighthouse
4. Kajillionaire
5. Seberg
6. La Belle Epoque
7. Soul
8. The Translators
9. 1917
10. Da 5 Bloods
 
Best Australian Film:
Rams
Best Animated Film:
Soul
Best Documentary:
The Mystery of D.B. Cooper
Best Performance:
Elizabeth Moss (Shirley)
Worst Film:
Trolls World Tour
Most Surprised To Enjoy:
Bill & Ted Face the Music
Corpus Christi

 

Rob HudsonRob Hudson

Rob Hudson is the editor of popular culture website modmove.com and reviews film, theatre and music.

Website: modmove.com
Twitter: @modmove

 
Top 10 Released Films:
1. Dick Johnson is Dead
2. First Cow
3. Nomadland
4. Da 5 Bloods
5. The Trial of the Chicago 7
6. American Utopia
7. Sound of Metal
8. Possessor
9. Queen & Slim
10. Babyteeth
 
Best Australian Film:
In My Blood It Runs
Best Animated Film:
Soul
Best Documentary:
Dick Johnson is Dead
Best Performance:
Frances McDormand (Nomadland)
Worst Film:
Antebellum
Most Surprised To Enjoy:
Sonic the Hedgehog
Dick Johnson is Dead

 

Baz McAlisterBaz McAlister

Walkley Award winning journalist Baz McAlister is a writer and deputy night editor at The Courier-Mail and The Sunday Mail, and co-hosts 'Force Material', a podcast about the secrets, history and influences of Star Wars.

Website: bazmcalister.wordpress.com
www.forcematerial.com
Twitter: @bazmcalister

 
Top 10 Released Films:
1. Hamilton
2. 1917
3. Da 5 Bloods
4. Love and Monsters
5. The Outpost
6. The Rental
7. Palm Springs
8. The Invisible Man
9. Greenland
10. Get Duked!
 
Best Australian Film:
Relic
Best Animated Film:
Wolfwalkers
Best Documentary:
Crock of Gold: A Few Rounds with Shane MacGowan
Best Performance:
Delroy Lindo (Da 5 Bloods)
Worst Film:
Ava
Most Surprised To Enjoy:
Freaky
Hamilton

 

Adam RabocziAdam Roboczi

Adam Raboczi is a reviewer for 4ZZZ’s Film Club (Thursdays @ 6pm) and manages the show’s Facebook page.  He occasionally makes music videos and even has proper movie credits on IMDb now!

Website: 4zzzfm.org.au/program/film-club
facebook.com/4zzzFilmClub/
Twitter: n/a

 
Top 10 Released Films:
1. Dogs Don't Wear Pants
2. Swallow
3. Waves
4. Portrait of a Lady on Fire
5. 1917
6. In Fabric
7. Sound of Metal
8. Possessor
9. Nomadland
10. Miss Juneteenth
 
Best Australian Film:
True History of the Kelly Gang
Best Animated Film:
Soul
Best Documentary:
Class Action Park
Best Performance:
Riz Ahmed (Sound of Metal)
Worst Film:
Tenet (most disappointing)
Most Surprised To Enjoy:
Butt Boy
Dogs Don't Wear Pants

 

Nick L'BarrowNick L'Barrow

Nick specialises in 60 second movie reviews on his Instagram profile - covering all the major releases and indie films that hit Australia. Nick is also a featured reviewer for Novastream Network and Film Notions.

Website: instagram.com/nicksflicksfix
novastreamnetwork.com
Twitter: n/a

 
Top 10 Released Films:
1. Sound of Metal
2. Nomadland
3. The Trial of the Chicago 7
4. Soul
5. The King of Staten Island
6. The Invisible Man
7. Bad Boys for Life
8. Onward
9. Palm Springs
10. The Lodge
 
Best Australian Film:
A Sunburnt Christmas
Best Animated Film:
Soul
Best Documentary:
The Speed Cubers
Best Performance:
Riz Ahmed (Sound of Metal)
Worst Film:
My Spy
Most Surprised To Enjoy:
A Sunburnt Christmas
Sound of Metal

 

Shayne GrieveShayne Grieve

Shayne currently teaches Film and TV at Grace Lutheran College and tries to justify all his cinema visits as professional development.

Website: thisisfilm.com
Twitter: @ShayneTIF

 
Top 10 Released Films:
1. Uncut Gems
2. Little Women
3. 1917
4. The Invisible Man
5. The Lighthouse
6. Tenet
7. I'm Thinking of Ending Things
8. Soul
9. A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood
10. Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Uncut Gems

 

Jacob RichardsonJacob Richardson

Jacob is a film reviewer and filmmaker, who runs Film Focus – a Brisbane-based film-centric publication. His reviews can be found online on the Film Focus website, and in various NSW newspapers.

Website: filmfocusau.com
Twitter: n/a

 
Top 10 Released Films:
1. Queen & Slim
2. Tenet
3. The Last Black Man in San Francisco
4. Soul
5. Sound of Metal
6. Palm Springs
7. Babyteeth
8. Let Him Go
9. Mank
10. The Devil All the Time
 
Best Australian Film:
Babyteeth
Best Animated Film:
Soul
Best Documentary:
American Street Kid
Best Performance:
Riz Ahmed (Sound of Metal)
Worst Film:
Artemis Fowl
Most Surprised To Enjoy:
Bad Boys for Life
Queen & Slim

2020 has been a year we’ll never forget… but that’s more related to COVID-19 as opposed to what we’ve seen on the big screen.  I’ve been reviewing movies for over 25 years and never could I have imagined a scenario where Brisbane cinemas would be closed for over three months and major blockbusters would be debuting on HBO Max and Disney Plus in the United States.

Still, it is what it is and thankfully, we’ve been able to limit the impact of COVID-19 here in Australia.  I’ve had the chance to review 151 cinema releases during 2020 (down slightly from my yearly average of approximately 200) and as always, there’s no difficulty in identifying great movies for people to watch.

You can check out all my past top 10 lists here and they go back as far as 1996.

Those worthy of honourable mentions which I couldn’t quite squeeze into my top 10 list this year were Waves, 1917, Nomadland, American Utopia, The Lodge, The Booksellers, La Belle Epoque, Mank, Pinocchio, Babyteeth, Slim & I, Honeyland and Monos.

Those are all worth seeing but if you’re looking for the “cream of the crop”, here are my top 10 movies for 2020…

10. A Hidden Life (out Jan 30) tells the true story of an Austrian farmer who was persecuted for refusing to pledge his allegiance to Adolf Hitler during World War II. As he’s done in the past, director Terrence Malick wants to show us how beautiful and simple the world is… but then contrast that with the complexity of humanity and the issues that we create for ourselves.

9. The Trial of the Chicago 7 (out Oct 1) battles to condense everything inside of two hours but it's still a riveting courtroom drama (with a splash of comedy) that's filled with top-notch performances. Based on actual events, it's the true story of an eclectic group who were charged with inciting riots during the 1968 Democratic National Convention. A must see.

8. Soul (out Dec 25 on Disney+) is an animated feature about a middle-aged music teacher who falls down a pothole, travels to the afterlife and then must find a way home. This is deep, creative and beautiful. The kind of movie you could love as a 10-year-old and then love as a 40-year-old for completely different reasons.

7. The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart (out Dec 3) is a fascinating documentary from start to finish. We begin with their upbringing here in Brisbane, we culminate with their final works, and in between we explore the brilliant music that saw them inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. There of lots of interesting subplots (e.g. the death of disco) and there really is something for everyone.

6. Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (on Netflix from Dec 18) is a brilliant drama that takes place inside a Chicago recording studio on a hot summer afternoon in 1927. Based on the play of August Wilson (Fences), the film explores many topics (race, religion, money, music) but above all else, it’s a riveting tale of power. It’s easy to forget you’re looking at the likes of Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman (in his final role) given the way they embody their respective characters.

5. Les Misérables (out Aug 27) is not a remake of Victor Hugo's famed work. Rather, it's a contemporary story set in 2018 that delves into current day issues including crime, corruption and multiculturalism in Paris. French President Emmanuel Macron saw the film himself in late 2019 and was rocked by its power and authenticity. That endorsement says more than any review ever could.

4. Little Women (out Jan 1) is an exquisite drama about art, wealth, family, sisterhood and unrequited love. The performances are flawless and I love the openness and affection shown by these characters towards each other. Saoirse Ronan brings a beautiful spirit to the role of Jo, Florence Pugh is outstanding as the envious Amy and Timothée Chalamet (complete with pitch-perfect hair) is adorable as the love struck Laurie.

3. The Invisible Man (out Feb 27) is an effective, memorable thriller. It's the story of a woman who is terrorised by her invisible husband (who she believed was dead). There's tension from start to finish, Elisabeth Moss is outstandingly credible in the lead role, and the crew make great use of sound and visuals.

2. Corpus Christi (out Oct 22) is an outstanding, thought-provoking drama about a young man, fresh from a stint in a juvenile detention centre, who fraudulently becomes the new priest in a small Polish town. There's plenty to sit back and ponder here. It's easy to see why it was nominated at the Oscars for Best International Feature Film.

1. Never Rarely Sometimes Always (out Oct 29) is the story of a 17-year-old girl who, accompanied by her cousin, travels from Pennsylvania to New York to have an abortion. This is a powerful, complex, emotional drama that takes us inside the world of a scared, anxious individual. One of the year's best. Sensational performances.