The Skinny's Films of 2020: Our Writers' Top 10s

Find Out The Skinny's Top Ten Films of 2020

Eilidh Akilade
1. Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Céline Sciamma)
2. Rocks (Sarah Gavron)
3. Shirley (Josephine Decker)
4. Parasite (Bong Joon-ho)
5. I’m Thinking of Ending Things (Charlie Kaufman)
6. Ashley (Jamie Crewe)
7. Queen and Slim (Melina Matsoukas)
8. Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am (Timothy Greenfield-Sanders)
9. The Assistant (Kitty Green)
10. Little Joe (Jessica Hausner)

Honourable mentions: Misbehaviour (Philippa Lowthorpe), Palm Springs (Max Barbakow)

Tom Atkinson
1. Vitalina Varela (Pedro Costa)
2. Her Socialist Smile (John Gianvito)
3. małni – towards the ocean, towards the shore (Sky Hopinka)
4. Meridian (Calum Walter)
5. She Dies Tomorrow (Amy Seimetz)
6. Da 5 Bloods (Spike Lee)
7. Time (Garrett Bradley)
8. Dick Johnson is Dead (Kirsten Johnson)
9. Apiyemiyeki? (Ana Vaz)
10. Miss Juneteenth (Channing Godfrey Peoples)

Honourable mentions: The Grand Bizarre (Jodie Mack), Birds of Prey (Cathy Yan), Tenet (Christopher Nolan), The Inheritance (Ephraim Asili), Circumstantial Pleasures (Lewis Klahr)

Stinker of the year: I’m Thinking of Ending Things (Charlie Kaufman) (although there were a lot of contenders for this one!)

Alex Barrett
1. Last and First Men (Jóhann Jóhannsson)
2. The Assistant (Kitty Green)
3. 180° Rule (Farnoosh Samadi)
4. Shadow Country (Bohdan Sláma)
5. The Truth (Hirokazu Koreeda)
6. Little Joe (Jessica Hausner)
7. Mangrove (Steve McQueen)
8. Where'd You Go, Bernadette (Richard Linklater)
9. Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blache (Pamela B. Green)
10. And Then We Danced (Levan Akin)

GK Bartholomew
1. Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Céline Sciamma)
2. Parasite (Bong Joon-ho)
3. The Lighthouse (Robert Eggers)
4. Uncut Gems (Josh Safdie, Benny Safdie)
5. The Truth (Hirokazu Kore-eda)
6. Ema (Pablo Larraín)
7. Vitalina Varela (Pedro Costa)
8. Birds of Prey (Cathy Yan)
9. Little Joe (Jessica Hausner)
10. Bacurau (Kleber Mendonça Filho)

Anahit Behrooz
1. Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Céline Sciamma)
2. Matthias and Maxime (Xavier Dolan)
3. Parasite (Bong Joon-ho)
4. And Then We Danced (Levan Akin)
5. Never Rarely Sometimes Always (Eliza Hittman)
6. Babyteeth (Shannon Murphy)
7. Rocks (Sarah Gavron)
8. Shirley (Josephine Decker)
9. Da 5 Bloods (Spike Lee)
10. 1917 (Sam Mendes)

Honourable mentions: The Broken Hearts Gallery (Natalie Krinsky), Mogul Mowgli (Bassam Tariq), Monsoon (Hong Khaou), I’m Thinking of Ending Things (Charlie Kaufman), Time (Garrett Bradley)

John Bleasdale
1. Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (Jason Woliner)
2. Possessor (Brandon Cronenberg)
3. The Personal History of David Copperfield (Armando Iannucci)
4. Host (Rob Savage)
5. Uncut Gems (Josh Safdie, Benny Safdie)
6. She Dies Tomorrow (Amy Seimetz)
7. The Invisible Man (Leigh Wannell)
8. I am Greta (Nathan Grossman)
9. Cuties (Maïmouna Doucouré)
10. Tenet (Christopher Nolan)

Honourable mentions: His House (Remi Weekes), Relic (Natalie Erika James), My Octopus Teacher (James Reed, Pippa Ehrlich), I’m Thinking of Ending Things (Charlie Kaufman), The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Aaron Sorkin)

Stinker of the year: The Hunt (Craig Zobel)

Eleanor Capaldi
1. Kajillionaire (Miranda July)
2. Shirley (Josephine Decker)
3. Rocks (Sarah Gavron)
4. Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Celine Sciamma)
5. Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn (Cathy Yan)
6. Body of Water (Lucy Brydon)
7. Summerland (Jessica Swale)
8. Proxima (Alice Winocour)
9. The Assistant (Kitty Green)
10. Make Up (Claire Oakley)

Philip Concannon
1. Vitalina Varela (Pedro Costa) 
2. Uncut Gems (Josh and Benny Safdie) 
3. World of Tomorrow Episode Three: The Absent Destinations of David Prime (Don Hertzfeldt) 
4. Richard Jewell (Clint Eastwood) 
5. A Hidden Life (Terrence Malick) 
6. Amanda (Mikhaël Hers) 
7. Da 5 Bloods (Spike Lee) 
8. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (Marielle Heller) 
9. Parasite (Bong Joon-ho) 
10. Mangrove (Steve McQueen)

Honourable Mentions: Blizzard of Souls (Dzintars Dreibergs), Marshawn Lynch: A History (David Shields), Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Céline Sciamma), Time (Garrett Bradley), The Wild Goose Lake (Diao Yinan),

Re-releases of the year: Crash (David Cronenberg, 1996), Cyrano de Bergerac (Jean-Paul Rappeneau, 1990), The Elephant Man (David Lynch, 1980)

Stinker of the Year: Like a Boss (Miguel Arteta)

Jamie Dunn
1. Parasite (Bong Joon-ho)
2. Babyteeth (Shannon Murphy)
3. Dick Johnson is Dead (Kirsten Johnson)
4. Never Rarely Sometimes Always (Eliza Hittman)
5. David Byrne’s American Utopia (Spike Lee)
6. Moffie (Oliver Hermanus)
7. Lovers Rock (Steve McQueen)
8. End of the Century (Lucio Castro)
9. Saint Maud (Rose Glass)
10. Uncut Gems (Josh Safdie, Benny Safdie)

Honourable mentions: Da 5 Bloods (Spike Lee), The Invisible Man (Leigh Whannell), About Endlessness (Roy Andersson), Wolfwalkers (Tomm Moore, Ross Stewart), The Assistant (Kitty Green)

Re-releases of the year: The Invincibles Director's Cut (Dominik Graf, 1994), Akira (Katsuhiro Otomo, 1988), La Haine (Mathieu Kassovitz, 1995)

Stinker of the year: Summerland (Jessica Swale)

Patrick Gamble
1. The Grand Bizarre (Jodie Mack)
2. I’m Thinking of Ending Things (Charlie Kauffman)
3. Parasite (Bong Joon Ho)
4. Vitalina Varela (Pedro Costa)
5. Uncut Gems (Josh Safdie, Benny Safdie)
6. APIYEMIYEKÃŽ? (Ana Vaz)
7. The Invisible Man (Leigh Whannell)
8. Wolfwalkers (Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart)
9. Present.Perfect. ( Zhu Shenge)
10. His House (Remi Weekes)

Notable mentions: Relic (Natalie Erika James), Fire Will Come (Oliver Laxe), Never Rarely Sometimes Always (Eliza Hittman), Plus One (Andrew Rhymer, Jeff Chan), Ms Slavic 7 (Sofia Bohdanowicz, Deragh Campbell)

Joe Goggins
1. Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Céline Sciamma)
2. Never Rarely Sometimes Always (Eliza Hittmann)
3. Shirley (Josephine Decker)
4. David Byrne’s American Utopia (Spike Lee)
5. Parasite (Bong Joon-Ho)
6. Rocks (Sarah Gavron)
7. Miss Juneteenth (Channing Godfrey Peoples)
8. On the Rocks (Sofia Coppola)
9. Vitalina Varela (Pedro Costa)
10. Kajillionaire (Miranda July)

Honourable mentions: I’m Thinking of Ending Things (Charlie Kaufman), Les Misérables (Ladj Ly), Lynn + Lucy (Fyzal Boulifa), Mogul Mowgli (Bassam Tariq), The Whalebone Box (Andrew Kötting)

Re-releases of the year: Akira (Katsuhiro Otomo, 1988), La Haine (Mathieu Kassovitz, 1995), Memories of Murder (Bong Joon-Ho, 2003)

Home release of the year: Beau Travail (Claire Denis), Criterion

Stinker of the year: 1917 (Sam Mendes)

Katie Goh
1. Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Céline Sciamma)
2. Parasite (Bong Joon-ho)
3. American Utopia (Spike Lee)
4. Mangrove (Steve McQueen)
5. Kajillionaire (Miranda July)
6. Rocks (Sarah Gavron)
7. Uncut Gems (Josh and Benny Safdie)
8. Shirley (Josephine Decker)
9. Les Miserables (Ladj Ly)
10. The Woman Who Ran (Hong Sang-soo)

Honourable mentions: Present.Perfect. (Zhu Shengze), Time (Garrett Bradley), And Then We Danced (Levan Akin), Proxima (Alice Winocour), Babyteeth (Shannon Murphy)

Tom Grieve
1. David Byrne's American Utopia (Spike Lee)
2. The Woman Who Ran (Hong Sangsoo)
3. Lovers Rock (Steve McQueen)
4. Possessor (Brandon Cronenberg)
5. Uncut Gems (Josh Safdie, Benny Safdie)
6. A Hidden Life (Terrence Malick)
7. Dark Waters (Todd Haynes)
8. On The Rocks (Sofia Coppola)
9. The Invisible Man (Leigh Whannell)
10. Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Céline Sciamma)

Honourable mentions: Richard Jewell (Clint Eastwood), The Assistant (Kitty Green), Da 5 Bloods (Spike Lee), Parasite (Bong Joon-ho), Wasp Network (Olivier Assayas)

Re-releases of the year: Crash (David Cronenberg, 1996), Goodbye, Dragon Inn (Tsai Ming Liang, 2003)

Stinker of the year: Rebecca (Ben Wheatley)

Ian Mantgani
1. Richard Jewell (Clint Eastwood)
2. Uncut Gems (Josh and Benny Safdie)
3. Da 5 Bloods (Spike Lee)
4. Lovers Rock (Steve McQueen)
5. A Hidden Life (Terrence Malick)
6. Spree (Eugene Kotlyarenko)
7. Strasbourg 1518 (Jonathan Glazer)
8. La Chichigua [The Kite] (Laura Sanz)
9. Mr Jones (Agnieszka Holland)
10. Time (Garrett Bradley)

Honourable mentions: The Spider and the Bee (David Lynch), MS Slavic 7 (Sofia Bohdanowicz)

Ross McIndoe
1. Uncut Gems (Josh & Benny Safdie)
2. Parasite (Bong Joon-ho)
3. Waves (Trey Edward Shults)
4. Shirley (Josephine Decker)
5. The Invisible Man (Leigh Whannell)
6. Bill & Ted Face The Music (Dean Parisot)
7. The Trial of the Chicago Seven (Aaron Sorkin)
8. Dark Waters (Todd Haynes)
9. Da 5 Bloods (Spike Lee)
10. I’m Thinking of Ending Things (Charlie Kaufman)

Honourable mentions: #Alive (Cho Il-hyung), Calm With Horses (Nick Rowland), Tenet (Christopher Nolan), Miss & Mrs Cops (Jung Da-won), Saint Maud (Rose Glass)

Re-releases of the year: Akira (Katsuhiro Otomo, 1988)

Stinker of the year: 1917 (Sam Mendes)

Ben Nicholson
1. Purple Sea (Amel Alzakout, Khaled Abdulwahed)
2. The Observer (Chloé Galibert-Laîné)
3. The End of Suffering (A Proposal) (Jacqueline Lentzou)
4. Expedition Content (Veronika Kusumaryati, Ernst Karel)
5. Lulu Faustine (Stephen Broomer)
6. World of Tomorrow Episode Three: The Absent Destinations of David Prime (Don Hertzfeldt)
7. Circumstantial Pleasures (Lewis Klahr)
8. Z = |Z/Z•Z-1 mod 2|-1: Lavender Town Syndrome (Andrew Norman Wilson)
9. The Viewing Booth (Ra’anan Alexandrowicz)
10. maɬni – towards the ocean, towards the shore (Sky Hopinka)

Honourable mentions: The Demonstration (Sasha Litvintseva, Beny Wagner), En Plein Air (Daniel & Clara), The Invisible Man (Leigh Whannell), A Proposal to project in Scope (Viktoria Schmid), Recovery (Kevin Jerome Everson)

Re-releases of the year (up to three): Akira (Katsuhiro Ohtomo, 1988), The Holy Mountain (Alejandro Jodorowsky, 1973), Memories of Murder (Bong Joon-ho, 2003)

Carmen Paddock
1. True History of the Kelly Gang (Justin Kurzel)
2. Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Celine Sciamma)
3. And Then We Danced (Levan Akin)
4. Parasite (Bong Joon-Ho)
5. Shirley (Josephine Decker)
6. 1917 (Sam Mendes)
7. Ema (Pablo Larrain)
8. Birds of Prey (Cathy Yan)
9. Mangrove (Steve McQueen)
10. Bill & Ted Face the Music (Dean Parisot)

Honourable mentions: Host (Rob Savage), The Half of It (Alice Wu), Crip Camp (James Lebrecht, Nicole Newnham), Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (David Dobkin), Body of Water (Lucy Brydon)

Stinker of the year: The Salt of Tears (Philippe Garrel)

Serena Scateni
1. Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Céline Sciamma)
2. Parasite (Bong Joon-ho)
3. The Tree House (Minh Quy Truong)
4. Wolfwalkers (Tomm Moore, Ross Stewart)
5. To the Ends of the Earth (Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
6. Shirley (Josephine Decker)
7. And Then We Danced (Levan Akin)
8. Krabi, 2562 (Anocha Suwichakornpong, Ben Rivers)
9. Make Up (Claire Oakley)
10. Ema (Pablo Larrain)

Honourable mentions: Days (Tsai Ming-Liang), The Woman Who Ran (Hong Sang-soo), Labyrinth of Cinema (Nobuhiko Obayashi)

Re-releases of the year: La Dolce Vita (Federico Fellini, 1960), Made in Hong Kong (Fruit Chan, 1997), Kwaidan (Masaki Kobayashi, 1962)

Josh Slater-Williams
1. Parasite (Bong Joon-ho)
2. Uncut Gems (Josh Safdie, Benny Safdie)
3. Dick Johnson Is Dead (Kirsten Johnson)
4. David Byrne’s American Utopia (Spike Lee)
5. Bill & Ted Face the Music (Dean Parisot)
6. Wolfwalkers (Tomm Moore, Ross Stewart)
7. Possessor (Brandon Cronenberg)
8. Bad Education (Cory Finley)
9. Da 5 Bloods (Spike Lee)
10. She Dies Tomorrow (Amy Seimetz)

Honourable mentions: Dogs Don’t Wear Pants (J.-P. Valkeapää), County Lines (Henry Blake), Rocks (Sarah Gavron), The Vast of Night (Andrew Patterson), Saint Maud (Rose Glass)

Re-releases of the year: Crash (David Cronenberg, 1996)

Stinker of the year: The Babysitter: Killer Queen (McG)

Adam Stafford
1. Vitalina Varela (Pedro Costa)
2. Uncut Gems (Safdie Brothers)
3. Parasite (Bong Joon-ho)
4. Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Céline Sciamma)
5. Take Me Somewhere Nice ( Ena Sendijarević)
6. Waves (Trey Edwards Schultz)
7. His House (Remi Weekes)
8. Bacurau (Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles)
9. The Lighthouse (Robert Eggers)
10. I'm Thinking of Ending Things (Charlie Kaufman)

Honourable mentions: About Endlessness (Roy Anddersen), Resin (Daniel Joseph Borgman), Driveways (Andrew Ahn), Relic (Natalie Erika James), The Vast of Night (Andrew Patterson)

Re-releases of the year: Akira (1988, Katsuhiro Ôtomo), Ghost Dog: Way of The Samurai (1999, Jim Jarmusch), Criterion Collection; Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970 Jaromil Jires), Second Run Blu-Ray

Lou Thomas
1. Mank (David Fincher)
2. Lovers Rock (Steve McQueen)
3. Possessor (Brandon Cronenberg)
4. David Byrne’s American Utopia (Spike Lee)
5. Mogul Mowgli (Bassam Tariq)
6. The Invisible Man (Leigh Whannell)
7. I’m Thinking of Ending Things (Charlie Kaufman)
8. Sleep (Michael Venus)
9. The Vast of Night (Andrew Patterson)
10. Never Really Sometimes Always (Eliza Hittman)