Eden Talks about the movie that made her happiest and finding solace in cinema

 I watched more than 200 movies this year -- some were ones I’d seen before, sure, but most were new to me. During this weird year, I found joy and solace and escape in movies.

To follow the rule the movie that made me happiest this year was I Used to Go Here (2020, directed by Kris Rey) was a weird, complicated and sweet look at trying to recapture one’s youth. Jillian Jacobs shines and there the supporting cast is game and fun. Is this movie a masterpiece? No, but I have watched it at least three times this year. It became an instant favorite for me.

Runners up:

Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019, directed by Céline Sciamma) basically ruined all other movies for me. This was so beautiful I felt angry about it (that’s a good thing).

First Cow (2020, directed by Kelly Reichardt) was about two sweet, kind men who the world didn’t deserve. Plus, that cow is a great cow.

Shirley (2020, directed by Josephine Decker) was so amazing that I never actually finished my review of it, but this movie is basically a Venn Diagram of things I like.

Jasper Mall (2019, directed by  Bradford Thomason and Brett Whitcomb) was made by my two favorite doc filmmakers. It’s not trying to make a grand statement of about Dying Malls And What It Means or Middle America and Its Authenticity. It’s just such a quiet, sweet documentary with a lot of sweet, quiet people. I have loved every single one of their documentaries and I want more people to see this.

I also started deep dive into the work of Agnès Varda and I’m still working my way through her movies. Cleo from 5 to 7 is a masterpiece, certainly, but the weird turns of Les Créatures, the dark undercurrent of domestic bliss in Le Bonheur and the kind, daily humanity of Daugerrotypes all show a filmmaker who had a specific vision but was always willing to challenge herself. (Yes, I bought the Criterion box set).

I discovered director Dorothy Arnzer, who was the only woman director working in the Hollywood studio system from 1927 to 1943 (when she retired). She was also an out lesbian (as much as one could be). Dance, Girl, Dance starring an early-career Lucille Ball is a delightful masterpiece and I paused to buy it on Bluray before I was even done watching it.

I’m on Letterboxd if people would like to follow along with my journeys into movies.

What Film Made You Happiest in 2020? PLUS The Unseen Film Award goes to....

Thank you John DiBello

With Covid causing sea changes in the world  I realized that there was no way to even remotely attempt the Unseen Films Awards for 2020 (On the other hand there is an award so jump all the way to the bottom to see who it went to and why). Frankly no one was watching the same things and because the release schedule got changed and changed and…. Some films suddenly were moved to 2021 or pulled from the release schedule. 

While we weren’t watching the same films, we were all watching a ton of films.  I have been getting notes from people all over the place concerning the great  films they were discovering. Some even found there way on to Unseen.

In having a discussion about what , if anything, to do about a year end community wrap up someone mentioned films that made them happy.  And with that a bell went off. Instead of a discussion of the best films, I would let everyone talk about what films made them happiest. Going to my email and twitter lists I sent out requests for people’s happiest film. I sent out the question to a wide variety of people who made me curious as what the film that delighted them would be.

There was no restriction- any film or film related thing you saw in 2020 was eligible. I wanted to know what and why.

While some people declined. A lot of people responded and the responses were wonderful.  Some responses were straight forward. Some were not. BC Wallin’s response was a such a masterful essay  I had to publish it as the first piece in the last week of summing up. Ernie Stevens (from JOE AND ERNIE CRISIS COPS) wrote a moving piece about what CRIP CAMP meant to him and Nate Hood bled joy from his soul about CATS. Eden talked about the films as a means of solace. Other pieces came in as just a title, while others turned the question into something else.

I have been charmed by every piece I received.

What follows are the responses more or less in the order they were received. I have been told that I will still be getting more responses, and if so I will add them below. And if you are reading this and want to add your own choice for the happiest film you saw this year please feel free to add it in the comments.

 Lesley Coffin - Biographer, critic
Cats...it is one of the worst movies Ever made but it was the last movie I saw in theaters before the shutdown and one of the best movie going experiences I ever had. The collective experience was pretty amazing, including the delightful commentary by what was probably a 6 year old saying what we were all thinking And have had many discussions about the train wreck since Covid started (especially showing it to my mother we could finally be back together). It was definitely a movie for 2020.

Alec Kubas Meyer- Director, YouTuber, Unseen Films writer
I'll give you the exact opposite, because there really wasn't a "Happy" movie that stuck with me through the whole year, though I did see Birds of Prey in IMAX twice in a week because I really, really loved it and had a ton of fun... so maybe that? (Freaky is the only other movie that I really had a ton of fun with in 2020.) In any case, Burning was the movie that stuck with me throughout the whole year. It's something I've thought about at least once every few days since I first saw it in February. I always feel sad immediately afterwards, but it has really resonated in 2020 as a film about the way the powerful truly prey on the weak in a way that even Parasite wouldn't touch. I love it, and it makes me miserable.

Jason Kartalian- Director, writer, producer
The film that I enjoyed the most this year was Borat 2 or its long title Borat Subsequent Moviefilm. It was in your face funny, timely and surprisingly touching. Sasha Baron Cohen was wild, fearless and insane but the true soul of the film was formed by a remarkable performance by Maria Bakalova. The film is quite an achievement.

Patrick Meaney - Director, Producer, Distributor
I tried to take advantage of this being (hopefully) the only year where all we could do was stay at home and watch movies by catching up on a lot of vintage films and directors that I hadn’t seen before, and the film that resonated most was Brian De Palma’s Sisters. I hadn’t seen many De Palma films before, and this one just blew me away with its narrative that swerved between an ominous romance, a dark murder investigation and a psychedelic horror freakout. It was a great example of taking advantage of a lower budget to go all out stylistically, with masterful split screen shots, and disturbing dream sequences. And, in the dark times of the lockdown, it inspired me with some new ideas for a project to tackle once things are open again. 

Ariela Rubin - Unseen Films writer
I would say My Octopus Teacher. It was just really sweet and mind blowing too. How a human and octopus can make a connect. It’s something I never would have suspected. I also watched all the Back to the Future movies (I think I had seen the first one years ago but didn’t remember it) and they all just made me smile. They were just fun movies to watch! And I saw Airplane for the first time which I also really enjoyed, a lot more than I expected to :)

Dor Dotson - Film Social Media Marketing Consultant
DRIVEWAYS, for its sheer quality and sense of authentic connection.
CITY SO REAL, for its sincere, warm portrayal of resilience both of a group and of so many compelling individuals
TED LASSO for its kindness and wholesomeness if you’ll allow a TV show because it is just THAT GOOD

Wendy Feinberg- Programmer of the Port Jefferson Documentary Series
One new one that I just watched made me happy - THE CALL OF THE WILD. And one I watched again in 2020, ACROSS THE UNIVERSE, also made me happy. I am sure there are others. I have many that made me sad.

Danielle Solzman- Writer, Director
I don't know if I'd use the word happiest but Jurassic World is the film I've turned to the most while in quarantine (4 viewings)

Nora Lee Mandel- Writer
My interpretation of "happiest" these days is not comic - but humanistic. By that criteria, my favorite most humanistically heart-warming film is the fiction/documentary hybrid THE MOLE AGENT (Chile) directed by Maite Alberdi, not particular lines, but how the charming titular detective character/80-year old Sergio Chamy seems to bring out the best in all the elderly people in the pre-pandemic senior citizen residence.

Melanie Addington- Programmer Oxford Film Festival
Minari such a refreshing American tale of the South, of generational conflict, of family bonds, and lead Alan S. Kim is a delight.

Elizabeth Whittemore- writer, editor, actress, singer
If John Waters wrote an "I Love Lucy" episode it might resemble something like FAIRYTALE. Little did we know how long this pandemic would last and how hard hit the entire entertainment industry would be affected. FAIRYTALE gave me everything I was missing and so much more. The overall idea of being accepted for who we are, wrapped in oversaturated, tongue-in-cheek nostalgia is beautiful madness. Based on the stage play, also starring our leading lady Filippo Timi, Fairytale is a complete surprise and pure delight. Oh, oh, OH! The costumes! They are their own character as far as I'm concerned. With a set that rivals Pee-Wee Herman's playhouse from every angle, performances that will tickle your funny bone, and a script that gets more entertaining as it rolls along, I cannot stop telling everyone I know, especially theater fans, about this film. (Liz's original review is here)

Thessa Mooij- Publicist
Steve McQueen, Small Axes, LOVERS’ ROCK With festivals and theaters shut for most of the year, I saw much less films than usual. ’TV” series (I vote for tearing down borders between film, TV and online), making music and historical non-fiction took over my brain space. This makes me even more grateful for LOVERS’ ROCK lighting up my life. No year’s worth of lesser films to slog through first. But after months of lockdown a piece of pure cinema that celebrates the power of music and community. You don’t even need the music, just voices joined together, riding the waves of a melody and beat.

Seongyong Cho- Writer and Ebert.com Far Flung Correspndent
Early in this month, I was considering writing a piece on HBO TV movie "RKO281" (1999), so I came to revisit "Citizen Kane" (1941) with the audio commentary by late Roger Ebert, and I was surprised as the movie and Ebert's commentary energized and delighted me a lot. To be frank with you, I have often doubted whether I really feel joy and excitement as watching and reviewing countless films every year despite not getting paid at all, but this very happy experience with "Citizen Kane" reminded me again that I still like movies a lot, and now I am ready to embrace whatever I and other audiences are going to watch during the next year.

Steve Kopian- Chief cook and bottle washer at Unseen Films
It is a weird thing in that I was asking everyone what film made them happiest this year and I really couldn’t come up with something. Actually the problem was I over thought things and tried to figure out what made me happiest. The truth of the matter is that the happiest Movie was actually two events over the course of a week. The first was the Port Jefferson Documentary Series screening of Rock And Roll President in the park. It was for me a return to a kind of cinematic normalcy. It was a good film with a good friend and a chance to meet another in person. This was followed by the trip my brother to the Riverside Drive In outside Pittsburgh where I watched the Blood Island films one night and King Kong Vs Godzilla the next. Bliss Bliss and Heaven, not to mention my first vacation in decades.

Shaun Clark-Animator
The film I have chosen is 'The Man Who Planted Trees' directed by Frédéric Back based on Jean Giono's short story. The film was made in 1987 using coloured pencils on frosted cell to bring the drawings to life. I first saw this film in the early 90’s when I became interested in animation and shared the film this year with somebody as it reminded me of her father who plants acorns in the mountains every year. Watching the film again during the summer of the pandemic helped shine some light into the darkness. It is a story about recovery from tragic events, determination and commitment to make the world a better place. 

Justin McConnell- Director, Producer, 
LOVE & MONSTERS: Full disclaimer first - do I think this is the best film I saw this year? No, there were plenty of films that to my mind were objectively better. However, it was the one that brought me the most joy while watching it. The kind of movie that brought me back to the feeling of watching something big and fun in the cinema. It's a simplistic and charming crowd-pleaser with lots of fun monster designs, a generally positive tone, a small but fun role from Michael Rooker, and a great dog performance. And to know it was written by a screenwriter responsible for two other genre highlights this year (Underwater, Spontaneous), added to the joy, as it's always nice to find a new reliable creative working in the mid to high-budget space. All three of those films don't really feel like they are written by committee, they have the kind of personality to them that comes from trusting in a creative team, and I appreciate seeing that's still possible at larger budgets.

Joe Kopian- Unseen Films zombie expert
Not technically a movie the second season of the Korean series Kingdom was perfect fun.

Lisa Sanford- Disney Expert and occasional Pink Bunny
THE OLD GUARD: Focusing on an army of (mostly) immortal warriors, it felt strangely relevant in COVID times - the repetition and boredom of lockdown life, the helplessness, the feeling of existing rather than living. Whether it was escapism or a history lesson, I got something different out of it each time I watched, and it added a dash of magic and hope to a year that really needed it.

Chocko- Unseen Films writer and one of the mad minds behind Planet Chocko
Beastie Boys Story, the documentary by Spike Jonze was a favorite movie of mine from 2020. The doc is a recording of the surviving members of the Beastie Boys at the sold out King’s Theater in Brooklyn. Mike Diamond aka Mike D and Adam Horovitz aka Ad-Rock recall their early punk rock days and meeting Adam Yauch aka MCA which led to the formation of one of the most influential hip hop groups to come out of the 80’s...The Beastie Boys. Founding member Adam Yauch sadly passed away from cancer in 2012 but he lives on in the music, stories shared by his fellow MC’s and the many videos featured in the movie. I’ve been a fan of the Beastie Boys ever since catching their video “She’s On It” on music channel U68 and running to the mall to buy their first album “Licensed To Ill” the day it came out. The documentary was a well done, fantastic and emotional trip down memory lane and ultimately a story about friendship with a killer soundtrack that will make your head snap back and forth.

Kenji Fujishima- writer/editor
Frederick Wiseman's 1989 documentary Central Park is a great film by any measure, but seeing it at home while stuck in COVID-19 quarantine gave it an extra aching resonance. It's exactly the kind of teeming life, humanity, and freedom Wiseman so heartwarmingly captured in the film's wide-ranging three hours that this global pandemic severely curtailed. Amid the terror and frustrations of 2020, Central Park felt like an oasis: a vision of post-COVID normalcy that we'll hopefully approach in the new year

S. Schneider- Unseen Films Writer
Space Jam - An oldie I've seen countless times, but a true favorite. This movie carries a timeless sense of nostalgia for me that puts me in a good mood any time I see or put it on. An action & humor packed story of perservernce that was especially important in 2020 dealing with all the uncertainty & fear over all the unknown dealing with the virus.

Mr C- Unseen Films Writer and Mad Mind Behind Planet Chocko
I honestly didn't watch many movies in 2020. For most people, watching films in any format lends a little or a lot of distraction away from the everyday struggles and god knows we had plenty this year. For myself, I couldn't even stay focused to watch a movie in one sitting. Depression? Attention deficit disorder? But when I finally did crack an old DVD laying around, GIRLFIGHT which was Michelle Rodriguez's debut film, it encouraged me to see things through and persevere just like Rodriguez's character did in the movie. Although Girlfight's main plot was a young lady who is coming of age despite being misunderstood by teachers, issues with her father, & peers, she finds refuge in the ring with boxing which introduces other struggles. I wouldn't say this film made me happy but it did make me clench my fist and injected some emotion in me to say hey, let's move on - let's fight - let's live! Strangely enough, I made it a double screening and conveniently put in Robin Williams' - ONE HOUR PHOTO and yeah that injected some old feelings too! Maybe my life is not that bad which made me happy!

Sam Juliano- Writer, actor
1) First Cow
2) Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
3) Sound of Metal

AND THE UNSEEN FILM AWARD FOR 2020 GOES TO...

On March 12th, the day before NYC locked down, Frank and Trace try to convince Nate Hood he'll be safe from Covid if they send him and Tom Servo into outer space to watch bad movies

And lastly I need to give  Frank Conniff and Trace Beaulieu aka The Mads the Unseen Film Award for 2020.  I know there wasn't going to be any award  but as I was putting this list of things that made people happy together they kept getting mentioned repeatedly - seriously.

Granted  they were the last theatrical cinema that John DiBello, Bully, Nate Hood and I attended before the quarantine hit (the night before New York City closed down we saw their live performance of THE BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS), but the truth is when I was putting this piece together they were mentioned repeatedly by Randi Mason and  others, even the one's not participating, as literally the first thing that made them happy.  Generally it was "the thing that made me happiest that I saw was the Mads live streams." to which they would add "but I can't include them because they aren't a movie" I argued argued they were, but no one wanted to put them forward. 

Randi gushed about the shows from top to bottom adding that she  loved that they went the extra mile and had special guests. "I loved when they brought out Victoria Price" and "As a result of their having Svengoolie on we are now fans"  

Because Trace and Frank were constantly cited as the thing that made people the happiest in this crappy year of Covid the Unseen Film Award goes to  Frank Conniff and Trace Beaulieu aka The Mads. As Willie Wonka said "So shines a good deed in a weary world." You guys you are both wonderful and you have blessed the world by bringing light into the darkness. The joy and laughter you have given to everyone was truly a highpoint in one of the worst times. 

And I, and the entire Unseen Films family, would love to give you all a group hug but social distancing rules prevent it.

The next night of their live show, which is an evening of short films, will be January 12th. For tickets and more information go here  

Because the award was unexpected and because social distancing prevents us from meeting up to give you the award so here is a picture of Frank and Trace when they met Bully The Little Stuffed Bull at the Alamo. Please feel free to photoshop a major award over Bully. 

What film made Nate Hood happiest in 2020?

 

CATS

Before you ask, no, this isn’t an ironic pick. I’m not trying to blow smoke at any establishment by picking the year’s most notorious box office bomb, and neither am I trying to rehabilitate this cinematic monstrosity as some kind of misunderstood masterpiece. Tom Hooper’s Cats is one of the most jaw-slackeningly miscalculated, aesthetically horrifying films to ever claw its way out of Hollywood’s gaping maw. It’s the rare film where not a single thing worked—each successive creative decision almost willfully sought to outdo the last in terms of insane lunacy.

And yet not one single film in 2020 made me happier or more thankful to be alive.

Cats was one of the last films I saw in a theater in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered them all, and the memory of that evening has kept me warm all year like the proverbial single match did for the Little Match Girl caught in the snowstorm. The audience I saw it with was perfectly calibrated: about two-thirds were teenagers and college kids who knew what they were in for and the other third were unsuspecting seniors who didn’t. From the first shot—literally, the first shot of the moon dissolving into a rictus Cheshire Cat grin—they were off to the races, howling in incredulous disbelief as each CGI body-suited cat chimera slunk, crawled, skittered, and twirled onscreen. 

We laughed ourselves silly that night, tears running down our cheeks and snot dripping down our noses. Raucous screams tore their way through the theater as our feeble minds tried to process the image of Idris Elba’s butt-ass naked Macavity flaunting his genital-less loins at the screen, of Rebel Wilson’s Jennyanydots commanding a regiment of smiling cockroach homunculi in a Busby Berkeley number, of Steven McRae’s Skimbleshanks ****ing EXPLODING mid-pirouette in a cloud of smoke, of Dame Judy Dench starring into our souls as she looked directly into the camera so she could remind us that “a cat is NOT a dog!” 

If one of the functions of religious ritual is to give communities the means for public expression of trauma and other socially unacceptable emotions, then my experience watching Cats that night was nothing short of sacred. Nobody left that theater the same person they were when they went in—we had all laughed and hollered, screamed and shouted parts of ourselves into oblivion. We had been blessed. We had been damned. We had been initiated. And in the months of quarantine to come, it proved a useful one, keeping the promise of the cinematic experience alive in my heart as so many theaters went dark. I don’t know when I’ll be able to go back to the movies. But when the time comes, I’ll be ready. I’ll tell ‘em the Magical Mr. Mistoffelees sent me.

Ernie Stevens on Crip Camp (2020)

 Sometimes life puts people in your life for a reason. For some crazy reason life made me meet Ernie Stevens. I met Ernie when I interviewed him after  I fell in love with the HBO documentary ERNIE AND JOE: CRISIS COPS. The film is about Ernie and his former day job being a cop who handles crisis situations. If someone was threatening violence or to hurt  themselves or others they would call Ernie and his partner Joe Smarro to defuse the situation. (The film is deeply moving and a must see.) The interview was an absolute delight and in the aftermath Ernie and I began to talk on line trading films, jokes and good places to eat. 

Because of the conversations over the last year Ernie has become part of the extended Unseen Films Family. He has a wonderful taste in films and I've tried to get him to write up some of the films he's recommended to me, but because of work and life he hasn't been able to do so.  However a week or so ago when I sent out an email asking what film made you happiest in 2020, Ernie emailed me and asked me if I had covered CRIP CAMP. When I said I hadn't  he told me he would like to write something on it.

What follows is Ernie's first piece for Unseen Films and the first review of 2021. While the piece is in part a review, it is also a wonderful piece  that illustrates how we connect with movies. Why Ernie picked this film is something special. Its the sort of  connection that we all make with many of the films we fall in love with.

I want to than Ernie for taking the time for a wonderful piece. And ask him yet again to do more.

I wanted to take the time to share my thoughts about an amazing and inspiring documentary that I watched this year.  As we know, this year has been a difficult year for so many people around the world and to be able to find a silver lining has been difficult at best. Enter the documentary, Crip Camp, 2020, a film by James Lebrecht and Nicole Newnham.  The premise of Crip Camp is to introduce the audience to a summer camp located in Catskills, NY.  In 1971, both adults and adolescents living with disabilities gathered at camp Jened to enjoy a summer together as this documentary was being filmed.  Little did the campers know that they were just beginning a lifelong journey together.  This documentary inspires the audience to join them on this journey that would start a movement that couldn’t be derailed.  One of my favorite quotes of all time is, “vulnerability is the most accurate measurement of courage.” This film showcases the courage of people who live with disabilities and the stigma and unequal treatment they must endure daily.

At the end of the summer of 1971, the campers depart and return to their daily lives.  Many of the campers stayed in touch with each other and would soon be reunited a few years later in San Francisco. Members of the community living with disabilities would develop the Center for Independent Living and they would begin to grow into a support group for others.  On several occasions, the government would be asked to consider a legislative bill known as 504.  This bill would allow those living with disabilities to attend public school, have access to ramps and elevators, and provide access to public transportation as well.  On two different attempts to have this bill passed it would be defeated and those living with disabilities would continue to face the same struggles as before.  

In 1977, during a protest in San Francisco, a federal building was occupied by members with disabilities and a sit-in ensued for 28 days.  During this time several members of the disability community led by Judy Heumann went to Washington DC to encourage members on Congress to pass the 504 Bill.  The bill eventually passed, and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 was enacted giving those living with disabilities equal protections under the law.

My takeaway on this amazing documentary is one of encouragement and gratitude.  I am very grateful for this film because my family today in 2020 reaps the benefits of those who refused to take no for an answer.  My daughter has 504 protections as a student who lives with ADHD.  This documentary allowed those campers in 1971 to be their unapologetically authentic selves. Because this year has been so difficult for so many people it was uplifting to see others come together for a common goal to change the culture for those living with disabilities. I encourage other to watch this documentary and take the journey with the campers from camp Jened and experience a truly heart-warming story of courage and strength.

BC Wallin talks about the best film experiences of the year and ends up saying so much more

To put it shortly, 2020 has been a year of looking back more than looking forward. The field of movies that came out this year has been limited, and at times, anxiety at the state of the world made it feel more comfortable to stick to familiar films, while at other times, fewer new movies to catch allowed for opportunities to start catching up on the past. Here’s a messy sort of list, for a messy sort of year.

Best trailer for a movie that didn’t end up coming out this year

In the Heights

I will not be living in Washington Heights anymore when this film eventually comes out simultaneously in theaters and on HBO MAX. I’m not living in Washington Heights anymore right now — I moved out during the pandemic. The community has a texture and movement and, if we’re being honest, some really loud motorcycles that rip down the streets, but I’m past that, I guess.

I love earnest, open-hearted musicals, and I was excited for In the Heights. The trailer had it going on, and good. The hopefulness, the dreams, the fantasy. I was excited to see people dancing on the wall, in the pool, through the fire hydrant blasts. I was looking forward to a (hopefully) meaningful story about race and class and ambition. I’m still thinking about that trailer. There were much, much bigger tragedies. And the movie will come out, so a tragedy it is not. A minor bummer, I guess. I hope the movie’s worth it.

Best French serial from the early 20th century

Les vampires

The truth is, I’d like to have judged between this and another Louis Feuillaude serial, Judex, but I only saw the movie adaptation from the ‘60s (pretty good, and it had giant bird head costumes). I picked up Kino Lorber’s Les vampires set in April, figuring it would last me until things got back to normal. You know. I wish there was a way to get this series in front of a large group of people, so we could be talking about this on Twitter, or something. It’s insanely engaging, it’s got Mazamette, and it has a surprising number of rotating big bosses (pour one out for Irma Vep, who never got to take her deserved spot on top). Watch it.

Weirdest double feature

Impractical Jokers: The Movie & Parasite

I actually had the opportunity to pull this off in a movie theater (sorry, I still miss AMC A-List). An immature quartet of friends, a contrived plot featuring Paula Abdul, and the feeling that you’re sitting in a theater watching a high production value episode of TV. Followed immediately by an IMAX screening of an allegorical class-struggle masterpiece of cinema. So, you know, balance. I think the weirdest/worst part about a pairing like this is that I genuinely didn’t glean anything new from this pairing. It’s like eating roasted marshmallows and turkey bacon together; they just don’t mesh.

Most disappointing movie commentary

The Grand Budapest Hotel

The Criterion Collection finally offered a disc of my favorite all-time movie (at time of writing and for the five years prior). I was asked why I was getting excited for a movie I already owned digitally. “Because,” I said, “there are bonus features” (the quote may not be exact, but the sentiment is). The supplements promised a “New audio commentary featuring [Wes] Anderson, filmmaker Roman Coppola, critic Kent Jones, and actor Jeff Goldblum.” The Grand Budapest Hotel is a technically fascinating film (read Matt Zoller Seitz’s book!) that you could break down in intense depth, going through the 4:3 cinematography, the incredible production design, the Alexandre Desplat score evocative of folk Eastern European music, the colors, the acting, the humor, the small gestures by Edward Norton, and the rest of it. The men spent their time mostly just reminiscing about things unrelated to the story and occasionally bringing up the filming locations. The worst kind of commentary is the one that really teaches you nothing.

Worst movie

The Birth of a Nation

I’m glad I finally watched this oft-cited movie so I could make my own judgement. The Birth of a Nation sucks. On a story, historical, and moral level, it’s just repugnant. I have to be fair and admit that the first half was able to grip me with the battle stuff, the intensity and such. But then, the KKK arrived. There isn’t much new to say about this horrid movie that’s been hotly debated for about a century. I don’t want to dwell.

Different Man Different Movie Award

The Wizard of Oz

The same man can’t walk through the same river twice, or something like that. The first time I rewatched The Wizard of Oz this year (you could say all watching is rewatching, but this movie has been part of my family canon for a long time), I was preparing to spend indoor time with friends, laughing, enjoying, and expelling non-deadly particles into the air. I was building a Dungeons & Dragons mini-campaign inspired by the podcast The Film Reroll and a Washington Post article’s revisionist take on the politics of Oz. I rewatched it recently with my sister (we share a bubble). My movie nights have had more… repetitive crowds this year than usual. My Dungeons & Dragons games are run over Zoom. Maybe I should’ve realized something was up with the year when Dorothy’s house didn’t hit the Wicked Witch of the East in our game. Oops.

Best use of Kol Nidre

The Jazz Singer

Kol Nidre is the moving, soulful song chanted at the opening to Yom Kippur, where Jews try to start the Day of Atonement on the right foot, by cleansing themselves of all vows, promises, and ties that bind them to the possibility of breaking their word. The cantorial music sung today can be traced to a 19th century composer named Max Bruch, and I’ve thought for a while that it would make a powerful moment in film. Then I watched one of the most famous talking pictures of all time and saw it had been hiding there all along. I’m always looking for more Jewish representation in film, and coming across this tale of being torn between two worlds was quite meaningful (yes, I know this movie has significant moral problems). If there’s a better use of Kol Nidre, I’ll happily reconsider.

Best pleasant surprise

Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Candace Against the Universe

The TV show Phineas and Ferb is a masterpiece of the artform. But it works really well in its 11-minute intervals. The show excels in deconstructing the same formulaic structure, over and over, to continuously find new meaning. Expanding beyond the time limitation can be dangerous, and other longer-than-40-minute attempts by the show were plagued by dry spots. Which is why I was pleasantly surprised by how good the Disney+ Phineas and Ferb movie was, telling the story (sort of ripping off Toy Story 2) mostly from the perspective of Candace, as if fans of the show were kids when they came to it and are now old enough to relate to the struggles of aging and feeling stuck in a rut. Worth a watch.

My most significant trend of favorite movies

The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Magnificent Ambersons, Chimes at Midnight, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, the parts of An American Pickle I did like, and literally anything about Orson Welles.

Living in a world that is wholly different from the one you knew only a year ago will certainly target the nostalgia in any person who cared for the feelings of safety and security, though, admittedly, I’ve been reckoning with these feelings for most of my moviegoing career. It might be the collective Jewish memory I’ve inherited that has me thinking about movies that are about the death of an era, the disappearance of a lost age, but I keep finding myself coming back to these types of movies. They’re the ones that target that feeling that something was lost, something tragically irretrievable, and we can never fully get past that loss. I’ve always had a soft spot for these movies; maybe this was the right year to reaffirm the meaningfulness of the past while we stare into an unknown future.

The best anxious comfort movies

Steve Jobs, A Serious Man, Uncut Gems, Eagle Eye, but oddly enough, not Synecdoche, New York.

I call these comfort movies because they’re the ones I came back to this year, knowing full well what I was in for. My wife asked me why I would purposely watch something that I know would make me feel anxious. Why purposely submit yourself to clenching your teeth, tightening your muscles, enduring emotional discomfort? I have two explanations: the practical and the emotional. 2020 was the year of pulling out my phone during movies, stopping in the middle, going to bed, or changing gears and just playing some video games. The thriller, the anxious movie, has its viewer holding on — there’s a clinging sort of notion that’s needed to watch them. Anxious movies grip you, and if they’re what it takes to stop getting distracted during a time when I haven’t been to a movie theater in months and everything in the news makes me anxious, I’ll take them.

This leads to the other point: these selections of anxiety offer familiar discomfort — I know what tzuros will befall Larry Gopnik, what arguments the contentious Steve Jobs will get into. The virus that has defined this year is invisible, flies through the air, and can be carried by people who don’t even know they have it. You can give it to your loved ones. You can survive it and still have long-lasting consequences. Find comfort returning to something you can control (or, you know, just return to the comfort movies that won’t make you feel relieved to be back in our world. This is not a great method of coping).