1/17/21

Best Discoveries 2020

The best of the newly discovered films in 2020. For a while, the focus was to see films that feel like huge gaps in my movie watching history--movies it seems everyone has seen but you (Oliver Twist, Oliver!, Fiddler, Cinema Paradiso). Along the way, got some great Noir recommendations (The LodgerThe Lineup) from teaching colleague Dave Cochran (author of American Noir: Underground Writers and Filmmakers of the Post-War Era), finally saw the excellent conclusion to Penelope Spheeris's Decline series, uncovered a number of hyper-stylized gems (Dames, The Thomas Crown Affair, The Hunger, Amer), and, of course, kept up a steady diet of delicious trash (Hell Comes to Frogtown, Night of a Thousand Cats). What can I say? There was a lot of extra viewing time this past year. 

Click on the titles for links to scenes, interviews, trailers, etc - in the case of Hal Ashby's The Landlord , which can be difficult to find, I linked to the entire film on youtube. Same for the Canadian daredevil doc The Devil at Your Heels, and the excellent Chinese film by Bi Gan, Kaili Blues.


The Lodger 1944

John Brahm



Dames 1934

Busby Berkeley/Ray Enright


Amer 2009

Hélène Cattet/Bruno Forzani



Lisztomania 1975

Ken Russell



The Hunger 1983

Tony Scott



Pasolini 2014

Abek Ferrara



The Decline of Western Civilization Part III 1998

Penelope Spheeris



Hamlet Goes Business 1987

Aki Kaurismäki



The Devil at Your Heels 1981

Robert Fortier



The Lineup 1958

Don Siegel



Night Tide 1961

Curtis Harrington



Out of the Blue 1980

Dennis Hopper




Rebels of the Neon God 1992

Tsai Ming-liang



Cinema Paradiso 1988

Giuseppe Tornatore


Oliver Twist 1948

David Lean



Oliver! 1968

Carol Reed



Night of a Thousand Cats 1972

René Cardona Jr.



The Thomas Crown Affair 1968

Norman Jewison



Fiddler on the Roof 1971

Norman Jewison




The Landlord 1970

Hal Ashby



Wise Blood 1979

John Huston (as Jhon Huston)



In Another Country 2012

Hong Sang-soo



Kaili Blues 2015

Bi Gan



Tangerine 2015

Sean Baker


Hell Comes to Frogtown 1988

Donald G. Jackson/R.J. Kizer


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