The best movies of ~2020 according to top awards
by IgorBalashov | created - 26 Apr 2021 | updated - 26 Apr 2021 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. Nomadland (2020)
R | 107 min | Drama
A woman in her sixties, after losing everything in the Great Recession, embarks on a journey through the American West, living as a van-dwelling modern-day nomad.
Director: Chloé Zhao | Stars: Frances McDormand, David Strathairn, Linda May, Gay DeForest
Votes: 183,538
Oscar - Best Motion Picture of the Year, 3 Oscars of 6 nominations Golden Globe - Best Motion Picture, Drama, 2 Golden Globes of 4 nominations BAFTA Awards - Best Film Venice Film Festival - Golden Lion Toronto Film Festival - People's Choice Award Critics Choice Award - Best Picture London Critics Circle Film Awards - Film of the Year
2. Another Round (2020)
Not Rated | 117 min | Drama
Four high-school teachers consume alcohol on a daily basis to see how it affects their social and professional lives.
Director: Thomas Vinterberg | Stars: Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Magnus Millang, Lars Ranthe
Votes: 195,175
Oscar - Best International Feature Film BAFTA Awards - Best Film Not in the English Language Golden Globe - Best Motion Picture, Foreign Language, nominee London Critics Circle Film Awards - Foreign Language Film of the Year Critics Choice Award - Best Foreign Language Film, nominee Hollywood Critics Association Awards - Best International Film, nominee
3. Promising Young Woman (2020)
R | 113 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Nothing in Cassie's life is what it appears to be - she's wickedly smart, tantalizingly cunning, and she's living a secret double life. Now, an unexpected encounter is about to give Cassie a chance to right the wrongs from the past.
Director: Emerald Fennell | Stars: Carey Mulligan, Bo Burnham, Alison Brie, Clancy Brown
Votes: 211,834
Oscar - Best Motion Picture of the Year, nominee Golden Globe - Best Motion Picture, Drama, nominee BAFTA Awards - Best Film, nominee BAFTA Awards - Outstanding British Film of the Year Hollywood Critics Association Awards - Best Picture Critics Choice Award - Best Picture, nominee London Critics Circle Film Awards - Film of the Year, nominee
4. Minari (2020)
PG-13 | 115 min | Drama
A Korean American family moves to an Arkansas farm in search of its own American dream. Amidst the challenges of new life in the strange and rugged Ozarks, they discover the undeniable resilience of family and what really makes a home.
Director: Lee Isaac Chung | Stars: Steven Yeun, Han Yeri, Alan Kim, Noel Cho
Votes: 97,130
Golden Globe - Best Motion Picture, Foreign Language Oscar - Best Motion Picture of the Year, nominee Critics Choice Award - Best Foreign Language Film London Critics Circle Film Awards - Film of the Year, nominee London Critics Circle Film Awards - Foreign Language Film of the Year, nominee
5. The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020)
R | 129 min | Drama, History, Thriller
The story of 7 people on trial stemming from various charges surrounding the uprising at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois.
Director: Aaron Sorkin | Stars: Eddie Redmayne, Alex Sharp, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jeremy Strong
Votes: 193,432
Oscar - Best Motion Picture of the Year, nominee Golden Globe - Best Motion Picture, Drama, nominee BAFTA Awards - Best Film, nominee Critics Choice Award - Best Picture, nominee Hollywood Critics Association Awards - Best Picture, nominee Screen Actors Guild Awards - Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
6. The Father (I) (2020)
PG-13 | 97 min | Drama, Mystery
A man refuses all assistance from his daughter as he ages. As he tries to make sense of his changing circumstances, he begins to doubt his loved ones, his own mind and even the fabric of his reality.
Director: Florian Zeller | Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Olivia Colman, Mark Gatiss, Olivia Williams
Votes: 193,383
Oscar - Best Motion Picture of the Year, nominee Golden Globe - Best Motion Picture, Drama, nominee BAFTA Awards - Best Film, nominee Hollywood Critics Association Awards - Best Picture, nominee
7. Mank (2020)
R | 131 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
1930s Hollywood is re-evaluated through the eyes of scathing social critic and alcoholic screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz as he races to finish the screenplay of Citizen Kane (1941).
Director: David Fincher | Stars: Gary Oldman, Amanda Seyfried, Lily Collins, Tom Pelphrey
Votes: 82,773
Oscar - Best Motion Picture of the Year, nominee Golden Globe - Best Motion Picture, Drama, nominee Critics Choice Award - Best Picture, nominee
8. Sound of Metal (2019)
R | 120 min | Drama, Music
A heavy metal drummer's life is turned upside down when he begins to lose his hearing and he must confront a future filled with silence.
Director: Darius Marder | Stars: Riz Ahmed, Olivia Cooke, Paul Raci, Lauren Ridloff
Votes: 150,474
Oscar - Best Motion Picture of the Year, nominee Critics Choice Award - Best Picture, nominee Hollywood Critics Association Awards - Best Picture, nominee
9. Judas and the Black Messiah (2021)
R | 126 min | Biography, Drama, History
Offered a plea deal by the FBI, William O'Neal infiltrates the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party to gather intelligence on Chairman Fred Hampton.
Director: Shaka King | Stars: LaKeith Stanfield, Daniel Kaluuya, Jesse Plemons, Dominique Fishback
Votes: 91,517
Oscar - Best Motion Picture of the Year, nominee Hollywood Critics Association Awards - Best Picture, nominee
10. Da 5 Bloods (2020)
R | 154 min | Adventure, Drama, War
Four African-American vets battle the forces of man and nature when they return to Vietnam seeking the remains of their fallen squad leader and the gold fortune he helped them hide.
Director: Spike Lee | Stars: Delroy Lindo, Jonathan Majors, Clarke Peters, Norm Lewis
Votes: 55,161
National Board of Review - Best Film Critics Choice Award - Best Picture, nominee Hollywood Critics Association Awards - Best Picture, nominee
11. The Mauritanian (2021)
R | 129 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
Mohamedou Ould Slahi fights for freedom after being detained and imprisoned without charge by the U.S. Government for years.
Director: Kevin Macdonald | Stars: Tahar Rahim, Nouhe Hamady Bari, Saadna Hamoud, Mohamed Yeslem Mousse
Votes: 61,803
BAFTA Awards - Best Film, nominee London Critics Circle Film Awards - Film of the Year, nominee
12. Collective (2019)
Not Rated | 109 min | Documentary, Crime
Director Alexander Nanau follows a crack team of investigators at the Romanian newspaper Gazeta Sporturilor as they try to uncover a vast health-care fraud that enriched moguls and politicians and led to the deaths of innocent citizens.
Director: Alexander Nanau | Stars: Dan Alexandru Condrea, Liviu Iolu, Razvan Lutac, Mirela Neag
Votes: 13,443
Oscar - Best International Feature Film, nominee London Critics Circle Film Awards - Film of the Year, nominee Critics Choice Award - Best Foreign Language Film, nominee London Critics Circle Film Awards - Foreign Language Film of the Year, nominee
13. Better Days (2019)
135 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
While she copes the the pressures of her final examinations, a bullied teenage girl forms an unlikely friendship with a mysterious young man who protects her from her assailants.
Director: Derek Tsang | Stars: Dongyu Zhou, Jackson Yee, Fang Yin, Ye Zhou
Votes: 13,139
Oscar - Best International Feature Film, nominee
14. Quo Vadis, Aida? (2020)
101 min | Drama, History, War
Aida is a translator for the UN in the small town of Srebrenica. When the Serbian army takes over the town, her family is among the thousands of citizens looking for shelter in the UN camp.
Director: Jasmila Zbanic | Stars: Jasna Djuricic, Izudin Bajrovic, Boris Ler, Dino Bajrovic
Votes: 38,223
Oscar - Best International Feature Film, nominee BAFTA Awards - Best Film Not in the English Language, nominee
15. The Man Who Sold His Skin (2020)
104 min | Drama
His own body turned into a living work of art and promptly exhibited in a museum, Sam, a Syrian refugee, will soon realize to have sold away more than just his skin.
Director: Kaouther Ben Hania | Stars: Yahya Mahayni, Dea Liane, Koen De Bouw, Darina Al Joundi
Votes: 7,111
Oscar - Best International Feature Film, nominee
16. La Llorona (2019)
Not Rated | 97 min | Crime, Drama, Horror
An aging paranoid war criminal, protected by his faithful wife, faces death while being haunted by the ghosts of his past.
Director: Jayro Bustamante | Stars: María Mercedes Coroy, Sabrina De La Hoz, Margarita Kenéfic, Julio Diaz
Votes: 7,754
Golden Globe - Best Motion Picture, Foreign Language, nominee National Board of Review - Best Foreign Language Film Hollywood Critics Association Awards - Best International Film Critics Choice Award - Best Foreign Language Film, nominee
17. The Life Ahead (2020)
PG-13 | 94 min | Drama
In seaside Italy, a Holocaust survivor with a daycare business takes in a 12-year-old street kid who recently robbed her.
Director: Edoardo Ponti | Stars: Sophia Loren, Ibrahima Gueye, Renato Carpentieri, Iosif Diego Pirvu
Votes: 15,556
Golden Globe - Best Motion Picture, Foreign Language, nominee Critics Choice Award - Best Foreign Language Film, nominee
18. Two of Us (2019)
Not Rated | 99 min | Drama, Romance
Pensioners Nina and Madeleine have hidden their deep and passionate love for many decades, but their bond is put to the test when they are suddenly unable to move freely between each other's apartments.
Director: Filippo Meneghetti | Stars: Barbara Sukowa, Martine Chevallier, Léa Drucker, Jérôme Varanfrain
Votes: 3,731
Golden Globe - Best Motion Picture, Foreign Language, nominee Critics Choice Award - Best Foreign Language Film, nominee Hollywood Critics Association Awards - Best International Film, nominee
19. Dear Comrades! (2020)
121 min | Drama, History
When the communist government raises food prices in 1962, the rebellious workers from the small industrial town of Novocherkassk go on strike. The massacre which then ensues is seen through the eyes of a devout party activist.
Director: Andrey Konchalovskiy | Stars: Yuliya Vysotskaya, Vladislav Komarov, Andrey Gusev, Yuliya Burova
Votes: 5,900
BAFTA Awards - Best Film Not in the English Language, nominee
20. Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (2020)
R | 95 min | Comedy
Borat returns to America from Kazakhstan to America, this time to reveal more about the American culture, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the political elections.
Director: Jason Woliner | Stars: Sacha Baron Cohen, Maria Bakalova, Tom Hanks, Dani Popescu
Votes: 153,808
Golden Globe - Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
21. Palm Springs (2020)
R | 90 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Mystery
Stuck in a time loop, two wedding guests develop a budding romance while living the same day over and over again.
Director: Max Barbakow | Stars: Andy Samberg, Cristin Milioti, J.K. Simmons, Peter Gallagher
Votes: 182,840
Golden Globe - Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy, nominee Critics Choice Award - Best Comedy Hollywood Critics Association Awards - Best Comedy/Musical Film
22. Hamilton (2020)
PG-13 | 160 min | Biography, Drama, History
The real life of one of America's foremost founding fathers and first Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton. Captured live on Broadway from the Richard Rodgers Theater with the original Broadway cast.
Director: Thomas Kail | Stars: Lin-Manuel Miranda, Phillipa Soo, Leslie Odom Jr., Renée Elise Goldsberry
Votes: 113,894
Golden Globe - Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy, nominee
23. The Prom (2020)
PG-13 | 130 min | Comedy, Drama, Musical
A troupe of hilariously self-obsessed theater stars swarm into a small conservative Indiana town in support of a high-school girl who wants to take her girlfriend to the prom.
Director: Ryan Murphy | Stars: Meryl Streep, James Corden, Nicole Kidman, Kerry Washington
Votes: 29,252
Golden Globe - Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy, nominee
24. Music (I) (2021)
PG-13 | 107 min | Drama, Musical
Zu is newly sober when she receives news that she is to become the sole guardian of her half-sister named Music, a young girl on the autism spectrum. The film explores two of Sia's favorite themes: finding your voice and creating family.
Director: Sia | Stars: Kate Hudson, Leslie Odom Jr., Maddie Ziegler, Mary Kay Place
Votes: 9,072
Golden Globe - Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy, nominee
25. One Night in Miami... (2020)
R | 114 min | Drama
A fictional account of one incredible night where icons Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X, Sam Cooke, and Jim Brown gathered discussing their roles in the Civil Rights Movement and cultural upheaval of the 60s.
Director: Regina King | Stars: Kingsley Ben-Adir, Eli Goree, Aldis Hodge, Leslie Odom Jr.
Votes: 34,292
Critics Choice Award - Best Picture, nominee Hollywood Critics Association Awards - Best Picture, nominee
26. Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020)
R | 94 min | Drama, Music
Tensions rise when trailblazing blues singer Ma Rainey and her band gather at a recording studio in Chicago in 1927.
Director: George C. Wolfe | Stars: Viola Davis, Chadwick Boseman, Glynn Turman, Colman Domingo
Votes: 57,953
Critics Choice Award - Best Picture, nominee
27. News of the World (2020)
PG-13 | 118 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A Civil War veteran agrees to deliver a girl taken by the Kiowa people years ago to her aunt and uncle against her will. They travel hundreds of miles and face grave dangers as they search for a place that either can call home.
Director: Paul Greengrass | Stars: Tom Hanks, Helena Zengel, Tom Astor, Travis Johnson
Votes: 95,675
Critics Choice Award - Best Picture, nominee
28. Soul (2020)
PG | 100 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
Joe is a middle-school band teacher whose life hasn't quite gone the way he expected. His true passion is jazz. But when he travels to another realm to help someone find their passion, he soon discovers what it means to have soul.
Directors: Pete Docter, Kemp Powers | Stars: Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey, Graham Norton, Rachel House
Votes: 380,052
Oscar - Best Animated Feature Film Hollywood Critics Association Awards - Best Picture, nominee
29. Bacurau (2019)
Not Rated | 131 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
After the death of her grandmother, Teresa comes home to her matriarchal village in a near-future Brazil to find a succession of sinister events that mobilizes all of its residents.
Directors: Juliano Dornelles, Kleber Mendonça Filho | Stars: Bárbara Colen, Thomas Aquino, Silvero Pereira, Thardelly Lima
Votes: 30,706
Hollywood Critics Association Awards - Best International Film, nominee
30. I'm No Longer Here (2019)
TV-MA | 112 min | Drama
In Monterrey, Mexico, a young street gang spends their days dancing to slowed-down cumbia and attending parties. After a mix-up with a local cartel, their leader is forced to migrate to the U.S. but quickly longs to return home.
Director: Fernando Frias | Stars: Juan Daniel García Treviño, Emily May Jampel, Xueming Angelina Chen, Leonardo Ávila
Votes: 9,417
Hollywood Critics Association Awards - Best International Film, nominee
31. Wolfwalkers (2020)
PG | 103 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
A young apprentice hunter and her father journey to Ireland to help wipe out the last wolf pack. But everything changes when she befriends a free-spirited girl from a mysterious tribe rumored to transform into wolves by night.
Directors: Tomm Moore, Ross Stewart | Stars: Honor Kneafsey, Eva Whittaker, Sean Bean, Simon McBurney
Votes: 38,698
Hollywood Critics Association Awards - Best Animated Film
32. Birds of Prey (2020)
R | 109 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
After splitting with the Joker, Harley Quinn joins superheroines Black Canary, Huntress, and Renee Montoya to save a young girl from an evil crime lord.
Director: Cathy Yan | Stars: Margot Robbie, Rosie Perez, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jurnee Smollett
Votes: 264,789 | Gross: $84.16M
Hollywood Critics Association Awards - Best Blockbuster Film Hollywood Critics Association Awards - Best Action Film
33. About Endlessness (2019)
78 min | Drama, Fantasy
Roy Andersson adds to his cinematic oeuvre with a reflection on human life in all its beauty and cruelty, its splendour and banality.
Director: Roy Andersson | Stars: Jessica Louthander, Tatiana Delaunay, Anders Hellström, Bertil J. Nyberg
Votes: 7,778
London Critics Circle Film Awards - Film of the Year, nominee London Critics Circle Film Awards - Foreign Language Film of the Year, nominee
34. Rocks (2019)
TV-MA | 93 min | Drama
A young teenage girl finds herself struggling to take care of herself and her younger brother after being abandoned by their single mother with no choice but to live out on the streets.
Director: Sarah Gavron | Stars: Bukky Bakray, Kosar Ali, D'angelou Osei Kissiedu, Shaneigha-Monik Greyson
Votes: 5,553
London Critics Circle Film Awards - Film of the Year, nominee
35. I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020)
R | 134 min | Drama, Thriller
Full of misgivings, a young woman travels with her new boyfriend to his parents' secluded farm. Upon arriving, she comes to question everything she thought she knew about him, and herself.
Director: Charlie Kaufman | Stars: Jesse Plemons, Jessie Buckley, Toni Collette, David Thewlis
Votes: 100,108
London Critics Circle Film Awards - Film of the Year, nominee
36. Saint Maud (2019)
R | 84 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A pious nurse becomes dangerously obsessed with saving the soul of her dying patient.
Director: Rose Glass | Stars: Morfydd Clark, Caoilfhionn Dunne, Jennifer Ehle, Marcus Hutton
Votes: 47,080
London Critics Circle Film Awards - Film of the Year, nominee
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