griggs's - Favourite 2020 Films List
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Parasite (2019)Gisaengchung
Kim Ki Taek's (Song Kang Ho) family are all unemployed and living in a squalid basement. When his son, Ki Woo, gets a tutoring job at the lavish home of the Park family, the Kim family's luck changes. One by one they gradually infiltrate the wealthy Park's home, attempting to take over their affluent lifestyle, but as their deception unravels events begin to get increasingly out of hand in ways you simply cannot imagine. - Director:
- Joon-Ho Bong
- Cast:
- Kang-ho Song, Sun-kyun Lee, Yeo-jeong Jo
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Live-in nurse Maud (Morfydd Clark) arrives to help Amanda (Jennifer Ehle), a famous dancer now frail from illness in her grand, isolated house. Amanda is intrigued by the religious young woman, distracting her from her failing health, and Maud is bewitched by her patient, but she is not what she seems...Tormented by a violent secret from her past and ecstatic messages she believes are from God, Maud becomes convinced she was sent to Amanda not as a nurse, but as a divine saviour. As her grip on reality weakens, Maud is determined to save Amanda's soul, by any means necessary. - Director:
- Rose Glass
- Cast:
- Morfydd Clark, Jennifer Ehle, Lily Knight
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This jolt of pure cinematic adrenaline affirmed directors Josh and Benny Safdie as heirs to the gritty, heightened realism of Martin Scorsese and John Cassavetes. Adam Sandler delivers an almost maniacally embodied performance as Howard Ratner, a fast-talking New York jeweler and gambler in relentless pursuit of the next big score. When he comes into possession of a rare opal, it seems Howard's ship has finally come in - as long as he can stay one step ahead of a wife (Idina Menzel) who hates him, a mistress (Julia Fox) who can't quit him, and a frenzy of loan sharks and hit men closing in on him. Wrapping a vivid look at the old-school Jewish world of Manhattan's Diamond District within a kinetic thriller, 'Uncut Gems' gives us one of the great characters in modern cinema: a tragic hero of competing compulsions on a shoot-the-moon quest to transcend his destiny. - Director:
- Ben Safdie
- Cast:
- Adam Sandler, Julia Fox, Kevin Garnett
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"Jojo Rabbit" follows a lonely German boy Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis), whose world view is turned upside down when he discovers his mother Rosie (Scarlett Johansson) is hiding a Jewish girl Elsa (Thomasin McKenzie) in their attic. Aided by his wildly idiotic imaginary friend, Adolf Hitler (Taika Waititi), Jojo must confront his blind nationalism. - Director:
- Taika Waititi
- Cast:
- Roman Griffin Davis, Thomasin McKenzie-Harcourt, Scarlett Johansson
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Never Rarely Sometimes Always (2020)Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Always
Written and directed by Eliza Hittman, the film is an intimate portrayal of two teenage girls in rural Pennsylvania. Faced with an unintended pregnancy and a lack of local support, Autumn (Sidney Flanigan) and her cousin Skylar (Talia Ryder) embark across state lines to New York City on a fraught journey of friendship, bravery and compassion. - Director:
- Eliza Hittman
- Cast:
- Sidney Flanigan, Talia Ryder, Théodore Pellerin
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Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2020)Portrait de la jeune fille en feu
Painter Marianne (Noemie Merlant) is commissioned by an affluent countess to paint the wedding portrait of her sheltered but headstrong daughter Héloïse (Adele Haenel). While posing as her hired companion, Marianne is instructed to complete the portrait in secret, observing Héloïse by day and painting her by night. However, as the two women grow closer, their intimacy and attraction begins to blossom, paving the way for a simmering, star-crossed romance. - Director:
- Céline Sciamma
- Cast:
- Noémie Merlant, Adèle Haenel, Luàna Bajrami
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Soul (2020)Disney and Pixar's Soul
Pixar's Soul introduces Joe (voice of Jamie Foxx), who lands the gig of his life at the best jazz club in town. But one misstep lands Joe in a fantastical place: The Great Before. There, he teams up with soul 22 (voice of Tina Fey), and together they find the answers to some of life's biggest questions. - Director:
- Pete Docter
- Cast:
- Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey, Graham Norton
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Despite second thoughts about their relationship, a young woman (Jessie Buckley) takes a road trip with her new boyfriend (Jesse Plemons) to his family farm. Trapped at the farm during a snowstorm with Jake's mother (Toni Collette) and father (David Thewlis), the young woman begins to question the nature of everything she knew or understood about her boyfriend, herself, and the world. An exploration of regret, longing and the fragility of the human spirit, 'I'm Thinking of Ending Things' is directed and written by Academy Award winner Charlie Kaufman (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind). Inspired by Iain Reid's bestselling namesake novel. - Director:
- Charlie Kaufman
- Cast:
- Jesse Plemons, Jessie Buckley, Toni Collette
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An extraordinary story that navigates trough the magical neo-realism of an old building in downtown Luanda. When the city's air-conditioners mysteriously start to fall, Matacedo (José Kiteculo - security guard) and Zezinha (Filomena Manuel - housemaid) have the mission of retrieving their boss's ac. This mission will take them trough a world full of water leaks, cracks, cages of noisy generators and hope when they enter the mysterious semi-abandoned electrical shop of the neighborhood. - Director:
- Fradique
- Cast:
- José Kiteculo, Filomena Manuel, David Caracol
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Set in the early 1950's, the film charts an imagined chapter in the life of Jackson (Elisabeth Moss), who has recently become a literary sensation. When her philandering professor husband (Michael Stuhlbarg) invites a newlywed couple into their home, the reclusive writer is forced to change her routine, which heightens tensions in their already tempestuous household. This change acts as a catalyst, sparking inspiration for the anxiety-prone writer. As she becomes enamoured with Rose (Odessa Young), her unsuspecting new muse, Shirley's obsession plunges her into a quasi-delirium, awakening a repressed femininity that could inspire her next masterpiece. - Director:
- Josephine Decker
- Cast:
- Elisabeth Moss, Odessa Young, Michael Stuhlbarg
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