Year-End Lists

Sean Fennessey: My Favorite Movies of 2020

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2010s]

1. Mank
   David Fincher
2. Small Axe: Mangrove
   Steve McQueen
3. Soul
   Pete Docter
4. Boys State
   Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine
5. Nomadland
   Chloé Zhao
6. First Cow
   Kelly Reichardt
7. Minari
   Lee Isaac Chung
8. I'm Thinking of Ending Things
   Charlie Kaufman
9. The Vast of Night
   Andrew Patterson
10. Dick Johnson Is Dead
    Kirsten Johnson
11. Small Axe: Lovers Rock
    Steve McQueen
12. Never Rarely Sometimes Always
    Eliza Hittman
13. David Byrne's American Utopia
    Spike Lee
14. City Hall
    Frederick Wiseman
15. Palm Springs
    Max Barbakow
16. Possessor Uncut
    Brandon Cronenberg
17. Time
    Garrett Bradley
18. Bacurau
    Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles
19. Da 5 Bloods
    Spike Lee
20. Tenet
    Christopher Nolan
21. Let Them All Talk
    Steven Soderbergh
22. The Truffle Hunters
    Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw
23. Shithouse
    Cooper Raiff
24. Gunda
    Viktor Kosakovskiy
25. The Assistant
    Kitty Green
26. Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
    George C. Wolfe
27. One Night in Miami
    Regina King
28. Bad Education
    Cory Finley
29. The Invisible Man
    Leigh Whannell
30. Small Axe: Red, White and Blue
    Steve McQueen
31. Promising Young Woman
    Emerald Fennell
32. The Way Back
    Gavin O’Connor
33. On the Rocks
    Sofia Coppola
34. The Last Dance
    Jason Hehir
35. Martin Eden
    Pietro Marcello
36. Driveways
    Andrew Ahn
37. Another Round
    Thomas Vinterberg
38. Beastie Boys Story
    Spike Jonze
39. Sound of Metal
    Darius Marder
40. The Traitor
    Marco Bellocchio
41. The Wild Goose Lake
    Diao Yinan
42. Tommaso
    Abel Ferrara
43. The Climb
    Michael Angelo Covino
44. His House
    Remi Weekes
45. The Dark and the Wicked
    Bryan Bertino
46. Feels Good Man
    Arthur Jones
47. 40 Years a Prisoner
    Tommy Oliver
48. La Llorona
    Jayro Bustamante
49. Small Axe: Alex Wheatle
    Steve McQueen
50. Fourteen
    Dan Sallitt
51. Birds of Prey
    Cathy Yan
52. She Dies Tomorrow
    Amy Seimetz
53. Assassins
    Ryan White
54. News of the World
    Paul Greengrass
55. The Trial of the Chicago 7
    Aaron Sorkin
56. My Psychedelic Love Story
    Errol Morris
57. The King of Staten Island
    Judd Apatow
58. Pieces of a Woman
    Kornél Mundruczó
59. Freaky
    Christopher Landon
60. Kajillionaire
    Miranda July
61. Totally Under Control
    Alex Gibney, Ophelia Harutyunyan and Suzanne Hillinger
62. Color Out of Space
    Richard Stanley
63. The Trip to Greece
    Michael Winterbottom
64. Shirley
    Josephine Decker
65. Babyteeth
    Shannon Murphy
66. Blood Quantum
    Jeff Barnaby
67. On the Record
    Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering
68. Selah and the Spades
    Tayarisha Poe
69. The Old Guard
    Gina Prince-Bythewood
70. Let Him Go
    Thomas Bezucha
71. The Nest
    Sean Durkin
72. Sorry We Missed You
    Ken Loach
73. Onward
    Dan Scanlon
74. Bad Boys for Life
    Adil & Bilall
75. Vitalina Varela
    Pedro Costa
76. Collective
    Alexander Nanau
77. Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets
    Bill Ross IV and Turner Ross
78. Blow the Man Down
    Bridget Savage Cole and Danielle Krudy
79. Emma.
    Autumn de Wilde
80. Relic
    Natalie Erika James
81. Small Axe: Education
    Steve McQueen
82. The Whistlers
    Corneliu Porumboiu
83. Extraction
    Sam Hargrave
84. Hubie Halloween
    Steven Brill
85. Hamilton
    Thomas Kail
86. The Beach House
    Jeffrey A. Brown
87. Big Time Adolescence
    Jason Orley
88. Sylvie's Love
    Eugene Ashe
89. Greenland
    Ric Roman Waugh
90. The Painter and the Thief
    Benjamin Ree
91. The Informer
    Andrea Di Stefano
92. Coup 53
    Taghi Amirani
93. The Dissident
    Bryan Fogel
94. Night of the Kings
    Philippe Lacôte
95. Host
    Rob Savage
96. Run
    Aneesh Chaganty
97. Mucho Mucho Amor: The Legend of Walter Mercado
    Cristina Costantini and Kareem Tabsch
98. Be Water
    Bao Nguyen
99. In Search of Darkness
    David A. Weiner
100. Banana Split
     Benjamin Kasulke