The Year in Film: 2020

Best Picture

#1: David Byrne’s American Utopia (Spike Lee)
#2: Nomadland (Chloé Zhao)
#3: First Cow (Kelly Reichardt)
#4: Beanpole (Kantemir Balagov)
#5: Dick Johnson Is Dead (Kirsten Johnson)
#6: I’m Thinking of Ending Things (Charlie Kaufman)
#7: Shirley (Josephine Decker)
#8: Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets (Bill Ross IV and Turner Ross)
#9: Collective (Alexander Nanau)
#10: Never Rarely Sometimes Always (Eliza Hittman)

Honorable mention: The Nest (Sean Durkin), Kajillionaire (Miranda July), Vitalina Varela (Pedro Costa), The Invisible Man (Leigh Whannell), City Hall (Frederick Wiseman), Shithouse (Cooper Raiff), The Dissident (Bryan Fogel), City So Real (Steve James), Tenet (Christopher Nolan), The Assistant (Kitty Green), Boys State (Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine), Sound of Metal (Darius Marder), Night of the Kings (Philippe Lacôte), The Cordillera of Dreams (Patricio Guzmán), The Truth (Kore-eda Hirokazu), Hamilton (Thomas Kail), The Trip to Greece (Michael Winterbottom), Da 5 Bloods (Spike Lee), and Hannah Gadsby: Douglas (Madeleine Parry)


Best Director

#1: Chloé Zhao (Nomadland)
#2: Kelly Reichardt (First Cow)
#3: Spike Lee (David Byrne’s American Utopia)
#4: Kantemir Balagov (Beanpole)
#5: Charlie Kaufman (I’m Thinking of Ending Things)

Honorable mentions: Pedro Costa (Vitalina Varela), Josephine Decker (Shirley), Kirsten Johnson (Dick Johnson Is Dead), Bill Ross IV and Turner Ross (Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets), and Sean Durkin (The Nest)


Best Actor

#1: Riz Ahmed (Sound of Metal)
#2: Kingsley Ben-Adir (One Night in Miami)
#3: Mads Mikkelsen (Another Round)
#4: Jesse Plemons (I’m Thinking of Ending Things)
#5: Delroy Lindo (Da 5 Bloods)

Honorable mentions: Gary Oldman (Mank), Steven Yeun (Minari), Willem Dafoe (Tommaso), John Magaro (First Cow), and Jude Law (The Nest)


Best Actress

#1: Frances McDormand (Nomadland)
#2: Elisabeth Moss (Shirley)
#3: Carrie Coon (The Nest)
#4: Vanessa Kirby (Pieces of a Woman)
#5: Jessie Buckley (I’m Thinking of Ending Things)

Honorable mentions: Vasilisa Perelygina (Beanpole), Aubrey Plaza (Black Bear), Viktoria Miroshnichenko (Beanpole), Carrie Mulligan (Promising Young Woman), and Viola Davis (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom)


Best Supporting Actor

#1: Matthew Macfadyen (The Assistant)
#2: Leslie Odom, Jr. (One Night in Miami)
#3: Michael Stuhlbarg (Shirley)
#4: David Strathairn (Nomadland)
#5: Shaun Parkes (Small Axe)

Honorable mentions: Richard Jenkins (Kajillionaire), Mark Rylance (The Trial of the Chicago 7), Jeremy Strong (The Trial of the Chicago 7), Clarke Peters (Da 5 Bloods), and Paul Raci (Sound of Metal)


Best Supporting Actress

#1: Letitia Wright (Small Axe)
#2: Sandra Hüller (Sibyl)
#3: Amanda Seyfried (Mank)
#4: Toni Collette (I’m Thinking of Ending Things)
#5: Odessa Young (Shirley)

Honorable mentions: Swankie (Nomadland), Youn Yuh-jung (Minari), Candice Bergen (Let Them All Talk), Kate Winslet (Blackbird), and Elizabeth Debicki (Tenet)


Best Original Screenplay

#1: Beanpole (Kantemir Balagov and Aleksandr Terekhov)
#2: Never Rarely Sometimes Always (Eliza Hittman)
#3: The Nest (Sean Durkin)
#4: Kajillionaire (Miranda July)
#5: The Assistant (Kitty Green)

Honorable mentions: Palm Springs (Andy Siara), Black Bear (Lawrence Michael Levine), Small Axe (Steve McQueen, Alastair Siddons, and Courttia Newland), Sound of Metal (Darius Marder and Abraham Marder), and Shithouse (Cooper Raiff)


Best Adapted Screenplay

#1: I’m Thinking of Ending Things (Charlie Kaufman)
#2: Nomadland (Chloé Zhao)
#3: First Cow (Kelly Reichardt)
#4: Shirley (Sarah Gibbons)
#5: Emma. (Eleanor Catton)

Honorable mentions: One Night in Miami (Kemp Powers), Martin Eden (Mauricio Braucci), Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Ruben Santiago-Hudson), The Midnight Sky (Mark L. Smith), and The Queen’s Gambit (Scott Frank, Allan Scott, and Walter Tevis)


Best Cinematography

#1: Vitalina Varela (Leonardo Simões)
#2: Beanpole (Kseniya Sereda)
#3: Nomadland (Joshua James Richards)
#4: Mank (Erik Messerschmidt)
#5: Tenet (Hoyte van Hoytema)

Honorable mentions: Night of Kings (Tobie Marier-Robitaille), The Nest (Mátyás Erdély), I’m Thinking of Ending Things (Łukasz Żal), Fire Will Come (Mauro Herce), and David Byrne’s American Utopia (Ellen Kuras)


Best Film Editing

#1: Tenet
#2: Sound of Metal
#3: David Byrne’s American Utopia
#4: Hamilton
#5: Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets

Honorable mentions: Beanpole, The Nest, I’m Thinking of Ending Things, Nomadland, and The Invisible Man


Best Score

#1: Tenet (Ludwig Göransson)
#2: The Personal History of David Copperfield (Christopher Willis)
#3: Minari (Emile Mosseri)
#4: The Midnight Sky (Alexandre Desplat)
#5: Mank (Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross)

Honorable mentions: Shirley (Tamar-kali), Ammonite (Volker Bertelmann and Dustin O’Halloran), Da 5 Bloods (Terence Blanchard), Proxima (Ryuichi Sakamoto), and Wonder Woman 1984 (Hans Zimmer)


Best Song

#1: “The Plan” (Tenet)
#2: “Husavik” (Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga)
#3: “Double Trouble (Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga)
#4: “Isn’t It So” (Ordinary Love)
#5: “Identical” (On the Rocks)

Honorable mentions: “Jaja Ding Dong” (Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga), “Volcano Man” (Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga), “In the Mirror” (Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga), “Running with the Wolves” (Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga), and “Masquerade” (Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga)


Best Production Design

#1: Tenet
#2: I’m Thinking of Ending Things
#3: Mank
#4: The Personal History of David Copperfield
#5: Small Axe

Honorable mentions: Beanpole, His House, The Twentieth Century, DEVS, and The Nest


Best Costume Design

#1: Small Axe
#2: Beanpole
#3: Mank
#4: Tenet
#5: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Honorable mentions: Sylvie’s Love, Emma., The Nest, The Queen’s Gambit, and Birds of Prey and the Fabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn


Best Makeup & Hairstyling

#1: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
#2: Mank
#3: Beanpole
#4: Liberté
#5: Birds of Prey and the Fabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn

Honorable mentions: His House, Mulan, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, and The Twentieth Century


Best Sound

#1: Sound of Metal
#2: Tenet
#3: Greyhound
#4: David Byrne’s American Utopia
#5: Soul

Honorable mentions: Mulan, Mank, The Nest, Beanpole, and The Invisible Man


Best Visual Effects

#1: Tenet
#2: Greyhound
#3: Mulan
#4: The Invisible Man
#5: The Midnight Sky

Honorable mentions: Underwater, The Call of the Wild, The Witches, His House, and The Twentieth Century


Worst Film of the Year

For Jennifer (Jody Barton)

Dishonorable Mentions: Money Plane (Andrew Lawrence), Guest House (Sam Macaroni), Darkness in Tenement 45 (Nicole Groton), Brahms: The Boy II (William Brent Bell), The Babysitter: Killer Queen (McG), VHYes (Jack Henry Robbins), The Craft: Legacy (Zoe Lister-Jones), The Turning (Floria Sigismondi), Coastal Elites (Jay Roach), I Am Vengeance: Retaliation (Ross Boyask), and Spencer Confidential (Peter Berg)