2020 in Film (Top 25 Countdown)

Ugh, 2020... there's nothing I can say about this year that hasn't been said a million times, but I'll try anyways. There's a reason that the theme of this video is existential dread. This year has been hard for so many reasons, but it doesn't help that something as comforting as movies (and how we watch them) changed drastically as well. For those of us who rely on films in such a passionate way, it sometimes felt like a whole new world. This has been quite a unique year of new releases: almost all of them digital, and many of them that should be in here have been pushed back indefinitely. But I'm so glad that I still found gems throughout the year, and moments that made me laugh or moved me to tears.

For my technical note: this year is a much more personal video than last year, as I'm now well acquainted with Premiere Pro and could make the video I've been envisioning for months. The opening montage is quite long, but probably my favorite I've made to date, with 4 songs released this year from albums that kept me company in different ways. The countdown was fun to piece together as always, and the end result is something I'm really happy with. Being out of work and with not many new releases on the horizon, I was able to start the video earlier than ever before, making this my first video finished before the new year. I hope you experience a fraction of the fun watching it that I had while editing it.

And for my personal note, this has honestly been one of the hardest years of my life so far, and I'm just relieved to see the end of it. I experienced a lot of loss this year but try to still remember what I do have, my family safe and wonderful friends, a place to live, food to eat, stuff like that. And I did have new experiences this year that were monumental for me, from writing a piece for Variety to virtually attending some amazing film festivals as press. I'm trying to remember that there can always be moments of good in bad times. It's such a traumatic time for everyone and I just hope the new year brings us a light at the end of the tunnel. Please be safe, and as always, thank you for watching. Editing these yearly videos gives me such momentary purpose, a piece of the internet that I can hold up high and say "Look! I made this!" And even if nobody is watching, I'm still always proud to finish and edit them for myself.

List of films used:

Ammonite

Another Round

The Assistant

Babyteeth

Bacurau

Bad Boys for Life

Bad Education

Birds of Prey

Black Bear

Blackbird

Borat 2

The Broken Hearts Gallery

Buffaloed

Chemical Hearts

The Columnist

Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution

Da 5 Bloods

The Devil All the Time

Downhill

Ema

Emma

Eurovision

Fantasy Island

First Cow

The Forty Year Old Version

Freaky

French Exit

Gretel & Hansel

The Half of It

Happiest Season

The High Note

His House

Host

The Hunt

I Am Greta

I'm Thinking of Ending Things

The Invisible Man

Judy & Punch

Kajillionare

The King of Staten Island

The Kissing Booth 2

Like a Boss

The Lodge

Small Axe: Lover's Rock

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Mank

Matthias & Maxime

Miss Juneteenth

Mulan

Never Rarely Sometimes Always

Nomadland

The Old Guard

On the Rocks

Onward

Ordinary Love

The Other Lamb

Palm Springs

The Photograph

Pieces of a Woman

Possessor

Rising Phoenix

Run

Saint Frances

Saint Maud

Secret Love

She Dies Tomorrow

Shirley

Shithouse

Sonic the Hedgehog

Sorry We Missed You

Soul

Sound of Metal

Spree

Summerland

Swallow

Tenet

There Is No Evil

This Is Paris

Time

The Truth

The Turning

Two of Us

Underwater

Undine

Unpregnant

Vampires of the Bronx

Vivarium

The Woman Who Ran

WW84

Words on Bathroom Walls

World of Tomorrow 3 (short film)

Yes, God, Yes

List of songs used is at the end of the video.

Wishing you safety and joy, and a Happy New Year,

Lucy