The best 2020 movie I’ve seen is the profoundly authentic Driveways. Yes, The Movie Gourmet is finally recommending a movie that can be described as “heartfelt”.
ON VIDEO
Driveways: I can’t think of a more authentic movie about intergenerational relationships than this charming, character-driven indie. The more I think about Driveways, the more I admire it. It also features the final performance – so genuine and subtle – by Brian Dennehy. Driveways is available to stream on all the major platforms.
The Lovebirds: Issa Rae (Insecure) and Kumail Nanjiani (Silicon Valley, The Big Sick) star in this rom com. The plot is playful, but the relationship is truthful. It’s streaming on Netflix.
Wind River: a smart, layered and intelligent thriller and another success from one of America’s fastest-rising filmmakers, Taylor Sheridan. “This isn’t the land of backup, Jane. This is the land of you’re on your own.” It’s available to stream from Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE:
- Touching the Void: the gripping true life story of a mountaineer who had to cut his climbing partner’s rope.
- Searching: A ticking clock thriller that captures the Silicon Valley vibe.
- Outside In: A story of self-discovery with an astonishing performance by Edie Falco.
- The T.A.M.I. Show: The first concert film, featuring eight future Rock and Roll Hall of Famers.
- Cold Case Hammarskjöld: An investigatory documentary that sends-up the genre.
- Spaceship Earth: A visionary scientific experiment, unraveled from human foibles.
- Night on Earth: This indie has the funniest vignette and the saddest – all in one movie.
- The Deep: astounding fact-based survival story.
- Very Semi-Serious: glorious The New Yorker cartoons.
- The Whistlers: a shady cop and a mysterious woman walk a tightrope of treachery.
- The Wild Goose Lake: vivid nights in the Chinese underworld.
- The Handmaiden: gorgeous, erotic and a helluva plot.
- Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project: it seemed crazy at the time…
- Radio Dreams: stranger in a strange and funny land.
- The Lost City of Z: the historical adventure epic revived.
- Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blache: every cinephile should know this story.
- Buck: the man inside the horse whisperer.
ON TV
On June 9, Turner Classic Movies presents the character-driven thriller Woman on the Run (1950). This film is notable for its San Francisco locations, making it a veritable time capsule of the post-war City By The Bay. It’s a taut 77 minutes of an insolent, mouthy Ann Sheridan, the life-or-death manhunt and stellar period San Francisco. Woman on the Run is on my list of Overlooked Noir.
