Slant’s Best Films of 2020: The Ballots

From Chuck Bowen’s introduction to Slant Magazine’s Top 50 Films of 2020: “We’re concluding a year so fraught and demoralizing that “2020” has become a pejorative—a meme unto itself. As businesses continue to shutter, as the federal government is mired in petty infighting ahead of millions of Americans losing their unemployment benefits, already gargantuan corporations like Amazon have been adrenalized by our new, despairing shut-in culture, offering the salves of delivered goods and streaming distractions. In this context, the increasingly common sight of Amazon delivery trucks on the streets has grown eerie, reminiscent of the dump trucks in Phillip Kaufman’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers, which subtly signified the death of the individual and the rise of a new monolithic culture.” Click here to read the feature and see if your favorite films of the year made our list. And see below for a list of our contributors’ individual ballots.

Chris Barsanti

1. Collective
2. Nomadland
3. The Vast of Night
4. The Wild Goose Lake
5. Never Rarely Sometimes Always
6. First Cow
7. The Painter and the Thief
8. Palm Springs
9. The Assistant
10. 76 Days

Honorable Mention: American Utopia, Apocalypse ‘45, Blow the Man Down, City Hall, I’m Thinking of Ending Things, The Meaning of Hitler, One Night in Miami, Possessor, Welcome to Chechnya, White Noise

Chuck Bowen

1. Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets
2. City Hall
3. Yourself and Yours
4. First Cow
5. The 40-Year-Old Version
6. Joan of Arc
7. On the Rocks
8. Fourteen
9. Vitalina Varela
10. Gunda

Honorable Mention: Another Round, Collective, The Color Out of Space, Ham on Rye, Possessor, Red, White and Blue, Shirley, Space Dogs, This Is Not a Movie, The Whistlers

Pat Brown

1. Sorry We Missed You
2. American Utopia
3. Lovers Rock
4. Nomadland
5. Never Rarely Sometimes Always
6. Space Dogs
7. The Wolf House
8. First Cow
9. To the Ends of the Earth
10. The Grand Bizarre

Honorable Mention: Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets, The Cordillera of Dreams, Heimat Is a Space in Time, I Was at Home, But…, Possessor, Red, White and Blue, Tesla, Time, The Truth, Vitalina Varela

Jake Cole

1. Vitalina Varela
2. First Cow
3. Time
4. Shirley
5. Bacurau
6. Da 5 Bloods
7. The Grand Bizarre
8. Marin Eden
9. She Dies Tomorrow
10. To the Ends of the Earth

Honorable Mention: The Assistant, Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets, City Hall, I Was at Home, But, Kajillionaire, Lovers Rock, Possessor, Tesla, Tommaso, The Wild Goose Lake

Ben Flanagan

1. Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets
2. Martin Eden
3. The Invisible Man
4. Never Rarely Sometimes Always
5. American Utopia
6. Zombi Child
7. Vitalina Varela
8. City Hall
9. Bacurau
10. Time

Honorable Mention: First Cow, Fourteen, Ghost Tropic, I Was at Home, But…, Liberté, Lovers Rock, Tommaso, The Twentieth Century, The Whistlers, The Wild Goose Lake

Ed Gonzalez

1. City Hall
2. To the Ends of the Earth
3. Tommaso
4. The Cordillera of Dreams
5. The Grand Bizarre
6. Welcome to Chechnya
7. Space Dogs
8. Ghost Tropic
9. Time
10. Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets

Honorable Mention: Another Round, First Cow, Fourteen, I’m Thinking of Ending Things, Lovers Rock, Pahokee, Possessor, Red, White and Blue, This Is Not a Movie, Zombi Child

Christopher Gray

1. Martin Eden
2. Lovers Rock
3. First Cow
4. To the Ends of the Earth
5. Time
6. City Hall
7. Tesla
8. The Assistant
9. The Cordillera of Dreams
10. Ham on Rye

Honorable Mention: Da 5 Bloods, Heimat Is a Space in Time, I Was at Home, But…, Mangrove, Pahokee, Space Dogs, Vitalina Varela, The Whistlers, The Wild Goose Lake, Yourself and Yours

Wes Greene

1. American Utopia
2. Bacurau
3. Fourteen
4. Sorry We Missed You
5. The Wild Goose Lake
6. Zombi Child
7. Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets
8. The Whistlers
9. City Hall
10. The Grand Bizarre

Honorable Mention: Collective, The Cordillera of Dreams, A Girl Missing, Ham on Rye, I Was at Home, But…, Never Rarely Sometimes Always, The Twentieth Century, The Vast of Night, Vitalina Varela, Yourself and Yours

Carson Lund

1. The Grand Bizarre
2. Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets
3. The Whistlers
4. Vitalina Varela
5. Fourteen
6. First Cow
7. Ghost Tropic
8. Tesla
9. Pahokee
10. Liberté

Honorable Mention: City Hall, Collective, Donbass, The Cordillera of Dreams, Heimat is a Space in Time, I’m Thinking of Ending Things, I Was at Home, But…, Joan of Arc, Space Dogs, Yourself and Yours

Sam C. Mac

1. Inventing the Future
2. Coronation
3. To the Ends of the Earth
4. Zombi Child
5. Black Is King
6. Yourself and Yours
7. A Family Tour
8. Da 5 Bloods
9. A Rainy Day in New York
10. I’ve Got a Little Problem

Honorable Mention: Fourteen, The Grand Bizarre, The New King of Comedy, Liberté, Spring Tide, Tesla, Time, The Wild Goose Lake, Vitalina Varela, The Wasp Network

David Robb

1. To the Ends of the Earth
2. Vitalina Varela
3. I’m Thinking of Ending Things
4. Kajillionaire
5. The Wild Goose Lake
6. Nomadland
7. She Dies Tomorrow
8. First Cow
9. The Vast of Night
10. Ham on Rye

Honorable Mention: Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets, Da 5 Bloods, Dick Johnson Is Dead, Family Romance LLC, Ghost Tropic, The Invisible Man, Lovers Rock, Never Rarely Sometimes Always, The Twentieth Century, The Wolf House

Steven Scaife

1. First Cow
2. The Wolf House
3. The Grand Bizarre
4. The Twentieth Century
5. Lovers Rock
6. Tommaso
7. Vitalina Varela
8. Birds of Prey
9. Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets
10. Song Without a Name

Honorable Mention: Bad Education, Capone, Ghost Tropic, The Invisible Man, Possessor, Ride Your Wave, Saint Frances, Selah and the Spades, Time, To the Ends of the Earth, Wolfwalkers

Diego Semerene

1. Liberté
2. Donbass
3. This Is Not a Movie
4. Another Round
5. Around the World When You Were My Age
6. The Painter and the Thief
7. Welcome to Chechnya
8. Collective
9. The Grand Bizarre
10. Dating Amber

Honorable Mention: Boys State, City Hall, The Cordillera of Dreams, Gunda, Martin Eden, The Painted Bird, Song Without a Name, To the Ends of the Earth, Vitalina Varela, White Noise

Derek Smith

1. City Hall
2. The Wolf House
3. To the Ends of the Earth
4. The Grand Bizarre
5. Space Dogs
6. The Cordillera of Dreams
7. Lovers Rock
8. Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets
9. The Painter and the Thief
10. Tesla

Honorable Mention: Another Round, Boys State, Feels Good Man, Fourteen, Joan of Arc, Never Rarely Sometimes Always, Shirley, Time, The Twentieth Century, Yourself and Yours

Keith Watson

1. The Grand Bizarre
2. First Cow
3. Vitalina Varela
4. Lovers Rock
5. The Twentieth Century
6. Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets
7. Collective
8. Tommaso
9. Time
10. Joan of Arc

Honorable Mention: Bacurau, Boys State, Ghost Tropic, Ham on Rye, Martin Eden, Possessor, Sorry We Missed You, This Is Not a Movie, We Are Little Zombies, The Wolf House