20 best movies of 2020 as picked by the Time Out Singapore team

Acclaimed writer-director Sofia Coppola is back with sometimes muse Bill Murray with footloose dramedy about dads, daughters and divorce. From Ghostbuster to Cheaterbuster, the actor plays a larger-than-life playboy father who helps his daughter get to the bottom of her husband’s suspicious behaviour. What follows is a refreshing trip around the Big Apple that draws father and daughter closer together despite one detour after another.

Available to stream on Apple TV+.

Spike Lee takes us deep into the Vietnamese jungle with a drama full of old scars and new possibilities. The Netflix original is a maximalist portrait of four Black Vietnam veterans, former US soldiers, arriving in Ho Chi Minh City to reunite and reckon with their past, while hoping to locate a stash of gold hidden deep inside the jungle. And with that gold, it’s up to the men to turn the American nightmare into the American dream – whether that’s for political or personal gain.

Available to stream on Netflix.

The Chicago Seven is a group of anti-war protestors who were blamed for rioting outside the 1968 Democratic National Convention. But Aaron Sorkin’s courtroom drama – which faithfully sticks to the real-life events – also includes an eighth for the bulk of the runtime, Black Panthers co-founder Bobby Seale who is indicted on the most circumstantial evidence. The ferociously articulate film zeroes in on a specific yet hugely emblematic moment and plays it out with stirring passion and quickfire dialogue.

Available to stream on Netflix.

Whether you’re a fan of Citizen Kane or not, David Fincher’s sly black-and-white ode to Hollywood’s Golden Age is a movie to get lost in. Mank is also known as Herman J Mankiewicz, one of the finest writers in Tinseltown, who was tapped up by Orson Wells to help write the script for Citizen Kane.

Available to stream on Netflix.

“Because we stayed in a lot, this was the year I clocked in a lot of telly time. But it's also the year where I wasn't watching anything particularly serious or deep. Get Duked made me laugh a lot – it's a horror-hip hop-dark comedy on the Duke of Edinburgh awards.”

- Delfina Utomo, Editor

Now here’s a movie that mixes humour, horror and hip-hop into a homemade Molotov cocktail of mayhem and map-reading, topped with gentle social commentary. It trails after three students who are forced to participate in the Duke of Edinburgh scheme after blowing up a school toilet. With another one in the mix, they reluctantly make their way across the wilderness where they get into some trouble with a pair of gun-crazy hunters.

“It's weird now that I think about it but I honestly didn't watch that many movies that came out this year. But Gagarine – which made its Southeast Asian debut during this year's SGIFF – is an emotionally poignant and aesthetically pleasing film paired with an amazing soundtrack.”

- Dewi Nurjuwita, Art & Culture Editor

This moving magic-realist tale is an imaginative exploration of isolation and community. Inspired by the real-life demolition of a public housing in the Paris region, the film orbits around a teenage resident who finds himself becoming the proverbial city spaceman, while coping with the loss of his beloved community and home with gravity-defying means.

“It’s a fun and easy-to-watch film that puts a feminist twist on the usual detective genre that we are used to.”

- Fabian Loo, Food & Drink Writer

So you have your pick of the various Sherlock Holmes, from Benedict Cumberbatch’s modern take to Robert Downey Jr’s brutish version to Will Ferrell’s silly sort. But what about his lesser-known siblings? And no, we’re not talking about Mycroft. Netflix’s Sherlock Holmes spin-off focuses on Enola Holmes, the brainy but belittled sister of the great detective who goes off to solve the mystery of their missing mum, demonstrating the genius streak that runs in the family.

Available to stream on Netflix.

“It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but Jojo Rabbit brings the laughs – Taika Watiti style. But it’s not all fun and games. It actually shows a part of Nazi Germany through the eyes of a naive little boy who is also one of the many people pulled into the thick of it all.”

- Cam Khalid, City Life Writer

New Zealand’s Taika Watiti puts on his boots as a filmmaker and a goofball fantasy-Führer in this outlandish World War II satirical comedy. Like a Wes Anderson movie set during the Third Reich, the film charts a tricky way into a tough subject, following a 10-year-old Hitler Youth whose imaginary buddy is Adolf Hitler himself. 

“IMO, Viola Davis and the late Chadwick Boseman’s powerhouse performances carry this Netflix adaptation – Chadwick’s last on-screen appearance is his best. Beyond their soulful performances, the film also reveals some hard truths about hard work, and the exploitation of Black art in America.”

- Cam Khalid, City Life Writer

Based on Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, this Netflix adaptation sees “Mother of the Blues” and her band at a recording studio in hot Chicago in 1927. The heat is on when Ma Rainey squares off with her white management, while the ambitious trumpeter Levee, who is trying to get his own career launched, spurs his fellow musicians into an eruption of stories, truths, and lies that will forever change the course of their lives.

Available to stream on Netflix.

“Sadly not caught up on 2020 films, so most of my faves this year are from the year before. But I've got Minari on my list – it's Bong Joon Ho approved so what more do I need? Well, except maybe tissue paper to wipe my tears.”

- Cheryl Sekkappan, Staff Writer

Grab your tissue box for this tender movie which also doubles as a semi-autobiographical take on director Lee Isaac Chung’s own upbringing. Set in the 1980s, Minari follows a Korean-American family who moves from California to rural Arkansas in search for a better life and their own American Dream. However, the family home changes when their sly, foul-mouthed, but incredibly loving grandmother arrives. 

“It’s about how a person from the past connects and interacts with a person living in the current era via a phone. What’s scary is how the person living in another era can control the future. Anything horror or thriller, I’m a fan.”

- Kashmira Kasmuri, Designer

The equally gripping South Korean Netflix adaptation of British and Puerto Rican film The Caller bends time and space to manipulate one’s own fate. The time travel thriller connects a woman from a vengeful past to someone in the present. Out of resentment, the former wrecks havoc on the space-time continuum via a phone, interchanging their fates.

Available to stream on Netflix.

“Scraping the barrel here as I have only been to the cinema once and that was to see Mulan, which sadly makes it the only 2020 film that I have seen.”

- Tim Webb, Managing Director, Asia

Not just another Disney live-action remake, this one’s shaped as a historical epic sas Eddie Murphy’s Mushu. Similar to its animated counterpart, the film follows Mulan’s brazen move to take the place of her ailing father in the Imperial Army disguised as a man. See her “get down to business” to become one of China’s greatest warriors.

“Closer to home, local documentary film Sementara is the best film about Singapore life I've seen and I was really impressed.”

- Delfina Utomo, Editor

Titled after the Malay word for ‘temporary’, Sementara is a thoughtful documentary that invites all to look through the lens of various individuals who call Singapore home. It presents a compelling yet sensitive portrayal of Singapore through the different perspectives on issues such as religion, race, identity and mortality as told through personal stories and experiences. It also features a brief appearance by Time out Singapore Editor, Delfina Utomo.

The debut feature by Singaporean filmmaker Tan Bee Thiam is a satirical comedy that follows a man who leaves his mundane, desk-bound office job for a data-driven programme that aims to create the world’s happiest residents in the utopian neighbourhood. While it’s an amusing take on the standard of living in Singapore, it does leave you questioning the concept of happiness in the city. Read our interview with Tan Bee Thiam for the lowdown on the film.

Everyone loves a scary story, so turn your attention to Repossession. The award-winning psychological thriller sees the deadly vice of pride reimagined through the lenses of local directing duo Goh Ming Siu and Scott C. Hillyard. It follows Jim whose mid-life crisis is met with losing his high-flying job in status-conscious Singapore. He finds himself hiding the truth from his family, and awakening the demon from his dark past – all at the expense of his pride. Read our interview with the directors on the scare-o-meter of Repossession.