Lynn Gives Thanks, 2020
Tuesday, November 24, 2020 at 1:20PM
Lynn Lee in And Then We Danced, Anya Taylor-Joy, Ethan Hawke, First Cow, Mrs America, Palm Springs, Thanksgiving, The Film Experience

Team Experience is giving thanks. Here's Lynn Lee...

Between the scourge of COVID-19 and the utterly dysfunctional American response, 2020 is looking more and more like a lost year for public health, good governance, and the arts and entertainment industry in this country.  Still, as tantalizing hopes of a return to normalcy glimmer on the horizon (three potential vaccines! A responsible, expertise-driven presidential administration!), Thanksgiving provides a much-needed reminder to appreciate the things that helped get us through the past several months.  Here are some of the movie and TV-related moments and discoveries that brought me joy this year:

• Parasite making history as the first Korean movie to win the Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Foreign Film.

• The huge, unblinking gimlet eyes of Anya Taylor-Joy (which bring to mind a cross between Emma Stone and Alita): sometimes challenging, sometimes disquieting, always riveting.

• The ironic curtsy by the protagonist of And Then We Danced at the end of his final dance – the most inspired “fuck you” gesture of the year.

• Getting to see my first drive-in movie ever (even if the movie itself, Tenet, was a letdown).

• The beautifully tender, improbable human friendship that transcends both greed and death in First Cow.


• The perfect timing of Palm Springs – not in terms of its box office, obviously, but as a comedic metaphor for pandemic life, married life, and/or life in general for the confirmed agnostic.  (N.B: Yes, Groundhog Day got there first and may be the better movie, but Palm Springs is the better rom-com.)

• The haunting production and sound design of Alex Garland’s miniseries Devs

• Ethan Hawke’s balls-to-the-wall performance as the half-cracked but oddly magnetic John Brown in The Good Lord Bird.

• Everything and everyone in Mrs. America, but in particular Margo Martindale’s wisecracking, weary yet unbowed demeanor as Bella Abzug, the activist perpetually striving to balance pragmatism and principle. 

• The trailer for Minari 

 

And, as always, Nathaniel and The Film Experience for continuing to make this a safe and welcome space to share my thoughts on movies with you all.  Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving!

Article originally appeared on The Film Experience (http://thefilmexperience.net/).
See website for complete article licensing information.