Present Confusion 2020 Rundown Part 3: World Cinema Favorites

 

...I've run out of jokes

It's a bit ironic that when the pandemic forced us all into our homes, it allowed cinema to expand beyond borders at the same time. International film festivals started offering their films to international audiences, sometimes for free. The world became a smaller place.

In rough order, here are some of my favorite films from around the world that I saw in 2020.

John Tawasil's

WORLD CINEMA FAVORITES 2020

Honorable Mentions:

15. Exit (Lee Sang-geun, 2019) - An enjoyable thrill ride from start to finish, while Exit isn't as profound as other films in this list, it's by far one of the most entertaining. At a time where the world wasn't looking too sunny, it was the injection of stubborn, boldfaced positivity that I needed. 

14. The Half of It (Alice Wu, 2020) - This refreshing take on Cyrano de Bergerac intersects queer love, friendship, immigrant integration into society and religion and culture in a small town all in one surprisingly wholesome package. Where's the other half of it, Netflix?

13 My Sweet Grappa Remedies (Akiko Ohku, 2019) - I've always associated "coming of middle age films" with anxious, chaotic and even violent awakenings. Akiko Ohku's My Sweet Grappa Remedies takes the opposite approach, gently easing us into a woman's entrance into that strange realm between youth and old age.

12. Under the Open Sky (Miwa Nishikawa) - Miwa Nishikawa has a penchant for stories featuring characters who employ deception, and this absorbing character study is no exception - except this time, the only thing the main character of Under the Open Sky is truly deceiving is himself.

ELEVEN WORLD CINEMA FAVORITES

11. True Mothers (Naomi Kawase, 2020) - It seems like Naomi Kawase has gone full circle: from deeply personal documentaries about how motherhood has shaped her, she's made an emotional exploration of motherhood in all its myriad forms. Also, I'm a fan of Kawase's work and I hope she gets to make more films like this in the future.

10. You and I (Fanny Chotimah, 2020) - few films are as heartbreaking as Fanny Chotimah's debut work about the twilight years of two political dissidents who find each other during their incarceration and grow old together. An intersection of the sociopolitical effects of activism on one's life, a "love" story unlike any other, and a gentle meditation on the finite nature of life, it's hard to type words about this film without breaking into tears. It's that affecting.

9. Corpus Christi (Jan Komasa, 2019) - I guess it's pretty telling that this film about an ex-con/juvenile delinquent pretending to be a priest communicates true Christlike behavior better than any faith based film that I've ever seen in my life.

8. Eeb Allay Ooo! (Prateek Vats, 2019) - hierarchies dominate the theme of Prateek Vats' debut film, and it's pretty telling that in these ladders of social order, ordinary humans like you and me aren't necessarily at the top.

7. Minari (Lee Isaac Chung, 2020) - a tender drama about an immigrant family trying to make it in the rural United States, Minari is a film about the smaller stories that make up the tapestry of a proud nation of immigrants.

6. Nomadland (Chloe Zhao, 2020) - It's kind of interesting that in a year where loneliness is forced upon us by circumstance, there's a film like Nomadland, about a person whose loneliness exists by choice. There's also a sense of larger machinations with economies and society trickling down and destroying the underlying fabric of America, scattering its peoples into empty wastelands, perpetually exiled from each other.

5. Nasir (Arun Karthick, 2020) - 2020 marks a year where the inherent weaknesses of populism were laid bare by the pandemic. A person can think critically; while masses of people are prone to manipulation, and their hatred can be directed against others. In an environment where hate is cultivated day by day, it is always the everyday man who suffers the most. In this adaptation of a short story (itself based on real life events), the humdrum day of a man is shown in gentle detail, before hurtling towards an inevitable, unfortunate conclusion.

4. Quo Vadis, Aida? (Jasmila Žbanić, 2020) - as with Nasir, Quo Vadis, Aida deals with the monstrous consequences of hate and the inevitability of history. But it also deals with the banality of evil, in that normal people - your neighbor, your coworker, even yourself - can be capable of heinous things. What place does accountability have, then, in a society trying to move past such a difficult history?

3. Crazy World (Nabwana IGG, 2019) - I saw this rerelease of the 2014 Wakaliwood classic during the height of the pandemic, during the We Are One global film festival - and I think it's exactly what I needed. While far from perfect technically, it's as crazy as the title says - a wild, inventive (and surprisingly, lesson-filled) love letter to cinema, and I'm all for it.

2. A Balance (Yujiro Harumoto, 2020) - This is actually my favorite film of 2020, as the #1 is there for mostly sentimental reasons. Harumoto's debut film, a meditation on media, truth, and truth-telling, is the most tense 153 minutes I have watched this entire year. 

1. Happy Old Year (Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit, 2019) - as we throw away the garbage of the previous year, I guess it's appropriate that the film at the top of this list deals with throwing things away, and the idea that that process is never that simple. As with many of Nawapol's films, this particular film feels low key, almost deadpan, then does a 180 turn and shoots you straight in the heart.

***

That ends Present Confusion for 2020. To be honest, guys and gals, I legitimately thought of hanging up my gloves at the end of 2019, but the pandemic gave me room to stretch creatively. With the way things are going now, I don't think I can go back to cinemas yet. So unless I've been vaccinated, I've decided not to cover any Filipino films with a purely theatrical release..

That said, the format of this blog will likely change in the coming months. I'll probably start talking about different things, if I ever find the juice to talk about anything at all. For all we know, this might be my last entry in Present Confusion, and if that's the case, with 15 years of stuff behind us, I think this is a good place to end it. But if I do manage to think of something to write about, expect it here and nowhere else.

In the meantime, I'll still be working with the fine folks over at Third World Cinema Club, and I have a youtube channel now. That might go on for a while until I run out of ideas again and make my way back here.

In years past, I've ended these things by saying "see you at the movies," but since this time things are different, I'll settle with saying: Be safe. Take care of yourself. And if the fates are kind, I'll see you around.