Oscars 2025 (#97): the Show

the Show -my notes:

23 awards to go til 6.10 am ;)

It starts with Somewhere over the Rainbow, it goes into the Wicked songs with the freakish Cynthia and Grande.

Conan O'Brian (hosting for the 1st time), is actually very good, natural with a good sense of pacing. With a little help of Adam Sandler and John Lithgow. Then surprise, he sings s a song, “I won't waste time”, featuring dancers, the sandworm from "Dune" on piano doing “chopsticks” and Deadpool.

Robert Downey jr. presents supporting actor and the least deserving guy gets it, Kieran, who is the same in life as in A Real Pain, as in Succession, kinda same part. Nice speech tho, talking to his wife.

He also looks like a young Kirk Douglas. Glowing eyes.

(commercial break #1)

Wow ! For Animation FLOW wins. Wonderful, Touching ! Lithuania enters the Oscars. Great film, now in Romanian cinemas, go and see it !!! Absolutely sensational, it beats Disney, Pixar and The Giant Robot.

The short animated category I didn't follow. “In the Shadow of the Cypress” won. The two Iranian directors are great ! They just landed in L.A. Three hours ago, they said.

(commercial break #2)

Costume design, no surprises there, Wicked, the first black person to win for costume design.

Another commercial break, # 3

Original script. Sean Baker wins his 1st Oscar for writing Anora. Adapted, Conclave. No surprises here. 

Surely The Brutalist and The Substance and September 5 were better choices but I'm happy for Baker. 

Commercial break, # 4, man, there's more breaks than show...

June Squibb and Scarlett Johansson present the makeup and hairstyling award to The obvious The Substance.

Then we get Halle Berry to let us know the Governer Ball's Awards (November 2024), from Quincy Jones (posthumous) to the Bond producers of EON, Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson (who gave a way bond to the sharks from Amazon :() -Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award.

and then we get a 007 tribute clip followed by a dance extravaganza with a superb Margaret Qualley (as I said before, on her way in becoming a A-lister, after OUATiH, Poor Things, Kinds of Kindness, The Substance, Drive-Away Dolls), in a red dress, then we get renditions of Live and Let Die with Lisa , Diamonds are Forever with Doja Cat, Skyfall with Raye, all in good taste, channeling the originals.

Commercial break, # 5

Nice joke of Cinemastreams, Conan featuring Marty Scorsese.

And a anniversary of Kill Bill puts Daryl Hannah on stage. She looks great, presents the award for best Editing. Again, Sean Baker rocks (2^nd award !), Anora for editing ! Deservingly.

Divine takes the stage for the supporting actress award presentation. Zoe Saldana wins. Emilia Perez was here, will she win for International film too ?

Commercial break, # 6

Ben Stiller on stage with a joke stolen from SNL Vincent Price skit (& Peter Sellers & more), present the Production Design Award. Wicked". May the Biggest budget film win. And a film about architecture, nem...

Then on the sound of Sympathy for the...who ?, Sir Mick Jagger shows up. Best Song award. Making Bob jokes. El Mal from Emilia Perez win. Sorry, I couldn't care less. The nominations this year for song were awful. 

Commercial break, # 7

Conan does the second Dune Sandworm joke, playing harp ! Sam Jackson (L.) and Selena Gomez (M.) present short documentary film. The Only Girl in the Orchestra wins. Feature: No Other Land. Political moment speech. 

Commercial break, # 8

Conan & the L.A. Firemen Dpt. Firemen jokes.

Miles Teller & Miley Cyrus (in Europe Kilometer & Kilometry). Sound. Dune 2.

Gal Gadot, herself a special FX, in a red dress present the Visual Effects Award. Dune part 2 it is. 

VO/announcer (in my heydays it was Peter Coyote ;) -Nick Offerman, who's voice is kinda off (booze?). 

Commercial break, # 9

Ana de Armas and Sterling K. Brown present the last short award.

Morgan Freeman presents an homage to Gene Hackman. He played together in Unforgiven and Under Suspicion. That introduces the In Memoriam montage I had no clue Fred Roos and Adam Somner. died ..).

Commercial break, # 10

An actor presenter from each film nominated for Cinematography: Joe Alwyn for the  Brutalist. Alba Rohrwacher salutes a Ed Lachman in a wheelchair for Maria. Willem Dafoe for Nosferatu, Zoe Saldana for Emilia Perez, Dave Bautista for Dune part 2. Lol Crawley wins for The Brutalist. Fair enuff. 

Penelope Cruz presents for Best International Film. I'm Still Here/ Ainda Estou Aqui wins (Walter Salles, Brazil). Another big loss for EP, due to bad PR mostly.

Commercial break, # 10

Conan makes another Russian Joke via Anora. Mark Hamill (!!!) presents the award for best Original SCORE. Daniel Blumberg for The Brutalist. Well deserved for a Grand, epic score !

Whoopy and Oprah introduce a Quincy Jones musical tribute. Queen Latifah sings a song from The Wiz. 

Commercial break, # 11

Conan: "If you still enjoying this show you have what it's called Stockholm Syndrome". 

Cillian Murphy takes the stage for best actor award. He won last year for Oppenheimer. And...Adrian Brody wins his 2nd Oscar (22 years after 2003's The Pianist) for the part of architect  László Tóth in The Brutalist !!! The most touching moment of the evening. Brody is entering a cool restricted club. Egészségedre !

Enter QT, Quentin iz in ze house ! Best director -ta-dam, Sean Baker for Anora ! His 3d Oscar, suddenly a small struggling indie director becomes a Monster Superstar in the biz. Phones will be ringing, snakes will be crawling, emails will be flowing, agents will be waltzing around & mirages will be presented to him but I have the feeling he won't sell out. Kudos !

Commercial break, # 12

Emma Stone (who won last year for Poor Things) presents Best Actress award. Aaaand surprise, Mikey Madison (Sadie in OUaTiH) wins !!! Anora's fourth Oscar ! Mikey is 25 !

Meg Ryan & Billy Crystal present Best Film. And Anora wins !!! Five Oscars out of Six ! Sean Baker is also co-producer so he gets his fifth award. Bravo !

And they even finished earlier this year ! Sorry for Demi, that was this edition surprise for me. 62 vs. 25. Baby Jane or All About Eve ? Again the SAG proof that no one guesses is perfect. The acting awards were again different from those of the guild. All in all it was a calm and cool edition with the most indie films in an Oscar race, two foreign directors, and wins for Anora 5, Brutalist 3. 

That's it, folks !

Top films 2024

(wherever is a link I wrote about 'em), 

still have to see The Brutalist and some more to come. 

The top in Romanian about films in cinemas in 2024 here 

 the series of 2024 here. 

and my Top films of 2023 here. 

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# 1 across the aldmovieland: Furiosa (A Mad Max Saga)

then:

Anora- also the comedy of the year

From 2023 as seen in 2024: 

poor things
the zone of interest
bastarden
perfect days

io capitano 

The Master & Margarita

Vincent doit mourir !

Les Chambres Rouges

La Chimera

Only the River Flows

Die Theorie von Allem 

animation:
Flow

muzical:
joker folie a deux

moments of Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice

horror:
MadS
Cuckoo
Maxxine

Oddity

Sting

Never Let Go

& Late Night with the Devil (but from 2023) 

Thriller:

love lies bleeding
the order

Blink Twice 

American Star 

Strange Darling (production year 2023)

LaRoy, Texas (2023 also)

& more:

Civil War  

The Apprentice -best performance of 2024, Sebastian Stan (not the one from a Different Man, kind of Elephant man 2024)

The Bikeriders -flawed but still...

action but with a soul and a message (maybe too much even) but cool: Monkey Man (on that budget chapeau bas Dev Patel !!!)

Guilty pleasure film of the year: John Woo's own remake of THE KILLER

Nicolas Cage Award of the Year: Longlegs (not seen The Surfer yet)

Bonus: a grand barf for the grand guignol of The Substance (will see it again in theaters soon and conclude)-Later Edit, yep, much better, I swallowed the last 1/2 hr. ok)

Romanian film of the year:

Anul nou care nu a fost / The New Year that never Was

Documentary: 

Nasty

Mrs. Buica (from 2023, but saw in 2024)

Alice On & Off / Isabela Tent

Disappointment of the year: Megalopolis :(

Worst film of the year/cash-in: Gladiator II (again, Ridley Scott :( after Napoleon in 2023, and so on...)

 

Joker: Folie à Deux (2024)

Folie à Deux is the curio of the year

flop of the year, more so than Furiosa

cost 200 mil . $, three times more than Joker (2019)

least sequel ever

most divissive film of 2024

musical of this year

dysfunctional love story 

opening animation says it all there (done by Sylvain Chomet no less)

and how about that ending ? 

Tarantino loved it

"The Joker directed the movie. The entire concept, even him (Phillips) spending the studio’s money — he’s spending it like the Joker would spend it, all right?” Tarantino said. “And then his big surprise gift — haha! — the jack-in-the-box, when he offers you his hand for a handshake and you get a buzzer with 10,000 volts shooting you — is the comic book geeks. He’s saying fuck you to all of them. He’s saying fuck you to the movie audience. He’s saying fuck you to Hollywood. He’s saying fuck you to anybody who owns any stock at DC and Warner Brothers […] And Todd Phillips is the Joker. Un film de Joker, all right, is what it is. He is the Joker.”

and Hideo Kojuma says in 20 years it will be considered a masterpiece. 

Oscar 2024 Nominations (96th Edition)

 here

no surprises here, 13 nods for Oppenheimer (14 at BAFTA's), 11 for Poor Things & 10 for Killers of the Flower Moon.

but

just obscene to have Barbie nominated for adapted screenplay...not to mention "best film".  It's not that I'm sexist, but also this is not That Feminist Movie  (TFM) that changed the world. Just the Box Office, as in "the most succesful film directed by a woman". Well, if Bigelow, Kathryn would've directed Avatar 2 or something, this would've been done b.fore..

my bets are on those I put on Bold and Italics.

Best picture

• "American Fiction"
• "Anatomy of a Fall"
• "Barbie"
• "The Holdovers"
• "Killers of the Flower Moon"
• "Maestro"
• "Oppenheimer"
• "Past Lives"
• "Poor Things"
• "The Zone of Interest"

Best actor

• Bradley Cooper, "Maestro"
• Colman Domingo, "Rustin"
• Paul Giamatti, "The Holdovers"
• Cillian Murphy, "Oppenheimer"
• Jeffrey Wright, "American Fiction"

Best actress

• Annette Bening, "Nyad"
• Lily Gladstone, "Killers of the Flower Moon"
• Sandra Hüller, "Anatomy of a Fall"
• Carey Mulligan, "Maestro"
• Emma Stone, "Poor Things" (they tell me, again, I read that Emma will win, haven't seen the film yet, will get back to it *** saw it and yes, Emma Stone it is, my review here)

Best supporting actor

• Sterling K. Brown, "American Fiction"
• Robert De Niro, "Killers of the Flower Moon"
• Robert Downey Jr., "Oppenheimer"
• Ryan Gosling, "Barbie"
• Mark Ruffalo, "Poor Things"

Best supporting actress

• Emily Blunt, "Oppenheimer"
• Danielle Brooks, "The Color Purple"
• America Ferrera, "Barbie"
• Jodie Foster, "Nyad"
• Da'Vine Joy Randolph, "The Holdovers"

Best director

• Jonathan Glazer, "The Zone of Interest"
• Yorgos Lanthimos, "Poor Things"
• Christopher Nolan, "Oppenheimer"
• Martin Scorsese, "Killers of the Flower Moon"
• Justine Triet, "Anatomy of a Fall"

Great names for Directing...best ensemble from all noms... not a fan of Justine Trier film but it's absolutely spot on directed. Then Yorgos Lanthimos together with Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese (a record for the Oscars, his 10th nomination!!!) and wow, Jonathan Glazer, who's film, The Zone of Interest I'm still expecting to see. Out in limited (or very limited) Romanian release Feb. 16th. Saw it and WOW! one of the best of 2023, and much more than that. See my review here.

International feature film

• "Io Capitano," Italy
• "Perfect Days," Japan
• "Society of the Snow," Spain
• "The Teachers' Lounge," Germany
• "The Zone of Interest," United Kingdom

Animated feature film

• "The Boy and the Heron"
• "Elemental"
• "Nimona"
• "Robot Dreams"
• "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" (they tell me -I mean, I read ;) this is a sure bet...haven't seen it and wasn't planning on...)

Adapted screenplay

• "American Fiction"
• "Barbie"  (they say this will win but I hope someone in the WGA would have some sense...and sensibility ;)
• "Oppenheimer"
• "Poor Things"
• "The Zone of Interest"

Original screenplay

• "Anatomy of a Fall"
• "The Holdovers"  (hopefully!, but Anatomy will win probably)
• "Maestro"
• "May December"
• "Past Lives"

Visual effects

• "The Creator"
• "Godzilla Minus One"
• "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" (tough, I'll go with this one as I haven't seen Godzilla Minus One)
• "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One"
• "Napoleon"

Original score

• "American Fiction"
• "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny"
• "Killers of the Flower Moon" (I would've loved for 'em to give this to Robbie Robertson...it's his fisrt nomination too, tho posthumously...)
• "Oppenheimer"   (this might be Ludwig Goransson's second Oscar)
• "Poor Things"

Original song

• "It Never Went Away" from "American Symphony"
• "I'm Just Ken" from "Barbie"
• "What Was I Made For?" from "Barbie"  (one of the Barbie's will win..)
• "The Fire Inside" from "Flamin' Hot"
• "Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People)" from "Killers of the Flower Moon"

Documentary feature film

• "20 Days in Mariupol"   
• "Bobi Wine: The People's President"
• "The Eternal Memory"
• "Four Daughters"
• "To Kill a Tiger"

Cinematography

• "El Conde"  (Ed Lachman surely deserves one for this uber-curio but...)
• "Killers of the Flower Moon"
• "Maestro"
• "Oppenheimer"   (Hoyte Van Hoytema, already twice nominated for Tenet & Dunkirk) 
• "Poor Things"

Costume design

• "Barbie"
• "Killers of the Flower Moon"
• "Napoleon"
• "Oppenheimer"
• "Poor Things"

Animated short film  

• "Letter to a Pig"
• "Ninety-Five Senses"
• "Our Uniform"
• "Pachyderme"
• "War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko"

Live action short film   

• "The After"
• "Invincible"
• "Knight of Fortune"
• "Red, White and Blue"
• "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar" (Wes Anderson, can be seen on Netflix)

Documentary short film    (unknown by me)

• "The ABCs of Book Banning"
• "The Barber of Little Rock"
• "Island in Between"
• "The Last Repair Shop"
• "Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó"

Film editing

• "Anatomy of a Fall"
• "The Holdovers"
• "Killers of the Flower Moon"
• "Oppenheimer"
• "Poor Things"

Sound

• "The Creator"
• "Maestro"
• "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One"
• "Oppenheimer"
• "The Zone of Interest"

Production design

• "Barbie"
• "Killers of the Flower Moon"
• "Napoleon"
• "Oppenheimer"
• "Poor Things"

Makeup and hairstyling

• "Golda"
• "Maestro"
• "Oppenheimer"
• "Poor Things"
• "Society of the Snow"

Top films of 2023

Tough year. 4 me...saw way less movies and series than in 2022, almost like half !!! but it was a much better year for films IMO. More 2023 tops to come-series, soundtracks, albums & concerts. 

Killers of the Flower Moon-Martin Scorsese

& Oppenheimer -Christopher Nolan, 

I would put these two ex aqueo I guess there are very important films that will stay on. Cillian Murphy should win his Oscar (but there's the Giamatti factor and I go for that), as Nolan, Downey jr., Gorranson and all involved. It already started well, all Critics society, Golden Globes, BAFTA and Guilds awards included. For Killers it's again Scorsese's losing streak (Irishman style).

----------------------------------------- not seen yet (at that date): 

The Zone of Interest, Perfect Days, Monster (saw it in Feb. 2024 and it's not my cup of cinema), Io Capitano, Poor Things. Waiting for them in theaters, yet. 

*Later Jan. 28th Note: Just saw Perfect Days, in the cinema, an Ozu film by Wenders :), and it would've made the top of the top, it's clearly one of 2023's best films and more than that. My review here. 

**Later later note -Feb. 13-saw Poor Things in the cinema, it's a curio and a stunt but fascinating nonetheless arthouse shock Cinema ! My review here.

***Later later Later note (Feb. 20th) -The Zone of Interest, clearly one of the year's best, a true masterpiece of avant-garde and essential cinema. My review here.

-----------------------------------

*Kaurismaki's Fallen Leaves -I wasn't so impressed, it's the same film all over again, but with lesser cultish actors, liked better Le Havre and The Lights of Dusk. I mean, good, warm, heartfelt, uberminimalistic, but same tour of Aki's pub we know so well. Also, didn't do much with the dog....and the fact they watch The Dead don't Die :( when on the posters there's so much better films...

& the rest: 

Xmas film if there was one: The Holdovers-Alexander Payne-Paul Giamatti and Payne at their best. 

guilty pleasure? Babylon -though technically it's from 2022, saw it in 2023, January. My review here.

Action film of the year: Sisu -Jalmari Helander 

Sequel/franchise; Indiana Jones and the Dialof Destiny -James Mangold

Psychotronic film of the Year: Nu aștepta prea mult de la sfârșitul lumii/Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World by Radu Jude. Just saw this apocaly-pic (in the cinema sense ;) in a theater, with people, and so I had to change /add this item to the Top. More on this here.

***

Mentions for acting: May December -Todd Haynes -Julianne Moore & Natalie Portman (& for the Michel Legrand theme from The Go-Between)

Ferrari - Michael Mann- might be Adam Driver's best part and most restrained, or at least of recent date.

& Saltburn -Emerald Fennell -Barry Keoghan, which I loved in The Banshees of Inisherin (my top film of 2022), and a proof he will make a good Joker !

One-character piece film of the year- Inside-Vasilis Katsoupis -with a most brilliant Willem Dafoe.

Curio of the year: Beau is Afraid-Ari Aster (& my review here).

Super-hero flick: Guardians of theGalaxy vol. 3 (James Gunn) & my Review here

Film romanesc/Romanian film: Libertate-Tudor Giurgiu (at the time i had no Jude screening) -here's the review in Romanian, and here in English !

Thriller: The Killer-David Fincher, if Fassbender's character would've listened  to a different band than The Smiths I would've liked it better-like if he listened to The Pixies for ex ;), -also discovered a really cool comix through this ! -my review here  

Musical of the year-Wonka (also prequel)

Animation-The Boy and the Heron-Hayao Miyazaki

Horror -When Evil Lurks / Cuando acecha la maldad, Demian Rugna -Argentina

Nicolas Cage Award of the year: Sympathy for the Devil. 

Dream Scenario , I saw in cinema and wasn't too impressed, Cage did it before in Adaptation, it's like a sort of Beau is Afraid 2 (no wonder Ari Aster is involved), film ain't too funny and loses breath fast, rather liked him in Butcher's Crossing, with his shaved head. 

Comedy:  Beau (mostly, when he is not afraid :), Next Goal Wins -Takia Waititi with a great Michael Fassbbender, also having the time of his life, The Holdovers. 

Disapointment of the year -Napoleon-Ridley Scott, totally miscast , out of breath, all over the place but nowhere where it should be. Beau is not Nap...

*** gotta mention Paul Schrader's Master Gardner -which even played in Romanian Theaters for about...a week :( , I saw it in 2023 but the film is from 2022, premiered at the Venice film Fest. It's Schrader's best since Auto Focus (2002) and Better than The Card Counter and First Reformed, his last two films which were also wriiten by Schrader. A great Joel Edgerton performance too. 

Documentary of the Year (4 me): 

Crock of Gold: A Few Rounds with Shane MacGowan (2020, Julian Temple)  -because I saw it after Shane died...

Boy and the Heron, The (2023)

The Boy and the Heron / Kimitachi wa dô ikiru ka /Baiatul și stârcul/ is playing in Romanian theaters (distributor's communique here) .  Amazingly. I guess it's a also the first film by Hayao Miyazaki to play here (well, Ponyo played also in theaters). I saw it (in Japanese, with Romanian subtitles) on Friday, opening night and was enchanted & mesmerized.

The other one I saw on a cinema was Spirited Away / Chichujiro at a festival I guess, in Elvira Popescu in Bucharest.  But his films are avaliable to stream on Netflix, also in the subtitled Japanese version, not dubbed in English, from Porco Rosso to Kiki's Delivery Service, Howl's Moving Castle, Nausicaa, My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke, Ponyo to Spirited Away, his best film imo, and The Wind Rises, his last film up to Heron, in 2013. I mean it's a golden treasure, espcially for those who looked for these films years and years, before streaming and internet downloads.

Heron it's one of this year best films, best soundtracks (beautiful score by Joe Hisaishi, legendary Japanese composer which I personally know from Takeshi Kitano in the early 90's), and it will win the Oscar for animation for sure. And the Golden Globe. But more so, it's one of Miyazaki's forte, his comeback after 10 years, at 82. He could only animate about one minute of film per month so the work on the film took more than 5 years (he started it in 2016). A very sensible film, hand-drawn as all Ghibli films, and Japan's most expensive film to date. Also a world box office record.

I empathize all these facts because I was amazed of how many people who like films haven't heard of him and/or don't wanna go see this cos it's an animee. Get a grip and get to the cinema ! Then talk to me. ok?

The Japanese title/n / Kimitachi wa dô ikiru ka / (translated as "How Do You Live?") is the same as a 1937 novel by Genzaburô Yoshino, writer of children's literature, the book has significant meaning for the main character in the film.

Top Soundtracks 2022

new composers (Michael Abels, Colin Stetson), as the old Usual Suspects :)-Burwell, Zimmer, Pemberton, Desplat, Holkenborg, Elfman, Reznor/ the order is not ascending or descending...

The Top of the 2022 Films is here.

The Top of the 2022 music albums is here.

Babylon-Justin Horwitz

Elvis -VA

Nope-Michael Abels

Top Gun: Maverick -Va incl. Harold Faltemeyer, Hans Zimmer 

The Banshees of Inisherin-Carter Burwell

Bones and All-Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross

Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness -Danny Elfman 

The Menu-Colin Stetson

See How They Run-Daniel Pemberton (sounding like Desplat for Wes Anderson's GBH)

Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio-Alexandre Desplat

3000 years of Longing-Tom Holkenborg (very unusual and elegiac underscore for TH)

&

Slow Horses(TV)  w Mick Jagger/Daniel Pemberton's song Strange Game

*****

no Nick Cave & Warren Ellis for Blonde- too hard to digest score and film...I wouldn't have recognised ever it's Cave... 

Top Films of 2020

It's gonna be in English tho. In 2020 I saw films worth mantioning in theaters (Tenet, Colectiv, Pinoochio), watched a lot of Netflix lucky batch of art films product but mostly It was a re-watch and catch-up pf old movies. managed to count (adding series) 370 films. Not so much, I think. so here we go, a TOP 12 adding one mini-series I Know This Much Is True-tough one- but basically a six-hour long film: "

The Top of 2020 series is here ! And the Top of the albums of the Year !

1. "Mank" (Netflix) David Fincher movie of the year !!!

“Uncut Gems” (Netflix) the Safdie Brothers , technically out in December 2019

 “Another Round” Thomas Vinterberg 

 "Tenet" (Warner Bros.) Christopher Nolan -my review here

 “The Painted Bird” Vaclav Marhoul (technically out in 2029) based on the controversial Jerzy Kosinski novel 

 "Pinocchio" Mateo Garrone 

 “I'm Thinking of Ending Things” (Netflix) Charlie Kaufman 

 “Babyteeth” Shannon Murphy

“The Hater” (Netflix) Jan Komasa 

 "Palm Springs" (Hulu/Neon) Max Barbakow -also comedy of the year, sorry Bill and Tedd Face the Music 

 "Da 5 Bloods" (Netflix) Spike Lee 

 “I know This Much Is True” Derek Cianfrance 

HBO mini-series, but like e six-hour movie with special points for Mark Ruffalo-actor of the year, together with Gary Oldman, Adam Sandler in Uncut Gems and Mads Mikkelsen 

Mentions: 

Waiting for the Barbarians, Ciro Guerra's adaptation of J.M. Coetzee's Nobel awarded novel,  flawed but a different breed of film, The Trail of Chicago Seven, The Comey Rule with a great Jeff Daniels and Russian SF/horror Sputnik. 

 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

  Animation 

"Soul" (Pixar) Pete Docter & Kemp Powers 

  Documentary 

“Zappa” (Alex Winter) 

“Belushi” (R.J. Cutler, Showtime)

 “Colectiv” (Alexandru Nanau, also filmul romanesc al anului 2020) -my review here

 Concert Film of the Year

“American Utopia” (HBO, David Byrne's concert of the album named the same) Spike Lee