I’m feeling strangely optimistic about movies. Perhaps it’s the lingering thrill from Parasite winning Best Picture at last week’s Oscars, or the fact that, after a lackluster January at the theater, February brought Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) and The Assistant, two arresting looks at women trying to survive hostile, patriarchal environments that couldn’t be more stylistically or tonally divergent. I haven’t even seen Portrait of a Lady on Fire yet. As the film industry grapples with economic uncertainties and persistent systemic issues, these were reminders that talented artists are still out there, telling audacious, smartly crafted stories and occasionally even getting the recognition they deserve for it.
While I’m in this generous frame of mind, let’s keep the good vibes going with a peek at the movies to come this year. There will no doubt be disappointments and surprises as possibility gives way to reality, but for now, here are my most anticipated 2020 films:
The Last Thing He Wanted (Feb. 21, Netflix)
What it’s about: A journalist (Anne Hathaway) becomes entangled in Contra arms deals in the 1980s.
Why I’m interested: Reviews from Sundance and its extremely limited theatrical run that started on Feb. 14 ding Dee Rees’s adaptation of Joan Didion’s novel for having a tangled plot, and the trailer suggests it might be more on par with Bessie than Pariah or Mudbound – handsome but conventional, rather than a near-masterpiece. Still, I’m intrigued by the idea of Rees bringing her rigorously intimate approach to a thriller and working with this cast, which includes Ben Affleck, Willem Dafoe, and Rosie Perez along with Hathaway. Maybe it’ll at least complement Triple Frontier, J.C. Chandor’s surprisingly engaging flick that also starred Affleck and touched on the U.S.’s hubristic intervention in Latin America.
First Cow (Mar. 6)
What it’s about: Set in the early 19th century, Kelly Reichardt’s latest feature tracks a traveling cook (John Magaro) and a Chinese immigrant (Orion Lee) as they start a business by stealing milk from a wealthy landowner’s cow.
Why I’m interested: While the trailer tips toward saccharine uplift, I’m familiar enough with Reichardt’s work to know the actual movie is likely anything but sentimental. Victories for her characters are hard-won and fleeting, their significance put into humbling perspective by the majestic yet indifferent Pacific Northwest backdrop they typically inhabit. At once introspective and expansive, her films offer a sorely needed antidote to our hectic modern world, and after missing Certain Women when it was in theaters, I don’t want to make the same mistake with its follow-up.
Bad Education (Apr. 25, HBO)
What it’s about: Cory Finley’s sophomore feature fictionalizes an embezzlement scandal that plagued screenwriter Mike Makowsky’s real high school.
Why I’m interested: Thoroughbreds was a lean, unnerving dissection of privilege as a form of sociopathy through a pair of twisted yet empathetically drawn teen girls, so Long Island’s elite Roslyn Public Schools sounds like a perfect target for Finley’s coolly off-kilter brand of satire. Word out of last year’s Toronto International Film Festival was largely positive, affirming the compatibility of filmmaker and subject, with critics singling out Hugh Jackman’s performance in particular.
The Green Knight (May 29)
What it’s about: David Lowery reimagines the medieval tale Sir Gawain and the Green Knight with Dev Patel as Gawain. There will be blood and at least one howling fox.
Why I’m interested: Evoking Pan’s Labyrinth filtered through an A24 prism, The Green Knight promises an aura of danger often sacrificed on the Arthurian legend’s past journeys to the silver screen, replaced by Disney’s childlike whimsy, Monty Python farce, or Hollywood’s counterintuitive insistence on taming fantasy with gritty realism. Though Lowery dabbled in magic before with Pete’s Dragon, this looks like a total departure from the nostalgia-tinged minimalism that has become his signature as one of our most dependable and under-appreciated contemporary American directors, and I can’t wait to see if he pulls it off. I also just love that Patel has parlayed his gawky teenage breakout role in Slumdog Millionaire into leading-man/heartthrob status a decade later. He’s still only 29!
Wonder Woman 1984 (June 5)
What it’s about: Gal Gadot’s benevolent demigod reemerges in Reagan-era America to take on the sinister businessman Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal) and Barbara Ann Minerva/Cheetah (Kristen Wiig), an archeologist who appears to be pining after the Amazonian princess.
Why I’m interested: As much as I adored 2017’s Wonder Woman, it felt constrained in some ways by the pressure of being not only the first female-led superhero movie since the Marvel Cinematic Universe took root, but the first live-action film ever centered on Diana Prince. Especially in light of the free-wheeling Birds of Prey, I hope Patty Jenkins and her team get to spread their wings and explore more challenging territory with this sequel, while still retaining the original’s joyful humanity. The choice of setting bodes well, given the 1980s’ continued political and cultural resonance; fingers crossed they take advantage of the opportunity to make a statement, instead of settling for an excuse to bring back fanny packs and synth-pop – not that those aren’t also welcome. Most importantly, though, Hans Zimmer is on board as composer to expand on the awesome leitmotif he gifted Diana in Batman v. Superman.
In the Heights (June 26)
What it’s about: Jon M. Chu adapts Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegría Hudes’s Tony-winning love letter to the mostly Latino, immigrant community that calls New York City’s Washington Heights home.
Why I’m interested: The doomed-from-the-start fiasco that was Cats did nothing to abate my hunger for quality big-screen musicals. From his start in the dance-heavy Step Up franchise to Crazy Rich Asians, Chu has cultivated a buoyant, kinetic directorial style that should be ideal for In the Heights, which is backed by both Miranda, who has a small part, and Hudes, who wrote the script. With Hamilton veteran Anthony Ramos reprising the lead role that he took on for a brief 10th anniversary run at the Kennedy Center in 2018, this could be the vibrant, crowd-pleasing highlight of the summer.
Tenet (July 17)
What it’s about: Because this is a Christopher Nolan movie, plot details have been elusive, but if I understand the trailer correctly, John David Washington seems to be playing a spy who has to stop World War III from an afterlife where time moves backwards.
Why I’m interested: As one of the few filmmakers with the freedom to make original studio films on blockbuster-sized budgets, Nolan is my favorite director currently working, and I’ll watch anything he does. An espionage thriller that recalls the mind-bending slickness of Inception and stars Washington, Elizabeth Debicki, Clémence Poésy, and Robert Pattinson sounds enticing enough. Add in Interstellar and Dunkirk cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema, who again employed IMAX cameras and 70 mm film, and can we just fast-forward to July 17 so I can watch Tenet immediately?
Last Night in Soho (Sept. 25)
What it’s about: Per IMDb, an aspiring fashion designer encounters her idol, a wannabe singer, in 1960s London, which is “not what it seems, and time seems to fall apart with shady consequences.”
Why I’m interested: Except for Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Edgar Wright’s oeuvre generally leaves me cold, even as I admire his visual ingenuity and clever use of music, but as a reportedly serious horror film and his first female-led feature, Last Night in Soho sounds far enough from his wheelhouse to rouse my curiosity. Coupled with my post-1917 rooting interest in co-writer Krysty Wilson-Cairns, the prospect of Thomasin McKenzie and Anya Taylor-Joy, two of Hollywood’s most compelling up-and-coming actors, collaborating for the first time is enough to seal the deal.
West Side Story (Dec. 18)
What it’s about: Tony (Ansel Elgort) and Maria (Rachel Zegler) fall in love in 1950s New York City despite a bitter rivalry between their respective street gangs, the Italian Jets and Puerto Rican Sharks.
Why I’m interested: I’m normally wary of attempts to remake classics, but screenwriter Tony Kushner has said the new adaptation will hew more closely to the original Broadway stage musical than Robert Wise’s 1961 film, and I trust the talent assembled here – including Steven Spielberg at the helm and Justin Peck as choreographer – has something more ambitious in mind than a rote recreation of the past. Besides, the themes of assimilation, loyalty, identity, and cross-cultural conflict underlying Arthur Laurents, Leonard Bernstein, and Stephen Sondheim’s rendition of Romeo and Juliet remain as relevant today as they were 60 years ago.
Nomadland (to be announced)
What it’s about: After losing everything in the Great Recession, a woman in her sixties lives out of her van while traveling through the American West in a drama based on Jessica Bruder’s nonfiction book Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century.
Why I’m interested: While I’m cautiously interested in writer/director Chloé Zhao tackling big-budget spectacle with Eternals, I’m relieved that she isn’t abandoning from small-scale fare like this team-up with Frances McDormand, which seems more of a piece with 2018’s lovely The Rider. I expect sweeping wide shots of rugged landscapes juxtaposed with modest yet tender moments of human connection.
Passing (to be announced)
What it’s about: Rebecca Hall makes her directorial debut with an adaptation of Nella Larsen’s novel about a reunion between two childhood friends, one of whom passes as white, including to her husband.
Why I’m interested: Translating Larsen’s seminal Harlem Renaissance text to the big screen for a 21st century audience will be no easy feat, given the delicate balance it walks between transgression and cliché. A miscalculation in substance or tone would produce a cringe-inducing, melodramatic disaster. If thoughtfully executed, however, it could be a provocative showcase for the always magnetic Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga, and maybe Hall will prove as skilled behind the camera as she is in front of it.
lovingly derivative 