5 Overlooked 2020 Films to Add to Your Watchlist

2020 is a year we all collectively would like to forget. The pandemic hit a lot of businesses really hard, particularly movie theaters. With everyone stuck at home during lockdown, regular forms of film promotion just simply stopped. Even if a film did release in theaters, it certainly wasn’t going to be seen by many people.

Because of these circumstances, the films in this list either quickly left the conversation or never got help from their marketing to even be a part of it. Even though these films weren’t made with the pandemic in mind, they all spoke to the isolation, the inability to connect to others, and the struggle to maintain established familial and friendly relationships during these troubled times. Because of that, these films not only provide great stories for your entertainment but they offer a time for reflection upon our own pandemic experiences.

From stories of awkward college students to investigations into supernatural conspiracy, here are five overlooked films from 2020 that should be on everyone’s watchlist.

1. KAJILLIONAIRE

Miranda July’s third feature quietly made its debut at Sundance at the beginning of 2020 to rave reviews, only to be acquired by Focus Features and receive little marketing up to its eventual small home release much later in the year. It’s a shame, because Kajillionaire’s unique story of socially awkward characters learning how to be tender again is beautifully executed through Miranda July’s off-kilter realism and quirky humor. The main trio, played excellently by Evan Rachel Wood, Richard Jenkins, and Debra Winger, give off just enough surrealist vibes to make a story like this feel fresh and unique. However, it’s Gina Rodriguez’s character, Melanie, that helps the main trio, namely Old Dolio, get in touch with what unconditional love should look like. What really resonates by the end is the way Old Dolio breaks down the trauma she has lived through with her parents and realizes that she deserves way more than what she was given. It’s also an invitation for the audience to realize that we deserve love from our family, our friends, and most importantly, ourselves. Anyone who can’t accommodate that is only weighing you down. Kajillionaire feels like that weight being lifted off your shoulders.

2. THE KILLING OF TWO LOVERS

Another Sundance 2020 entry makes this list, although this one was even less recognized at the time and even more so now. Currently sitting at 16,000 logs on Letterboxd, The Killing of Two Lovers is a film whose title might as well be a double entendre for what it sets up in the beginning and eventually becomes throughout its runtime. The film follows David and Niki, a married couple in the process of getting a divorce, struggling to maintain whatever relationship they can have as a couple and as parents to four children. It doesn’t help that Niki is seeing another man in midst of these troubles, which builds up to an opening scene where David sneaks into Niki’s house and points a gun at her and the lover. What plays out is a divorce tale of repressed emotions from people who have no idea what they’re doing. It’s tense, it’s often intimate, and it’s heartstopping when it manages to combine both of those disparate feelings. Think of it as Marriage Story by way of Kelly Reichardt making a thriller.

3. SHITHOUSE

Film festivals are often the best places for new and upcoming artists to have a chance at sharing their work and getting their name out there for bigger and better projects in the future. It was a shame that festivals such as SXSW had to go online and lose that integral promotional aspect that helps smaller films get seen. One of the films that seemed to get lost in the mix was Cooper Raiff’s debut feature, Shithouse, a raw and honest story about the awkwardness of college life that feels like a breath of fresh air in comparison to other college-specific films like Animal House and Old School. Cooper Raiff wrote, directed, and acted in his own story, which helps the film get to the core of why freshman year of college can be so hard for young adults. Despite its specificity at times, many college students and graduates can find solace in how Raiff depicts college as an in-between period, where you’re still trying to figure out who you want to be, which types of people you want to surround yourself with, and how difficult it is to be an adult living on your own for the first time. Every conversation feels akin to films like Richard Linklater’s Before trilogy in how natural the characters come across but because of its unique setting, Raiff’s story of college students trying to break out from the shell they’ve built for themselves will connect with viewers who have had similar college experiences. It’s extremely funny, it’s heartbreakingly real, and it has cemented Raiff as a talent unto his own on his first try.

4. THE EMPTY MAN

“Lovecraftian” is a term that debatably gets thrown out way too often to describe horror films that feature slightly unnatural monsters, but what makes a story truly “Lovecraftian” is the horror of the unknowable. It’s the type of horror that would break us if we were able to comprehend it to its full extent. The Empty Man is a film that understands that and more, although its botched marketing likening it to The Bye-Bye Man might’ve led you to believe it was nothing more than dumb, forgettable supernatural horror that comes and goes every year. What this film actually offers is a dark, psychological investigation film, where the more it opens up, the more mysterious the horror is. There’s mind-control, inhuman skeletons, cults and conspiracies, all surrounding a mysterious figure we only get referred to as “The Empty Man”. Anyone looking for an original, slow-burn horror is sure to find a lot to love here. Unfortunately, because of the pandemic, 20th Century Fox decided to quietly release it in theaters for 2 weeks during the summer before they were forced to shut down once again. That, along with the bad marketing, has caused the film to be almost forgotten, aside from the recommendation received by famous YouTuber film critic Chris Stuckmann. Despite that, this film has still not received a home video release and does not have one in sight.

5. NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS

Last but certainly not least, maybe even the best, we have another Sundance 2020 debut picked up by Focus Features, also receiving no marketing much like Kajillionaire. However, what sets this apart is how politically and culturally necessary this film has become within the 2020s thus far. Never Rarely Sometimes Always is a story of a 17-year old girl named Autumn, who finds out she’s pregnant and has to travel to New York with her cousin to receive an abortion. What plays out is a heartbreaking reminder of the real struggles many women have to endure in order to receive proper healthcare in the U.S. Director Eliza Hittman brings a quietness to the tone and makes the visuals deliberately claustrophobic in order to put the audience in the headspace of its main character. It’s also through the amazing performances of its lead actresses, Sidney Flanigan and Talia Ryder, that we get to understand the potent emotions at play behind the characters’ eyes. It’s unfortunately still relevant today due to the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and due to the poor release of this film, it has only received a small DVD release for home video. If there is one film you take from this list, make it this one.

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