Zach’s Favorite Films of the 2020s

2024

  1. MATT AND MARA (Kazik Radwanski, Canada)
  2. NICKEL BOYS (RaMell Ross, USA)
  3. CHRISTMAS EVE IN MILLER’S POINT (Tyler Taormina, USA)
  4. SOUNDTRACK TO A COUP D’ETAT (Johan Grimonprez, Belgium/France/Netherlands)
  5. THE WILD ROBOT (Chris Sanders, USA)
  6. HARD TRUTHS (Mike Leigh, UK/Spain)
  7. FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA (George Miller, Australia/USA)
  8. DAHOMEY (Mati Diop, France/Senegal/Benin)
  9. FLOW (Gints Zilbalodis, Belgium/France/Latvia)
  10. TRAP (M. Night Shymalan, USA)
  11. JUROR NO. 2 (Clint Eastwood, USA)
  12. A DIFFERENT MAN (Aaron Schimberg, USA)
  13. CHIME (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Japan)
  14. A TRAVELER’S NEEDS (Hong Sang-soo, South Korea)
  • ODDITY (Damian Mc Carthy, Ireland/USA)
  • WALLACE & GROMIT: VENGEANCE MOST FOWL (Merlin Crossingham and Nick Park , UK)
  • CHALLENGERS (Luca Guadagnino, Italy/USA)

2023

  1. THE BOY AND THE HERON (Hayao Miyazaki, Japan)
  2. LAST SUMMER (Catherine Breillat, France)
  3. DO NOT EXPECT TOO MUCH FROM THE END OF THE WORLD (Radu Jude, Croatia/France/Luxembourg/Romania)
  4. JANET PLANET (Annie Baker, UK/USA)
  5. IN OUR DAY (Hong Sang-soo, South Korea)
  6. ROTTING IN THE SUN (Sebastián Silva, Mexico/USA)
  7. JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 4 (Chad Stahelski, USA)
  8. BEAU IS AFRAID (Ari Aster, USA)
  9. PROBLEMISTA (Julio Torres, USA)
  10. THE FEELING THAT THE TIME FOR DOING SOMETHING HAS PASSED (Joanna Arnow, USA)
  11. MAY DECEMBER (Todd Haynes, USA)
  12. TEENAGE MUTANT TURTLES: MUTANT MAYHEM (Jeff Rowe, USA)
  13. THE ZONE OF INTEREST (Jonathan Glazer, Poland/UK/USA)
  14. ASTEROID CITY (Wes Anderson, USA)
  15. THIS CLOSENESS (Kit Zauhar, USA)
  16. THE TASTE OF THINGS (Trần Anh Hùng, Belgium/France)
  17. RED ROOMS (Pascal Plante, Canada)
  18. ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT’S ME, MARGARET. (Kelly Fremon Craig, USA)
  19. FALLEN LEAVES (Aki Kaurismäki, Finland)
  20. ALL DIRT ROADS TASTE OF SALT (Raven Jackson, USA)
  21. SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE (Joaquim Dos Santos, Justin K. Thompson and Kemp Powers, USA)
  22. JIGARTHANDA DOUBLEX (Karthik Subbaraj, India)
  23. HERE (Bas Devos, Belgium)
  24. MUSIC (Angela Schanelec, France/Germany/Greece/Serbia)
  • UN PRINCE (Pierre Creton, France)
  • MMXX (Cristi Puiu, Romania)
  • BARBIE (Greta Gerwig, USA)
  • THE KILLER (David Fincher, USA)
  • KOKOMO CITY (D. Smith, USA)

2022

  1. I DIDN’T SEE YOU THERE (Reid Davenport, USA)
  2. THE FABELMANS (Steven Spielberg, USA)
  3. SAINT OMER (Alice Diop, France)
  4. THE PLAINS (David Easteal, Australia)
  5. AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER (James Cameron, USA)
  6. NOPE (Jordan Peele, USA)
  7. WALK UP (Hong Sang-soo, South Korea)
  8. GEOGRAPHIES OF SOLITUDE (Jacquelyn Mills, Canada)
  9. ARMAGEDDON TIME (James Gray, USA)
  10. THE PEOPLE’S JOKER (Vera Drew, USA)
  11. JACKASS FOREVER (Jeff Tremaine, USA)
  12. RETROGRADE (Adrian Murray, Canada)
  13. TÁR (Todd Field, Germany/USA)
  14. ELVIS (Baz Luhrmann, USA)
  15. CRIMES OF THE FUTURE (David Cronenberg, Canada/France/Greece/UK)
  16. PACIFICTION (Albert Serra, France/Spain/Portugal/Germany)
  17. AMBULANCE (Michael Bay, USA)
  18. NANPAKAL NERATHU MAYAKKAM (Lijo Jose Pellissery, India)
  19. APOLLO 10 1/2: A SPACE AGE CHILDHOOD (Richard Linklater, USA)
  20. THE NOVELIST’S FILM (Hong Sang-soo, South Korea)
  21. R.M.N. (Cristian Mungiu, Romania)
  22. RIOTSVILLE, USA (Sierra Pettengill, USA)
  23. REWIND & PLAY (Alain Gomis, France/Germany/Lebanon)
  24. DECISION TO LEAVE (Park Chan-wook, South Korea)
  • SKINAMARINK (Kyle Edward Ball, Canada)
  • RRR (S. S. Rajamouli, India)
  • DE HUMANI CORPORIS FABRICA (Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel, France/Switzerland)

2021

  1. IN FRONT OF YOUR FACE (Hong Sang-soo, South Korea)
  2. THE FRENCH DISPATCH (Wes Anderson, Germany/USA)
  3. MEMORIA (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Colombia/France/Germany/Thailand/UK)
  4. PEBBLES (P. S. Vinothraj, India)
  5. EARTHEARTHEARTH (Daïchi Saïto, Canada)
  6. FRANCE (Bruno Dumont, Belgium/France/Germany/Italy)
  7. DRIVE MY CAR (Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Japan)
  8. ÎNTREGALDE (Radu Muntean, Romania)
  9. MAD GOD (Phil Tippett, USA)
  10. THE CARD COUNTER (Paul Schrader, USA)
  11. THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS (Lana Wachowski, USA)
  12. ACTUAL PEOPLE (Kit Zauhar, USA)
  13. THE CATHEDRAL (Ricky D’Ambrose, USA)
  14. SEARCHERS (Pacho Velez, USA)
  15. EL PLANETA (Amalia Ulman, Spain/USA)
  16. FRIENDS AND STRANGERS (James Vaughan, Australia)
  17. THE BEATLES: GET BACK (Peter Jackson, New Zealand/UK/USA)
  18. BENEDICTION (Terence Davies, UK)
  19. BAD TRIP (Kitao Sakurai, USA)
  20. WE’RE ALL GOING TO THE WORLD’S FAIR (Jane Schoenbrun, USA)
  21. PARALLEL MOTHERS (Pedro Almodóvar, Spain)
  22. WHAT DO WE SEE WHEN WE LOOK AT THE SKY? (Alexandre Koberidze, Georgia/Germany)
  23. TEENAGE EMOTIONS (Frédéric Da, USA)
  24. THE GIRL AND THE SPIDER (Ramon and Silvan Zürcher, Switzerland)
  25. TRAIN AGAIN (Peter Tscherkassky, Austria)
  26. A NIGHT OF KNOWING NOTHING (Payal Kapadia, India)
  27. WOOD AND WATER (Jonas Bak, Germany/France/USA)
  28. THE I AND S OF LIVES (Kevin Jerome Everson, USA)
  • AURORA (Paz Fábrega, Costa Rica)
  • RESIDENT EVIL: WELCOME TO RACCOON CITY (Johannes Roberts, France/Germany/UK/USA)
  • THE EROSION PROJECT (Aaron Granat and Dan Su, USA)

2020

  1. THE SHEPHERDESS AND THE SEVEN SONGS (Pushpendra Singh, India)
  2. A DIM VALLEY (Brandon Colvin, USA)
  3. THE DISCIPLE (Chaitanya Tamhane, India)
  4. HER SOCIALIST SMILE (John Gianvito, USA)
  5. CITY HALL (Frederick Wiseman, USA)
  6. DICK JOHNSON IS DEAD (Kirsten Johnson, USA)
  7. MAYOR (David Osit, Palestine/UK/USA)
  8. WIFE OF A SPY (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Japan)
  9. SHE DIES TOMORROW (Amy Seimetz, USA)
  10. MALMKROG (Cristi Puiu, Romania/Serbia/Switzerland/Sweden/Bosnia and Herzegovina/North Macedonia)
  11. EDUCATION (Steve McQueen, UK)
  12. DEAR ESTHER (Nora Stone, USA)
  13. THE INHERITANCE (Ephraim Asili, USA)
  14. BEYOND THE INFINITE TWO MINUTES (Junta Yamaguchi, Japan)
  15. SHORT VACATION (Kwon Min-pyo and Han-Sol Seo, South Korea)
  16. IN MY ROOM (Mati Diop, France/Italy)
  17. THE NIGHT HOUSE (David Bruckner, USA)
  18. LA FRANCE CONTRE LES ROBOTS (Jean-Marie Straub, Switzerland)
  19. THE WOMAN WHO RAN (Hong Sang-soo, South Korea)
  20. MY DONKEY, MY LOVER & I (Caroline Vignal, France)
  21. THE AMERICAN SECTOR (Pacho Velez and Courtney Stephens, USA)
  22. LAS NIÑAS (Pilar Palomero, Spain)
  23. EYIMOFE (THIS IS MY DESIRE) (Chuko Esiri and Arie Esiri, Nigeria)
  24. MANGROVE (Steve McQueen, UK)
  25. WOLFWALKERS (Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart, France/Ireland)
  26. WHAT YOU LEFT BEHIND (Jayce Kolinski, USA)
  27. NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS (Eliza Hittman, USA)
  28. COLLECTIVE (Alexander Nanau, Germany/Romania)
  29. JASPER MALL (Brett Whitcomb and Bradford Thomason, USA)
  • THE CALMING (Song Fang, China)
  • TIME (Garrett Bradley, USA)