The Top 20 Performances of 2020 and 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom'

The critics circle awardsNew York, LA, and Boston kick off award season

First Cow 2020

NYFCC's Best Picture. Sean reads off the circle's last decade of Best Picture picks: not one of them went on to win the Oscar.

Da 5 Bloods 2020

NYFCC named Chadwick Boseman Best Supporting Actor for it; Delroy Lindo was also recognized.

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm 2020

Maria Bakalova took NYFCC Best Supporting Actress.

Never Rarely Sometimes Always 2020

Sidney Flanigan won NYFCC Best Actress, Eliza Hittman Best Screenplay.

Nomadland 2020

Chloé Zhao won NYFCC Best Director and was LAFCA's Best Picture runner-up, behind Small Axe.

Mank 2020

Amanda Seyfried was LAFCA's Best Supporting Actress runner-up; the film still hasn't broken into Netflix's top 10 the way Ma Rainey has.

Sound of Metal 2020

Paul Raci was LAFCA's Best Supporting Actor runner-up behind Ma Rainey's Glynn Turman; Riz Ahmed was Best Actor runner-up behind Boseman.

Promising Young Woman 2020

Carey Mulligan won LAFCA Best Actress, Emerald Fennell Best Screenplay.

Minari 2020

Yuh-Jung Youn won LAFCA Best Supporting Actress.

Time 2020

Garrett Bradley's documentary, both circles' best-documentary pick.

Wolfwalkers 2020

Both circles' best-animation pick.

The Forty-Year-Old Version 2020

Radha Blank's directorial debut, cited by both circles for the new-generation/first-time filmmaker award.

Ma Rainey's Black BottomNetflix's adaptation of August Wilson's 1984 play

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom 2020

George C. Wolfe directs the adaptation of Wilson's Pittsburgh Cycle play, which was No. 1 on Netflix's daily top 10 the morning they recorded. LAFCA named Glynn Turman Best Supporting Actor and Chadwick Boseman Best Actor for it; Viola Davis was the Best Actress runner-up. It's one of Boseman's final performances and an unusual one for him: not the institution he usually plays but, per Amanda, 'the firework as opposed to the fuse,' building to a single closing monologue. Davis, physically transformed as Rainey, doesn't get overshadowed. Also strong: Colman Domingo and Taylour Paige, on her way to Zola.

Sean's best performances of 2020no order, just rattling off

Sound of Metal 2020

Riz Ahmed as a punk-metal drummer losing his hearing. Carries almost every frame of a movie that's found an unlikely cult following on streaming.

Mangrove 2020

Shaun Parkes as Frank Crichlow, owner of the restaurant at the center of the Mangrove Nine story. He holds the first 40 minutes before Malachi Kirby and Letitia Wright take over.

Da 5 Bloods 2020

Delroy Lindo as a Vietnam vet in a MAGA hat, coming apart at the seams. 'The engine of this movie' (big and specific at the same time).

Nomadland 2020

Frances McDormand, defended against a friend's take that she's overrated: she has what every great movie star has, a persona, and it's always recognizably hers.

First Cow 2020

Orion Lee, opposite John Magaro, as the half of the film's central friendship Sean can't take his eyes off.

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm 2020

Maria Bakalova, 24 and previously unknown, matching Sacha Baron Cohen scene for scene, including the Rudy Giuliani sequence.

I'm Thinking of Ending Things 2020

Jessie Buckley playing a woman who is, in fact, someone else's psyche (and, at one point, Pauline Kael).

Mank 2020

Amanda Seyfried as Marion Davies, all surface charm until you notice what's underneath it.

Freaky 2020

Vince Vaughn playing a body-swapped teenage girl in Christopher Landon's slasher comedy, a real return to his comic register.

The Trial of the Chicago 7 2020

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Bobby Seale, set apart from the other seven and nailing Sorkin's rhythm.

The Assistant 2020

Julia Garner, on screen nearly the entire film, as an assistant to a Weinstein-esque producer.

Pieces of a Woman 2020

Vanessa Kirby, especially across an unbroken opening stretch Sean won't spoil.

On the Rocks 2020

Special award, middle-aged men who drink too much (three-way tie): Bill Murray at full wattage as a father who can charm his way out of anything.

Another Round 2020

Same special award: Mads Mikkelsen, cast against type, as an empathetic teacher who starts day-drinking with his friends. Sean singles out the last five minutes.

The Way Back 2020

Same special award: Ben Affleck, unsubtle but committed, drinking his life apart. 'The patron saint of the show.'

The King of Staten Island 2020

Honorable mention: Bill Burr and Marisa Tomei. Sean wishes the movie had just been about them, retitled The King and Queen of Staten Island.

Amanda's best performances of 2020no order, just rattling off

Tenet 2020

John David Washington and Robert Pattinson, both on Amanda's list. Washington reinvents the Nolan hero with an ease and humor she says the film needed to have fun; Pattinson is a charm machine doing his own Eames-via-Tom-Hardy routine.

Palm Springs 2020

Cristin Milioti, matching and then outrunning Andy Samberg's comic register while also carrying the film's emotional weight.

Kajillionaire 2020

Gina Rodriguez, playing charm and normalcy against Evan Rachel Wood's family of scammers: the first character in a Miranda July movie not doing Miranda July's usual tone.

Minari 2020

Steven Yeun, doing a kind of restraint Amanda calls rare. Alan Kim, as his young son, wins the special kid-acting award.

Let Them All Talk 2020

Candice Bergen, stealing a Steven Soderbergh cruise-ship movie as both the comic relief and the emotional gut-punch opposite Meryl Streep.

Happiest Season 2020

Aubrey Plaza, whose Riley performance got the internet rooting for the wrong ending for two straight days.

News of the World 2020

Helena Zengel, opposite Tom Hanks, wins the other half of the special kid-acting award. The movie only works because she and Hanks form a bond.

Also mentioned raised along the way

A year ago at this time 1917ParasiteOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood

NYFCC Best Picture, the last decade - no Oscar winners among them The IrishmanRomaLady BirdLa La LandCarolBoyhoodAmerican HustleZero Dark Thirty

In passing FencesOne Night in MiamiZolaGet On UpMarshallBlack PantherThe Dark KnightThe Lost WeekendGood TimeHigh LifeThe LighthouseThe KingThe Devil All the TimeSweet Home AlabamaThe NotebookMy Best Friend's WeddingBridget Jones's DiaryWild RoseBurningOkjaMalcolm XCrooklynClockersGet ShortyCooley HighOcean's Twelve

Coming up on the show The Midnight SkyWonder Woman 1984

Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads

TV Small AxeMurphy BrownThe Good FightThe Walking Dead30 RockOzarkEuphoriaThe Wire

Podcasts Higher Learning

Ads Boar's HeadFanDuelCarvanaNetflix Games (FIFA World Cup Launch Edition)Starbucks Frappuccino