The Never-To-Be-Discussed 2020 EMOs

Look, I don’t have to get into it, but I didn’t exactly “keep up” with movies in 2020. You know why.

But! I got there eventually, catching up with the weird and aborted list of festival and streaming titles that filled up “best of 2020” lists. Over a year after the fact, and with none of us particularly wanting to revisit that year for any reason, I am not going to advertise this post. But in bringing the EMOs back from the dead for 2021, I weirdly felt the need to document what I would have said or done in 2020 – if anyone asked. This is also now my chance to give a dry-run to a new, slimmer EMOs, and figure out how to do it in WordPress’ godforsaken new editor. Here you go, whoever you are.

Top 10 of 2020

1. Da 5 Bloods
2. First Cow
3. One Night in Miami…
4. The Personal History of David Copperfield
5. Wolfwalkers
6. Nomadland
7. Sound of Metal
8. The Old Guard
9. David Byrne’s American Utopia
10. Tenet

Best Director

• Armando Iannucci, The Personal History of David Copperfield
• Gina Prince-Bythewood, The Old Guard
• Regina King, One Night in Miami…
• Spike Lee, Da 5 Bloods / David Byrne’s American Utopia
• Darius Marder, Sound of Metal
• Tomm Moore, Ross Stewart, Wolfwalkers
• Kelly Reichardt, First Cow
• Chloe Zhao, Nomadland

Best Acting Ensemble

• Da 5 Bloods
• Emma
• First Cow
• Minari
• One Night in Miami…
• The Personal History of David Copperfield

Best Lead Performance

• Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal
• Kingsley Ben-Adir & Leslie Odom Jr., One Night in Miami…
• Radha Blank, The Forty-Year-Old Version
• Han Ye-ri & Steven Yeun, Minari
• Delroy Lindo, Da 5 Bloods
• John Magaro & Orion Lee, First Cow
• Frances McDormand, Nomadland
• Cristin Milioti, Palm Springs
• Elisabeth Moss, Shirley
• Gary Oldman, Mank
• Dev Patel, The Personal History of David Copperfield

Best Supporting Performance

• Chadwick Boseman, Da 5 Bloods
• Kenneth Branagh, Tenet
• Colman Domingo, Michael Potts & Glynn Turman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
• Hugh Laurie, The Personal History of David Copperfield
• Paul Raci, Sound of Metal
• Mark Rylance, The Trial of the Chicago 7
• Amanda Seyfried, Mank
• Youn Yu-jung, MinariThe Forty-Year-Old Version

Best Original Screenplay

• Jeff Barnaby, Blood Quantum
• Danny Bilson, Paul De Meo, Kevin Willmott, Spike Lee, Da 5 Bloods
• Radha Blank, The Forty-Year-Old Version
• Lee Isaac Chung, Minari
• Will Collins, Wolfwalkers
• Darius Marder, Abraham Marder, Sound of Metal

Best Adapted Screenplay

• Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, The Personal History of David Copperfield
• Eleanor Catton, Emma
• Kemp Powers, One Night in Miami…
• Jonathan Raymond, Kelly Reichardt, First Cow
• Greg Rucka, The Old Guard

Best Cinematography

• Christopher Blauvert, First Cow
• Sturla Brandth Grøvlen, Shirley
• Hoyte van Hoytema, Tenet
• Erik Messerschmidt, Mank
• Tami Reiker, Barry Ackroyd, The Old Guard
• Joshua James Richards, Nomadland
• Newton Thomas Sigel, Da 5 Bloods

Best Score

• Tamar-kali, Shirley
• William Tyler, First Cow
• Ludwig Göransson, Tenet
• Christopher Willis, The Personal History of David Copperfield