Happy 47th, Denis Côté.

Some filmmakers I really got into in 2020

I’m famous amongst my friends for hating “all” of the famous film directors but there are, in truth, even more directors whose work I really love. I had so much time to myself in 2020 that I was able to really get into the work of filmmakers I already love, and also to discover new favourites.

Denis Côté

I discovered this director from Québec this year as Ghost Town Anthology appeared one day on Mubi. It looked interesting so I decided to watch it, not knowing anything about it. I’ve now seen three of Côté’s feature films but I think Ghost Town Anthology remains a favourite. I could try and explain what his films are about but I don’t think it would convey quite accurately what it is that I love about his films. It’s in the atmosphere, the dialogues -- the magical realism -- the quiet (and sometimes not so quiet) tragedy.

Seen this year: Curling (2010) Vic + Flo Saw a Bear (Vic + Flo ont vu un ours, 2013) Ghost Town Anthology (Répertoire des villes disparues, 2019)

Agnès Varda

Before the year started I had only seen two of Agnès Varda’s films, Cléo from 5 to 7 an Vagabond. I thought the former was overrated but fell in love with the latter. But these were made more than twenty years apart, an Varda is a legend, so when a lot of her films became available on Mubi I dove in (I even decided to watch all of them, but I’m not there yet). Varda made a lot of shorts and I generally like those, especially Black Panthers and Uncle Yanco, both documentaries, but the two films that really punched me in the gut this year were Le Bonheur, a drama from 1965, and The Gleaners and I, a documentary from 2000. It’s hard to believe those were all made by the same person and yet there are in Varda’s films a commitment, an honesty, a quirkiness sometimes, that make them completely unique.

Seen this year: La Pointe-Courte (1955) Along the Coast (Du côté de la côte, Agnès Varda, 1958) Diary of a Pregnant Woman (L'Opéra-Mouffe, 1958) The Fiancés of the Bridge Mac Donald (Les Fiancés du Pont Mac Donald (ou Méfiez-vous des Lunettes Noires)) (Agnès Varda, 1961) Salut les Cubains (1964) Le Bonheur (1965) Elsa la rose (1966) Uncle Yanco (Oncle Yanco, 1967) Lions Love (Lions Love... And Lies, 1969) Black Panthers (1970) The So-Called Caryatids (Les Dites Cariatides, 1984) Jane B. par Agnès V. (1988) The Gleaners and I (Les Glaneurs et la glaneuse, 2000) Les 3 Boutons (2015)

Peter Strickland

Before 2020 I’d seen Berberian Sound Studio, which I loved, and The Duke of Burgundy, which is one of my favourite films ever. I went into The Duke of Burgundy knowing nothing about it except that the band Cat’s Eyes had made the soundtrack, which was what made me decide to see it. Today I’m not sure whether or not I like Katalin Varga even more -- let’s say I like them both equally. Katalin Varga is Strickland’s first feature film an, how can I describe it? I could say it’s a rape-revenge drama focused on female anger but it’s a lot more than that.

Seen this year: Katalin Varga (2009) The Field Guide to Evil (Peter Strickland, Veronika Franz & Severin Fiala, Katrin Gebbe, Yannis Veslemes, Ashim Ahluwalia, Agnieszka Smoczynska, Can Evrenol, Calvin Reeder, 2018) In Fabric (2018) GUO4 (2019) Cold Meridian (2020)

Céline Sciamma

I watched all four of Céline Sciamma’s films, in order of release, this year. I’d been feeling as if I was missing out on something for quite a while and finally decided to dive in this year. I really liked all of them, even though I’ll admit it, I thought Portrait of a Lady on Fire was overrated -- but I’m so glad this film exists, all the same. In fact, I don’t think Sciamma will ever be a favourite of mine but I am very glad she’s out there, making the films that she’s making, and I do think the world needs more people like her.

Seen this year: Water Lilies (Naissance des pieuvres, 2007) Tomboy (2011) Girlhood (Bande de filles, 2014) Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Portrait de la jeune fille en feu, 2019)

Andrey Zvyagintsev

I first heard about Zvyagintsev when his film Loveless (which I still have not seen) was nominated for an Oscar. Then I started learning Russian and I thought, I need to watch more Russian cinema, and that’s how it started. I didn’t like The Banishment, I thought it was just one big unnecessary display of violence against women. I didn’t like Leviathan much, for the same reason. But Elena was very good, and The Return, in my opinion, is a true masterpiece.