A new episode to while away the time!

What's good, what's best, what won't make us horribly anxious

For whatever distraction value it may provide in these unspeakably grim times, here are some notes on the new edition of The Last Thing I Saw. It’s a small milestone, but I’ll take it: “The Best Films of 2020” marks the 20th episode of the podcast. This time I invited several critics to share two or three movies that stood out from the pack, with an emphasis on those that haven’t been covered so much on the podcast. It’s a mix of last year’s noteworthy releases and festival highlights that we hope will be made widely available (including one favorite film title, My Mexican Bretzel). You’ll find a full list of titles below. And I’ll get to work on the next 20 episodes...

Plus, some late-breaking news (not the bad kind...). As part of its annual movie awards, the National Society of Film Critics gave a Film Heritage Award to Film Comment (which was placed on hiatus last spring). It’s a rare honor for a publication; past recipients include the Museum of Modern Art, the Criterion Collection, and Martin Scorsese. It’s hard to believe that one year ago I was hawking the new Best of the Decade issue with Vitalina Varela on the cover and hand-delivering copies to Parasite hero Bong Joon-ho during his retrospective at his request. Oh, the glamour! I logged a total of 15 years working at Film Comment, the last few as editor-in-chief (including its last issue to date), and so the NSFC’s recognition holds special meaning and of course stands as a tribute to all those who made Film Comment great.

NEW PODCAST NOTES

Links to movies, books, and other things mentioned on The Last Thing I Saw.

Episode 20: The Best of 2020 with critics Amy Taubin, Eric Hynes, Jessica Kiang, and Beatrice Loayza

Also available on iTunes and Spotify.

Movies discussed:

The Monopoly of Violence (dir. David Dufresne)

Time (dir. Garrett Bradley)

Gunda [my New York Times feature]

Beginning (dir. Dea Kulumbegashvili)

My Mexican Bretzel

Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets [my interview]

How To with John Wilson

To the Ends of the Earth

Martin Eden

Cuties

First Cow

Beanpole

Beginning

The films of Fred Kelemen [h/t Amy Taubin]

I May Destroy You

Preparations to Be Together for an Extended Period of Time

The Whistlers

Bacurau

The Viewing Booth

An Easy Girl

Single Cycle (dir. Zhang Qi)

Anne at 13,000 Ft.

Yellow Cat (dir. Adhilkan Yerzhanov)

Readings:

Eric Hynes interviews the director of acclaimed Romanian documentary Collective

Jessica Kiang’s Criterion essay on David Cronenberg’s Crash

Beatrice Loayza on The Uptown cinema

Amy Taubin on David Fincher’s Mank

And if you’re finding some films missing from the “best of” episode, we may have discussed them before:

Time, with Amy Taubin

Small Axe, with Jonathan Romney and Nicholas Russell

NEW WRITING

I’ve done some more write-ups for The New York Times:

76 Days, a documentary about Wuhan hospital workers during the pandemic

The Twentieth Century, an exuberantly bonkers Canadian film

Night of the Kings, a film that combines “the open-ended energy of griot traditions with the surging tensions of the prison’s close quarters”

And ICYMI, I introduced and guest-edited Screen Slate’s Best of 2020 poll, including a compilation of people’s favorite first-time viewings.

THIS CRITIC’S PICKS

The best last things I saw. New or new-ish, via streaming and DVD.

Three by Buñuel (Criterion)

How To with John Wilson (HBO Max)

The Ascent (Criterion)

JSA: Joint Security Area (Arrow)

Short Films by Julie Dash (Criterion Channel)

I Heart Huckabees (Hulu)

Poto and Cabengo (Criterion Channel)

THE END

Here I might end with a song.

The Last Thing I Saw podcast and newsletter are my way of sharing what I’ve been up to. By way of introduction, I’m a writer and an editor. I’ve worked as the editor-in-chief of Film Comment, where I assigned and edited both web and print, hosted its podcast and talks and screenings, learned from brilliant writers, and wrote a lot myself. Besides Film Comment, for over 15 years I’ve written features, interviews, and reviews for publications including The New York Times, Artforum, Sight & Sound, and dearly departed publications such as The Village Voice, Stop Smiling, The New York Sun, and The L Magazine.

I miss going out to the movies, especially repertory cinemas, and milling about and chatting, and so the natural response is to inflict a podcast on friends and strangers alike.

As always, feel free to contact me about writing, editing, moderating, podcasting, etc.

nicolas.rapold@gmail.com