It’s been a wild, unpredictable, and often terrible year for the movie industry. Still, while Hollywood punted most of their biggest 2020 releases to next year because of the coronavirus pandemic, indies and streaming services still provided plenty of outstanding movies over the last 12 months.

The usual awards season calendar is pushed back somewhat because the Oscars don’t take place until April next year instead of the usual late February, and a lot of the pomp and circumstance is toned down, but the steady stream of top ten lists and critics awards is already underway. Today Indiewire published its annual poll of critics, who declared Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland the top movie of 2020. They also gave Zhao the Best Director prize, and selected its star, Frances McDormand as the second-best performance of the year, behind only Riz Ahmed in the drama Sound of Metal.

Here was the critics’ top ten films of the year:

  1. Nomadland
  2. Never Rarely Sometimes Always
  3. First Cow
  4. Lovers Rock
  5. I’m Thinking of Ending Things
  6. Beanpole
  7. Time
  8. Da 5 Bloods
  9. Martin Eden
  10. Bacurau

Nomadland follows McDormand’s character, Fern, as she travels across the country, living out of her van, moving from place to place as a modern-day nomad in the wake of the Great Recession. After a very limited run in virtual cinemas this month, Nomadland opens wider on February 19, 2021.

Check out Indiewire for their full critics poll results. ScreenCrush’s annual top ten movies list will be unveiled later this week.

Gallery — 25 Best Picture Winners Every Movie Lover Should See:

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