2020 Academy Awards

I saw 90 of the 91 films entered in the International Feature Film category of the 2020 Academy Awards. I also saw the two films that were belatedly disqualified for being primarily in English. Having watched the films of 92 countries, I found that the most common themes were 1) toxic masculinity, 2) women trying to break loose from rigid gender role expectations and 3) gay men trying to survive in countries hostile to homosexuality.

This was a good year for films from the Middle East and, despite the success of Parasite, a weak year for films from Asia. The films from Latin America were notable because almost all of them included at least one scene of sexual activity.

Here are my reviews of the five nominees and 22 other films of particular interest.