Even if the film industry revolves around blockbusters, for the most part, independent films are still a crucial component of it. Far from the big studious and billion-dollar franchises with multi-million dollar budgets, indie films are their own culture where obscure and amateur talent can shine properly. In any given year, tons of indie films are released, the names of which will likely go unheard by most. Being “underrated” is part of the whole indie charm after all.
Of course, not all indie films are great, and thus, to make things easier for everybody the following list picks out the best that the industry had to offer in 2020, ranked according to what the critics on Rotten Tomatoes thought of them. It should be noted that this is not a definitive or comprehensive list, as that would almost be too lengthy to compile. As such, it may be unintentionally missing some great pieces.
10 Promising Young Woman – 91%
As a trope, revenge flicks have been around since forever, and yet, there is just something about the perfectly executed plot of redemption and vengeance that never fails to draw people in.
Written and directed by The Crown actress Emerald Fennell in her major debut, Promising Young Woman is a ruthless tale of a woman who preys on predators in a quest to make up for the wrong that was done to her best friend. The film ends on a tragic note, all the while explicitly and yet not forcibly carrying its theme across.
9 Nomadland – 94%
Chloé Zhao continues to solidify her name as one of the best emerging directors of the current generation with Nomadland, a film she wrote, edited and directed while simultaneously working on Marvel’s Eternals.
Starring Fargo actress Frances McDormand and based on the non-fiction book of the same name by author Jessica Bruder, the film explores the nomad culture of people who travel from place to place and don’t permanently live anywhere. A critical hit by every definition, it recently received six Oscar nominations, already having won multiple Golden Globes including Best Motion Picture.
8 Palm Springs – 94%
Everybody has seen a time-travel film at some point, and among time-travel-related films, a common trope is the time-loop, where characters are made to relive the same events over and over again.
What Palm Springs excels at is being technically a sci-fi film (it involves everybody’s favorite sciency word “quantum”) that is really more of a rom-com. Its lack of dependence on its sci-fi aspects and focusing more on its lively characters is what makes it fantastic, expertly played by Brooklyn Nine-Nine star Andy Samberg and Fargo actress Cristin Milioti.
7 Babyteeth – 94%
This coming of age drama doesn’t have the most original premise, but its heartfelt story about a girl dying from cancer and her abusive relationship with a drug-addict does hit all the right notes. Lead actress Eliza Scanlen is no stranger to roles about troubled teenagers, having played similar parts in the thriller mini-series Sharp Objects and another coming of age drama Little Women.
It premiered at the Venice Film Festival where it was nominated for its most prestigious accolade, the Golden Lion Award, but lost to Nomadland.
6 Saint Maud – 94%
Horror is arguably the best genre that shines through the indie medium, and one studio that has made quite a reputation in this department is A24, which has been involved in the release of films like Hereditary and Moonlight.
There is no ignoring the intimacy of horror films with religious themes, especially those of Catholic nature, and Saint Maud is no different. It is about a nurse who becomes obsessed with the thought of saving her patient’s soul, willing to go to extreme and unnatural lengths for the sake of it.
5 First Cow – 95%
As the title says, First Cow is indeed about a cow, the lives of two people surrounding that cow, and the friendship that blooms between them. Set in the backdrop of early 19th century North America, it revolves around an aspiring chef and a Chinese immigrant who start a bakery business with milk stolen from the only cow in the area.
From director Kelly Reichardt, it features Umbrella Academy actor John Magaro in the lead and won the “Best Film” award at the New York Film Critics Circle Awards.
4 Sound of Metal – 96%
For his role in the HBO drama series The Night Of actor Riz Ahmed became the first Asian and also the first Muslim to win an Emmy award for acting, and Sound of Metal made him the first Muslim to earn a Best Actor Oscar nomination.
Whether he will win it or not remains to be seen, but this movie which centers on his character as a rock band drummer who starts to lose his hearing has already been met with some serious acclaim from critics.
3 Blow the Man Down – 98%
An Amazon Prime original, Blow the Man Down follows two sisters Priscilla and Mary Beth who try to cover up a murder when the latter kills a man by accident. One incidental murder leads to another more sinister one when the body of a woman is found, which leads to the police getting involved.
As the sisters try to save their own skin, it is revealed that they aren’t the only ones with secrets of their own in the small fishmongering town of Easter Cove.
2 Never Rarely Sometimes Always – 99%
The most ambitious thing that a director or a film can try to do is explore socially relevant themes while at the same time having a separate identity of its own. Never Rarely Sometimes Always deals with the ever-controversial topics of abortion and teen pregnancy through the eyes of its lead characters Autumn and Skylar.
The title is a clever reference to the four possible answers to a question about the frequency of the sexual experiences of a person that one must answer before being allowed to have an abortion.
1 Miss Juneteenth – 99%
Beauty pageants might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but quite a few films have been made that portray the many various aspects of these contests and the industry they reside in.
Miss Juneteenth tells the story of a single mother who is a past victor of the Miss Juneteenth beauty pageant, and how she tries to help her daughter claim the same title that comes with an attractive prize. The film marked the debut of its director/writer Channing Godfrey Peoples, who herself was a fan of the eponymous pageant in her childhood.
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