Best movie of 2020

1. Why Nomadland commonly tops 2020 lists

Nomadland is repeatedly singled out in end‑of‑year and awards coverage as a defining achievement of 2020 for its meditative portrait of itinerant Americans and its stripped‑down cinematic language, which critics and industry outlets elevated in a year dominated by smaller releases and festival discoveries ^{[1] [2]}. Industry roundups and critics’ lists leaned into Nomadland’s thematic alignment with the year’s anxieties — precarity, loss, and searching for new kinds of community — and its festival-to-awards trajectory gave it institutional momentum that many outlets equate with “best” ^{[2] [5]}. Those endorsements are not purely aesthetic: publications tracking the year’s standout films placed Nomadland among a short list of titles that mattered both culturally and within the awards ecosystem ^[1].

2. Strong alternatives and what they offer

Portrait of a Lady on Fire tops several editorial compilations for its formal rigor and emotional intensity, and Rotten Tomatoes’ curated best-of-2020 places it at the summit of that site’s list, arguing for its centrality to 2020’s film conversation ^[3]. Animated and studio-backed contenders also register: Pixar’s Soul is frequently named among the year’s best for marrying technical mastery with existential themes, and outlets like Variety included it in their year-end surveys alongside Nomadland and Mank ^[1]. Other critical favorites — Minari, First Cow, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, and The Invisible Man — appear across independent aggregations (Letterboxd, Roger Ebert) and critics’ lists, underscoring that “best” depends heavily on whether one privileges formal innovation, cultural impact, emotional resonance, or accessibility ^{[4] [5] [3]}.

3. The pandemic’s distortion of what “best” meant in 2020

The pandemic forced theatrical closures and reshaped release strategies, so traditional measures like box office and mainstream visibility were less reliable; Variety and other outlets explicitly note that many awards‑worthy films landed via festivals or streaming, complicating apples‑to‑apples comparisons with prior years ^[1]. Critics’ lists therefore magnified smaller, festival‑born films that might have been peripheral in a normal year, giving titles like First Cow and Portrait of a Lady on Fire outsized cultural weight among tastemakers ^{[2] [3]}. This context explains why some audience‑driven rankings (IMDb, Letterboxd) diverge from critics’ consensus: popular vote and streaming reach favored different films than the curated selections of major critics and trade publications ^{[6] [4]}.

4. Verdict, caveats, and how to pick a “best” for oneself

If "best" is judged by critical consensus and awards momentum, Nomadland is the defensible choice for 2020; if "best" is defined by formal daring, one can argue for Portrait of a Lady on Fire; if emotional breadth or family accessibility matters, Soul is a top contender — each label is supported across reputable outlets cited in year‑end roundups ^{[1] [3] [4]}. The reporting available highlights divergent metrics — critics’ polls, aggregator rankings, festival buzz, and audience ratings — and none of the provided sources supplies a singular, incontrovertible metric that eliminates debate ^{[5] [3] [4]}. The final answer must accept that "best movie of 2020" is partly a value judgment; based on the weight of critical and industry coverage in the provided reporting, Nomadland stands as the most consistently recognized single choice, with Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Soul, Minari and First Cow as legitimate and well-documented challengers ^{[1] [3] [4] [2]}.