Herself

Favourite films of 2020

It’s been a weird year for many reasons and the whole pandemic thing certainly has had an affect on films and when and how they’re released. While I still watched a lot of films throughout the year, there weren’t as many new 2020UK releases. That, along with how this year seems to have gone on forever and it’s hard for me to even remember some of the things I watched and liked months ago, made it a bit difficult to figure out what films I saw and loved this year. Thank goodness for Letterboxd is all I can say.

In no particular order, here are my ten favourite films of 2020.

Enola Holmes
This was an unexpected delight of a film. It’s fun with good performances and a compelling mystery. I really liked the score and how Mille Bobby Brown would break the fourth wall.

Just Mercy
One of the first (and only) films I saw in the cinema this year and I still think about it. Just Mercy is such an important true story and Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Foxx are both incredible.

Misbehaviour
This is such a fun biopic. I love the cast, the humour, the story and how it shows the differences between women and what they’re fighting for in different ways.

The Old Guard
Considering we didn’t get many comic book adaptations this year, The Old Guard was my favourite and one of the best in my opinion. I loved the world and the characters and really hope there’s a sequel as there’s so many interesting elements to this story I’d love to see explored.

Dark Waters
I love an investigative true story about the small guy standing up to the big corporation and Dark Waters is just fantastic. It’s tense, compelling and such an unbelievable true story that kept me hooked.

Da 5 Bloods
The performances in Da 5 Bloods are all a standout and I really liked how the flashbacks had the same older actors in them. It’s a powerful film that tackles some difficult themes with some emotional moments.

Herself
I think this technically might be released in early 2021 but I saw it during the London Film Festival in October, and it affected me so much that I had to include it. It’s heartfelt and heart-breaking and powerful.

Miss Americana
Not that I watched many documentaries this year, but Miss Americana was definitely my favourite. It’s really interesting and while I’ve always liked a lot of Taylor Swift’s songs, Miss Americana made me see her in a whole new light.

The Personal History of David Copperfield
I always think that classics are a bit stuffy and boring, but this adaptation of The Personal History of David Copperfield was so much fun! I loved the costumes, the cast and how the story was told, it’s so quirky and really engaging.

Underwater
I’m a big wuss but I really liked how Underwater built the tension and creepiness. Plus, I thought Kristen Stewart was great in it.

What were some of your favourite films of the year?

REVIEW: Herself (2020)

Trigger warnings for domestic violence.

After young mother Sandra (Clare Dunne) escapes her abusive husband, she fights to give her young daughters a home, going the unconventional route against a broken housing system by deciding to build her own home.

Herself is a brilliant and impressive film. From the opening scene I was captivated by Sandra and her story, her fight for survival. Herself opens with Sandra singing and dancing with her daughters Emma and Molly (Ruby Rose O’Hara and Molly McCann) in the kitchen but the arrival of their father Gary (Ian Lloyd Anderson) brings all that to a screeching halt. The tension between Sandra and Gary is palpable and, like Sandra, you’re just waiting for inevitable explosion.

From that shocking opening you see Sandra and her girls are now living in a hotel room and are just waiting for a housing opportunity to come up as Sandra works two jobs. Herself is an unflinching look at both the housing crisis and domestic abuse. Sandra is questioned as to why she didn’t leave sooner rather than have her ex-husband be asked, why he would hit her in the first place. And once Sandra has removed herself from that situation it is so very difficult for her and her girls to have some stability and somewhere to call home. There are forms to fill in and hoops to jump through and when a house does become available, there’s hundreds of people ahead of her on the waiting list.

When Sandra learns about self-build houses, she thinks that’s the way she can have a home for her girls. One of the most unexpectedly delightful things about Herself is the soundtrack and the montages of Sandra and her newfound friends working together to build a home. Catchy, upbeat pop songs accompany the scenes of the house slowly coming together, and you can see how as the house becomes a reality, Sandra starts to come into her own. The people around her; a fellow mum, a colleague and her friends from the squat they’re in – they all become a stronger family unit than Sandra ever had before.

Clare Dunne, who also co-wrote Herself, is fantastic as Sandra. She plays the different sides of a woman trying to build herself up again after being knocked down for so long so sensitively. She doesn’t have many big shouty scenes, though when she does her desperation is clear to see, instead she is quiet and just trying to hold things together for her children. She’s sad and scared and relieved and a whole load of other complicated emotions and Dunne puts them across so well. the young actresses who play her daughters are also brilliant and their relationship is the foundation Herself is built on.

Herself is about a woman finding a family, herself, and a strength she perhaps forgot she had. It’s empowering and thought-provoking and an emotional watch. 5/5.