The countdown continues! Having listed my Honorable Mentions, I move on to my list of 35 favorite recordings from 2020. This post counts down #35–#21.

Every year for decades I've posted annual lists of favorite albums here. I'm taking things up a notch, with a longer list and more links to specific tracks than ever before. Here's Part One of three posts on my favorite recordings of 2020. Put on your headphones and make some discoveries!

In David Fincher's much-anticipated epic about the origins of Citizen Kane, its political context, and its troubled screenwriter, so much artistry is spent on ambitious and extravagant scenes. But there's no magic happening here.

Cinephile Glen Grunau offers a remarkable list of 100 "contemplative films" that will reward those who seek them out. Also: Grunau posts some insights on Peter Jackson's innovative WWI documentary.

Thanksgiving leftovers!Listen in on a conversation between Alissa Wilkinson, Sam Thielman, and Jeffrey Overstreet as they celebrate the greatest feast ever filmed.

Here is a new episode of the Looking Closer podcast, featuring my first impressions of Wolfwalkers, and then my conversation about it with Dr. Lindsay Marshall.

I share this as the first in a series of more personal posts, in hopes of expanding the range of subjects I explore at Looking Closer. I hope you enjoy this glimpse of the glory that played out in front of me at the close of this beautiful day.