Anno 2020

Anno 2020 is writer and director James Morcan’s adaptation of his own novel of the same name, which weaves together a series of interconnecting stories set during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, in this feature, Anno 2020 looks to encapsulate further still that turbulent period through especially relatable experiences as we follow the lives of an ensemble cast of characters spread far and wide across the globe.

Anno 2020 is a film that, despite some issues, achieves a great deal and fully deserves significant credit. Firstly, as an undertaking in itself, Anno 2020 is a monumental achievement in terms of just getting a film made, with Morcan beginning actual production of the film during the pandemic yet somehow managing to capture footage from seventeen different cities within five countries across four different continents, and all for a mere six thousand dollars.

We start at the beginning, with early rumblings of a virus in China eventually making its way west, and then journey with our characters as it takes hold of the world. We follow quite a diverse group; travel-blogger Emma is stuck in Wuhan during this time feeding on conspiracy theories before reconnecting with her mother Heather when Heather reveals her cancer diagnosis. There’s Elijah, living in the States estranged from his Australian family home after coming out and struggling to reconnect with his brother Mark. Then there’s Levi, a man using this time to pursue two different women online. And then there are childhood best friends Jarrell and Malik, two journalists whose personal and professional relationships are nearly torn apart by the appearance of Malik’s new love interest Imani.

It moves surprisingly quickly for a two-and-a-half-hour film, jumping back and forth constantly between stories to keep things moving along and fresh. Where the well-earned poignancy of the film is let down is in the delivery from the cast, at times feeling like a collation of dramatic soap-opera vignettes full of over-long, digressing monologues rather than conversations, something that may translate better on the page but not as well on screen, and there are also scenes which often have scores laid over them that really don’t seem to vibe with the emotion of the moment.

But despite that, nothing should take away from what Anno 2020 represents. Through these stories, Morcan shows just how much impact the pandemic had on everything, how the world changed, how the medical, economic, and societal consequences of the pandemic are still being unraveled, how a constant stream of conspiracies and distrust grew out of nowhere and most of all, how people’s lives all over the world were turned upside-down. But it also shows how despite all of that, in so many ways, the world also became more connected as people chose to reset, re-think, and re-evaluate what is really important.

So, while some may question the need for more stories on the pandemic given how we all experienced it firsthand, to be able to look back and study the humanity of it all will always be important. With that, one would argue that is exactly the reason we need films like Anno 2020, an ambitious look back at one of the most significant periods in human history filled with passion and important reflection.