2024 was not a great year for the movies. The year’s best films absorbed us with their stories and old-school filmmaking, instead of exciting us with their inventive and stylish nature as “The Zone of Interest” “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “May December,” “Oppenheimer,” and “The Boy and the Heron” did last year. The only film in my top ten that was as bold and risk-taking as those was “The Substance,” although “Anora” was a pleasure to behold and “Challengers” was a triumph in stylized storytelling.
And yet, there was still no shortage of good movies in 2024. It was a year when more movies opened than during any other year in memory. It’s hard not to find diamonds in the rough when close to 500 films are released, whether theatrically, or on streaming, especially when your job is to seek them out, much like a junkie, looking for his next high.
That’s why it’s disconcerting to see big Hollywood studios bank their stock on franchises, formulas, sequels, and “content” created for narrow demographic groups. It’s all about product to them instead of original work. It’s even more depressing to witness cash wasted away on films that should have never been greenlit in the first place (“Borderlands,” “Argylle,” “Madame Web”). For every $150M+ bomb, three mid-budget films, with original stories, could have been made instead.
As we entered December, I had a shortlist of 20 or so candidates for my choice of the best films of the year. There was no film that stepped forward and announced itself as the “year’s best.” Then again, a best films list should be a celebration of cinema, not a chopping process. I finally settled on 11 titles and one particular film as the “best” of 2024, and it’s certainly one that caused heated debate amongst critics and audiences. In other words, the best kind of film.
1) “The Substance” (Coralie Fargeat)
Here’s an instant body-horror classic. An absolute onslaught of audacity, sound, imagery and blood, lots and lots of blood, tackling Hollywood’s obsession with female beauty. Demi Moore is sensational, in one of the best roles she’s ever been given, and she goes full-on gonzo with her performance, which keeps shapeshifting at every turn, with nary a false note. Margaret Qualley keeps surprising us with her young career, nailing another boldly provocative role as Moore’s “preferred” younger self. Both are nude for much of the film, and it’s necessary, for Fargeat to meticulously examine the changes that come in the female body. Director Coralie Fargeat announces herself as a cinematic force to be reckoned with.
2) “Anora” (Sean Baker)
“Anora” is an ambitious, bold, glossy and hysterically funny scewball comedy tackling upper and lower class differences. The film is also the rich character study of Ani (Mikey Madison), a Manhattan stripper who falls for rich Russian playboy, Ivan (Mark Eydelshteyn). The film takes big swings, going back and forth in tone, and Madison somehow keeps it all together in a performance that is an absolute firecracker of physical and emotional bravura. Shot in beautiful 35mm widescreen, “Anora” is a chaotically energetic film that’s filled with life. There’s this fascinating movement going on in American indie cinema. Sean Baker and the Safdies are creating what I like to call “Gutter Poetry:” cinema out of the American middle and lower class. It’s resulted in some truly exceptional films these last few years. “Anora” is certainly one of them.
3) “Dune: Part Two” (Denis Villeneuve)
If the first chapter was all about building character and worlds, this one just goes straight for the jugular. It’s partly a road movie as Paul (Timothee Chalamet) and Chani (Zendaya) hide in the mountains of Arakkis with the Fremen. Paul is starting to be seen as this messianic figure, and word is quickly spreading, that he might be “The One.” Denis Villeneuve manages to tackle multiple storylines in the process. It’s a meaty and engrossing story that involves 166 minutes of tactical planning and chess pieces constantly being moved left, right and center. Technically speaking, ‘Dune 2’ is a marvel, the sand worm sequences have never been more visceral, and the breathless scope of the sets are mesmerizing. And yet, Villeneuve never loses sight of the the intimacy of his characters. Amidst the chaos, Paul and Chani are falling in love.
4) “The Brutalist” (Brady Corbet)
His name is László Tóth and he’s played by Adrien Brody in the kind of towering performance that’s impossible to forget. Guy Pearce is the hot-tempered millionaire, Harrison Lee Van Buren, who befriends László and hires him to build a cathedral in his mansion grounds. “The Brutalist,” a densely layered film, is about their tumultuous business relationship. Yes, the film is nearly 4 hours, and the 15-minute intermission only accentuates how masterful the first half of the film is, whereas the second half, which takes a more intellectual approach, is merely just “great.” It’s all aided by Daniel Blumberg’s score, the best of 2024, Lol Crawley’s glorious photography, and the incredibly authentic production design. Set over several decades, Corbet's immigrant saga is so well-constructed that, despite a few narrative lapses, you can’t help but be astonished by the sheer audacity of it all. Some of the shots concocted, the audacious movements of the camera, will make your jaw drop.
5) “Last Summer” (Catherine Breillat)
A subversive treat. Catherine Breillat decided to un-retire for this loose remake of May el-Toukhy’s “Queen of Hearts,” changing the tone, sexuality and ending of that film. Starring Léa Drucker and Samuel Kircher, the film explores the taboos of a stepmother–stepson relationship. Drucker is incredible, showing a methodical madness to her desperation for escape. It’s one of the bravest and boldest performances of the year. The sex is frank and provocative, and Breillat allows for these scenes to play out longer than expected, with unbroken close-ups on the protagonists’ faces. Breillat, as always, has no faith in humanity and it shows in the way her characters lie, backstab and hurt each other. Her approach is a highly detailed immersion in the often-contradictory mechanics of desire and the impulsions that can destroy lives. As always, Breillat manipulates the viewer with constant shifts in her narrative, but her approach is playful, maybe even peaceful.
6) “Close Your Eyes” (Victor Erice)
Victor Erice’s first fiction film in more than 40 years was a love letter to cinema, but done via the story of a disappeared Spanish actor. He vanished during the filming of a movie and his body was never found. The police concluded that he suffered an accident at the edge of a cliff. His best friend believes he might have run away. It’s 169 minutes, a slow-burn with the kind of dialogue that makes you hang on to every word and builds to one of the most emotionally powerful final scenes of the decade. Erice, known for “El Sur,” and 1973’s pantheon-worthy “The Spirit of the Beehive,” came back with one last gift for us, and it couldn’t have been more astonishing. Whether he makes another film remains to be seen, but if this was his final statement, then it was one hell of a way to go out on.
7) “La Chimera” (Alice Rohrwacher)
Alice Rohrwacher made good on the promise of her 2018 gem “Happy as Lazzaro.” This latest film, her best one yet, set in ‘80s Tuscany, tackles thieves of ancient grave goods and archaeological wonders. They’re led by Arthur (Josh O’Connor), a man gifted with the power to know where ancient Etruscan antiquities are buried. They then sell them to a shady dealer called Spartaco. Rohrwacher’s trademark magical-realism has us interpreting episodic events as they unfold. The less you know about the plot, the better. It’s the kind of film that keeps shapeshifting as it goes along. Much like she did in “Happy as Lazzaro,” Rohrwacher takes her time establishing the story and characters, but stick with it, the experience is damn-near transfixing.
8) “Conclave” (Edward Berger)
In “Conclave,” the pope has just died. The papal conclave, led by the Dean (Ralph Fiennes), must now elect the next Pope for the Catholic Church. Edward Berger’s gorgeously masterful thriller is filled with twists and turns; a knotty affair that is immensely entertaining. As the story goes, the lies pile up, and so does the backstabbing. There’s never a dull moment in this one. The cast is also gangbusters; Fiennes is brilliant, but the whole ensemble — led by Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, and Isabella Rossellini — is absolute aces. Berger, who broke out with 2022’s “All Quiet on the Western Front,” has given us an anthropological look into a society known only to very few; Intellectually rigorous and complex, the film is shot in painterly fashion by cinematographer Stéphane Fontaine.9) “Challengers” (Luca Guadagnino)
Here’s a film that’s madly in love with its narrative structure. “Challengers,” a triangular tennis romance in which Zendaya’s Tashi, a tennis prodigy, is the object of lust and affection of two players (Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist), keeps going back and forth in years, with multiple timelines used. I was reminded of David Fincher’s “The Social Network,” which also had shifting timelines, not to mention a brilliantly pulsating score from Reznor/Ross. Screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes imposes on the film so many chyrons, flashbacks and flash forwards, that it’s a testament to his ballsy vision, and Guadagnino’s trust of his audience, the film turns out to so damn entertaining. Cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom just shoots the hell out of it as well — boldly kinetic, filled with brashness, quickly switching up the camera angles at every turn. “Challengers,” a film soaked in abundance, feels like an impressionistic painting. And yet, in the sheer excess of it all, it turns out to be an immensely satisfying film.
10) “A Complete Unknown” (James Mangold)
It’s a character study about Bob Dylan’s beginnings in the 1960 NYC folk scene up until he changed the world by “going electric” at the Newport Folk Festival. “A Complete Unknown” plays more like a series of vignettes, the plot is very loose, and James Mangold refuses to adhere to the classic rise-and-fall biopic clichés — the film plays more like a turbulent rise than anything else. The film also, somehow, manages to nail the enigma of Bob Dylan, the indescribable nature. There’s a complexity to Mangold’s Dylan, and Timothee Chalamet is wonderful as the singer-songwriter. Chalamet sang and recorded most of the songs, and he nails the singing voice, not to mention the guitar playing. The rest of the cast — Edward Norton, Elle Fanning, Monica Barbaro, Boyd Holbrook, and Scoot McNairy — matches this intensity.
11) “Love Lies Bleeding” (Rose Glass)
A brutally entertaining fever dream pulp-noir. The more it progresses, the more bonkers it gets. Set in 1989, “Love Lies Bleeding” follows the relationship between a reclusive gym manager (Kristen Stewart), who is part of a crime family, and an ambitious bodybuilder (Katy O’Brian) who gets wrapped up in organized crime. This film isn’t for the faint of heart — there’s a visceral reaction to be had with all of the gore, blood and puking. I was utterly delighted by how unhinged the whole thing was. “Love Lies Bleeding” should be seen late at night, as it plays like the a midnight noir: the later, the better. Glass plays with image and sound in ruthlessly efficient fashion. It’s all deviously orchestrated by Glass, whose 2019 horror debut, "Saint Maud," turned more than a few heads. However, she’s playing on a whole other level here. There’s major self-assuredness, and risk-taking, in the way she builds up the stakes.
There were many additional films this year I admired or loved:
“Hard Truths,” “Juror #2,” “A Different Man,” “Babygirl,” “Civil War,” “Evil Does Not Exist,” “The Apprentice,” “Kinds of Kindness,” “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” “Io Capitano,” “Sasquatch Sunset,” “Queer” “The Beast,” “The Room Next Door,” “Didi,” “Emilia Perez,” “About Dry Grasses,” “The Goldman Case,” “The Settlers,” “How to Have Sex,” “Longlegs,” “Hit Man,” “Woman of the Hour,” “Coup de Chance,” “Late Night With the Devil,” “The Animal Kingdom,” “A Real Pain,” “Don’t Expect Too Much From the End of the World,” “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” The first hours of “Smile 2,” and “Heretic”
There were also films I saw in 2024 that will only get released in 2025. We’re off to a promising start as a few of these will likely land on my year-end list next year:
Dea Kulumbegashvili’s April, Steven Soderbergh’s Presence, Alain Guiraudie’s Misericordia, Boris Lojkine’s The Story of Souleymane, Albert Serra’s Afternoons of Solitude, Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu’s The Story of Jim, Andrew DeYoung’s Friendship, Leonardo Van Diji’s Julie Keeps Quiet, Ariane Labed’s September Says, Louise Courvoisier’s Holy Cow, Poggi and Vinel’s Eat the Night, Samir Oliveros’ The Luckiest Man in America, Ron Howard’s Eden