A look back at the best films of 2024
Compared to 2023, 2024 was marked by a bit of a downturn in quality and box office. No “Oppenheimers” or “Barbies” to be found. But there were a few gems to discover. Here are my 10 favorites from the year, and 15 more that barely missed making the list:
A Complete Unknown
As Bob Dylan, Timothée Chalamet hauntingly captured music’s poet laureate in all his rough-hewn glory as the folk-rock troubadour took New York City by storm in the early 1960s. Although those dreamy Chalamet looks delivered a noticeably more alluring Dylan, that distraction was counterbalanced by the actor’s spot-on mannerisms, facial expressions and an uncanny ability to echo his subject’s unique speech and vocal patterns. That included doing all his own singing and playing. While I would have preferred a less polished Dylan and a messier movie, director James Mangold’s Hollywoodized rendering proved highly seductive, abetted by terrific supporting turns by Elle Fanning, Edward Norton and Monica Barbaro.
A Real Pain
How could something so simple as two cousins touring Poland in the wake of their beloved grandmother’s death be so profound and deeply moving? Well, if you’re writer-director Jesse Eisenberg you draw from your family’s history in attempting to reconcile personal struggles by immersing yourself in the far more traumatic truths of ancestors who fell victim to the Holocaust. He stars as David, a successful Manhattan exec preoccupied by his life of domesticity. Endeavoring to regain his youthful mojo, he invites his gregarious, seemingly carefree cousin, Benji (an Oscar-worthy Kieran Culkin), to accompany him. The plan is to honor their granny. But on the pilgrimage, which includes a stop at a concentration camp, the two secular Jews learn much more than they anticipated – about their Jewish roots and themselves.
Conclave
Director Edward Berger’s follow-up to his extraordinary adaptation of “All Quiet on the Western Front” was one of the most illuminating entries into this year’s Oscar sweepstakes. It was also among the most thrilling, putting you on pins and needles awaiting the outcome of a papal election that could dramatically impact the future of the Catholic Church. As the dean of the College of Cardinals, Ralph Fiennes inhabits the role of the Holy See referee as if it were tailor-made for an actor who may soon be subjected to votes of his own by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Flow
You won’t relish a more transformative experience than being swept up in the beauty of Gints Zilbalodis’ marvelous depiction of a feral black cat uniting with his natural enemies after a raging tsunami washes away their homes. Constructed for less than $4 million on the Latvian’s laptop using Blender software, “Flow” is computer animation at its most creative. Scripted by Zilbalodis and Matiss Kaza, the dialogue-free film makes a subtle plea for compassion and understanding in an increasingly divided world. It also moves you to tears like no movie since “Up.” It’s a variation on Hitchcock’s “Lifeboat,” but with heart, joy and a metaphysical undertone that puts commercial fare like “Inside Out 2” to shame.
Hard Truths
Marianne Jean-Baptiste is Oscar-caliber as a British wife and mother so teeming with rage and resentment, she can barely keep from going postal on anyone who has the misfortune of crossing her path, including her obese adult son who spends his days redefining layabout. In reuniting with his “Secrets and Lies” star, writer-director Mike Leigh creates a black comedy reflective of a time when personal anger is seemingly at an all-time high. Like Jean-Baptiste’s Pansy (the irony of that moniker does not go unnoticed), we don’t know where the rage originates; we just know it’s there. And to witness Pansy verbalize it is strangely cathartic – and a little bit disturbing. But you’re too busy laughing to notice or care.
I’m Still Here
Fernanda Torres is ferocious as a wife and mother fighting to keep her family together after Brazilian officials arrest her husband and refuse to divulge whether he’s dead or alive. Walter Salles (“Central Station”) vies for his second foreign language Oscar nomination with a fact-based tale set in the 1970s but with lingering worldwide reverberations in the present day. Is it nobler to conform to ensure your family’s safety or to fight for what you believe no matter the cost? Salles answers resoundingly through Torres’ inspiring take on finding the courage to never retreat, even while living under a repressive regime with no concept of humanity or justice.
Last Stop in Yuma County
Rookie writer-director Francis Galluppi proved he’s ready for the big leagues with his clever, bullet-riddled exercise in nihilism. Sure, he owes much of his darkly comedic style to the influence of the Coens and Quentin Tarantino, but damned if it doesn’t seem farm-fresh, as he convenes a disparate group of patrons inside a piping-hot rural diner where itchy trigger fingers are the specialty of the day. Does anyone get out alive? I won’t say, but believe me, it won’t be easy with someone as deliciously sardonic as Galluppi calling every menacing shot. And while you’re there, be sure to try the rhubarb pie. Like the movie, it’s to die for.
Memoir of a Snail
Nudists, adipophiliacs, swingers, arsonists, hoarders, evangelicals, masturbating magistrates … Nothing was off limits in animator Adam Elliot’s poignant, offbeat tale of separated twins enduring their own versions of hell while clinging precariously to the wish that one day they’ll be reunited. Yes, it was bleak, often depressing, but in a manner only Elliot could achieve, his Claymation opus was infused with satire, humor and an unyielding sense of hope.
The Girl with the Needle
In formulating the grimmest of fairy tales, writer-director Magnus von Horn perfectly encapsulated a society laid to waste in the aftermath of a world war still being fought in the minds of a shell-shocked citizenry. Set in 1919 Copenhagen, the story of a penniless, pregnant war widow (Vic Carmen Sonne) struggling to survive amid an ocean of squalor was steeped in dread, darkness and morally compromised characters. But it was presented with such brilliance and artistry, you couldn’t look away.
The Seed of the Sacred Fig
How blistering an indictment of tyrannical Iranian rule is this masterpiece from writer-director Mohammad Rasoulof? Extreme enough that he was forced to flee Tehran after the government sentenced him to eight years in prison for daring to criticize his native land’s draconian veil law. Inspired by Jina Mahsa Amini, murdered while in custody for being in public sans hijab, Rasoulof humanizes the issue by presenting it from the perspective of the teenage daughter of an “investigating judge” whose career climb could be destroyed if word ever got out about the girl’s association with radicals. The result was a gripping tale awash with suspense and a blatant middle finger to an authoritarian regime with zero respect for women.
Honorable mention
“Nosferatu,” “No Other Land,” “Strange Darling,” “His Three Daughters,” “Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl,” “Late Night with the Devil,” “September 5,” “Kill,” “Sing Sing,” “Heretic,” “Juror #2,” “Kneecap,” “Super/Man: The Story of Christopher Reeve,” “Sugarcane,” “Woman of the Year.”
