In the wake of a pandemic, an uncertain future for multiplexes, and strikes in 2023 by the Writers Guild of America and Screen Actors Guild, Hollywood prognosticators and self-appointed observers presumed 2024 would be dismal for film.
Thankfully, such pronouncements proved unfounded.
While box office receipts saw a slight dip from the previous year, there were still plenty of blockbusters, albeit of the IP variety. Surveying 2024’s highest-grossing pictures, all but one was a sequel or a reboot, and that outlier, Wicked, was the adaptation of a 21-year-old hit Broadway show based on a book. More promisingly, the recently concluded year witnessed a variety of movies offering innovative stories and new approaches to storytelling. International cinema had a particularly remarkable crop of exceptional works.
Such versatility is reflected in how difficult it was for me to limit my favorites to 10, which is why I’ve got to offer my 11-20 without comment. So here goes…
20. His Three Daughters
(Streaming on Netflix)
19. Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person
(Streaming on Mubi)
18. Juror #2
(Streaming on Max)
17. Conclave
16. Strange Darling
15. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
(Streaming on Mubi)
14. The Seed of the Sacred Fig
13. A Real Pain
12. Dune: Part 2
(Streaming on Max)
11. Nickel Boys
10. Anora
Mikey Madison gives a star-making performance as the title character in writer-director Sean Baker’s kinetic, exhilarating tale of a Brooklyn sex worker’s whirlwind romance with the ne’er-do-well son (Mark Eydelshteyn) of a Russian oligarch. Equal parts sex romp, screwball comedy and tragedy-tinged drama, Anora again demonstrates why Baker is one of the most interesting filmmakers working today.
9. The Substance
As feminist horror-satire, The Substance comes at you with the subtlety of a Looney Tunes-sized mallet, and we are the better for it. French writer-director Coralie Fargeat imagines a radical underground drug that allows a past-her-prime movie starlet (a very game Demi Moore) to transform every other week into a younger, ostensibly better version of herself (Margaret Qualley). But wouldn’t you know it, things don’t go according to plan. The picture thoroughly skewers ageism and sexism, all right, but body horror aficionados will appreciate the escalating grotesqueries, not the least of which is Dennis Quaid shoveling crawfish in his piehole. (Streaming on Mubi)
8. Red Rooms
If there is a Canadian counterpart to David Fincher, my money is on writer-director Pascal Plante. His Red Rooms is a cold, menacing psychological thriller exploring the darkest recesses of voyeurism and true-crime obsessives. The story concerns a Montreal man on trial for the torture and murder of two teenaged girls, a horrific crime he allegedly videotaped and uploaded to the so-called “dark web.” The high-profile trial attracts some bizarre groupies of the defendant, particularly Juliette Gariépy as a fashion model who harbors her own disturbing proclivities.
7. Green Border
Green Border is a hard watch, but a necessary one. Chronicling a family of Syrian refugees trying to find passage through Poland into Sweden, this Polish docudrama is a ferocious indictment of how Belarus and the European Union use migrants as geopolitical pawns in a power struggle. It is something of a miracle that veteran director Agnieszka Holland can capture such stark inhumanity while giving fair due to a spectrum of viewpoints. The ensemble cast is uniformly fantastic. Amid the brutality, Green Border manages to inspire and offer genuine hope.
6. Challengers
The tennis-centric love triangle in director Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers is deliriously entertaining. As the tennis maven pursued by two friends-turned-rivals, Zendaya is the narrative catalyst here, but the even meatier roles go to Mike Faist and (especially) Josh O’Connor as her suitors. The result is sly, sexy and propelled in no small measure by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ propulsive music score. Guadagnino and screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes have definite alchemy; their adaptation of William S. Burroughs’ Queer, released last month, is a hallucinatory excursion about unrequited longing. (Streaming on Amazon Prime)
5. The Brutalist
The Brutalist is that rare masterwork in which a filmmaker’s soaring ambition is matched by their gifts. Actor-turned-director Brady Corbet fashions a bona fide epic, from its weighty thematic concerns to a hefty 3.5-hour running time complete with overture and intermission. Adrien Brody is phenomenal as László Tóth, a Jewish-Hungarian architect who escapes the Holocaust and arrives in the U.S. after World War II. His fate becomes entwined with Guy Pearce’s arrogant industrialist. On a budget of less than $10 million, Corbet’s stunning production is elevated by Lol Crawley’s lush cinematography (in 70mm VistaVision, no less!) and Daniel Blumberg’s innovative music score. The Brutalist has a lot on its mind — the immigrant experience, capitalism, artistic vision vs. compromise, you name it — but never loses sight of the intimate saga at its soul.
4. Love Lies Bleeding
Echoing the lurid literary worlds of James M. Cain and Elmore Leonard, Love Lies Bleeding is pure pulp for now people. The violence is gnarly, the sex is steamy and the atmospherics are irresistibly sleazy. Writer-director Rose Glass and co-writer Weronika Tofilska create a crackling neo-noir (with a dash of magical realism) set in motion by its characters’ dubious decision-making. Kristen Stewart gives a nuanced, intelligent performance, but the biggest surprise is Katy O’Brian, who nearly steals the picture as a steroid-addled bodybuilder from Oklahoma whose arrival in a New Mexico border town ignites bloodshed. (Streaming on Max)
3. Evil Does Not Exist
Contemplative and ambiguous are not great selling points for moviegoers with limited attention spans. In the hands of Japanese writer-director Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, however, these are the raw materials for a film of quiet profundity that continues to haunt me. Curiously, Hamaguchi’s inspiration was spurred by a gorgeous music score first provided by his regular collaborator, Eiko Ishibashi. Evil Does Not Exist details how rural villagers respond when a Tokyo glamping company announces plans to turn their scenic home into a tourist destination. What slowly emerges is mysterious, mesmerizing and wholly unpredictable. (Streaming on Criterion Channel)
2. My Old Ass
“If I knew then what I know now, I’d have been better off.” That is the supposition behind My Old Ass, which, despite an arguably unfortunate title, is a dramedy of surprising depth and humanity. Maisy Stella is terrific as Elliott, an 18-year-old in her last summer before college. Elliott is tripping on shrooms with friends when she is visited by her future 39-year-old self (Aubrey Plaza). Writer-director Megan Park takes a gamble on the high-wire concept, forgoing any weird contortions of logic in pursuit of greater emotional honesty. There are laughs to be had, but this is one comedy where it pays to bring tissues. (Streaming on Amazon Prime)
1. Sing Sing
Director Greg Kwedar’s docudrama about a real-life theater arts workshop for prison inmates could have gone wrong in so many ways. Populated mostly by nonprofessional actors who have participated in Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) in upstate New York’s Sing Sing Correctional Facility, the film might sound at first blush like cinematic medicine that is supposed to be good for you. Think again. Sing Sing is a deeply moving and powerful account of prisoners desperate to preserve their humanity amid a dehumanizing institution. Colman Domingo is superb as RTA’s biggest champion, but he is matched acting-wise by Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin, a former inmate who essentially plays a fictionalized version of himself.
This article appears in Stitt’s Top Ten.