Top Films of 2024

 Top Films of 2024

Honorable Mentions:

Dune: Part Two - Dir. Denis Villeneuve

Denis Villeneuve's sequel to his 2021 sci-fi epic "Dune" continued the story of Paul Atreides and his ascension to become the spiritual and political leader of the natives of the planet Arrakis. The film is nothing short of visually breathtaking, as Villeneuve fills the screen with lush, engaging images. For mainstream general audiences, this is the kind of direction and cinematography that needs to continue to be cultivated. This space epic has the making to become a sci-fi classic for years to come. With its stacked cast, vast world-building, and visual lushness, "Dune: Part Two" has what it takes to be the biggest blockbuster of the year.

Furiosa - Dir. George Miller

Extending his "Mad Max" film series to the backstory of the character of Furiosa from "Mad Max: Fury Road," George Miller once again brings us back into the Wasteland. In this post-apocalyptic world of survival and chaos, a young girl seeks revenge on the man who killed her mother. "Furiosa" mirrors the aesthetics of "Fury Road," but is an entirely separate story all together. While "Fury Road" is a chase film, "Furiosa" is a revenge epic. Anya Taylor-Joy plays the young Furiosa, quietly seething with rage and resentment in a world of unimaginable horror and cruelty. 

Megalopolis - Dir. Francis Ford Coppola

Francis Ford Coppola audacious "Megalopolis" is a film that should be on everyone's "Honorable Mention" list for the year, not because it is something of the upmost quality. Rather, the sheer daring and audacity to make something so bonkers and baffling, while also maintaining some semblance of artistic innovation. It's a film so intoxicatingly disorienting in its execution, performances, and plot that you can't help but ponder the film well after viewing. Is the film bad? Well, certainly. The film almost feels as if it is intentionally trying to be as bad as audaciously possibly while synonymously taking itself with the upmost seriousness. The tone that births forth from this concoction is something unlike anything cinema has seen before and almost certainly will never see again. 

I Saw the TV Glow - Dir. Jane Schoenbrun

There's something terrifying and suffocating about Jane Schoenbrun's 2024 film "I Saw the TV Glow." Coming off her latest effort, 2021's cult hit "We're All Going to the World's Fair," Schoenbrun once again taps into the fears, anxieties, and malaise of contemporary American youth. "I Saw the TV Glow" has the visual presence of a Lynchian nightmare, while also slowly pulling the viewer into this hazy, surreal landscape of psychological despair. In the contemporary world of transgenderism, social despair, and an existential malaise stemming from the death of any future for the youth of today, the psychology of the modern coming-of-age disillusionment is more existentially terrifying than its ever been. Schoenbrun doesn't reveal any answers with "I Saw the TV Glow." Rather, she blends fantasy with realty, dreams with consciousness, and television with real life. Modern life is a messy blur that is only suffocating us further and further into an incurable despair. Its a film that more than just a symbolic reference to the discomfort being trapped in one own's body, its a film about being trapped by the hellish facade of reality itself. 

Joker: Folie a Deux - Dir. Todd Phillips

Perhaps even more polarizing than Francis Ford Coppola's ambitious art piece "Megalopolis" in 2024 was Todd Phillips' follow up to his 2019 "Joker" film with "Joker: Folie a Deux." Many would write this film off as a meaningless waste of digital processing, but I would posit that the film's existence is meant to polarize, meant to antagonize, and meant to frustrate. On top of the musical elements of the film that act as a subjective viewpoint for our titular character, the film seems to uncomfortably dissect the notions of fame being attached to dangerous and unwell individuals. Our collective obsession with violence, with murder, and with disturbed minds elevates them to glorifying heights. What "Joker: Folie a Deux" does is spotlight this disturbing fixation. On top of this, the film itself seems to beat to death any glory for our hero, removes any semblance of victory for him, and utterly extinguishes the palpable delight of the first film. "Joker: Folie a Deux" intentionally ruins the legacy of its own character and its own franchise and revels in watching it burn and watching your own relationship to the character turn sour. Despite its polarization, its one of the most fascinating pieces of work this year.  

RANKED: 

11. Conclave - Dir. Edward Berger

2024 was an election year not just for the United States, but for a lot of the democratic world. Edward Berger's 2024 "Conclave," despite being about the election of a new pope, thematically aligns with the contemporary discussions around the topic. Power struggles, political machinations, backstabbing, moralistic compromises, and everything else that goes into campaigning and voting for a new leader can be found in the film. After the global success of his 2022 film "All Quiet on the Western Front," this Berger follow up proves that his eye for color and composition is something to be acknowledged in the world of film. On top of the visuals, the thematic resonance of the film pinpoints our current anxieties surrounding losing the plot in the constant chase for order.

10. Maria - Dir. Pablo Larrain

To complete his biographical trilogy of historical women going through tumultuous periods of their life, Pablo Larrain's final subject would be Maria Callas in his 2024 film "Maria." Following the thematic through-line of 2016's "Jackie" and 2021's "Spencer," "Maria" deconstructs a woman's life and her relationship to her career, her relationships, and the lasting image of her in the public's mind. With breathtaking cinematography always employed by Larrain, the film is drenched in set pieces of elegance and 20th century modernism that encases our protagonist in a state of isolation. The modern world and its follies are a prison meant to keep the protagonist in tiny dollhouse boxes. The drama that comes into frame is that of our protagonist's own desires and sentiments that directly conflicts with the external circumstances that are meant to be an alienation. "Maria" is about more than just the biographical account of one woman, but of her dreams, her fantasies, and her pain.

9. Emilia Perez - Dir. Jacques Audiard

"Emilia Perez," a film that centers on a Mexican cartel leader who decides to restart her life with a gender-affirming operation, is more than meets the eye. Because of its gender-blending subject matter, the film decides to parallel this with a genre-bending output. The film is a domestic drama, a straight-up thriller, and even a surprising musical. The carousel of blending doesn't stop there, as the film is a French-produced, Spanish speaking, American actor filled, Mexican focused film. The complete disregard for order and structure is center to the film's existence, especially its thematic plot devices that wants to take down the established order that exists in our current world full of violence and oppression. The array of what this film could be and what it is completely undermines the expectations for film structure and film cohesion and for that, it becomes all the more engaging and notable. 

8. The Apprentice - Dir. Ali Abbasi

If you reflect back on the year 2024 in the United States, one of the most prominent things you might reflect on is the re-rise of Donald Trump and his re-ascension to the United States Presidency. It might make one ponderous how the country ended up in this state. Well, if you watch Ali Abbasi's 2024 biographical film, "The Apprentice," you'll not only see a manifestation of one man's drive and determination to ascend, but you'll also see the inextricable link between this one man's ascension and that of America itself. Regardless of your opinions on the man, one can't deny that Trump has completely woven himself into the tapestry of the American dynasty inextricably. If you care to dig deeper into the domino effect of how the current status quo came to be, you must also follow the journey of this single man's relationship to his country, to his friends and family, and to himself. Only there will you find the true heart of America and the political environment, the capitalism, and the cultural tone that fermented its very soul. 

7. Nosferatu - Dir. Robert Eggers

In adapting the F.W. Murnau 1922 German film "Nosferatu," American filmmaker Robert Eggers gets to expand his typical aesthetic and try his hand at traditional German gothic expressionism. The result is 2024's "Nosferatu," taking the iconic vampire Count Orlok and reimaging him for modern audiences. It is a film that centers on a newlywed couple in the 1830s as they navigate the arrival of a mysterious plague, along with the equally mysterious vampire. The iconic vampire, however, perhaps is simply a representation of death and our personification of the elusive concept. The concept becomes psychologically realized through the 19th century cultish conception and given a name and a face. If we could give death, plague, pestilence, melancholy, and terror a face, perhaps it would be that of a vampiric blood-sucker. Or better yet, the film even ponders the connection between sex and death, life and illness, terror and desire, and how our fear and our lusts become so intertwined that it becomes impossible to differentiate between them.

6. A Complete Unknown - Dir. James Mangold

Just like the central character and spotlight of the film, there is more to "A Complete Unknown" than meets the eye. Centering on the legendary early years of American song and dance man Bob Dylan, the film takes us through the folk scene that was burgeoning in the early 1960s. At the heart of the film lies our enigmatic 'Bobby,' a wisp and lonely traveler who punches his ticket to success, as various people around him attempt to define and categorize him. Many even attempt to ride his coattails and turn him into a symbol or idea for their own purposes. What emerges is a man who rebels against it all: against the establishment, against the moral purists, against the whole idea of categorization and definition. In contemporary times, we could use a little pushback to many of the ideologs and false prophets, even those claiming moral virtuosity. It's a film steeped in a time and place, but its ideas and themes are ever-present. Even more so, its central character and his eagerness to defy categorization should be something to strive for and look up to, even if it means rubbing everyone the wrong way.

5. The Substance - Dir. Coralie Fargeat

When one thinks about the subjective experience of being a modern woman, what's the one film genre that comes to mind that would best encapsulate that? If you said 'body horror,' then "The Substance" is the film for you. The film centers on an aging fitness star who attempts to become 'young again' with the help of the mysterious substance. One week, she is her current aging self. The next, she is a young woman again. Problems begin to emerge, however, when the two sides of herself begin to take advantage of one another. "The Substance" is full of grotesque and nightmarish imagery that seems to encapsulate many aspects of the female experience and all the horrors and anxieties that come with it. It is a horrifying, grotesque nightmare to be a woman, especially with the current beauty standards aided and abetted by Hollywood, advertisements, and more damagingly, social media. With "The Substance," French director Coralie Fargeat is able to demonstrate how subjectively damaging these notions are and how it deforms and abuses the psychology of women everywhere. 

4. Challengers - Dir. Luca Guadagnino

Centering on a love triangle between three insanely talented tennis competitors, one begins to wonder whether the characters are discussing tennis or romance in Luca Guadagnino's sports romance "Challengers." The balance between attraction and competition runs rampant in this film, as the viewer bounces between the affections of its characters, between varying timelines, and between who you root for and sympathize with. It's a tale of passion and drive, all encircling around the lives of young people trying to find out what to make of their lives and how the sport they're playing fulfils them. "Challengers" is an utterly captivating romance and sports film that managers to pull you into its web of affections and overall competitive spirit.

3. Kinds of Kindness - Dir. Yorgos Lanthimos

After his most commercially viable film, last year's "Poor Things," Yorgos Lanthimos goes right back to his typical style of audience-alienating absurdism with "Kinds of Kindness." Bringing back some of his usual players like Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe, and Margaret Qualley, Lanthimos also enlists Jesse Plemons, Joe Alwyn, Hong Chau, and Mamoudou Athie. "Kinds of Kindness" is three episodic stories of people trying desperately to prove their love or demand love in return. However, all of the behaviors of the characters only ever seem to stem from selfishness based on delusional and warped perceptions. Filled with Lanthimosian absurdist logic and structure, the film is like a Rorschach test for the viewer to project how their own personal relationships to others parallels to the relationships found in the film. Lanthimos sets these absurd scenarios in present day and makes this notion ever-present, which only points more to how our contemporary landscape reflects these cold and hollow characters desperate to find connection to someone or something. All the while, nothing they do is ever for anyone else's benefit. Rather, it is to satiate their own restless need to feel safe and secure in their own warped reality. It's a film that won't leave you soon after watching and will continue to rattle around in the corners of your mind.

2. Anora - Dir. Sean Baker

With the 2024 entry into his filmography, Sean Baker takes his typical neo-realist style of documenting a fiction narrative around the lower class echelon of American society, and pushes his style to newer, greater heights with "Anora." Centering on a young exotic dancer who gets swept away by romance with the 21-year-old son of a rich and powerful Russian oligarch, the film details the bitter halt to the aspirations of its characters. The film revolves around themes of authenticity, and more specifically, the truth about one's self and one's circumstances. The array of characters that come into our protagonist's life, including the protagonist herself, all try to be a version of themselves that they are not. They posture, they have expectations, and they want better circumstances for themselves. However, there is a difference between the person you project to be and the authentic person you really are. There is a difference between your desired destination and the circumstances you find yourself in. In the current model of society, economics, and politics, we find ourselves trapped by our situations in contemporary life, dreaming and aspiring for more, both for our circumstances and who we are as human beings. Baker's film takes the format of a neo-realist screwball comedy and injects a sense of tragedy into its story that sweeps you off your feet only to hit a brick wall by the end. 

1. All We Imagine as Light - Dir. Payal Kapadia

Beauty breathes in every frame, every line spoken, and every moment of Payal Kapadia's "All We Imagine as Light." Centering on a group of women living their lives in working-class Dubai, "All We Imagine as Light" takes the neo-realist approach to cinema while all the way infusing it with a dream-like visual poetry. The colors are saturated, the plot is wistful, and the scenes float in a cloud of paradoxical melancholy and beauty. Being in line with the typical neo-realist approach, the characters being studied are on the low end of the economic totem poll, surrounded by a great city of wealth, power, and corrupted bureaucracy and are desperate to attain a certain comfort in their life, with themselves, or with the relationships they have. However, the ambiance constructed by Kapadia turns this realism into something far more elevated. Their lives and their frustrations are universal and human, meanwhile we observe them through a lens of a soft haze, full to the brim with angelic, dream-like visual observation. It's not very often that a film can have you fall in love, but "All We Imagine as Light" has somehow reignited my love for life, as I venture forth looking at the complications and struggles now through a new lens of melancholic beauty. The pain of being human and all its sorrow, its loneliness, and even its quiet moments of divine connection are all magical, all special, and all spiritual. Kapadia reminds me of the spiritual experience of being alive, despite its melancholy and its sorrows.