Best Films of 2024

 

My Letterboxd account confidently provided a detailed thematic breakdown of the 225 films viewed this year:

Quite what to make of this is somewhat less clear. Either I broke the algorithm or my ideal film is a low key, droll, genre hopping, weird, relationship drama with philosophical pretensions. Which might actually stand as a description of my favourite film of the year. 

Certainly, on review, 2024 turns out, slightly surprisingly, to have been a strong year. So even before reaching the top 10 there are another ten films very worthy of note:

On Becoming A Guinea Fowl 

The Dead Don't Hurt 

Green Border  

The Outrun 

Good One

Showing Up 

The Holdovers 

Femme 

The Settlers 

Blackbird, Blackbird, Blackberry 

Then the top ten in traditional reverse order:

10. Janet Planet Wonderfully understated, subtle examination of our perception of connection to others seen most profoundly in the determination of a teen daughter to have the sole attention of her mother who, in turn, is far more open to experiencing others but wonders whether she lives too much in her own head and has ever really, well, connected. There are some delicious moments along the way: the apparently sudden absence of a picnic guest being one of the best. The final sequence is the film in microcosm: a square dance in which partners constantly change within a broader communal rhythm. Is this threat, opportunity or just reality?

9. Crossing Quietly marvellous and deeply compassionate in its stirring embrace of difference mediated through some fascinating characters who live and breathe the scenario in a manner that would be familiar to the neo-realists.

8. The Beast A figurative and at times literal manifestation of the fear of being loved, of being rejected, of never finding intimacy and trust, of remaining emotionally distinct from all around. Conjured from episodes in past lives reviewed from a future process of ‘purification’ overseen by an artificial intelligence which taps into our current nightmares about humans losing what makes them truly human. Beguiling and discomfiting in equal measure, and anchored by a superb performance by Lea Seydoux, the Beast culminates in a moment of which Munch himself might have been proud.

7. 20 Days In Mariupol A grim, essential and highly emotional experience. The sheer bravery of the journalists in their determination to show the world the reality of the deliberate and indiscriminate targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure by the criminal thugs in the Kremlin; the appalling suffering of the inhabitants and the dedication of the doctors, nurses and others trying to do their jobs under constant attack. I just wept at the point when a baby against all the odds is born alive in the midst of a bombardment and takes its first breath.

6. All We Imagine As Light Absolutely exquisite: the rendering of the city in a semi-blur of movement and colour (redolent of Wong Kar-Wai) and the wonderful humanism of the scenario which addresses in a profound but low key manner fundamental religious, social and economic fault lines in present day India. The resolution of those tensions has a distinct magic in which the constraints of what we imagine are removed. The delicate sashaying of the bar staff which acts as a backdrop to the final scene seems a perfect representation of new freedom from the cares of the past.

5. All Of Us Strangers There are passages in this film that will likely leave the viewer in bits. Claire Foy quietly mouthing the lyrics of Pet Shop Boys "Always On My Mind' to her son whilst the song plays is unbearably poignant. There are many other moments that will set lips aquiver as the film expresses the almost unfathomable sadness of loss and loneliness and the damaged lives that result. All four central performances are outstanding. The simple message at the end is no subversion of what has gone before. It is affirmation that loneliness is not destiny and that love is a human need that must be satisfied.

4. La Chimera A chimera is a thing hoped for but impossible to achieve. This film, however, is some achievement melding a critique of knowing the price (well at least a knock down price) of things rather than their value; an aching sense of loss and possible redemption (the opening music is after all from Monteverdi’s Orpheus); an entire charivari parade of tomb raiding grotesques of which Fellini would have been proud and a truly earthy sense of place as somewhere that is lived in and then passed on, owned by no-one or everyone. So, a poignant, magic realist, satirical fable with occasional slapstick and frescos to die for. Put that on the poster. Actually, don't because the poster is exquisite!

3. There's Still Tomorrow A sentimental, satirical melodrama shot in beautiful monochrome to match the neorealism of the mid 40s, that makes you laugh and cry but utterly transcends genre with moments of bravura audacity accompanied by an eclectic soundtrack. It becomes increasingly heart-pounding as it moves towards the conclusion to a stirringly feminist and deeply political scenario given life by actors who bring you completely into the world of their characters. Roll over Fellini.

2. About Dry Grasses Three hours pass as if in an instant in this riveting portrayal of the puffed up ennui of a manipulative jerk who plays out his grandiosity through betrayals large and small. He is the art teacher who uses a camera to capture a pose but not his own hand to portray a deeper appreciation of individuals. A detached loner with petty ambitions to be achieved through cunning, his exchanges with a vivid, committed but damaged woman are extraordinarily rendered with a bravura moment that literally pulls back the veil on his performative nature. Truly a small, dry grass of a man.

1. Trenque Lauquen Wonderfully droll, beguiling disquisition on mutability, unknowability and becoming an extra terrestrial informed by shaggy dog stories (Borges or Calvino if you will) and providing a glorious affirmation of agency and empowerment. And that final sequence; so perfect in its cool, calm summation of all that has gone before.

And finally, the worst film of a year in which there were very few absolute turkeys. However, this one garnered an absolutely baffling level of praise appearing on many best of lists. Challengers take a bow because you were utterly, utterly dreadful. My review:

"The famous Isner - Mahut match at Wimbledon in 2010 took 11 hours and 5 minutes to complete, finishing at 70–68 in the final set. Challengers felt a lot longer. Indeed, absolutely interminable. A vacuous to and fro of tension and resentment between three radioactively repulsive individuals who certainly deserve each other but not a minute of anyone else's time. A contender only for the worst film of the year."