Top Ten Films of 2024
1. I Saw the TV Glow (Jane Schoenbrun)
I came out of the theater shell-shocked, inspired, devastated, hopeful. But most of all seen. Schoenbrun’s brilliant treatise on storytelling, nostalgia, fantasy, friendship, and identity is an all-time stunner.
2. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (George Miller)
Miller does it again, fearlessly driving into the sand-drenched wilderness of a dystopian wasteland that’s not nearly as far removed from our current reality as we’d all like to believe. The gonzo Aussie auteur delivers an action-packed opera of self-determination that precious few could have dreamt up, and even fewer could have crystalized into such a breathlessly kinetic reality.
3. Love Lies Bleeding (Rose Glass)
Love makes monsters out of saints and saints out of sinners in Glass’s monumental achievement of neo-noir body-building excess. Ed Harris terrifies, Kristin Stewart steals hearts, and rising newcomer Katy O’Brian triumphantly mesmerizes in a role of such herculean majesty that her performance will be dissected, discussed, studied, and fawned over for generations to come.
4. Ghostlight (Alex Thompson, Kelly O’Sullivan)
It’s a literal family affair for stars Keith Kupferer, Tara Mallen, and Katherine Mallen Kupferer, a trio that digs deep to make this Shakespearean melodrama of grief, loss, togetherness, and artistic catharsis spring to life with such triumphantly heartrending authenticity. Patient ears should attend, as they’re certain to hear something magnificent.
5. Challengers (Luca Guadagnino)
Tennis anyone? How about a threesome? Or maybe just a vicious game of obsession with a side helping of crushed dreams and unapparelled determination for good measure? Love triangles have rarely been this sexy, with stars Zendaya, Josh O’Connor, and Mike Faist melting the screen with their collective intensity.
6. Rebel Ridge (Jeremy Saulnier)
Saulnier (Green Room and Blue Ruin) returns to form with a breathtaking story of a former military man (Aaron Pierre, in a star-making performance) pushed to the edge by a corrupt police force (led by an amoral Don Johnson) that uses ethically dubious — if still legal — methods to shore up dwindling budgetary resources. While not the First Blood clone it initially appears to be, this thriller crackles with a disquieting urgency that’s impossible to resist.
7. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre de La Patellière, Matthieu Delaporte)
Big, brash, and unapologetically romantic, this is the type of massive French historical epic they just don’t make all that much anymore. This adaptation of the classic tale written by Alexandre Dumas is as messy as it is brilliant, and for all its melodramatic excesses, I was so swept up in its windswept emotional permutations that the almost 180-minute running time flew by like the stabbing thrust of a rapier or a concealed dagger jabbed into the side of an unsuspecting villain’s neck. Glorious. Simply glorious.
8. Conclave (Edward Berger)
Who knew an airplane fiction–style backroom melodrama of Catholic cardinals voting to elect a new pope would be one of the more vital pieces of LGBTQ+ storytelling to see the light of day in all of 2024? Witness the giddy fun of Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, and Isabella Rossellini going tête-à-tête over the pros and cons of each potential pontiff, then stay for the amazingly thoughtful discussion of sexuality, gender, race, faith, and identity that makes it all resonate with profoundly haunting grandeur.
9. The Substance (Coralie Fargeat)
Fargeat’s primordial body-horror knockout goes right for the jugular as it drips spinal fluid, wears skintight pastel spandex, and showcases the never-ending internal battles between the selfishly giddy excesses of youth and the depressed, mournful longings of middle age. Demi Moore rages against the movie star machine with expressively carnal ferocity. Margaret Qualley is equally superb as her petulantly narcissistic doppelgänger who refuses to accept that their two is one, and that neither can live a full, healthy life without the selfless assistance of the other.
10. The People’s Joker (Vera Drew)
In one of the best pieces of DIY filmmaking ever made — a journey of self-expression and identity like no other, inspired by the world of DC Comics — Drew’s incisive and original voice magnetically sparkles with intelligently sidesplitting vitality. Moments of uproarious hilarity are ingeniously coupled with scenes of intense introspection that unexpectedly brought tears to my eyes. In ten years’ time (maybe even less), don’t be surprised if this homemade comedy is heralded as a bona fide masterpiece.
Top Five Documentaries of 2024
1. Will & Harper (Josh Greenbaum)
I’m not sure this is actually the best documentary of 2024, but without question, it is the one that meant the most to me personally. This tale of friendship and understanding is one everyone, everywhere needs to see and hopefully learn something from.
2. Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger (David Hinton)
I could listen to Martin Scorsese wax poetic on filmmaking titans Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger for days on end. Until that happens, I’m more than happy to watch (and rewatch) this documentary instead.
3. Music by John Williams (Laurent Bouzereau)
This feature had me in the palm of its hand from the very first musical queue. From Jaws to Sugarland Express, Superman to Star Wars, Fiddler on the Roof to the Boston Pops, it’s all here. Every note. Every motif. And it’s marvelous.
4. Sugarcane (Emily Kassie, Julian Brave NoiseCat)
Not for the faint of heart, this searing exploration of an Indian residential school’s systemic abuse of children and how that affects the nearby community is a journalistic triumph of the first degree. Unforgettable.
5. Rainier: A Beer Odyssey (Isaac Olsen)
I acknowledge that my adoration for this jubilant documentary is partially fueled by childhood nostalgia for all of those crazy Rainier Beer commercials of the 1980s. But there’s more to director Isaac Olsen’s sublime time capsule than meets the eye, and that helps make the picture one of 2024’s most energetically vibrant joys.
Honorable Mention
Sweetheart Deal (Elisa Levine, Gabriel Miller)
An honorable mention goes to Elisa Levine and the late Gabriel Miller’s engrossing Seattle-set documentary Sweetheart Deal, which debuted at the 2022 Seattle International Film Festival and picked up the inaugural Best PNW Film award from the Seattle Film Critics Society that same year. This outstanding picture finally went into general domestic release in September, picking up additional critical raves in the process. Make no mistake, this is one of the best documentaries I’ve ever seen. [Interview with Elisa Levine]
– Portions of this feature reprinted courtesy of the SGN in Seattle
