Honorary #1. Evil Does Not Exist
While technically this movie came out in 2023, I did not have the opportunity to see it until this year, and I had to make an exception for my absolute favorite film of the year.
Visually stunning, aurally gorgeous. Captivating and slow, but never boring. A beautiful tapestry of humanity with all of its charm and smarm, and a fairly scathing critique of the capitalist philos underneath. It is kind of like a Japanese drama version of Parks & Rec. I’ve never wanted to go chop wood more in my life.
#1. A Different Man
This film is incredible, and easily my favorite release of 2024, but the story is a gut punch. It is tragic and awkward and important for every single person to not only see but to sit with. I felt every emotion throughout it and left the theater with a weight on my chest.
I personally related to this story in perhaps an unintended way. As someone who has gained and lost a lot of weight and always struggled with body dysmorphia, I really saw Edward. I know Edward. I’ve felt the gazes and the shame, I know the feeling of seeing a happy couple in the park, and remembering my place once I saw the outline of my shadow. I’ve worked hard to change my appearance just to see those same gazes be cast towards others and to hear the comments I always feared were said behind my back (like Oswald said: if not me, it will be someone like me”).
Edward, unlike me, was not a victim of his own choices but of nature, and he was not able to change outside of the deus ex machina of the experimental treatment. I think the psychological hell he went may not be fully understood by most. They may not feel the impact of a lover’s laughter at a part of you, or the disgust one might feel when suddenly on the inside of the joke. To effectively kill the parts of you that hold you back to see someone with those parts live the life you envied and felt was unattainable, but I absolve him of everything. I forgive you Edward, and I’m so so sorry.
#2. Sing Sing
“You did your thing, beloved.”
This is a special film. Heartbreaking and inspiring and captivating. The cinematography is perfect, the score is excellent. The lighting too. So many production and direction choices just done so so perfectly. But casting people who’ve been through the program as themselves? Truly a special touch. And the acting is really fucking good too.
#3. My Old Ass
A beautiful, fresh, funny coming of age film - and not to mention well casted and gorgeously shot. While it made me yearn for the halcyon days of my youth and tinged my heart with melancholia, it also renewed a sense of wonder for the current world around me. I feel hopeful and ready to dive in. Let me no longer take the life I have and those around me for granted, but be wholly ready and willing to live life to the fullest. To stop being afraid of the hurt I’ve felt in the past. This movie made me remember how exhausting and beautiful it is to seize the day. To pour from my cup even when it feels empty. There is so much beauty in the world. So much love to be given and received. This probably reads like the ravings or a madman but I don’t even care. Vive ut vivas.
#4. Didi
This took me back in time - in all of both the best and worst possible ways, flooding my brain with a miasma of nostalgia. The Starting Line’s Direction poster on Vivian’s wall was a *chefs kiss*. Still to this day one of the few on my list of perfect albums. The entire soundtrack was pristine.
The brief and yet so developmental moment of AIM to MySpace to Facebook. I’m pretty my first AIM username was just my full ass government name. And the anxiety of bumping someone or being bumped from a Top 8?! 2008 was the Wild West of the new inchoate internet, as well as the dawn l setting over the “old” world. Sean Wang captured it all. While it explores the entire gamut of emotions, it had me laughing my butt off. For my fellow “90s kid” millennials, it is an instant classic and damn treasure of a film.
Weaving a narrative path between the narrow and constantly blurry paths of cringe and wholesomeness, this film truly hit the nail on what it was to be an 8th grader in 2008 - and I say that as someone who was an 8th grader in 2008, and I am very familiar with the struggles one faces when finally growing a conscience. Discovering who (or what) friends really are, the changes in your relationship with your parents, finally growing a relationship with your siblings before they leave (my brother was graduating high school the same as Vivian), the awkward first encounter with a girl you liked, the first party, making a fool of yourself countless times. The relentless uphill climb every middle schooler faces to some degree: asking oneself for the first time “who am I?” I relived many pieces of my own life through this film. There is something uncanny and beautiful about the shared human experience. Ultimately Dídi begins to find and accept his true self
There is so much more to this story than just my myopic reminiscences. The added struggles of identity within the confines of one’s race and culture are also a big part of this movie, and I don’t feel qualified to speak on them, though I will say I had a few Asian friends in middle and high school (specifically Inkwon in the 8th grade), and I know it wasn’t easy on them. I know we weren’t always easy on them. But I know he and I both, like Dídi, found our way, and if you’re reading this and you haven’t yet, you will.
I promise.
#5. Monkey Man
I’m very impressed with Dev Patel in his directorial debut. At times it felt like a Bollywood movie with a Hollywood budget. It had great action with a little less than satisfying character work and story. And of course the classic John Wick “hands beat handguns” gets its fair share of use here. But even though it has its flaws, I think its strengths far outweigh them. Dev’s acting and charisma are in full force. The cinematography and soundtrack were excellent - I think it was incredibly purposeful and intentional e.g. how it feels to be smothered in a crowd. Blurry, loud, and fast moving.
What spoke to me most about this film is that it did not shy away from incredible violence being the answer to the powers that be. The only thing I imagine being more satisfying than watching fictional elitist pigs choking on their own blood and pleading for a mercy they would never bestow would be seeing it happen to the real ones. My chest is full of a righteous wrath burning with the white hot intensity of a thousand suns toward the plagues that are greedy gluttonous billionaires. May they get what they deserve.
#6. Anora
Sean Baker captured all the action and intensity of a Safde film without the overwhelming anxiety. As devastating as it is charming, it delivers the entire range of emotion without ever feeling trite or forced. Baker may be solidifying himself among my favorites - his portrayal of the human condition cuts to the core. He can capture joy and ecstasy in the same breath as heartache; he can make you laugh and cry in the same scene; he catches all the subtleties only the dual writer and director with the vision can.
The writing, cinematography, and acting are all top notch, and Mikey Madison is electric and it is obvious how far she went above and beyond for this role. New York can already feel like a cold place, but Baker captured the gelid breeze of Brighton Beach so well I was getting cold in the theater - despite it being a muggy 80° in November here in Nashville.
#7. Between the Temples
Overall, as someone who is navigating his own questions of grief and heartache as well as building and maintaining good community, I found this film incredibly charming. I didn’t agree with every artistic decision, but I did get it. The cinematography had some really bright moments and some that were… not so great in my opinion but they went for it, and I respect that. The music was well done, and the acting was great. While the through line is a somber look at the complexities of grieving, there are plenty of golden nuggets of laugh out loud moments and some truly excruciatingly awkward ones too.
#8. Dune: Part II
This movie has such an incredible big-sky western vibe to it while still maintaining its space epic energy. Zimmer's score is on point, and although it feels a little less involved for part 2, I think it still lands in that complementary sweet spot.
As a lover of the books, I did not go in expecting the perfect faithful adaptation, and I think that left me room to be pleasantly surprised by how close it really was.
The cinematography was gorgeous. The script was well crafted. I found every single performance satisfactory.
As far as sequels go, I think it will go down in history as an equal of Empire Strikes Back or dare I even say The Two Towers. I have heard rumors Denis is going to make a third based on Dune Messiah, and I hope that is true.
#9. We Live In Time
Andrew Garfield continues to solidify himself as one of my favorite actors, and I could write an entire review on his incredible emotional delivery through expression and nuanced touches. Together with Florence Pugh (who also does an incredible job) they deliver a truly touching story full of life and love and heartache.
It is, however, not perfect. The script with any other two less top notch actors may have not been as impactful. I love a good non linear structure, and while I see the emotional through line that Crowley was using to tug us along a story the way we may remember our own lives looking back, I still feel as though it could’ve spent a little more time in the chamber. The big finale and denoument were both a bit unsatisfactory - at least for me personally, but the last scene was a fucking gut punch, and really brought it back home.
Wherever this film runs the risk of being cliche or overly maudlin, it saves itself with an equally brutal honest sincerity; with a heart on its sleeve, it bears it all, and maybe I’m just a sucker for love (I am), but I was swept away in it. I’ve lived a very similar series of events, I’ve felt a beautiful love like this, with all of its dramaticism and saccharinity and even with its story telegraphing. I think this movie shines if/when the viewer is not “guilty of looking ahead, instead of what is right in front of [you].”
#10 A Real Pain
“Hey, why are you walking alone? Are you a fucking loser?”
This and many other moments from this film have immediately entered my lexicon, and I’m not sorry. This movie is not perfect by any means but I find myself torn. I personally found it incredibly easy to engage with, and i resonated with the emotional state and inner turmoil of both characters and their disorders - OCD (Davey) and BPD (benji).
This was a big step up for Eisenberg as a writer, and I was thoroughly impressed and dare I say charmed by the performances - Culkin’s most of all.
Honorary Mention: Blitz
There are some incredible shots in this movie, but my personal favorite has to be the before and after shot of the swanky jazz ballroom. It reminded me of the CS Lewis quote: If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things—praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds.
Of course, this is an impossible task, and a good chunk of the film is spent exploring our characters underground in bunkers, subway stations, and the like. But much life was still lived. They worked and played and sang and drank.
Most of the film meanders like a depressing slice of life, devoid of heroes (though there are certainly villains sight unseen, only visible through the devastation they reign on London), but ultimately George perseveres against the indifferent cruelty of the universe. There are no great lessons learned, no heart warming ending, but that too is life. The indomitable human spirit presses on. It is not romantic, it is not always hopeful or courageous, but it continues to put one foot in front of the other again and again because that is what it does. That is what it is.
These were my top ten films of 2024, though I would consider it incomplete as I have yet to see several movies that might very well change this list