Favorite Films, Performances, Television, etc - 2024

While I began gathering my notes for my increasingly later and later “year in review” for 2024, I was struck by two things: first, how few film I had set aside for a favorites consideration (and this is probably my shortest collection of notable films in years, barely cracking thirty of the maybe couple of hundred I was able to see—and with my ever decreasing viewings out of “due diligence” with every passing year, the sample group are usually things that I have actual genuine interest in watching). But, looking at this list and the stand-outs from the year, I was also struck by how almost every film I have singled out is so firmly original. Even considering the two “adapted” films in my top ten, one is based on a nearly two hundred year old Russian short story and the other an entry in a franchise that seems to consistently resist its own continuity. 

While in the past I have mused becoming less concerned with “keeping up” in the ways I had years before, 2024 has me thinking more about originality, the ever-increasing battle against nostalgia, and the culture of sameness that has led Hollywood to take fewer risks and invest gross amounts of money into “sure-things”. What is following is my desire to find truth, to not just use my limited time to numb my senses with familiarity, excess, and reminders of the past, and to really challenge myself both as a viewer and as a person. And if anything is going to unify my selections for this year, it might be in the form of a statement about what those interests have been doing to me in the last year. The only thing that I can hope is that these pieces reflect a selection that is both true to me in the now and something that I can wholeheartedly recommend to others who may be in search for their own consideration of their self at any time. 

10. The Seed of the Sacred Fig 

Dir. Mohammad Rasoulof, Germany/Iran/France

Neon

168 Minutes

Mohammad Rasoulof’s The Seed of the Sacred Fig is an absorbing, complex, and fairly draining familial drama that may be the most extended usage of the Chekhov’s Gun. After being appointed as an investigating judge in Tehran, Iman is given a gun for protection which he keeps secret from his two daughters. But when the gun goes missing, Iman becomes warped by paranoia and suspicion. Rasoulof’s repeated violations of Iranian censorship laws forced his critique of Iranian patriarchal systems, both within the government and within the family space, to be produced in Germany. But this only widens the scope of its themes beyond the space of Iran, and its depictions of the way people so easily submit to systemic pressures when they feel they will be spared by the powers that be only feel more insightful and relevant with every passing year. 

9. The Vourdalak

Dir. Adrien Beau, France

Oscilloscope

91 Minutes

The Vourdalak almost feels like it exists outside of time, a Gothic fever state and a visual, moody delight. Based on Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy’s novella, its simple narrative regards a Marquis who seeks shelter in the house of Gorcha where he encounters his family who tell of what has happened to the patriarch. Leaving to fight the Turks, Gorcha has instructed his family that if he returns after six days, he has become a Vourdalak and nobody should let him in. Adrien Beau’s debut may be a bit stylistically heavy-handed, but with images this dreamy he is forgiven for some showing off. Very cool. 

8. Anora

Dir. Sean Baker, USA

Neon

139 Minutes

Probably the film on this list with the most black ink exhausted since its debut, Sean Baker’s Anora finally breaks the jack-of-all-trades filmmaker into the mainstream where he won the top prize at Cannes and never looked back. Another simple story: Ani Mikheeva (Mikey Madison) is a young stripper in Brighton Beach who meets Vanya, the young son of an obscenely wealthy Russian oligarch. After hiring her for a week of exclusivity, Vanya proposes marriage to Ani who quickly accepts. But when news of their marriage reaches his parents, Vanya’s godfather Toros (an amazingly erratic Karren Karagulian) and his cronies restrain Ani and spend the night hunting down the escaped boy. Anora deftly moves from its crass beginnings to a zanier and much more memorable center to something quieter and more tragic, its final moments a somber and non-judgmental reflection on the after effects of being swayed by the possibility of an easy out which is truly an impossible task. 

7. Red Rooms

Dir. Pascal Plante, Canada

Utopia

118 Minutes

Frightening in its cold presentation and horrific believability, Pascal Plante’s Red Rooms contains some of the most upsetting sequences in my recent memory. Grounded by a chillingly detached and committed performance by Juliette Gariepy, the film tells of fashion model Kelly-Anne who attends the trial of Ludovic Chevalier, accused of broadcasting the murders of three teenage girls in a dark web chat room. Red Rooms conceals Kelly-Anne’s motives, instead lingering on her increasingly obsessive and erratic behaviors: attending court wearing the same design of schoolgirl uniform as the victims, trying to get Chevalier to make eye contact with her, and, in an incredibly effective set-piece, trying to secure a copy of his snuff film on a dark web auction. Breathtaking in is depiction of one digging deeper past the morbid point of no return, Red Rooms is downright creepy but never graphic, instead an unsettling look into how far one is willing to go once a particular thread is pulled and pulled. But also it is a damning depiction of the true-crime obsessive, with a simple exposure to a trial and criminal not being enough, needing to move from a passing “entertainment” to the full, multi-dimensional experience of engagement, emotion, and voyeurism. 

6. Juror No. 2

Dir. Clint Eastwood, USA

Warner Bros. Pictures 

114 Minutes

The most-likely final film in Clint Eastwood’s nearly seven decade career (though with his efficient shooting style, there does always remain the hope for more), Juror No. 2 also feels like a farewell to a certain kind of movie-making: the end of a line of the mid-budget, complex adult drama that emphasizes the grey areas of people alongside the flawed systems that measure their morality. Its premise is one of old Hollywood: being called to jury duty and put on the case of a hit-and-run, recovering alcoholic Justin (Nicolas Hoult) realizes on the first day of the trial that his assumption of hitting a deer one rainy night may have actually been the victim. Horrified at the potential of an innocent man being convicted, but worried that his questionable past may put him at risk of being put away himself, Justin does everything he can to argue for the defendant’s innocence against eleven other jurors ready to convict. Eastwood feels fully on board with this project, using this premise to invert conventions of the legal drama in the same way he undid the mythologies of the west in Unforgiven. But the film also works so well as an entertainment, with a well-paced script that slowly unveils some new conflict or information at just the right moment. If this is the final statement of legend, it is by one who feels uneasy about America, but optimistic in its people. And if this is the final film of its kind (or at least perhaps the last that will be seen for a while), it is a terrifically enjoyable reminder of what used to be released regularly instead of an occasional lark. 

5. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

Dir. George Miller, Australia/USA

Warner Bros. Pictures

148 Minutes

Joining Clint Eastwood in another likely final statement, George Miller continues to demonstrate such incredible energy. Furiosa abandons the “chronology” of the Mad Max series to focus on the origins of Charlize Theron’s Fury Road addition, now played by Anya Taylor-Joy, and her extended conflict with Dementus (Chris Hemsworth), the insane warlord who abducted her as a child. Across five chapters all functioning as their own standalone narrative, Miller fully embraces his apocalyptic wasteland as a space of oral storytelling traditions, with characters, tones, and even sequences of events all changing depending on who is doing the telling and when. In this way, the Mad Max franchise stands out from obsessions of continuity and canon with an emphasis instead being placed on the present moment. And freed from those shackles, Miller roams free with some of the most incredible set-pieces in recent memory (or, most likely, since Fury Road a decade ago). Furiosa’s underperformance last summer makes this a very likely final trip into the Wasteland, but one should hope that he is able to pull funding out of somewhere for one last go-round to conclude this thing on his terms. 

4. I Saw the TV Glow

Dir. Jane Schoenbrun, USA

A24

100 Minutes 

Jane Schoenbrun’s I Saw the TV Glow lived a bit in my head in the weeks leading up to it, becoming something beyond what it most likely was just through the powers of the imagination sifting through early reactions, images, memories of their impressive debut We’re All Going to the World’s Fair a few years back. And while it may not have frightened me in the way that I had expected through the early spring, the disconnect between expectation and memory, and the ultimate result perfectly encapsulates one reading of this very unsettling experience. The film follows Owen (partly played by Justice Smith), a timid loner who strikes up a tentative friendship of sorts with the older but equally lost Maddie (Jack Haven) through a shared interest in the weekly late night young adult series The Pink Opaque. The two-punch of Maddie’s disappearance and the series’ cancellation sets Owen further adrift, until her return years later potentially links the two events. I Saw the TV Glow is about so much, a film rooted in the existential horror of being born not quite right, a dreamy meditation on both the impossible speed of time and yet the ultimate slogan that there always is time ons that self-realization hits. A film that feels so crucial to the current moment but also so universal in its other musings on childhood and nostalgia, and the transformation of memory to suit the latter. Schoenbrun’s film is marvelous, a deeply dark but tentatively hopeful poem of darkness, dream and nightmares, sounds and songs. Just beautiful stuff. 

3. Hundreds of Beavers

Dir. Mike Cheslik, USA

Cineverse/Vinegar Syndrome

108 Minutes 

With Hundreds of Beavers, Mike Cheslik somewhat does the impossible (and arguably comes close to not pulling off): a nearly two hour live-action Looney Tunes cartoon in black and white with zero dialogue. After a terrible drunken accident involving far too much applejack, Our Hero Jean Kayak must find a way to survive the brutally cold wilderness (and win the hand of the beautiful Furrier) by becoming the greatest fur trapper. Hundreds of Beavers is pure silliness, with Jean’s early days as a bumbling would-be survivalist so gradually morphing into a more intelligent and careful trapper maintaining such a commitment to finding whatever joke is possible from the situation. Realism fully abandoned, Jean’s battle with (and ultimate goal of capturing the) titular amount of beavers finds him in direct combat with the most joyful special effect in the whole thing: humans in giant mascot animal costumes. Parts of this film had me laughing so incredibly hard that it hurt, other bits had me groaning in the low-hanging fruit of the joke, but as a testament to finding the punchline, wherever it might land, this is also the most creative film in years, with every shot feeling like a genuine joy for these filmmakers to put together. 

2. Longlegs

Dir. Osgood Perkins, Canada/USA

Neon

101 Minutes

In a rare turn of events (mostly purely circumstantial) I went to see Osgood Perkins’ Longlegs four times during its initial theatrical run. But my emotions and engagements to each viewing were so radically different. On first watch its tale of a Satan worshipper (fearlessly played by Nicolas Cage) who uses black magic dolls to kill from afar and the FBI agent tracking him Maika Monroe) was unsettling, with a final reveal and needle drop that sort of made my eyes go wide. On it second, I found its implications quite sad, the more tragic elements bubbling through. But on the third, I felt that Perkins might have made a blacker than black comedy. Regardless of reaction, Perkins certainly crafted an experience that might actually play better when the uncertainty of narrative and the expectation of genre dissipate for the ability to sit back and admire his compositions, the tension of their negative space, the gradually reveals of Cage’s Longlegs, its wonderful performances in nearly every role, the cadence of their dialogue, and its whiplash climax. The craft on display is remarkably effective, with Perkins’ previous efforts like The Blackcoat’s Daughter and I Am The Pretty Thing That Lives in the House being some terrific experimentations in mood and slowness for a script with a hair more narrative energy and a wider scope. 

1. A Different Man

Dir. Aaron Schimberg, USA

A24

112 Minutes

Aaron Schimberg continues to work through his fascination with disability, disfigurement, and the question of how true film needs to be towards the representation of both, collaborating once again with the the terrific Adam Pearson following the remarkable Chained for Life. A Different Man follows Edward (Sebastian Stan), a would-be actor suffering from neurofibromatosis who undergoes an experimental procedure to change his face. The procedure is a success, and Edward sheds his previous identity to become Guy, moving out of his shabby apartment and claiming that Edward has killed himself. A while later, Guy discovers that his beautiful neighbor Ingrid, with whom Edward struck a sort-of friendship with, is producing a play about his “old” self in which Guy gets the leading role. But they are eventually joined by Oswald (absolutely perfect Adam Pearson), a charming man with neurofibromatosis, who takes an interest in the play and Guy’s role in it. A Different Man is perhaps the best film I have seen in some time, a surrealistic dark comedy that continues to shift its narrative in unexpected ways. It works as comedy, but with sequences utilizing the language of horror, its themes of identity and our consistent questioning of our own self worth universal, with a perfect Sebastian Stan fully leaning into his weirdness, using his status as a Marvel marquee name in a project that forces him to disappear behind intense make-up for at least half of it. Schimberg is a truly original voice and an exciting nam both in his filmmaking skill and thematic concerns, and an easy selection for my favorite film of the year. 

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The following films are also of interest:

The Beekeeper (David Ayers, USA)

Between the Temples (Nathan Silver, USA) 

The Brutalist (Brady Corbet, USA)

Conclave (Edward Berger, UK/USA)

Didi (Sean Wang, USA)

The First Omen (Arkasha Stevenson, USA/Italy/Serbia)

Ghostlight (Kelly O’Sullivan/Alex Thompson, USA)

Hippo (Mark H. Rapaport, USA)

His Three Daughters (Azazel Jacobs, USA)

Kinds of Kindness (Yorgos Lanthimos, Ireland/UK/USA/Greece)

Late Night with the Devil (Cameron Cairnes/Colin Cairnes, Australia/USA)

Love Lies Bleeding (Rose Glass, UK/USA)

The Girl with the Needle (Magnus von Horn, Denmark)

Orion and the Dark (Sean Charmatz, USA)

A Real Pain (Jesse Eisenberg, Poland/USA)

Rebel Ridge (Jeremy Saulnier, USA)

Riddle of Fire (Weston Razooli, USA)

Smile 2 (Parker Finn, USA)

Sometimes I Think About Dying (Rachel Lambert, USA)

Strange Darling (JT Mollner, USA)

Universal Language (Matthew Rankin, Canada)

Vermiglio (Maura Delpero, Italy)

For a more "ranked" color-coded list, click here.

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“Awards” (red indicating “winner”)

Amy Bowman Award: Kathryn Newton in Lisa Frankenstein 

Editing

Sean Baker - “Anora” 

Graham Fortin/Greg Ng - “Longlegs” 

Mike Cheslik - “Hundreds of Beavers”

Sofi Marhsall - “I Saw the TV Glow”

Eliot Knapman/Margaret Sixel - “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga”

Cinematography

Andres Arochi - “Longlegs”

Vincent Biron - “Red Rooms”

Robin Carolan - “Nosferatu” 

David Chizallet - “The Vourdalak”

Michal Dymek - “The Girl with the Needle”

Music

Daniel Blumberg - “The Brutalist” 

Robin Carolan - “Nosferatu” 

Clint Mansell - “Love Lies Bleeding”

Tom Holkenborg - “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga”

Elvis Perkins - “Longlegs” 

Special Mention: Z Berg original songs for Strange Darling

Original Writing

Jonathan A. Abrams - “Juror No. 2”

Mike Cheslik/Ryland Brickson Cole Tews - “Hundreds of Beavers” 

Mohammad Rasoulof - “The Seed of the Sacred Fig”

Aaron Schimberg - “A Different Man”

Jane Schoenbrun - “I Saw the TV Glow”

Adapted Writing

Pedro Almodovar - “The Room Next Door”

Adrien Beau/Hadrien Bouvier - “The Vourdalak”

Charlie Kaufman - “Orion and the Dark” 

George Miller/Nick Lathouris - “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga”

Peter Straughan - “Conclave”

Supporting Actress

Joan Chen - “Didi”

Carol Kane - “Between the Temples”

Jack Haven - “I Saw the TV Glow”

Elizabeth Olsen - “His Three Daughters” 

Alicia Witt - “Longlegs”

Supporting Actor

Nicolas Cage - “Longlegs”

Kieran Culkin - “A Real Pain”

Chris Hemsworth - “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga”

Karren Karagulian - “Anora”

Adam Pearson - “A Different Man”

Actress

Willa Fitzgerald - “Strange Darling”

Juliette Gariepy - “Red Rooms” 

Marianne Jean-Baptiste - “Hard Truths”

Nell Tiger Free - “The First Omen”

Naomi Scott - “Smile 2”

Actor

Ralph Fiennes - “Conclave”

Keith Kupferer - “Ghostlight”

Jesse Plemons - “Kinds of Kindness”

Justice Smith - “I Saw the TV Glow”

Sebastian Stan - “A Different Man”

Directing

Mike Cheslik - “Hundreds of Beavers”

George Miller - “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga”

Oz Perkins - “Longlegs”

Aaron Schimberg - “A Different Man”

Jane Schoenbrun - “I Saw the TV Glow”

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Television (alphabetically)

Abbott Elementary

Baby Reindeer

Conan O’Brien Must Go

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Disclaimer

Feud: Capote vs. The Swans 

Girls5Eva

The Old Man 

Somebody Somewhere

What We Do in the Shadows