Strongmen, tsunamis, serial killers…one could say that the film year 2024 was a bit on the brutal side. Or at least on the (ahem) brutalist side. Yet, despite many tough topics serving as the plot for those films filling the cineplexes, such movies were often surprisingly hopeful, even uplifting. It was enough to almost make one feel good going into 2025 though all that may change significantly come January 20th.
Here then are the movies that most impressed me these past 12 months.
WICKED
Do you know how hard it is to get a movie musical right? Let alone one that is adapted from such a ginormous hit as one still running on Broadway after 21 years? I can count on one hand the truly great movie musicals since OLIVER won Best Picture in 1969, but by God, WICKED is sure one of them. It succeeds spectacularly not only because it keeps everything right about the stage show, but because the film deepens the material as well. Director John M. Chu has pitched the story of what went down in Oz before Dorothy dropped in with the intimacy of film and stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande deliver star performances layered with nuance and complexity. The timing of WICKED is such too that it completely comments on the time we live in as strongmen leaders like the Wizard here try to vilify those different in society and turn the masses against them. Yes, WICKED was often dark, but its brains, heart, and courage spoke volumes. (Sang volumes?)
FLOW
This animated gem (Latvia’s official Oscar entry for Best Animated Feature, not to mention Best International Feature) concerns a wayward cat battling the aftermath of a tsunami was the year’s biggest surprise to me. Told without a single word of dialogue, director Gints Zilbalados’ beautiful story showcases a plucky feline and a few animals bent on survival navigating the troubled words in the aftermath of a world-changing flood. FLOW is a parable about climate disaster, community, and tolerance, one that moved me to laughter, tears, and utter awe.
ANORA
Filmmaker Sean Baker hit a high-water mark with his ever-shifting character study. ANORA starts as a romantic comedy before turning into a tense thriller, a chase film, and then finally, a complex character study of seven people trying to find a way out of the misbegotten marriage between a potty-mouthed stripper and an oligarch’s foolish son. It never becomes the tragedy you think it might be, nor does the threat of violence intercede as you fear it might. Instead, it keeps you guessing, laughing, and caring for these messy characters. Mikey Madison is unforgettable as the lead, blending role and performance into the year’s most memorable turn.
THE BRUTALIST
It doesn’t open in Chicago until next week when I’ll post my full review, but suffice it to say that THE BRUTALIST by director Brady Corbet is a tough and searing work about no less than the battle between art and commerce, war and remembrance, and brutal realities that get in the way of the American Dream. Those are heavy subjects, but the journey portrayed by the headstrong architect in America after WWII is deftly done in every way. Adrien Brody stars, never better, as does Guy Pearce, never better. It’s long at 3.5 hours with an intermission no less, but I was captivated by every intense second of this expertly mounted production.
SING SING
How could a prison drama be the year’s most uplifting film? While SING SING may be about incarcerated men who forge a theater troupe to while away their time, what’s truly going on here is an examination of how art saves souls. The incredible Colman Domingo heads a cast filled mostly with the actual prisoners from the Sing Sing troupe including the marvelous Clarence Maklin. Greg Kwedar directs every aspect with the deftest touch of any director this year.
WE LIVE IN TIME
Romantic comedies, or romantic dramas for that matter, rarely get greenlit for the big screen anymore which makes WE LIVE IN TIME all the more of a miracle of a movie. It’s the story of a young couple, played by the wondrous Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield, and details the little moments inside the big events of their life together. Edited out of sequence, director John Crowley places his audience so close to them, that we are invested in every moment. I wanted more time with these two…and that’s the point.
RED ROOMS
It was a banner year for horror with LONG LEGS and NOSFERATU setting box office records, along with at least a half dozen other horror films of note from HERETIC to THE SUBSTANCE to LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL. This little gem concerned a fashion model who becomes obsessed with a Montreal serial killer’s trial, and boy, did it get under my skin. Juliette Gariepy plays the true crime fan far too willing to plop herself into the courtroom drama. Filmmaker Pascal Plante’s film is subtle, yet creepy as hell, giving me the heebie-jeebies like no other film this year.
THE WILD ROBOT
Lupita Nyong’o voices the title character here, a shipwrecked AI that’s supposed to help do chores in the household. So, in this imaginatively animated movie, the robotic Roz turns her attention to cleaning up the mess of a forest she’s been abandoned in, and soon shines as the ‘mother’ to a group of bickering animals. She helps a baby bird spread its wings, a wily fox learn to trust others, and a megacorporation discover that technology cannot improve nature. Like FLOW, this film was more humane than most films with humans on screen in 2024.
CONCLAVE
Several religious sorts were already griping about this one before it even came out, but the equally pulpy and profound CONCLAVE turned out to be one of the most positive portrayals of Christianity to hit mainstream cinemas in decades. Ralph Fiennes was compelling as hell, barely speaking above a whisper throughout, corralling all of the competing cardinals trying to become pope. Decency, ethics, and unerring judgment were his weapons against egos, selfishness, and scandal. What’s a Catholic not to love in Edward Berger’s taut follow-up to his award-winning ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT?
MY OLD ASS
Writer/director Megan Park tells the tale of a carefree teen girl named Elliot (Maisy Stella) enjoying her last summer before trotting off to college who happens to be visited by a tart-tongued woman (Aubrey Plaza) claiming to be her 20 years in the future. Before you can “Marty McFly” Park is off to the races blending coming-of-age and the mysteries of Elliott’s summer which will have such an impact that her older self felt the need to time travel and intercede. Despite being fanciful, it’s grounded, shrewd, and a great dissertation on the pluck of youth and the wisdom of age.
Other films impressed me too including these 11 runners-up:
DUNE 2, A REAL PAIN, THE APPRENTICE, LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL, THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG, HIT MAN, TUESDAY, INSIDE OUT 2, WICKED LITTLE LETTERS, HERETIC, and SUPER MAN: THE CHRISTOPHER REEVE STORY. As Oscar season rolls in, I’ll catch more docs, shorts, and films I missed like NICKEL BOYS. But until further notice, these films are my picks for the best of the year and I hope you’re inspired to see a number of my choices.
