Rory's 10 Best Films of 2024
2024, for me, was a year of transition. My work situation changed. My living situation changed. My outlook on the city and country I live in changed. And while I would like to say that movies were a constant for me, that wouldn’t be the complete truth. I struggled to connect with many films this year, as major studios pushed out films I found disappointing or outright poor, and audiences were enjoying films I couldn’t myself. It took me well into the year to really find and connect with the cinema of 2024 in the same way I usually do immediately. I think the best films of the year reflect this, a year in transition, a world regressing. The best films are those that pushed back the hardest against what may be the new norm, the films that dared to be subversive and unblinking in their portrayals of our world. Films that highlighted lives we’ve come to take advantage of, people we disregard, and assumptions we have made. These films challenged both the medium and the audiences like no others did this past year. These films are the best of 2024.
Honorable Mentions: Dune 2, My Old Ass, To a Land Unknown, Conclave, Hundreds of Beavers
Notable Films I Have Not Seen: The Brutalist, All We Imagine As Light, Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World, Sing Sing, No Other Land
10. Carnival Is Over
Director: Fernando Coimbra
Written by: Fernando Coimbra
A loving, sexy couple, who’s family connections with the underworld has always been a source of shame, attempt to separate themselves from the world. But instead of making a clean exist they are quickly pulled deeper and deeper into depravity. Whether it’s because of greed, revenge, or desperation, Regina (Leandra Leal) and Valerio (Irandhir Santos) quickly start stacking lie atop of lie in the hopes their house of cards won’t collapse on them. Ripping from tense familial arguments to hilariously dark moments, director Fernando Coimbra crafts an incredible film about people making all the wrong decisions.
A dash of MacBeth stirred into the thrilling world of the Brazilian criminal underbelly, we are presented with a situation familiar to all fans of crime thrillers: the son of a crime boss is being asked to step into his father’s shoes. Valerio refuses the call to head his crime family, only to be drawn into it and eventually surpassing his father in cruelty and madness. As Valerio descends into the criminal world, his wife Regina’s manipulations and demands of him become less effective, her place in Valerio’s life becoming less vital. As paranoia and distrust permeates the relationship and the government seems to be closing in on their activities, both Regina and Valerio must decide who if anyone they can trust.
A pitch black comedy that balances it’s tone perfectly, you never know what’s coming next in Carnival is Over. There exists no morality, no honestly in the characters presented, and everyone is declaring their admiration for each other while preparing to stab them in the back. The house the couple live in, once decadent, begins to rot from within as the characters begin to betray what little beliefs they had. The loyalty of brothers, wives, sons, and fathers is never enough in this world, and nobody is safe from the cycle of violence. An excellent, deeply effective film.
9. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Director: George Miller
Written by: George Mille & Nico Lathouris
You fabulous thing. You crawled out of a pitiless grave, deeper than hell. Only one thing that is going to do that for you. Not hope. Hate. No shame in hate. It's one of the greatest forces of nature.
Returning to the fruitful and endlessly fascinating world of Mad Max, director George Miller proves that he is an action master like few other filmmakers. In this prequel to Mad Max: Fury Road we see the origins of Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy) as she is kidnapped as a child and held captive by the barbarian biker Dementus (Chris Hemsworth). After being traded to the warlord Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme), Furiosa escapes, choosing to instead hide in plain sight, all the while planning her eventual escape back to the Green Place. War, blood, and guzzoline all blend together in a furious and compassionate action epic.
Miller’s action sensibilities are as astounding as ever, and his ability to balance the action with a genuine and gripping emotionality is riveting. We care not just for Furiosa but for the fates of all the characters we come across, even our villains. Dementus is at times vile, pitiful, ruthless, and an absolute devilish delight, giving Hemsworth a career high point. Tom Burke plays Praetorian Jack, the war rig driver who takes Furiosa under his tutelage when she tries to escape, their love for each other being a deep well in the endless dessert. The opening scenes in which Furiosa’s mother Mary Jabassa (Charlee Fraser) is determined to save her daughter from the scavengers blends the action and high stakes emotion into a haunting a beautiful cinematic moment.
But it’s Furiosa’s unbending and unbreakable will that makes this film a brilliant follow-up to the masterpiece that is Fury Road. Taylor-Joy is near silent the majority of the film, Miller using her open face like a silent era star. Everything is reaction, with Furiosa paying attention to everything and everyone. We follow every emotion and turn she makes without a word being spoken, from the pulsating, unstoppable action beats to the quiet, determined love that flowers between her and Jack. Following up one of the greatest action films of all time with another one is no small feat, yet Miller accomplished it with ease. Tremendous and enthralling.
8. Close Your Eyes
Director: Victor Erice
Written by: Michel Gaztambide
Memory is very important, but a person is more than just a memory
An epic of a much quieter variety, Close Your Eyes is the first feature film from Victor Erice in over thirty years. When his lead actor (and best friend) Julio Arenas (Jose Coronado) mysteriously disappeared one day thirty years prior, director Miguel Garay (Manolo Solo) is unable to finish his film, and never tries to make another. When a true crime television show interviews him all these years later, memories and regrets begin to surface, and Miguel begins to look at the successes and failures that have made him the man he is. After the program airs, a woman reaches out, believing she knows the answer as to what happened decades ago.
A beautiful, quiet film about losses (both big and small) we all experience, Erice shows a wonderful patience in the unravelling of this story. While the subject matter may feel like one found in many a pulp novels, this is not a thriller nor an action film, instead focusing on the reverberations felt when someone suddenly leaves your life. Garay is not a bitter character, or a man with the weight of his failures pressing upon him. He has had a good life, a fulfilling life, despite not achieving everything he set out to. This doesn’t lessen the pain of losing his friend and his artistic drive, but it emphasizes that life goes on and that memories can be a curse as well as a kindness. We can not live in memories, can not be fed by memories, and so they must be kept at bay. Glory days are just days when you’re living in them.
The care for which this story is told is impeccable. The film within a film The Farewell Gaze is used frequently, with the opening half hour of the film existing solely of footage from this fake film, a dream within a dream. Despite being an incomplete story, The Farewell Gaze is completely transfixing, like a memory of a seemingly insignificant event that is forever etched into your mind. Erice builds the film to these quiet climaxes, these subtle moments where Garay realizes where he is in life and decides whether to embrace it or to try and rescue his past. There’s no changing our past, but there is changing our future, and Erice pleads for us to move forward while never forgetting who we are. A dense and wonderful exploration of our dreams for the future and of reconciliation with the past.
7. Rebel Ridge
Director: Jeremy Saulnier
Written by: Jeremy Saulnier
It wasn't the offer you made, it was the fact that you thought you were entitled to make one.
Director Jeremy Saulnier returns with his first film since 2018’s Hold the Dark with an angry but reserved look at corruption and expectations in Rebel Ridge. When Marine veteran Terry Richmond (Aaron Pierre) is ran off the road by police in small town Louisiana and has the bail money for his cousin seized in civil forfeiture, he has to race against the clock to get more money before his cousin is sent into general population. When the local police chief Sandy Burnne (Don Johnson) creates trouble for Richmond, Richmond must team up with a local county clerk (AnnaSophia Robb) to uncover the corruption of the local authorities before it’s too late.
Saulnier proves he’s a master of tension building and action filmmaking with Rebel Ridge. With a large focus on non-lethal combat and close quarters combat, the film feels fresh in it’s exploration of action, the framing and blocking playing into the frenetic energy of the scenes. By having Richmond by a military man, uninterested in killing American citizens no matter how corrupt, it adds to the tension of the film, for every fight involves him trying to stay alive while causing as minimal damage as possible. The performance of Pierre is one of the best of the year, stoic without being emotionless, hard without being uncaring. He plays a man out of options incredibly well, and his calculating eyes make for the decisions during the fight scenes unique and innovative.
Despite sounding like many paint-by-numbers revenge thrillers one can find your dad watching on a Sunday afternoon, Saulnier (as always) has much more on his mind. The film is not just about the corruption that has decimated many a small town across the United States, but the preconceived notions we all make on a daily basis. Saulnier challenges everyone in the film, not just the morally bankrupt officers but our heroes as well. From subtle instances, such as when an Asian man puts on a fake accent when taking a food order at his restaurant, to more important ones, such as Burnne’s assumption that since Richmond did not serve overseas that he is not a threat. Saulnier wants us to question the motives of everyone, and this intelligence in storytelling amplifies the action. A heart-pounding and thoughtful action film.
6. Hit Man
Director: Richard Linklater
Written by: Richard Linklater & Glen Powell
Seize the identity you want for yourself.
As a lifelong Richard Linklater fan, it was wonderful to see him hit another homerun with the delightful and wickedly dark Hit Man. Placing tongue firmly in cheek and dismantling the myths behind the modern ideas of the hitman, Linklater and co-writer/star Glen Powell produce an engrossing story about a man finding himself by never being himself. Following a bland college professor who moonlights as a fake hitman used by the police in sting operations, things get complicated when he falls for one of the targets of the sting. As he tries to balance his regular life and the exciting, daring identity he’s taken with his new lover, he begins to question who he really is.
An absolute blast of a film, this movie only works because of the hilarious central performance from Powell. His shapeshifting skills from nerdy wallflower to sexy criminal and the various personas in between are delightful. They are never fully convincing, which makes the con he’s perpetrating all the more entertaining. His chemistry with costar Adria Arjona is fiery and sexy, with just a shade of darkness that keeps you on the edge of your seat. The darker elements of the story begin to emerge in the second half of the film, when the fun of playing a cold and calculating criminal hits the reality of what’s expected of him, and Linklater plays with these expectations to great success.
The deconstruction on display here is what makes this such a fun watch. Linklater refuses to fall into cliche, instead calling out the absurdities such cliches would imply. The parade of hitman archetypes that Powell plays in montage are all familiar to us, characters we’ve seen played straight across various films. Here we see them for the fools they would be if they existed, they one-note farces of people. The film starts by telling us hitmen only exist in fantasy, and goes on to show those fantasies to be the foolishness they are. Linklater proves once again he refuses to bend to the whims of genre and form. A delightful, dark, and sexy comedy.
5. Nosferatu
Director: Robert Eggers
Written by: Robert Eggers
My dreams grow darker. Does evil come from within us, or from beyond?
With Nosferatu, director Robert Eggers proves himself to be a modern horror maestro. A monochromatic gothic masterpiece, Nosferatu feels drenched in death and despair. Following a woman (Lily-Rose Depp) who, after promising herself to a supernatural beast as a young, lonely woman, must face that beast years later. The horrific vampire Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgard) attempts to claim her, and will do anything to take what he believes is his. Stocked full of brilliant performances from all the supporting cast, including Aaron Taylor-Johnson as a best friend unwilling to swept into the path of the curse, Willem Dafoe as a disgraced scientist obsessed with the occult, and Ralph Ineson as a doctor forced to face this old world evil, Nosferatu is as deeply compelling on a character level as it is beautifully designed.
Calling the production design of this film immaculate would be falling shy of how great it is. Eggers captures the feeling of 1830s Europe with vigor. Every shot tells a story, every frame is a painting, a bile black and corrupted place. Even before Orlok travels to the city of Wisburg, the evil he exudes has tainted everything we see. Every shadow contains a fearsome thing, every moment stretching into a fearful infinity. The inky imagery from cinematographer Jarin Blaschke makes the world of Ellen and Thomas Hutter (Depp and Nicholas Hoult) into a dying nightmare even before they encounter the nosferatu. When they do face him, they are powerless to his aura, with the sequence of Thomas entering Orlok’s castle being one of the best of the entire year, and eerie and terrifying exercise in composition and editing.
While the production design is incredible, the performances are also jaw-dropping at times. Depp proves herself to be a star on the rise, the unbearable terror of her situation throwing her into fits and ungodly spasms. Skarsgard is powerful and foreboding as Orlok, a beast of blood and lust and death who invades every scene in the film with his presence. Taylor-Johnson and Ineson play the unwilling skeptics perfectly, with Taylor-Johnson given much to showcase in the final act. Dafoe as always is undeniable in his portrayal of the alchemist and philosopher who dares believe in the devil. Even the relatively minor role of the cursed servant Herr Knock (Simon McBurney) is completely enticing. All these performances along with the luscious design and the horribly lustful story make this an eerie and unforgettable film.
4. Challengers
Director: Luca Guadagnino
Written by: Justin Kuritzkes
For about fifteen seconds there, we were actually playing tennis. And we understood each other completely. So did everyone watching. It's like we were in love. Or like we didn't exist. We went somewhere really beautiful together.
Fierce, dynamic, and damn sexy, Challengers is a visceral experience. The menage-a-trois of our lead characters (Zendaya, Josh O’Connor, and Mike Faist) are at a constant tension with each other. We are never certain if they are going to fight each other or fuck each other, and sometimes they do both within the same scene. This tension is made even more palpable by the propulsive, incredible score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, a 90s inspired synth heart attack. Combine this with an intriguing and genuinely fascinating story structure from writer Justin Kuritzkes and we get one of the best sports films of the 2020s.
The chemistry between our three leads is fantastic. Zendaya plays the cold, unreachable tennis queen, forced into an auxiliary role by a life-changing injury. Faist is the coddled champion on his last legs, the one who made it but still has a chip on his shoulder. O’Connor is the cocky underdog, the one who never made it which makes him want it even more. When their paths all cross again at a low ranking Challenger event in New Rochelle, New York, all the turmoil of their decades long love affairs broils over, and it all plays out in the finals match on the tennis court. Blood, sweat, sex, and tennis all bleed together into a tremendous and fascinating portrait of desire and control in a sport that demands both.
While the dynamic score and camerawork elevate this film into one of the best of the year, the Russian nesting doll of a script from first time screenwriter Kuritzkes is what makes this film truly special. The slow and deliberate dispersing of information, never really hiding anything but always having more to say, is a textbook example of how structure can make or break a film. The dynamics between our leads is constantly in flux, with nobody staying in control or on top for too long before somebody else robs them of their power. You are never certain of loyalties and loves, not even when the credits start rolling, but you are certain this erotic game of cat-and-cat-and-mouse is likely to never stop playing. A glistening gem of a film.
3. A Real Pain
Director: Jesse Eisenberg
Written by: Jesse Eisenberg
Dave, we're on a fuckin Holocaust tour. If now isn't the time and place to grieve, to open up, then I don't know what to tell you, man.
A light dramatic-comedy about heavy subjects and fascinating people, A Real Pain is a fantastic sophomore effort from Jesse Eisenberg. Following two cousins who, after the death of their grandmother, travel to Poland to do a Holocaust tour. The cousins, David (Eisenberg) and Benji (Kieran Culkin) were incredibly close as children, but as David has grown into a regular, “functional” adult, Benji has remained adrift in a world that constantly insists he conform. Benji’s complete openness is seen as refreshing for people initially, that is until he challenges their own beliefs. He is completely unconcerned with how he is perceived, and his need to express his opinion and feelings is completely at odds with David, who himself simply coasts along, hoping not to stand out or harm anything or anyone in any way.
Culkin’s performance is absolutely phenomenal, an incredibly loose and uncompromising vision of a person. Benji is a demanding presence, a person who will never compromise, even for people he loves. He is not hurtful, not willing, instead simply not understanding how anyone could live any other way. He doesn’t want to shy away from pain or sadness, wants to feel everything as fully as possible, even when it will cause him suffering. When the cognitive dissonance of taking a pampered first class train while on a tour of the Holocaust hits Benji, he demands that it be recognized, demands that people acknowledge the buffer zone of comfort they are forcing around themselves. His uncompromising belief in pain and love and living free from emotional distance makes him a character unlike any we’ve seen before.
Benji works great because of Culkin’s performance and because of Eisenberg’s stellar scripting. Eisenberg is able to make Benji both an unrepentant leech and bother, while making him one of the most lovable characters from 2024. He is frustrating and we, like David, are constantly at odds with Benji when his honesty bends into unkindness. But we also admire him and his deep love of emotion, all because Eisenberg simultaneously shows us the greatness that exists in this freedom. There is pain, real pain, but that pain can also be what makes life worth living. All that, and the script is genuinely hilarious as well. A fantastic character portrait.
2. Anora
Director: Sean Baker
Written by: Sean Baker
Oh, stay jealous, babe. Stay jealous, honey. Jealousy is a disease, remember that.
With every film Sean Baker further establishes himself as one of the premier American indie directors. With Anora he once again returns to study the life of an underseen section of society, doing so with compassion and humor, and jcreating one of the sexiest, funniest, and most endearing films of the year. Anora follows the titular character (Mikey Madison), a sex worker who is proposed to by man-child client Vanya (Mark Eydelshteyn) after a whirlwind week of sex, drugs, and partying. Believing she may have settled into a life of unmitigated luxury, things get complicated when Vanya’s Russian parents (who fund his excessive American lifestyle) demand that the two separate. This leads to a wild need across New York City as Anora, Vanya’s handler Toros (Karren Karagulian), Toros’ brother Garnick (Vache Tovmasyan) and a hired goon Igor (Yura Borisov) attempt to track down the Russian oligarch’s son.
This is a film that grabs you from the opening frame and never let’s go. The directing and camerawork from Baker is as fierce and demanding as the character of Anora. Anora is a street smart, take no prisoner woman who uses everything in her arsenal to get what she wants. She perfected how to get what she wants out of men in her job as a sex worker, and this film shows what happens when her sexuality and nerves aren’t enough. Madison plays her as a woman who knows what she deserves from this world and is willing to do anything to get that life. She isn’t a damaged child or a shrinking violet, she is loud and proud and she will fuck you up. She is passion and she is fury and she is love, all wrapped up in a thick New York accent.
How everyone navigates dealing with the storm that is Anora is what makes this film so compelling. Some (many) simply dismiss her as a hooker, someone barely worth their time. Others recognize her ferocity and, while opposing her ultimate goal of staying with Vanya, ultimately respect her grit. Igor develops one of the most fascinating relationships with her, one that plays into Anora’s idea of transactional love and her unwillingness to let in anyone who isn’t completely genuine with her. Borisov gives Igor a gentle and deeply caring air, while maintaining a striking and frightening physical presence. He is much like Anora, a person who’s body and career has cast him in a certain societal light that he rebels against. These are just some of the deeply personal (and, at times, incredibly funny) characters and depths Baker is able to dive into with Anora.
1. I Saw the TV Glow
Director: Jane Schoenbrun
Written by: Jane Schoenbrun
What if she was right? What if I was someone else? Someone beautiful and powerful? Buried alive and suffocating to death on the other side of a television screen?
A film unlike anything else you will find in 2024, I Saw the TV Glow is a triumph of ingenuity. A difficult, twisted, confusing journey that jumbles reality, dreams, memory, and obsession into a deeply personal and affecting tale. When a young boy befriends an older girl, they bond over their mutual obsession with a cheap 90s television show. Through this obsession they explore their relation with identity, with what media obsession is a compensation for, and how are desires and desperations can be hidden even from ourselves. Justice Smith and Brigette Lundy-Paine are amazing in the lead roles, with Smith putting in an easy career best as a man who has lost who he was and will likely never get it back.
Schoenbrun is a rarity in the current cinematic landscape, a completely uncompromising visionary who combines influences of David Lynch, Buffy the Vampie Slayer, Gregg Araki, and more, while never losing their own unique touch. This film is the most personal on the list, delving into the disassociation and fear that comes with not accepting the body you’ve been born with. The existential dread that must exist to feel trapped in one’s own skin is put on display, and the otherworldly fear of being unlike the rest of the world makes this an uncomfortable and, at times, unbearable watching experience. This film stings like an open wound, but it’s a pain we need to understand.
Smith puts in the performance of the year here. The design elements heighten his performance into a dreamscape, a man who is always on the verge of waking up from a nightmare only to decide to never wake up. There is fear, confusion, and desire in every frame of this film, so much of it that I couldn’t even comprehend it on my first watch. It is so lovingly crafted and performed that I had no choice than to make I Saw the TV Glow the best film of the year, and one that truly feels more like an experience than a movie.