Best films seen in 2024
In 2024 I watched 54 films. I watched 100 films in 2023, 86 films in 2022, 82 films in 2021 and 70 in 2020.
This is a low count, coming off the back of doing the big 100. This quantity of films is strictly amateur, I have learnt.
I think overall, it feels like I watched far more really good and relatively contemporary films. I don't think I strayed past 1972 all year.
I would say that with the exceptions of Megalopolis (2024) (say no more), A Man on The Moon (1999), Piercing (2018) (stylish but vapid and needlessly edgy neo-giallo) and Secret in Their Eyes (2015) (wholly unnecessary remake) I would recommend any of the films on the list. Hence writing them all out.
Best films seen
Rustin (2023)
Biopic of gay civil rights activist Bayard Rustin, organising up to the March in DC, where Martin Luther King gave his "I Have A Dream" speech.
There are few films that I can think of that are about the real mechanics of organising. As well as being a portrait of a brave, brilliant and fascinating man, Rustin really gets into the nuts and bolts of it all, with a bracing realism.
A lot of Rustin's time is spent in the film persuading other "institutional actors" to back his initiative: the NAACP, trade unions, and even King himself, who is a friend and comrade. These groups and persons disagree on timing, effectiveness, cost of the action, the personality and capabilities of Rustin as an organiser and his moral standing specifically, the lack of need for this compared to an inside game with mainstream parties: familiar things. Almost every aspect of what is now celebrated as a major event in the civil rights struggle is shot down. There is depiction of how some of the action of the march blunts the initiative of more radical groups. There is a sequence where Rustin workshops with other organisers what they would do in Washington, reviving their commitment to the work through the process. He then has to "sell" back to them essentially what betrays the contents of this workshop, as it isn't approved by the wider parties of the coalition. This is disempowering but people rattle on regardless. Familiar.
It is really clear eyed regarding a vital and incredibly boring aspect of social action, which is: money, fundraising. As well as discussing and executing a strategy, Rustin spends an inordinate amount of time trying to hustle together enough cash to get the thing to actually happen. There is a great sequence where he sends some organisers up to the upper middle class white areas to shake down guilty richer folks, which is depicted with the no-nonsense "gotta be done" attitude that I've seen from the best fundraisers. When responding to a press attack, Rustin commissions someone to write a sequence of increasingly aggressive press releases against a variety of opponents. This "write press releases for all positions in an escalating sequence and in advance" is a move I have taught organisers and press officers for years. There is also a piece on how after the march, they need to stick around to clean up. It's a great film.
If any commissioners for prestige streaming services are reading this blog, allow me to pitch: Organisers. In this anthology TV show, we follow a number of individuals and groups organising significant campaigns or actions. We follow the before and the aftermath. The action is rarely depicted, only spoken of, or reported. It probably runs across 1,000 years of history. It could run for multiple seasons. It is going to cost a lot of money. The episode on the Haitian revolution, the match girls' strike and the Luddites are spectacular. It is frank when campaigns are significant losses.
The Eternal Daughter (2022)
I think Tilda Swinton is one of my favourite actors. In this she plays two roles: as herself – a film-maker no less – and her mother. Who are staying at a hotel. The hotel is a character. Mystery abounds. Why are they there? Who are the other residents? Why is everyone acting so strangely?
The skill required to play these interactions is off the charts. Playing multiple parts is something Swinton has done a fair bit, quite recently in Suspiria (2018). But here, these two characters are the main ones. You sort of begin to forget this.
I also watched Swinton in Young Adam (2003) this year, which is a remarkable performance in a slightly forgotten and underrated film.
Scala!!! (2023)
This is a documentary about the arthouse cinema that had its most famous incarnation in King's Cross in London. It showed an incredible and eclectic range of films, and was instrumental in the general alternative arts scene for as long as it lasted.
The film is really fun, but made me nostalgic for an alternative, cheap, freer, post-punk London which I have never really experienced, but was clearly crucial to a whole range of people.
Variety (1983)
Kathy Acker wrote the screenplay for this drama about escalating sexuality, autonomy and obsession. Featuring peak pre-neoliberal New York. The final shot is as good, and as enigmatic, as they say.
Footprints on the Moon (1975)
A very strange and low key Italian film about a woman who is searching for a origins of a mysterious message she receives, and realises she seems to have lost some time. The soundtrack, locations and cinematography are really brilliant and the whole mood of the film is elliptical and mysterious.
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2008)
Two brothers, brilliantly portrayed by Philip Seymour Hoffman and (I think often very underrated) Ethan Hawke, decide on a last ditch heist to solve their money situation. In terms of tension, atmosphere and portrayal of family dynamics, this film is incredible.
Arrival (2016)
Aliens come to earth and reveal something of ourselves. It is about language and time and trust and memory. So human, but so philosophically rich and interesting.
I don't think I've cried before for a sci-fi film, but this one made me. The whole film's palette has this combination of beauty, space and coolness that is Denis Villeneuve's signature. I am not one for making diminishing comparisons, but Villeneuve makes Christopher Nolan look like a hack.
The End We Start From (2023)
Climate sci-fi apocalypse road movie. London is drowned by storms, and a family have to escape to the countryside, initially ending up at the beautiful rural home of their parents. Difficult to imagine a better film for serious engagement with the climate crisis.
The Secret in Their Eyes (2009)
Argentine crime drama about a police investigation of a particularly violent crime, taking place over multiple decades. The violence of that act is intertwined with the wider violence across Argentinian society.
This all sounds intensely troubling and it is. However, alongside this there is a multi-decade love story between the two central lawyers involved in the case. It is moving and beautiful.
She's Gotta Have It (1986)
Spike Lee's second film, a masterpiece of kinetic filmmaking and very funny. However, there is a quite horrible and disempowering final quarter, for a film that is sympathetic and empowering for its central character. I am glad to see that Lee later said he regretted this and revised it when he revisited the material. Still, worth seeing.
Together (2000) / Together 99 (2023)
A pair of well-observed comedy dramas. The first film is about a commune in 1970s Sweden. As someone pretty familiar with radical spaces, it is a very funny look at the way they often work out. The sister of the commune's quiet and sensitive founder Göran, Elisabeth, escapes her violent husband with two children and joins in with the commune's experimental living arrangements. She is profoundly changed by the radicalism of the space, but in turn the introduction of an outsider breathes new life into the stifling seriousness of the commune's politics.
Together 99 revisits the commune, which is still running, Göran still living there. The original gang re-unite. The returning characters run the gamut of reactions to youthful radicalism: from continuing lower-key commitment to those ideals while occupying elite positions, to mental health crises, to a full blown declaiming of that mode of life, to simply carrying on with the same structures regardless, as the world changes. Has a happy ending.
La chimera (2023)
Probably my film of the year. Its a beautiful ramble through 1980s Italy. A crew of eccentric grave robbers, including Arthur, a British archaeologist and diviner, steal priceless artefacts from tombs they discover and attempt to evade the authorities. Overcome in his dowsing, Arthur has visions revealing things about the graves they rob. Arthur seeks his lost love, and considers something new. It has an inverted shot of Arthur, inverted shots being such a common filmic trope now that I suspect it is due to recent camera technology making this camera movement much easier. The way the ending works as a sort of coda is brilliant. Of course, dream-logic film making makes one think of Fellini, but that feels a bit cheap. The director Alice Rohrwacher puts Fellini in as direct reference point, so maybe it is fine. She also recommends Rossellini's Journey to Italy (1953), which is stunning.
When I was a child I seemed to be able to dowse, a very strange thing.
The Hypnosis (2023)
This is an offbeat but really funny comedy about a couple involved in a pitch weekend for a start up. But due to a misfiring hypnosis programme to stop smoking, one half is not really herself.
Obviously the world of start ups, especially "tech for good" start ups is something I know very well, so the film works on that level. But it is also as an observation of relationship dynamics, within and outside families and power, and the corrupting influence of money, it is pretty good.
Baltimore (2023)
A portrait of a young heiress who becomes involved in an IRA plot to steal and ransom artwork. There is lots of tension as she seeks to escape, which is interleaved with her life story. There is an incredible recruitment scene.
Return to Seoul (2022)
What is really interesting is how it deals with such a long span of time. The unfolding of the protagonist's various relationships, the changes in them, the changes in her happen so cleanly. There is a sort of episodic character of the film, as she moves between different countries and cities.
Evil Does Not Exist (2023)
While billed sometimes as a horror film, it is more a eco-drama. A rural, forest-bound Japanese community cope with the intrusion of developers intending to create a glamping site. Tthe pure waters they use to irrigate their land and make their food will be poisoned and their ancient customs interupted. Sent from Toyko, the developers themselves are not unaffected by the situation.
Centred around beautiful shots of nature, this is a film where slowness, mystery and ambiguity abounds. Probably in my top three films this year. The title alone is provocative enough.
The opening is the camera facing upwards, looking through tree canopy for several minutes straight. Stunning.
Anatomy of A Fall (2023)
Courtroom drama that I've only watched once, but is the kind of film where it invites multiple viewings. The playing with perspectives is great.
The Deep Blue Sea (2011)
I think increasingly that Terence Davies is the greatest English director. I saw Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988) a few years and it still stays with me. The Deep Blue Sea is film of intense longing. One little touch that Davies features is people singing old songs in pubs collectively and joyfully, then stepping outside into the cold to (probably) argue with one another. The final shots are a really profound way of ending a film.
The Substance (2024)
A really fun but interesting film. Much has been said of Demi Moore's central performance. It is incredible: the sequence where she gets ready for a date is brilliant. Less has been said about the final 20 minutes, where you begin to think "I can't believe this is happening and what I am watching", for a solid chunk of time until the film ends. The only comparable scene I can think of is the last 20 minutes of Luca Guadagnino's Suspiria (2018) where he just floors the accelerator and off you go.
Love Lies Bleeding (2024)
A lesbian body-building horror-drama. As a film about body-building, it gets it really right: the joy of working out, changing your body, the power, solice and self-possession it brings. But also the considerable downsides of performance enhancing drugs. The pure obsession with the results body-building can bring. The relationship between the two central characters is sweet. Get someone who understands precisely why you take the yolks out of your omelettes, and can prepare your vials. Who understands why you had to leave home.
The Beast (2023)
A sci-fi film, with occasional brief shades of horror and melodrama. In the near future, emotions are considered dangerous, and people can undergo a procedure to eliminate them, which involves purifying their DNA and effectively reliving past lives. A woman undertakes the procedure and we follow her. It is a compelling film, held together by intense performances from Léa Seydoux and George MacKay. Oh and unlike me: scan the QR code at the end...
The Full List
- Foe (2023)
- I Hired a Contract Killer (1990)
- Hidden (2006)
- Rustin (2023)
- The Kitchen (2024)
- The Eternal Daughter (2022)
- Scala!!! (2023)
- Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
- Infinity Pool (2023)
- Variety (1983)
- American Fiction (2023)
- Footprints on the Moon (1975)
- Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2008)
- Promising Young Woman (2020)
- The Housemaid (2011)
- Reality (2023)
- Dune: Part Two (2024)
- Late Night with the Devil (2024)
- Torso (1972)
- Arrival (2016)
- A Man on The Moon (1999)
- The Talented Mr Ripley (1999)
- The Secret in Their Eyes (2009)
- Secret in Their Eyes (2015)
- Wild Men (2021)
- The End We Start From (2023)
- She's Gotta Have It (1986)
- Manhunter (1986)
- On The Road (2012)
- Together (2000)
- Together 99 (2023)
- La chimera (2023)
- A History of Violence (2005)
- The Hypnosis (2023)
- Rita, Sue and Bob Too (1987)
- Baltimore (2023)
- Return to Seoul (2022)
- Cosmopolis (2012)
- Evil Does Not Exist (2023)
- A Most Violent Year (2014)
- Megalopolis (2024)
- Anatomy of A Fall (2023)
- Silence of the Lambs (1991)
- The Deep Blue Sea (2011)
- Starve Acre (2023)
- The Substance (2024)
- Love Lies Bleeding (2024)
- One False Move (1992)
- The Psychic (1977)
- A Bittersweet Life (2005)
- Kneecap (2024)
- Piercing (2018)
- The Beast (2023)
- Young Adam (2003)