I’m not the biggest fan of awards season. I avoid the BAFTA and OSCAR ceremonies, taking a passing interest in the nominees and eventual winners but nothing more than that. Occasionally there will be a year when the films recognised pique my interest a little more and it’s hard to ignore the quality of the work being celebrated.
2024 was one of those instances. It was a particularly vintage year and for the first time, I felt every film in the Best Picture category deserved to be there. This set the tone and 2024 has been a strong year for the variety and quality of films released.
To begin what will hopefully be an even better year for film, here are my favourite and notable films from 2024.
Wishing you all a very Happy New Year – best wishes and great film viewing for 2025!
My Favourite 10 of 2024 (in no particular order):
The Apprentice (2024, dir. Ali Abbasi)
All We Imagine as Light (2024, dir. Payal Kapadia)
Conclave (2024, dir. Edward Berger)
Anora (2024, dir. Sean Baker)
The Zone of Interest (2023, dir. Jonathan Glazer)
Love Lies Bleeding (2024, dir. Rose Glass)
Monkey Man (2024, dir. Dev Patel)
My Favourite Cake (2024, dir. Maryam Moghadam & Behtash Sanaeeha)
Evil Does Not Exist (2023, dir. Ryusuke Hamaguchi)
Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry (2023, dir. Elene Naveriani)
Notable Mentions:
These are films which had an impact or I just really bloody enjoyed. In my humble opinion, all are worth seeing if you have not already.
Dahomey (2024, dir. Mati Diop)
The Iron Claw (2023, dir. Sean Durkin)
American Fiction (2023, dir. Cord Jefferson)
Dune: Part Two (2024, dir. Denis Villeneuve)
Late Night with the Devil (2023, dir. Cameron Cairnes & Colin Cairnes)
Challengers (2024, dir. Luca Guadagnino)
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024, dir. George Miller)
La Chimera (2023, dir. Alice Rohrwacher)
Hit Man (2023, dir. Richard Linklater)
The Dead Don’t Hurt (2023, dir. Viggo Mortensen)
Crossing (2024, dir. Levan Akin)
Only the River Flows (2023, dir. Wei Shujun)
Joker: Folie a Deux (2024, dir. Todd Phillips)
Priscilla (2023, dir. Sophie Coppola)
Emilia Perez (2024, dir. Jacques Audiard)
All of Us Strangers (2023, dir. Andrew Haigh)
The Outrun (2024, dir. Nora Fingscheidt)
Overrated but appreciated:
I wanted to love these films and enjoyed the hype but they both lose it in the third act. Due to great performances (especially Demi Moore in The Substance) and interesting plotlines, I feel they are worthy of note and should be seen if you’re curious.
Longlegs (2024, dir. Oz Perkins)
The Substance (2024, dir. Coralie Fargeat)
Watched for the First Time:
I have shamelessly pinched this idea from Millie De Chirico’s brilliant Substack, Professional Sweetheart and her Best of 2024 roundup and Karina Longworth’s Favourite films of 2024. I enjoyed their ‘first watched’ lists very much so including my own – it’s not exhaustive but just some of the standouts.
As an aside, film writer Anna Bogutskaya’s list for 2024 from her Substack, Admit One, is also a great read if you are into end of year lists (which I totally am).
Devil in a Blue Dress (1995, dir. Carl Franklin)
The Quiet Girl (2022, dir. Colm Bairéad )
Shadows in Paradise (1986, dir. Aki Kaurismäki)
Ariel (1988, dir. Aki Kaurismäki)
The Match factory Girl (1990, dir. Aki Kaurismäki)
Anatomy of a Fall (2023, dir. Justine Triet)
Working Girls (1931, dir. Dorothy Arzner)
Getting it Back: The Story of Cymande (2022, dir. Tim MacKenzie-Smith)
The Bride Wore Red (1937, dir. Dorothy Arzner)
Women Talking (2022, dir. Sarah Polley)
Lost Highway (1997, dir. David Lynch)
Beautiful Thing (1996, Hettie Macdonald)
Network (1976, Sidney Lumet)
Theorem (1968, dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini)
Celluloid Underground (2023, dir. Ehsan Khoshbakht)
Pouring Water on Troubled Oil (2023, dir. Nariman Massoumi)
Archipelago (2010, dir. Joanna Hogg)
Revenge (2017, dir. Coralie Fargeat)
Next time: Claudia Weill’s 1978 classic Girlfriends
The Cuckoo Clock Film Blog 