As usual it's been a funny old year. Along the way I've seen a few films; 368 at the time of writing, to be precise, although some have been rewatches, largely those that were covered in one of the ten recorded episodes of the podcast I co-host with friend Larry Brookes, Larry and David's Film Salon (and look out for my own DEoL podcast early next year). Also many thanks to the people at 'We Belong Dead' magazine for giving me the opportunity to contribute to some of their many fine and informative publications (including an extended essay on Japanese film director Nobuo Nakagawa, which I think might be the first ever English language coverage of his 'fantastic' films output, and which you can buy here). Also as ever my thanks to Paul Downey from Bloody Flicks for putting many opportunities my way to be first in line for new releases and the chance to cover some film festivals; I've provided 40 reviews for that site during the year.
In terms of film viewing, it's been the usual combination of new films and retro treats. A couple of specific mentions. It was great to see Curt McDowell's Thundercrack! on the big screen again, as part of the BFI's celebration of the release of Jane Giles and Ali Catterall's splendid Scala documentary (which I covered here); the last time I'd seen it was indeed at the Scala, back in 1989.
London's newest Grindhouse project project kicked into gear this year, with a successful crowdfunder to allow 'The Nickel' to establish a permanent (or as permanent as anything is these days) base in the capital. Along the way I caught one of their fundraisers at The Cinema Museum, the rarely seen Gyakufunsha kazoku (The Crazy Family) from 1984, which was enormous fun.
But back to 2024. At the same time as drawing up my own 'Best of' list, I've been monitoring the choices from other critics/outlets, and one thing that's apparent is that, apart from a few commonly agreed titles, nearly every one of the 24 critics' sites I looked at has chosen at least one movie ignored by the others; as a result an astonishing 214 different films have been mentioned.
Anyway here's my Top 10, in no particular order, followed by some honourable mentions, nearly all of which could have inched in to the Top 10. Words where I haven't reviewed so far, links where I have):
Poor Things (Ireland, UK, USA, Hungary: Dir Yorgos Lanthimos) Lanthimos's films have, up to The Favourite, left me rather cold, but Poor Things was a bizarrely eroticised Frankenstein re-telling filtered through the films of Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Emma Stone's performance was extraordinary, a coming of age film like no other, with a sumptuous design and a superb wonky soundtrack by Jerskin Fendrix.
The End We Start From (UK, USA: Dir Mahalia Belo) Belo's TV background stood her in good stead for this intimate disaster movie about a new mother escaping from a Ballardian submerged London and trying to find sanctuary out of the city. A low budget actually helped the paucity of 'disaster' scenes (more effective when they were shown as a result), with a convincing Jodie Comer travelling the UK and discovering, Children of Men style, how communities respond to crisis.
The Holdovers (USA: Dir Alexander Payne) A film which made few of the 'Best of ' lists for 2024 having been included in many 2023 round ups (despite only being released in UK cinemas in January of this year), The Holdovers, from its 1970s title font (the movie is set in that decade) to its brown academic schematic, is a beautifully played movie about a teacher at a New England school (Paul Giamatti) forced to remain on campus during Christmas break to look after awkward student (Dominic Sessa), with only the school cook (Da'Vine Joy Randolph) for company. I love Payne's films and this three hander is both funny, sad and uplifting.
The Zone of Interest (UK, Poland, USA: Dir Jonathan Glazer) The 'banality of evil' line may have been a bit overused in relation to Glazer's loose adaptation of Martin Amis's holocaust novel, but it's still a perfect description for a film where the subject matter - Auschwitz - is barely glimpsed but constantly heard. Told as a bizarre domestic drama centred on camp commandant Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel) and his wife Hedwig (Sandra Hüller), the spectre of the camp is moved stage right in order to depict the mundane lives of the Höss family, whose whole existence is maintained in service of the death factory next door. Glazer's subtle approach to the subject matter cannot disguise his polemicism, nor should it.
La Chimera (Italy, France, Switzerland, Turkey: Dir Alice Rohrwacher)
Longlegs (Canada, USA: Dir Osgood Perkins)
Kneecap (Ireland, UK: Dir Rich Peppiatt)
Sleep (South Korea: Dir Jason Yu)
All of Us Strangers (UK, USA: Dir Andrew Haigh) Haigh's latest drama, a masterclass in tragedy, draws on elements of two of his earlier films, 45 Years (2015) and Weekend (2011) in its story of Adam, a lonely screenwriter (a tour de force performance from Andrew Scott), connecting with a near neighbour in his otherwise empty apartment block, and vividly reconnecting with his parents who died when Adam was a young boy. Both a ghost story of sorts and an extended meditation on grief, memory and nostalgia, All of Us Strangers hit all the right notes without being manipulative. A coruscating viewing experience that I nevertheless wanted to rewatch as soon as the end credits rolled, it's a hugely affecting piece, intimately delivered with enormous power.
Love Lies Bleeding (UK, USA: Dir Rose Glass) Remarkably this is only Glass's second feature. Following on from 2019's fabulous (literally) Saint Maud, Love Lies Bleeding blows the cobwebs away from the seaside town domestic drama of her debut to deliver something quite different and extraordinary; an unapologetically stylised neo noir movie. Channeling the hardboiled writings of Jim Thompson and set in 1989, it's the story of an edgy gym manager (Kristen Stewart) whose increasingly obsessive relationship with one of her customers, the buff (and then some) Jackie (Katy O’Brian), leads to a spiraling body count as Jackie makes her way from New Mexico to Las Vegas to participate in a Body Building championship. One of those movies where you're better off knowing as little as possible about it before viewing, I was blown away by Glass's audacity; the visual splendour, the astonishing levels of violence and the magic realist elements (possibly the only thing that ties this one to Saint Maud) would be nothing without Stewart and O'Brian's sensational performances). It's also probably the only film I've ever seen which includes 'Hamburger Lady' by Throbbing Gristle on the soundtrack. Twice.
Honorable mentions: Juror #8; Immaculate; Blink Twice; Io Capitano; Dagr; Late Night With the Devil; Civil War; Never Let Go; Smile 2; Heretic; Your Monster; The Contestant; Hit Man; Good One; Timestalker
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