I was lucky enough to see 112 of the new 2024 releases before the end of the year. The following ranking is mainly based on how much I enjoyed each film. The whole list can be seen here, which I will continue to update as I catch up in the new year on some of the releases I missed, or as I re-watch some films and rearrange the ranking. Some I missed (as of this post) include A Complete Unknown, Maria, Y2K, The Beast, Cuckoo, and Femme. For now, here are my top 20 films of 2024, as of January 1, 2025.

20. The Last Showgirl (dir. Gia Coppola)
Pamela Anderson’s return to the big screen is in Gia Coppola’s latest, following Shelley who, after spending her whole life as a Las Vegas Showgirl, must face her future now that her show is closing its doors for good. I loved how the film felt like a final epilogue throughout, experiencing a sense of finality alongside the characters, with such a compelling conversation between generations about the showgirl and her place in art and a future world for women.

19. The Seed of the Sacred Fig (dir. Mohammad Rasoulof)
This film had a complicated journey to finally be screened for international audiences after director Mohammad Rasoulof and his film crew had to flee Iran after the film was completed because of its critiques of Iran’s authoritarian regime. From one of Iran’s most famous directors, The Seed of the Sacred Fig follows a judge and his family during times of nationwide political protests, when the his gun goes missing and tensions rise as he suspects his daughters are to blame. This fearless film is gripping throughout, with a courageous story from behind the camera, and a thoughtful and tense story presented showing us how change often begins in the home and the family. Women!

18. Problemista (dir. Julio Torres)
Problemista, starring writer and director Julio Torres, previously of SNL, follows an aspiring toy maker from El Salvador, as he tries to get his unusual toys made in America, while facing the villain that is the immigration system, when his only hope becomes an odd woman from the art world. This movie is hilarious and had me laughing out loud throughout. Julio Torres’ Alejandro’s dry yet quick wit and banter with Tilda Swinton’s Elizabeth makes me so excited for what Torres is going to do next. A comedy that feels so fresh, one so promising that we have not seen in quite some time.

17. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (dir. George Miller)
I was shocked when I loved Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) as much as I did, so its prequel film, Furiosa, quickly became one of my most anticipated of the year. Telling the story of Furiosa, taken from her home at a young age and in a perpetual battle between two tyrannical warlords in an attempt to get home, the film is a delicious addition to the story we caught glimpses of in its 2015 companion. The action is great fun, once again, and Anya Taylor-Joy is great as Furiosa, leaving no surprise that she grows up to be Charlize Theron.

16. How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies (dir. Pat Boonnitipat)
Unlike Furiosa, How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies was one I didn’t know about until quite late in the year. The Thai film follows M, a young man who is struggling to make a living streaming video games, who tries to become his grandmother’s main companion in hopes that he will be the one she leaves her money to when she passes. Despite its somber plot, its discussion on death, legacy, and family relationships are handled with such grace, leaving viewers to ponder their own familial relationships, no matter where in the world they come from.

15. Fancy Dance (dir. Erica Tremblay)
From Sundance in 2023, Fancy Dance finally found its home with Apple TV+ in 2024, making it accessible to all of us who have come to love Lily Gladstone following her colossal performances in 2023’s Killers of the Flower Moon. Fancy Dance tells the story of Jax and her niece Roki, as Roki’s mother has been missing for months. Living on the Seneca-Cayuga reservation in Oklahoma, their pleas to law enforcement to take her disappearance seriously continue to go unheard, as officials threaten to take Roki away from Jax. The two fight to stay together, as they prepare for the state powwow, in hopes that Roki’s mother will uphold their tradition and be there to meet them.

14. Seagrass (dir. Meredith Hama-Brown)
A highly personal film to me this year was Meredith Hama-Brown’s Seagrass, which follows a Japanese Canadian mother, Judith, as she grieves the loss of her own mother, while working through issues in her own marriage with a white man, alongside her children at a retreat. What follows is a 2 hour exploration into Judith’s, own relationship with her mother, her husband, and her children, as she struggles with her own identity as a Japanese Canadian woman. Watching Seagrass, where I see so much of my mother and myself in the characters present, I leave the theatre feeling, “oh, maybe THIS is how I should have been feeling all my life”, seeing my family history given a complex voice on the big screen.

13. A Real Pain (dir. Jesse Eisenberg)
The latest from The Social Network‘s Jesse Eisenberg also stars him as David, the cousin to Kieran Culkin’s Benji, as the two travel together around Poland on a historical tour to honour their late grandmother and explore their own family history as Jewish men who grew up in America. This simple film brings to light so many family dynamics that often stay hidden from the big screen. The tensions that can arise between cousins who deal with grief in very different ways, while also exploring what happens when we refuse to feel experience our emotions fully, and what happens when other believe we feel ours too much.

12. My Old Ass (dir. Megan Park)
My Old Ass stars Canada’s own Maisy Stella as Elliott who, while tripping on mushrooms in Muskoka, Ontario, gets to talk to her future self – her “old ass” if you will – played by Aubrey Plaza. At a turn in her life, leaving home for Toronto and dealing with new relationships and self-discoveries, Stella’s Elliott uses her connection to her future self to explore her own identity and the future she sees for herself. It perfectly balances being a lighthearted comedy about friendship and relationships and the more sober aspects of coming to terms with one’s identity and coming-of-age, and asks audiences to look at their own relationship with identity, and what it means when label’s we have created for ourselves no longer fit.

11. A Different Man (dir. Aaron Schimberg)
While Hollywood is still talking about Sebastian Stan in The Apprentice, I am still thinking about him in A Different Man. The film follows an insecure, aspiring actor, who undergoes a procedure to change his appearance as he lives with neurofibromatosis. When offered a role of a lifetime, his place in the theatre is threatened by a new actor, who is experiencing the same condition, but exudes confidence, driving the man into an obsession with succeeding no matter what. The film is dark and twisty, while remaining satirical at its core and overall one of the most fun movies I watched this year.

10. Anora (dir. Sean Baker)
Anora follows Mikey Madison as Anora, or Ani as she prefers to go by, who meets Vanya when he seeks a stripper who speaks his native tongue Russian. When he proposes a more exclusive working-relationship that begins with Ani staying with Vanya for a week in exchange for $15, 000, their relationship evolves into something much more committed, that Vanya’s parents are anything but supportive of. The standout here is Mikey Madison in one of the best performances of the year, in a film that tackles topics that have come to be associated with director, writer, and editor Sean Baker’s name, including the transactional nature of relationships and the divide between the lower and upper classes

9. Queer (dir. Luca Guadagnino)
Queer is Luca Guadagnino at his most surreal, and also his most inaccessible. After a coming-of-age in Italy, a cannibal love story, a sensual sports drama, and a witchy dance horror, Queer adapts the novel of the same title to tell the story of an older man Lee, played by Daniel Craig, who becomes infatuated with a younger man who often does not reciprocate Lee’s growing obsession towards him. The film tackles obsession, addiction, and loneliness, which sat with me for a long time afterwards, and only benefits from multiple watches.

8. Conclave (dir. Edward Berger)
When the pope unexpectedly dies, Cardinals from around the world convene in Vatican City to be sequestered as they, together, decide on and elect the next pope. In a dramatization of this act, Conclave follows one Cardinal Lawrence closely, as he leads the others in the voting process for the next leader, and as he attempts to remain partial while still strongly hoping to the group of men will sway one way over the other. Lead by Ralph Fiennes and supported by John Lithgow, Stanley Tucci, Carlos Diehz, and Isabella Rossellini, Conclave shines in its performances and its seriously tense script that never stops being anything but edge-of-your-seat entertaining.

7. We Live in Time (dir. John Crowley)
We Live in Time neatly uses a non-linear timeline to tell the story of Almut and Tobias, as the couple begin their relationship, face Almut’s cancer diagnosis and cancer return, and Almut going through treatment with Tobias by her side, as they both face what comes next. Paired with palpable chemistry between the leads, present in every scene of this film, and a wonderful screenplay, We Live In Time had me laughing out loud and holding back tears, reminding me that we must live in the time we have now and make meaning every day in the small things. Another one of the funniest (surprisingly) films of 2024.

6. Dune: Part Two (dir. Denis Villeneuve)
After a careful set up in Part One, its follow up sequel film Dune: Part Two is a force to be reckoned with, as it continues to tell the story of Paul Atreidies, now working alongside the Fremen people to keep power out of the hands of the Harkonnens, hoping to avoid the atrocities he sees in his dreams that come from his own hand. Its breathtaking visuals, the personality in its direction, stunning performances from its all-star cast, and relevant themes like the spread of religion, oppression, and power treated with such humanity and care are just the beginning of what make this film so groundbreaking. It grows what Part One set up in almost every scene, while still staying true to the family and coming-of-age-and-into-power story that it truly is.

5. La Chimera (dir. Alice Rohrwacher)
One of the more unseen films of the year is La Chimera, which I saw in an empty theatre in Canada in April 2024, and which began my Alice Rohrwacher obsession of the spring. The film follows a man called Arthur, who is a former archaeologist, now living in Italy and stealing from tombs to sell to an art dealer. As he becomes entrenched in the world of grave robbing and art dealing, he is also on his own journey after the loss of his love, Beniamina, as he tries to connect with her through the lives of those lost. The film is visually stunning, and Josh O’Connor’s performance as Arthur is one of the most underrated performances of the year.

4. Nickel Boys (dir. RaMell Ross)
Nickel Boys is based on the Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Nickel Boys written by Colson Whitehead, which is based on the real Dozier School for Boys. The film follows teens Elwood and Turner, sent to live at Nickel Academy, a reformatory school in 1960s Florida, where Jim Crow laws are still in effect. The film is shot almost entirely from the POV of Elwood and Turner, placing everything we watch back within the context of these two young men. Pushing boundaries on what gaze means in film, while brilliantly using this gaze to depicting the horrors of this school from a different perspective, Nickel Boys is one to watch, and one that will sit with you for a long time after.

3. Sing Sing (dir. Greg Kwedar)
Although I am often the first to say that I am not the biggest fan of films based on true stories, it is clear that I enjoy them when done right, as seen with Nickel Boys at #4 and now Sing Sing at #3. This film stars Coloman Domingo, and tells the story of Divine G, imprisoned in the New York prison often nicknamed “Sing Sing”, who finds purpose during his long incarceration in the Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) program, aimed at using theatre as a form of rehabilitation. Domingo as Divine G gives my favourite leading actor performance of the year, and Clarence Maclin, who plays himself as a newcomer to the theatre group after being part of the real RTA program during his own time at Sing Sing, gives my favourite performance of the year. The film hits you hard, and then the credits roll and you will be nothing but a puddle of tears.

2. The Brutalist (dir. Brady Corbet)
The Brutalist is a 3.5 hour epic historical drama, and follows Jewish architect László after he flees from Europe in 1947 in search of a better life, and is approached for a project by a wealthy client and his father in this exploration of the American dream. It’s hard to say anything that has not already been said about this film, but for myself, I was amazed at how the runtime flew by. The story itself is quite simple, but this simplicity allowed the film to really dig deep into the individual characters and their experiences, and the overall themes of power, dreams, and America as a project to take centre stage. The Brutalist‘s relentless pacing and overall ability to keep me captivated throughout made it a stand out for the year, making me think about these topics for days after watching. Its been said, but this is easily going to become one of the greats (it probably already is). Probably the best first 5 minutes of a film this year, and oh wow, the score.

1. Challengers (dir. Luca Guadagnino)
I don’t know the last time a film had me feeling as electrified and as on the edge of my seat as Challengers did. And then again on my second viewing. And then again on my third viewing. Challengers follows Tashi Duncan, a tennis player who, after a career-ending injury, becomes the coach for her husband, Art. Tensions rise when Art is matched up against his former best friend and Tashi’s ex-boyfriend, Patrick, in a wild-card game that takes us back to explore the past relationship between the trio. I could go on forever about this movie but in a nutshell, it is so much fun, seriously tense, and very, very hot and sweaty. Visually the film is delicious to watch, where at one point we watch the match from under the boys’ feet, and at another we as viewers literally become the ball. The score is perfection and the performances are stellar, with Zendaya’s Tashi pulling it all together in a nuanced portrayal of a driven, promising young woman forced to take the back seat to her own husbands career when hers once looked so hopeful. This is a fun movie for those looking for 2-hours of entertainment, but there is so much more bubbling below the surface that is never in your face but always present, including commentary on a woman’s place in athletics, and the homoeroticism ever present in sports. Director Luca Guadagnino is one of my favourite working directors for how different all of his films are to one another. He has this ability to direct bodies to articulate the sensual and repressed in almost any aspect of our lives, with tennis and sports being his latest way of exploring relationships and sexuality, from a stellar script written by Justin Kuritzkes. Maybe my favourite final 10 minutes of a film I have seen in a while.

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Finally, to end it all off, two final bonuses:
1. My least favourite movie of the year? Hoard. I think I would rather watch Madame Web 10 more times before I watched Hoard again once.
2. And my favourite album? The Tortured Poets Department! Congratulations to Taylor Swift in this turn of events that everyone saw coming.

Catch up on lists from previous years here:
My top films of 2023
My top films of 2022