The 20 best films of 2024 (part one)
2025 has begun, but that doesn't mean we can't have a little look back at the movies of 2024. Docs, international gems, and a surprisingly great sequel...
Back in the summer, I wrote about my favourite films of the year at the halfway point of 2024. Did any of them stay on the list now that the whole year is in the rearview mirror? Here’s the first part of my 20 favourites of 2024, based on UK release dates.
20. The Teachers’ Lounge
İlker Çatak’s film is very much Uncut Gems for classroom politics. It’s stressful and intense, but also nuanced and simply fascinating. It got lost in the shuffle at last year’s Oscars, but is still one of the most intriguing thrillers I saw in 2024. Read my full review of The Teachers’ Lounge.
19. No Other Land
Filmed across four years prior to the horrific events of October 2023, this documentary is a poignant and shocking depiction of the brutality faced by the Palestinian people at the hands of Israeli authorities. Its genius is in depicting the central relationship between an Israeli journalist and a Palestinian activist, giving the conflict a powerful human anchor point.
18. I Saw the TV Glow
Jane Schoenbrun is swiftly becoming one of our best chroniclers of unusual, entertainment-based subcultures. I Saw the TV Glow is terrific in its depiction of all-consuming obsession with a TV show, as well as using horror to shine a spotlight on the trans experience. It’s a completely unique and textured piece of surrealism.
17. The Beast
Léa Seydoux delivers not one, not two, but three distinct and complex performances in this history-spanning sci-fi tale of a woman trying to cleanse her past lives to render her an emotionless drone for the AI future. It’s an epic and confounding journey. Read my full review of The Beast.
16. Inside Out 2
My expectations were fairly low for Inside Out 2, but Pixar managed to follow one of their best ever movies with something that, if not equally brilliant, was pretty close. The introduction of Anxiety is a master-stroke. Read my full review of Inside Out 2.
15. American Fiction
Jeffrey Wright makes the most of a rare lead role in this terrific satire around expectations for “Black art”. He visibly enjoys getting to grips with Cord Jefferson’s Oscar-winning script in a film that definitely doesn’t deserve to be lost in the shuffle.
14. Priscilla
Cailee Spaeny had a great year at the cinema in 2024, which started with her take on Priscilla Presley in this deliciously dark biopic. Sofia Coppola does “gilded cage” stories better than anyone, and this is one of her best.
13. The Remarkable Life of Ibelin
As someone who grew up around intense online communities, I found a real emotional resonance in this Netflix doc about a disabled man and the parents who discovered his online life after his death. It’s beautiful.
12. The Bikeriders
Austin Butler and Tom Hardy bring lingering homoeroticism to this thriller about a biker gang. It’s more about futile masculinity than it is about glinting switchblades and exhaust smoke. Read my full review of The Bikeriders.
11. Longlegs
Its marketing campaign was simply stunning and the finished film more than delivered the scares. Nicolas Cage is unforgettably weird, but the strength of it is in Osgood Perkins’ relentlessly odd, bleak tone. Read my full review of Longlegs.
10. Bird
Andrea Arnold always brings sensitivity and nuance to her depictions of working class Britain. Bird is another of her unique slices of kitchen sink, complete with a smattering of magical realism. Newcomer Nykiya Adams is brilliant as a young girl unsure of her place in the world who connects with an idiosyncratic stranger — played by Franz Rogowski on strange, ethereal form.
The film takes some bold swings in its final stretch, but they worked for me and I completely went with its fantastical journey. Rogowski and Adams have a sweet connection, while Barry Keoghan finds plenty of laughs by dancing around with a hallucinogenic toad in the background.
9. Sing Sing
The idea of joy for those in prison is a tricky idea, but one that filmmaker Greg Kwedar conveys to great effect in Sing Sing. His story of a real-life program providing access to the arts for imprisoned men is told with sensitivity and heart, helped by Colman Domingo’s lead performance and the live-wire supporting work of Clarence Maclin — playing a version of himself.
Kwedar avoids cliché throughout and tells a moving, heart-wrenching story within the confines of the prison walls. It’s absolutely one of the most pleasant cinematic surprises of the years and a very worthy Oscar contender.
8. Wicked
There were a lot of alarm bells around Wicked. Two parts? Nearly three hours long? Ariana Grande in a major acting role? We needn’t have worried because Jon M. Chu’s blockbuster musical is truly wonderful. Cynthia Erivo brings her tremendous pipes to the role of Elphaba and Grande is a revelation as the pink-clad mean girl Glinda. Her singing skills were never in doubt, but it’s her cutesy comedy and disingenuous charm that really shines.
The visual style is enjoyable, those songs are bulletproof and, for the most part, Chu’s changes to the material are great. I’m not crazy about the decision to chop Defying Gravity into segments but, other than that, this first part of Wicked doesn’t really put a foot wrong. Roll on the second part next year.
That’s the first part of my best movies of 2024 list. Stay tuned in the next few days for the second part and the reveal of the number one film. In the summer, it was Poor Things at the top, but is it still there?