With 2024 officially in hindsight, the year’s best now compete for flowers at the world’s premier awards ceremonies. More crucially, they compete for a spot on my top 10 list for the Daily Emerald. Spanning all genres, budgets and scales, here are my picks for 2024 — a year in review.
Despite my best efforts to 100% the year’s cinematic gamut, I lack the time or faculties to access the inaccessible. As lovely as Eugene’s theaters are, they aren’t given the same priority as New York or LA. I would be remiss to neglect the acclaimed projects I patiently wait to view or have failed to see, which I have designated “the stragglers.”
The Stragglers: “The Brutalist,” “Queer,” “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” “Flow,” “Babygirl,” “A Different Man,” “No Other Land” and “Nickel Boys.”
Without further ado, let’s get into the top 10 films of 2024.
Honorable Mentions: “Kinds of Kindness,” “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,” “The Wild Robot,” “Inside Out 2” and “Longlegs.”
10. “A Complete Unknown”: The times they are a-changin’, yet societal patterns of upheaval and resistance to such change read shockingly similar to the past. In the 1960s, the noisy, unfamiliar sounds of electric instruments enraged acoustic purists; today, older generations carry these complaints to hip-hop and digital instrumentation.
“A Complete Unknown” unites filmmaker James Mangold with Timothée Chalamet, exploring Bob Dylan’s meteoric rise and game-changing swing from quaint folk music to booming rock and roll. Chalamet is phenomenal as Dylan, capturing his offbeat charm and raspy singing voice. He’s a complicated, frequently unlikeable figure but impossible to look away from, painting a crystal clear picture of how an enigmatic 19-year-old from Minnesota became a revolutionary artist. Mangold flawlessly captures the 1960s with a well-shot and excellently mixed ode to one of the greats. Where many music biopics fall short, “A Complete Unknown” excels.
Popcorn Rating: 4/5 bags of popcorn
9. “Dìdi (弟弟)”: “Dìdi (弟弟)” is easily the smallest-scale production on this list, zooming in on Chris Wang — an impressionable 13-year-old Taiwanese boy navigating his way through summer social politics and the art of flirting. The overwhelming cringiness and awkwardness seeping out of Izaac Wang’s leading performance and his relatable boyish struggles are an instant reminder of the intermediate experience — the formative time between childhood and adulthood where everything and everyone sucks.
Joan Chen’s elegant supporting performance as Chris’s mother is perhaps the sweetest performance of the year. Director Sean Wang’s eye for mid-2000s aesthetics is painfully nostalgic. Similarly to its protagonist, “Dìdi (弟弟)” is quiet and quaint, packing personality and depth beneath an insecure surface.
Popcorn Rating: 4.5/5 bags of popcorn
8. “Conclave”: Edward Berger’s “Conclave” is an electric, soul-stirring clash of modern social politics with ancient ritual and certainty with doubt. After the unexpected death of the Pope, Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) is tasked with managing the election of his successor. As rumors, rumblings and infighting quietly escalate throughout the marble halls of the Vatican, Lawrence must confront conspiracy, the merits of tradition and his complicated tension with faith.
Fiennes delivers an astonishing performance, begrudgingly commanding his power-hungry, gossip-ridden conclave. The indecision and ethical gymnastics sequestered within his eyes protrude from his exhausted voice. Stanley Tucci and Isabella Rossellini highlight a cast riddled with excellent performances. Berger’s direction is on fire, crafting one of the most handsomely made films of the year. My eyes were twinkling while I sat on the edge of my seat — it’s a near-perfect thriller.
Popcorn Rating: 4.5/5 bags of popcorn
7. “Nosferatu”: Robert Eggers’ haunting reimagining of F.W. Murnau’s 1922 classic is an unrelenting plunge into darkness that zips by at an immense pace like a crescendo of horror. His trademark icy, muted palette illuminates the screen to perfection. The film has a pulsing energy to it that productions this dreary typically fail to achieve; it’s incredibly disturbing but also fun, swashbuckling and occasionally humorous.
The word revelation is overused in film criticism, but Lily-Rose Depp earns it here, writhing, drooling and screaming her way to one of my favorite horror performances of all time. The whole cast is outstanding, including Bill Skarsgård’s grotesque vampiric transformation. The gothic costumes, gruesome makeup, shattering sound and bone-chilling music are all polished to perfection, culminating in one of the most sensorial and stimulating projects of the year. It’s plague-ridden, loud and disgusting, but oh-so fun.
Popcorn Rating: 4.5/5 bags of popcorn
6. “I Saw the TV Glow”: “Cinema for our time” is a loose, vague notion thrown around liberally. Jane Schoenbrun’s “I Saw the TV Glow” is decisively of our time. When reserved teenager Owen (Ian Foreman/Justice Smith) encounters mysterious classmate Maddy (Brigette Lundy-Paine), he is introduced to a curious late-night show titled “The Pink Opaque.” In the pale glow of his newfound television obsession, Owen’s grasp of reality begins to warp. An improvement in every fashion over their filmmaking debut, director Jane Schoenbrun’s sophomore turn is a sinister, melancholy and unapologetic adaptation of the trans experience.
Schoenbrun’s trans allegory is confidently unsubtle yet profoundly layered. “The Pink Opaque” is a distant, unattainable realm but provides Owen a freeing outlet for expression, enlivening his obscured identity. The film tackles the suffocating psychological and physical effects of dysphoria and repression so viscerally and honestly.
Schoenbrun and cinematographer Eric Yue craft a consistently gorgeous visual climate, painting dimly lit, claustrophobic interiors and quaint suburban exteriors in striking pink, blue and neon. The music, perhaps my favorite piece of the puzzle, solidifies “I Saw the TV Glow” as an artistic masterpiece. Alex G’s score gives the film a synthy, moving and beating heart. The soundtrack is chock full of memorable original tunes, including Caroline Polachek’s “Starburned and Unkissed.” A bold, beautiful, modern examination of the trans identity, “I Saw the TV Glow” quickly elevates Schoenbrun to auteur status. I can’t wait to see what else they’ve got up their sleeves.
Popcorn Rating: 5/5 bags of popcorn
5. “Sing Sing”: A24’s “Sing Sing” is a healing gem and a beautiful love letter to art. Even in the somber end-point of a broken system, a company of prisoners finds purpose, camaraderie and liberation. Wrongfully convicted playwright John “Divine G” Whitfield (Colman Domingo) energizes a vibrant group of incarcerated men at Sing Sing Correctional Facility, acting and directing alongside them in Shakespeare productions.
Based on a true story, “Sing Sing” is mainly performed by real-life prisoners depicting themselves in the film. Going in blind, you would never have known; every performance feels professional and natural. Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin delivers a raw, tempestuous performance that examines toxic masculinity’s association with insecurity. Domingo continues his ascension to one of the most brilliant living actors. “Sing Sing” is impossible to dislike and so easy to love. Even in the most inhumane conditions, humanity remains and prevails.
Popcorn Rating: 5/5 bags of popcorn
4. “A Real Pain”: Jesse Eisenberg’s “A Real Pain” is a strikingly thoughtful portrait of mismatched cousins with opposite neurodivergent personalities — one timid and insecure, the other unfiltered, depressed and peculiarly charming. The film follows their traipse through Poland for a guided tour and trip to their late grandmother’s old house. The Polish backdrop, tethering its co-leads to their tragic Jewish roots, adds an interesting critique of our interaction with history and ancestry.
Kieran Culkin harnesses a vivid balance between comedy and tragedy. One second, you’re laughing out loud; the next, you’re tearing up. Eisenberg and Culkin have a chemical dynamic. The delicate shot composition and graceful piano melodies elevate this “screenplay movie” into a visual and technical treat. It’s a simple walk-and-talk film, with so much stirring between the lines. I’m pulling for Culkin at the awards circuit in 2025.
Popcorn Rating: 5/5 bags of popcorn
3. “Dune: Part Two”: Despite its March release, Denis Villeneuve’s epic sci-fi sequel remains near the top of the list. “Dune: Part Two” is a breathtaking culmination of technical craft and fantastical storytelling, redefining the parameters of blockbuster filmmaking. The sheer weight of what’s being presented on screen is shattering. The story envelopes you in its curious mythos, intersecting intense action, space politics, magic and religion.
Timothée Chalamet’s leading performance as Paul Atreides blends stoicism and sensitivity. His commanding presence frames a protagonist that is simultaneously easy to root for and fear. Cinematographer Greig Fraser improves upon his Oscar-winning work in part one, arranging a beautiful, unmistakable visual atmosphere. From piercing hot orange skies to a black-and-white sequence shot entirely in infrared, the film welcomes a new realm of grand-scale cinematic imagery.
The sound design is equally incredible, inventing a noise palette for futuristic weaponry, massive sandworms, knife battles and numerous explosions. Hans Zimmer’s score ranges from melodic and ethereal to booming and otherworldly. It entangles itself within the soundscape during great battles, only to break free and take over in the film’s softer moments. What Villeneuve and a magnificent cast and crew have created represents the pinnacle of blockbuster filmmaking — a larger-than-life sci-fi experience, pumping awe-inspiring imagery, engrossing mythology and overtaking sound into your veins. “Dune: Part Two” is one for the ages.
Popcorn Rating: 5/5 bags of popcorn
2. “Challengers”: Tennis has never been so exhilarating. “Challengers” is an intoxicating, unapologetically sexy and delicately shot cinematic romp. In an audacious swing for the fences, Luca Guadagnino effortlessly blends nail-biting tennis matches, uproarious melodrama and inventive camerawork. When childhood best friends and upcoming tennis duo Art and Patrick (Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor) cross paths with young phenom Tashi Duncan (Zendaya), their lives become a knotted web of jealousy, lust and betrayal. Cutting back and forth between past and present, the story weaves through different chapters of the trio’s tangled love triangle. “Challengers” seduces you into its contorted structure so effectively that it feels impossible to look away.
Zendaya’s performance is on fire, scorching the screen with superstar power. Faist and O’Connor are equally impressive. Their boyish and occasionally intimate dynamic gradually fades away as Tashi’s company lingers. “Challengers” is riddled with ingenious point-of-view shots, capturing angles from every inch of the court.
Guadagnino’s repeated use of slow motion and acute close-ups depict romance and competition at their rawest. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’s score bumps, thumps and pumps. Pulsating synths and bouncy piano melodies create a spirited, stressful atmosphere. Guadagnino’s vision is entertainment in its finest form and one of the freshest sports films ever made — a suspenseful, sensual and hilarious cinematic feast.
Popcorn Rating: 5/5 bags of popcorn
1. “The Substance”: Last but not least is French director Coralie Fargeat’s twisted body horror-comedy “The Substance,” which has quickly become a personal all-timer. When a washed-up celebrity named Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) decides to inject herself with a black market drug, promising to create a younger, better version of herself, dire consequences quickly begin to appear.
Fargeat’s insane vision presents some of the gnarliest, innovative modern body horror thrills ever, accompanied by intricate editing, colorful production design, nasty makeup and a squelching soundboard. Demi Moore spearheads an unsubtle examination of Hollywood’s ridiculous body standards, which trickle down to the everyday woman. Margaret Qualley, Moore’s better, younger half is a glamorous, chaotic antagonist. “The Substance” is the kind of adrenaline-pumping romp I want to return to repeatedly — it’s funny, contemplative and unforgettable.
Popcorn Rating: 5/5 bags of popcorn
