Coming into 2024, I wondered about three things- how an over abundance of sequels would be recieved, how we would navigate a reigning culture of cynicism, and the impact of balancing a still uncertain release schedule due to the strike,
The first quarter would suggest that sequels have fared well, originals have succumbed to the reigning cynicism, and the schedule has begun to steady with the present agreement found between the parties involved in the strike. If bigger profile original films like The Beekeeper, Argyle, Imaginary, Night Swim, and Madame Web, have all been met with an unusual and largely illogical level of ire, which has saturated the media with never ending headlines of box office woes, smaller indies like Lisa Frankenstien, Drive Away Dolls, Suze, Problemista, The Book of Clarence, Extraordinary Angels, Love Lies Bleeding, King Arthur, One Life and The American Society of Magical Negroes have also labored under the residual apathy of the persistent attacks on the higher profile players, Proving that the old adage “if the movie is good, people will come” doesn’t hold a lot of weight these days.
It would be equally true to say that streaming hasn’t been faring much better. Along with a notable drop in output across the streamers, a handful of the most prominent titles, like Sandler’s Spaceman, Ricky Stanicky, and the rom-com Upgraded, have faded from the cultural conversation and memory long before they ever took hold.
In what was perhaps predictably prophetic, many pundits expected a film year relatively absent of big ticket event films to get its first real boost with Dune 2, which proved to be correct. The numbers for the delayed but still highly anticipated sequel to the extremely successful part 1 has set records and surpassed expectations, even doing the seemingly impossible and getting the younger demographic back to the theater. Following on its heels is another sequel, the 4th installment in the Kung Fu Panda franchise, which is also setting a record of its own as the highest grossing entry on rotten tomatoes and nearing records with its box office tally. As the first quarter comes to a close, it is yet another two sequels leading the way, the sequel to Ghostbusters Afterlife, which opened to better than expected numbers, albeit with a much higher price tag to recoup, and a week later, the latest American made addition to the Kong/Godzilla monsteverse. One could argue this is the opposite of counter programming. In comes the expanded release of Late Night With the Devil to try and save the day.
There are a handful of outliers here- the musical biopic One Love, which represents the only modest hit out of the first quarters slate of originals, and the horror flick from neon, Immaculate, which, although it barely made money, still managed to stand out for being Neons highest grossing opening of all time.
So where does this all leave me with the year thus far? Somewhat validated, a bit puzzled, and a little bit surprised, I have no problem with films like Dune 2 carrying the box office (it is in my current top 12), but I do get worried about a theatrical landscape that is dependent on it. It works if and when smaller original projects can share space and find modest success as well. It is these films, good films as well, that continue to struggle. If there is a silver lining, and this will depend on how you view this, the general support for sequels thus far does bode well for the remainder of a year that is saturated with them. Even if you loathe this fact as being representative of the dire state of things, spreading the wealth means more freedom for theaters to invest in those smaller and mid budget projects and originals. However, the prevailing cynicism needs to recognize that, even if an original isn’t your favorite film, their success is vital to the bigger picture. The level of negativity that I’ve seen being lobbied at the recent slate of originals, in my opinion, far surpasses any possible legitimate criticism of the films. Films that could have found an audience if more people had simply seen them. It seems to indicate what I had been sensing from the galleys coming into this year, something that appears to be taking on a life all its own.
If this all sounds like a dire state of affairs, it’s worth pointing out that box office isn’t the measure of a films worth, it’s just a measure of an industries state. An industry that desperately needs to reframe and reconsider its measures and expectations. Looking back at the first quarter certainly reflects some extremely strong entries, with a handful of the films on my list standing a good chance of sticking around to the end of the year. But they aren’t being seen. And that remains a significant issue, especially as release patterns remain erratic and largely undefinable.
As an aside, I typically spend my end of the year focusing on shared thematic threads that are sticking out for me and defining my own personal journey with these films. A thread I noticed emerging from the first quarter is a shared interest in exploring those long, complicated and often difficult spaces we occupy between hope and despair, or longing and defeat. Especially as it pertains to seasons or phases of life, including reoccurring themes of immigration and an exploration of how it is that we get to truly know a person.
With that said, here is where I am at the end of the first quarter, including my top 12 films, followed by honorable mentions and a list of films I am looking forward to from the next quarter:
My Top 12 films of 2024 after the first quarter
12. PROBLEMISTA
Impressive for the ways it celebrates the simple virtues of authenticity and creativity. It defies categories, telling its story in a way only it can. It challenges specific social realities, but even more it desires to explore what it means to exist in a world of expectations. To exist is to be known, and to be known is intimately tied to our acts of knowing another. This forms the unexpected emotional current running underneath the the films creative voice. A strong indie and a memorable debut.
11, THE BOOK OF CLARENCE
What I thought would be a raunchy comedy and religious satire turned out to be a meaningful and reverent exploration of the Gospel story. It’s unconventional, and bound to isolate viewers, but behind that is a beautiful message about the Christian vocation and a powerful portrait of the resurrection hope that frames this.
10. SOMETIMES I THINK ABOUT DYING
The films visuals and its aesthetic are captivating and mesmerizing, and the vision is clear, carried by an interesting and engrossing lead performance at its center. It validates experiences with anxiety and depression as real, making it an astute and important film for anyone wrestling with these things and anyone who may know someone who is. If the film brings us anywhere in this journey, it is simply to the potential power of being seen and heard, even when believing we are feels impossible.
9, ONE LIFE
Faces one of life’s biggest questions head on- how is it that we find the motivation to do good in this world when doing good doesn’t seem to bring about the change we so desperately need and desire. The thoughts of a man facing the darkness, desperate to be a light, but doing so in the face of a reality that continues to threaten his ability to imagine that light as poignant and real. And if there is one place this tension pushes him, and us as viewers, it is towards the notion of community as the truest expression of that which feels to exist outside of our view. I found this an interesting film to consider alongside The Book of Clarence, as both films wonder in their own way about the narratives we cling to in the face of potential despair. How we lay claim to promise, and where we find that promise, is an important part of the conversation,
8. DUNE 2
I’m not as emotionally tied to the story as I am with LOTR, even though the two films can share a similar ethos as far as epic storytelling with a grand scale goes. But the filmmaker behind this largely visual and technical achievement is one of the best working today, and there is little doubt that he managed to pull off the seemingly impossible, which is bringing this story to life on the big screen. That it lands with what feels to be a timely socio-political message elevates this from respect to relevance.
7. THE TASTE OF THINGS
The beauty of the way the filmmakers shoot this film is that that the the shared focus on the intimacy and the nuances of cooking food, and the equally stated intimacy of its complex human journey are paralleled in such a way that they tell the same story. The richness it finds in the art of creating a meal becomes a window into the richness of creating human relationship. Both ways in which we experience the world, and likewise each other. More so, both ways in which we experience the transcendent.
6. FREMONT
Endearing is the word that stuck with me after my viewing. And perhaps an endearing subtlety to its approach would be even more specific. It’s a character study on one hand, fronted by some natural and accessible performances.
It is also an examination of the challenges of immigration, following, as it does, an Afghan woman finding her way in America. She becomes a window into the larger realities that surround her, something the film accentuates with the use of a romantic black and white aesthetic, and the sights and sounds and music, providing a nice contrast to the weightier stuff of its story. wrapping its sense of urgency around the every day nature of the story’s unfolding. This is a portrait of life, and the urgency exists, for example, in one womans desperate need to obtain a prescription for sleeping pills, not necessarily for grand resolutions to a larger crisis.
5. SUNCOAST
Totally my descriptive, not the films, but dang it if this thing didn’t quietly stake its claim as one of the best “faith” based films I’ve seen in a long while. Raw, vulnerable, uncensored, and real.
A tender hearted coming of age drama that becomes a studied examination of grief and family. Boasts a quiet but confident lead performance that we should still be talking about at the end of the year.
Bring the tissues, cause it will break you.
4. MONSTER
Part of the experience is being drawn into the unknowns and the mysteries of its story as we move past the initial premise of mother and son dealing with problems at school involving a teacher. It is a journey, and part of a process. It’s brilliance is in its story structure, capturing moments that establish patterns. This helps us to understand the importance of gaining different perspectives, by offering us that necessary window into certain elements and ideas as we go along, but then using the notion that other elements remain blurred and out of view to push us towards wanting and needing to know something that we are unable to see ourselves. We need communion and community to interpret life and the people within it, and that’s never easy. Because life and people, indeed ourselves, can be extremely difficult, which is why simple labels and judgments are so enticing. And yet easy answers don’t get us closer to knowing the truth about life and people, or ourselves.
3. THE PROMISED LAND
If nothing else, I would hope this period western helps bolster a case for The Datk Tower adaptation being desperately underrated. As it’s own accomplishment however, The Promised Land is an exceptional film, operating on a whole other level. If it is possible for Mad Mikkelsen to still surprise and catch me off guard, he certainly does that here, delivering an embodied and commanding performance befitting a revenge drama. It also boasts a memorable villain, elevating the drama to a studied and tension filled exploration of its themes. A film rife with real emotional presence befitting the genre.
Essential viewing and exceptional filmmaking.
2. INSIDE THE YELLOW COCOON SHELL
This debut (and yes the fact that this is a debut is astonishing) will challenge even the most patient of viewers- this is slow cinema with a richly drawn contemplative edge- but for those willing to invest it offers a transformative experience that explores the edges of some of life’s biggest questions. The film reaches to uncover an inner longing, that desire to believe, suggesting that such a truth is compelling in it’s own right, even if we aren’t able to fully grasp the thing we long for. It is, nevertheless, the thing that keeps us seeking, the thing that continues to push and pull us forward amidst the ambiguities, or perhaps into the ambiguities.
And if the films title has power, it is precisely because these are the spaces where we are able to be formed and transformed by the unseen realities that run underneath. The spaces where the hidden begins to become visible, where once our eyes glanced over the spaces and details around us, fresh details and awareness begin to emerge. The essence of a spiritual awakening, one not built on certainty but on a willingness to seek that which was always there.
1. PERFECT DAYS
A film that teaches us how to know a person not through the use of speech, but through observation of things like facial expressions, eye movement, physical gestures and tendencies. The more these subtleties cause us to pause and ask why, the more we get to know who the person really is behind the words (or their absence). If you really want to know who the main character is, you need to dig deeper, learn to see the particular things that make his story his and not ours. That’s the essential process the film wants to engage and awaken for us as viewers.
Honorable Mentions:
ALL DIRT ROADS TASTE LIKE SALT
Captures a gentle mix of beauty and horror, life and death. Things that coexist not in balance, but in tension. Anytime we confront moments of tragedy or sorrow in the experiences of our main protagonist, we are called to seek and to hold the quiet moments of contrast. Two kinds of soil, one promising hope, the other seeded with the stuff of sorrow and struggle. “You gotta find the right bank and dig for it. It’s not just any dirt.” A truth that finds its meaning in the water that frames the films reigning imagery of life’s ebb and flow… “it doesn’t end or begin, it just changes form.”
SUZE
This charming, good humored, big hearted drama is definitely worth checking out. It features an unlikely friendship between a middle aged single mother with early menopause and her daughters ex-boyfriend, explored through two likeable performances and a good dose of chemistry.
MARMALADE
It’s a bit uncertain in the early going, but once it gets going it turns into an unexpectedly entertaining film. A hidden gem.
FIRST TIME CALLER
A solid, single location indie that makes the most out of its premise. It’s far fetched, but if you give yourself to it there is a good chance it will manage to suck you in to its tension filled hour and a bit run time. A shock radio internet sensation gets more than he bargains for when he tackles a first time caller, taking him to places he didnt want to go. One might not think one man talking to an unseen caller could make for riveting drama, but there is little question thats exactly what this is.
FILMS I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO IN THE SECOND QUARTER OF 2024
IF: IMAGINARY FRIENDS
Not to be confused with Imaginary, the horror film that released earlier this year, the drawing card for IF is the pairing of Krasinski and Reynolds.
THE BIKERIDERS
This new film by Jeff Nichols has been on many most anticipated lists ever since if debuted on the festival circuit last year. I’m here for it.
GREEN BORDER
I am a big fan of the Directors previous film, Mr. Jones, so another historical drama with a geo-political backdrop has me excited
KINDS OF KINDNESS
Yorgos Lanthimos, Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe. The famed director is typically middling fare for me, but it is never something I don’t at the very least admire and respect.
BACK TO BLACK
I’m not as excited about the Director as I am about the musical biopic. Jury is out on this one, but l am optimistic
KIDNAPPED
A lower profile affair, but I thought The Traitor was an engrossing film, and I think some of the sensibilities in that film lend themselves to a rich examination of the religious backdrop infoming Kidnapped’s story.
THE FALL GUY
The advertising campaign for this blockbuster has been strong, and it being a love letter to an often neglected and ignored aspect of filmmaking (stunt work) makes this a must see.
MONKEY MAN
A few months ago no one knew this film existed. Its sudden emergence has managed to set in play a fever pitch of excitement. Not only was it unknown, but premiers have been winning over audiences left and right. I have no problem letting that guide my anticipation.
CIVIL WAR
If expectations could speak, they would tell the story of Civil War. A film critics had written off and largely mocked based on assumptions and perceptions, now having to be taken seriously after said critics found out that hey, it’s actually pretty dang good. For me, it’s a new film from Garland, so I was here for it from the start.
THE IDEA OF YOU
I’d trust a romantic comedy in the hands of the Director of The Big Sick. As long as I can ignore The Lovebirds,
EVIL DOES NOT EXIST
From the Director of Drive My Car comes a new promising drama that feels immersed in its focus on its human subjects and asking big, existential questions. That’s all I need to have this near the top of my to see list
PARACHUTE
I know so little about this, but from the bits and pieces that I do know, this seems like an intriguing project. I’m perhaps mostly intrigued to see the next step in Bautista’s foray into serious drama
A QUIET PLACE: DAY ONE
I’m mixed on this one. We are a long ways from the original’s once upon a time promise as a stand alone film. I granted that the sequel came into existence because it felt like a necessary follow up. Here the premise feels like it could be pushing a line into irrelevance. At the same time though, I’m invested, and a part of me is actually curious to get some answers to how this whole thing started.
INSIDE OUT 2
In Pixar I trust. We’re in a day and age though where some of that trust is beginning to wane. If ever there was a reason to be skeptical, it would be the simple existence of a sequel. It’s still a sequel to one of their best films, and it worked for Toy Story. Puberty also seems like the story’s natural progression, and it comes ripe with fresh emotions to draw from, so optimism can reign here,
The Stories of my Life 