It’s always fun looking through my Letterboxd Pro account around the end of the year. Some relevant data:
My first watch of 2024: Humanist Vampire Seekjng Consenting Suicidal Person (Ariane Loius-Seize), a unique and inventive horror that explores a coming of age story surrounding an existential and moral crisis, unafraid to dig into the difficult subject matter of depression, anxiety and suicide.
My last watch of 2024: The Return (Uberto Pasolini), a slow but methodical examination of the final sections of The Odyssey (perhaps preparing us for the next Nolan feature)
Total Diary Entries: 409
Favorite Stat: Daisy Ridley topped my most watched performances for the year. Why I like this stat- they are all from films released in 2024. I was a considerate fan of the Marsh Kings Daughter, which released back in January, but each subsequent release (Sometimes I Think About Dying, Young Woman and the Sea, and Magpie) are all operating on a whole other level. Love seeing her find more and more success with leading roles.
What’s also interesting to note is, aside from The Beekeeper (Jason Stathoms over the top thriller) and Argyle (the unfairly maligned action thriller by Matthew Vauhgn, it took almost to March for theaters to finally start screening some new features. January is often a dumping ground, along with catching up to limited release Oscar fare, but this year was actually barren.
One last note: Five of my top ten films of 2024 were seen in the first quarter. Which speaks to the lasting power of those selections.
The Outliers
If I was making a top 20, these would be the titles vying for the back half, starting with Ridley’s Sometimes I Think About Dying. Few films hit such personal notes this year, and for the few technical shortcomimgs that it does have, the journey of the main character felt incredibly validating in all its rawness and honesty. It gave me the freedom, not to be ashamed of my own thoughts.
I would be remiss if I didn’t shout out Alex Garlands uniquely positioned blockbuster, Civil War, still one of the more visually arresting experiences of 2024. Or the intimate and impressive work of Hopkins in One Life, an emotionally arresting holocaust narrative that might feature some of the best work of his career.
There’s a handful of fever driven, energized efforts that really stood out and were all pushing for contention- the thrill ride that is Kneecap, an indie biopic of an international hip hop sensation, the immensely engaging and spirited take on Saturday Night’s historic emergence, and The Apprentice, an inspired examination of the rise of Trump that leaves the facts clear but the interpretation open.
Two films were in my top lists back at the half point- the touching YA adaptation Turtles All The Way Down and the captivating and wonder bearing Riddle of Fire, an old school take on a grown up childhood fantasy story anchored in realism. I’m especially sad to see Riddle of Fire bumped off, as I failed to get around to a rewatch. I think seeing it again could have bumped it up.
And lastly, The Taste of Things remains the other film just outside of my top ten, battling it out with Riddle of Fire and Sometimes I Think of Dying. Such a visceral and poetic visual experience, while Freuds Last Session, capturing a historic and legendary conversation between him and Lewis, remains my pick for underrated and underseen gem along with the biting humor and deep emotionality of Didi.
My Top 10 Films of 2024:
10. Close Your Eyes (Victor Erice)
A haunting and deeply sad exploration of the connections between the moving image (film) and the passage of time. It wonders about life and all its unanswered questions, and even more about death either as a hopeful venture or unfulfilled promise. As a reflective piece of visual poetry its undeniably arresting.
9. Sing Sing (Greg Kwedar)
The story of this film is the astonishing reveal of its casting choices, but beyond this is a film that occupies what is perhaps the opposite terrain from Close Your Eyes- yes, still rooted in the struggle of life, but far more committed to using the relationship between art and life to draw us specifically towards hopefulness and renewal. A tonic for the spirit
8. A Different Man (Aaron Schimberg)
Looking at life once again, this time through the lens of our relationship to technological change, one of the more resonating parts of this film comes in its reflection about how the why of life often matters more than the how. Lest we get to where we are going and forgot and discarded the necessary questions. Can our efforts to make meaning ever be satisfied? Who makes the expectations. Powerful thoughts and thematic interests to consider for anyone looking at the relevance of their personal journies in this world.
7. About Dry Grasses (Nuri Bilge Ceylan)
Another existential crisis, this one leaning deep into its philosophical exercise. Can we claim meaning in this world when even acts of altruism aren’t really true or existent as we see them. Like A Different Man, it wonders about whether we are products of the world or actual agents. Where doe the illusion get drawn within the boundaries of reality, or can we even know such things at all. A heavy film, but its the sort of stuff I eat up.
6. A Complete Unknown (James Mangold)
Immersive performances paired with an inventive biopic structure. I loved its use of music as a dramatic, storytelling device, but even more I loved the simple ideas it was pulling from the iconic characters. A complete film with impressive craft that immerses from start to finish
5. The Promised Land (Nikolaj Arcel)
A memorable and biting revenge drama that just might be a career best for Mads Mikkelson. Essential viewing.
4. Conclave (Edward Berger)
Riveting, a powerful look behind the curtain of institutional religion, at once a robust critique and celebration of its relevance, in case you thought a voting process couldn’t be dramatic, this film is here to prove you wrong.
3. Evil Does Not Exist (Ryusuke Hamaguchi)
A deeply astute and powerful reflective on nature and humanities place in it. Not so much about our responsibility towards it, but more about what we find in it- good and evil and the philosophical/theological crisis this represents. It’s a meditation, designed to push back on our perceptions of this world and our need to interpret it
2. Inside The Yellow Cocoon Shell (Pham Thien An)
One of the greatest opening sequences of the year, followed up by a lengthy, contemplative exercise in slow cinema. It frames itself around a seeming joke- a devout believer, a skeptic, and an agnostic walk into a film. As such its deeply felt seriousness becomes all the more pronounced, forcing us to wrestle with the tensions and ambiguities of our longings and desires in a world caught between questions and belief.
1. Perfect Days (Wim Wenders)
How to know a person is the question. Observation rather than speech is the proposed answer, drawing us through the subtleties of the details using camera placement and movement. It’s storytelling where we see rather than listen, or listen though seeing into the silence and isolation of unspoken dynamics that make up an identity. To understand the journey of this film you have to look deeper, deep enough for this story to become his and not ours. If we can learn this, it can become a powerful meana of seeing the world as well.
The Stories of my Life 