We collect the best films of 2024 in one material.
Among them are a tragic drama about a family of wrestlers and an ambitious blockbuster about the American Civil War. The list is not ranked: there are no first or last places.
The best films of 2024 according to the editors
- Area of interest
- Steel Grip
- Fallen leaves
- The Fall of the Empire
- Dune: Part Two
Zone of Interest
- Countries: USA, UK, Poland
- Genre: drama
- Director: Jonathan Glazer
- Screenwriter: Jonathan Glazer
- Starring: Christian Friedel, Sandra Hüller, Johann Karthaus, Louis Noah Witte, Nell Ahrensmeier, Lily Flack, Anastasya Drobnyak
- Duration: 1 hour 45 minutes
Plot. Rudolf Höss runs the Auschwitz concentration camp and lives right next to its high walls. But in the family home, nothing reminds of the horrors of the Holocaust: the wife tends a beautiful garden, the children go swimming in the river, the servants fulfill all the whims of the owners. Even when they want to transfer Höss to another job, the wife refuses to move: after all, a large, comfortable home is all they dreamed of since their youth.
Why you should watch it. Experimental director Jonathan Glazer, the man behind Sexy Beast and Under the Skin, has made one of the most extraordinary films about the horrors of war. The camera barely leaves the confines of the home plot, and only details remind us of the events taking place behind the wall in Auschwitz: distant, heart-rending screams, white smoke from the chimneys, ashes from burned bodies thrown into the river.
This is a film about the horribly mundane, ordinary life of people who have made the methodical extermination of entire nations their profession. Glazer shows Hess and his family from a maximum distance, with barely moving cameras, as if observing them from the present.
It doesn’t pass judgment or draw conclusions, but that only makes it more terrifying: the film reminds us how easily the human psyche gets used to anything. At the same time, the strongest moments of the film are those where we see that Hess and his wife understand everything too. They just actively choose to ignore the voice of conscience.
The Iron Claw
- Countries: USA, UK
- Genre: drama
- Director: Sean Durkin
- Screenwriter: Sean Durkin
- Starring: Zac Efron, Jeremy Allen White, Harris Dickinson, Maura Tierney, Stanley Simons, Lily James, Holt McCallany, Chelsea Edmundson, Grady Wilson, Valentine Newcomer
- Duration: 2 hours 12 minutes
Plot: The tragic story of the Von Eyrich family of wrestlers. Father and former wrestler Fritz wanted fame for his family so much that he forced his children to give it their all in training and risk their health: both physical and mental.
Why you should watch it: This isn’t your typical sports biopic about success. Director Sean Durkin reimagines the genre and shows how parents’ overambition and unrealistic expectations can destroy an entire family: The Von Eyrichs — even those who never dreamed of the ring — cripple themselves and slowly die for the sake of their father’s approval.
Fallen leaves (Kuolleet lehdet)
- Countries: Finland, Germany
- Genres: drama, comedy
- Director: Aki Kaurismäki
- Screenwriter: Aki Kaurismäki
- Starring: Alma Pevsti, Jussi Vatanen, Janne Hyytiäinen, Nuppu Koivu, Shervan Haji
- Duration: 1 hour 21 minutes
Plot: A woman named Ansa and a silent worker named Holappa fall in love with each other. Their feelings are hampered by two problems: the man is too afraid to get close to other people and he likes to drink too much.
Why it’s worth watching. The new melodrama by Finnish classic Aki Kaurismäki is the best film to get acquainted with the author’s work. It has everything that his fans value so much: a melancholic love story of little people, the atmosphere of smoky Helsinki bars, warm pastel colors and retro suits, and most importantly – long scenes with weirdos in karaoke. The film is able to warm even incorrigible cynics: after all, Kaurismäki is not alien to dark humor either.
This is a film from a completely different era. The heroes fall in love at first sight and almost break up forever when one of them loses their phone number: and this is in a world where computers and smartphones exist. And the plot itself seems pleasantly old-fashioned. In an era of overloaded ambitious scripts, sometimes you just want to watch two ordinary people miss each other, make mistakes, and eventually walk off into the sunset with a dog named Chaplin.
Fall of an Empire (Civil War)
- Countries: USA, UK
- Genres: action, thriller
- Director: Alex Garland
- Screenwriter: Alex Garland
- Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Cailee Spaeny, Stephen Henderson, Sonoya Mizuno, Nick Offerman
- Duration: 1 hour 49 minutes
Plot: The US President, contrary to the Constitution, decides to remain for a third term – and the country begins a civil war. The combined forces of Texas and California, as well as the army of Florida and the western states, are about to reach Washington and overthrow the ruler.
War correspondent Lee and her colleague Joel want to get to the president before anyone else to photograph and interview him. They are joined by a young, ambitious photographer named Jessie.
Why you should watch it: As in his best works – the horror film “Masculine” or the sci-fi drama “Ex Machina” – Alex Garland deftly combines the structure of a genre film with a very personal authorial view of the world.
“Empire Falls” is essentially a post-apocalyptic road movie: a collection of separate vivid episodes, where the heroes encounter various obstacles along the way. They stumble upon a sniper holed up in a house, witness a massacre of looters, or find themselves in the crosshairs of a psychopathic soldier. And in the end, they even find themselves in the center of a large-scale battle in the middle of the American capital.
At the same time, Garland does not turn the film into a political manifesto. His film is not a statement about the left and the right, about Republicans and Democrats. Often, it is not clear at all which side people are fighting on. The plot centers on the story of journalists who record the war on film, risking their lives to make art out of pain and suffering. They lose sensitivity to what is happening, try to be pragmatic about the horrors around them. But nothing works: from death only more death is born.
Dune: Part Two
- Countries: USA, Canada, UAE, Hungary, Italy, New Zealand, Jordan, Gambia
- Genres: sci-fi, action, drama, adventure
- Director: Denis Villeneuve
- Writers: Denis Villeneuve, Jon Spaihts
- Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, Dave Bautista, Christopher Walken, Lea Seydoux
- Duration: 2 hours 46 minutes
Plot. After the events of the first film, Paul and Jessica Atreides are hiding in the desert. The locals believe that Paul is the chosen one from the prophecy. At this time, the insidious Harkonnens are waging a protracted war with the Fremen.
Why it’s worth watching. The first Dune couldn’t be perceived as a standalone film. It was based on the first half of the original novel, so the traditional three-act plot structure simply didn’t work. Before viewers had time to enjoy the views of Arrakis, the Atreides were immediately attacked by the Harkonnens. Everything was very beautiful, spectacular and epic – but the story was sorely lacking in life.
The second part corrects almost all the shortcomings of the first. It is not so much a blockbuster about revenge as an interesting statement about the nature of power. Good Paul himself eventually begins to believe in the prophecy: determination appears in his eyes, and aggression in his voice becomes increasingly clear. In pursuit of revenge, the young man loses his moral character and, without noticing it, becomes like the cruel Harkonnens. Director Denis Villeneuve blurs the boundaries between good and evil. The sides change places: the villains evoke sympathy, and the noble Atreides inspire fear.
Technically, the film is even more impressive than the first part: it shows an armada of worms, a nuclear explosion, a giant sandstorm and a black-and-white arena on the planet Giedi Prime.
