The Best Movies of 2024 So Far

Drama/Fantasy - dir. Alex Schaad

Director Alex Schaad's debut feature, co-written with his brother Dimitrij Schaad (who also stars in the film), harnesses the body-swap formula for an intimate drama. Hoping to salvage their relationship, Leyla (Mala Emde) and Tristan (Jonas Dassler) accept an invitation to a remote island where they join another couple, Mo (Schaad) and Fabienne (Maryam Zaree), in exchanging bodies as a form of therapy. When Leyla refuses to return to her old self, the situation spirals out of control in this clever exploitation of identity, gender, sexuality, and happiness.

"Alex Schaad's spiky, good-looking debut feature takes a clever concept and develops it into a witty, provocative exploration of identity, gender fluidity, sexuality and the pursuit of happiness." —Allan Hunter, Screen Daily

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Drama - dir. Frank Berry

Terrific performances by Letitia Wright and Josh O'Connor are the highlight of this 2022 Irish drama—which finally reached American theaters in May—from writer-director Frank Berry. Wright plays a Nigerian refugee who seeks asylum in Ireland. She befriends a former prisoner (O'Connor) now working at her residence home, but her hopes to avoid deportation grow increasingly dim.

"It's an absorbing drama given sympathy and life by two very high-calibre performers." —Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

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Drama/Comedy/Sports - dir. Luca Guadagnino

The latest from Luca Guadagnino (Bones and All, Call Me By Your Name) was originally slated to debut at the 2023 Venice Film Festival and open in September of last year, but when the SAG-AFTRA strike prevented the film's stars from promoting the film, its release date was pushed to this spring. Capitalizing on her presence in Dune: Part Two, Zendaya stars as Tashi, a former tennis prodigy turned coach who has transformed her husband, Art (Mike Faist of West Side Story), into a Grand Slam champion. When he's plagued by a losing streak, she signs him up for a low-level pro tournament where he finds himself facing off against his former best friend and Tashi 's former boyfriend (Josh O 'Connor). It's the first of two consecutive collaborations between the director and screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes, with the pair next taking on Queer, an adaptation of William S. Burroughs' early novel that is expected to debut on the festival circuit this fall.

"Operating at the peak of his powers, Luca Guadagnino has the time of his life with this practically sadistic exploration of unrelenting obsession. It is horny, it is hungry, it is phenomenally exciting filmmaking." —Alex Godfrey, Empire

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Comedy/Drama - dir. Richard Linklater

Very well received since its Venice Film Festival debut in the fall of 2023, Richard Linklater's darkly comedic and sexy modern noir stars man of the moment Glen Powell (Anyone But You) as a college professor who works with the New Orleans Police Department by posing (under a number of different names and disguises) as an assassin in order to catch people ordering hits, only to find himself falling for a woman (Adria Arjona) ensnared in his trap. Powell and Linklater teamed to write the script, which is based on a wild true story (as chronicled by Texas Monthly's Skip Hollandsworth, the same writer who inspired Linklater's Bernie), and Netflix paid a festival-high $20 million to score the rights to the film at Venice.

"A blast of pure pleasure and one of the year's best films, 'Hit Man' should be seen with a crowd grooving on its devilish comic energy, its off-the-charts sexual chemistry and the star-making turn at its center." —Ty Burr, The Washington Post

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Drama/Thriller - dir. Amjad Al Rasheed

Loosely based on a true story, this thriller from first-time director Amjad Al Rasheed is the first Jordanian feature ever to premiere at Cannes. The film follows newly widowed Nawal (Mouna Hawa), who finds herself facing poverty because her country's outdated laws mandate the passing of her husband's inheritance—including their home and the guardianship of her daughter—to a male heir. So she hatches a plan: She'll pretend to be pregnant with her late husband's son.

"The acting is superb, and the pacing is remarkable. But most importantly, the look into women's rights, morality, and normalized societal oppression speaks volumes about its country and the road to freedom." —Abhishek Sharma, Film Threat

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Comedy/Drama - dir. Kelly O'Sullivan and Alex Thompson

Filmmakers Kelly O'Sullivan and Alex Thompson (Saint Francis) direct a true family affair with this story of Dan, a grieving construction worker who finds an outlet for his emotions when he joins a local theater's production of Romeo and Juliet. Keith Kupferer plays Dan, and his real life wife and daughter, Tara Mallen and Katherine Mallen Kupferer, step into those roles in this small but emotionally powerful indie film that also features Dolly De Leon (Triangle of Sadness) as the community theater's passionate leader.

"This is a beautifully life-affirming fable about the power of art to heal, but really, it's the people making the art that do the work. Ghostlight is a stunning and incredibly moving tribute to that process." —Katie Walsh, Los Angeles Times

Foreign/Drama - dir. Ryûsuke Hamaguchi

Ryusuke Hamaguchi's follow up to his Academy Award-winning Drive My Car won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2023 Venice Film Festival. Set in the rural village of Mizubiki, not far from Tokyo, the film is a quiet thriller with a surprising and divisive ending. Hamaguchi explores humanity's relationship with nature through Takumi and his young daughter, Hana, who gather water and wild wasabi for a local restaurant. Their peaceful life is disrupted by the arrival of two representatives of a tourism company planning to build a glamping site that villagers fear will ruin their water supply. As he typically does, Hamaguchi presents every character as fully, imperfectly human.

"The incisiveness of Hamaguchi's ecological critique is matched by the vividness of his characters; you'll remember the talking points, but also the faces of the people making them." —Justin Chang, The New Yorker

Drama - dir. Ali Asgari and Alireza Khatami

Filmmakers Ali Asgari and Alireza Khatami premiered their latest collaboration in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. The well-received film is composed of 11 vignettes, 10 of which feature a fixed camera capturing a single character as an offscreen voice of authority asks them questions. Using this format, Asgari and Khatami mine dark humor out of the absurdity of rules and regulations controlling everyday life in contemporary Iran.

"This is punchy first-person filmmaking, from the point of view of the last person you want to be." —Jessica Kiang

Drama - dir. Annie Baker

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Annie Baker makes an auspicious debut as a film writer and director with this delicate drama about the relationship between 11-year-old Lacy (Zoe Ziegler) and her mother Janet (Julianne Nicholson) during the summer of 1991. While this central duo spends their time in rural Western Massachusetts, they interact with Wayne (Will Patton), Janet's boyfriend, Regina (Sophie Okonedo), an old friend of Janet's, and Avi (Elias Koteas), a local theater director. With very good reviews from its festival run and A24 handling distribution, maybe Baker's film can follow the success of fellow playwright turned writer-director Celine Song's Past Lives.

"Janet Planet is alive with possibility, not just for the youngster but also for the remarkable writer-director who announces her big-screen ambitions with stunning force." —Tim Grierson, Screen Daily

Now playing in theaters

Animation/Comedy - dir. Sébastien Laudenbach and Chiara Malta

A simple premise is brought to vibrant life by colorful hand-painted animation in this award-winning film from directors Chiara Malta and Sébastien Laudenbach (The Girl Without Hands). Feeling guilty for unjustly punishing her daughter Linda, Paulette asks what she can do to make it up to her. When Linda asks for a chicken dish that her father used to make, mother and daughter set out on an odyssey to find a chicken to cook for dinner. Chicken for Linda! took home the Annecy Grand Cristal in 2023, as well as the Grand Prize and Audience Award at last year's Animation Is Film Festival.

"The movie is the perfect blend of silliness and serious, deep emotion that never becomes overstated, all told in bright, painted colors that deserve to be seen in theaters to experience their full glory." —Petrana Radulovic, Polygon

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Horror/Drama - dir. Jane Schoenbrun

Jane Schoenbrun's follow-up to 2022's We're All Going to the World's Fair follows Owen (played first by Ian Foreman, then by Justice Smith), a teenager growing up in the 1990s, as he bonds with Maddy (Brigette Lundy-Paine) over The Pink Opaque, a Buffy the Vampire Slayer-esque TV show featuring heroines Isabel (Helena Howard) and Tara (Lindsey Jordan, a.k.a. Snail Mail). It's an exploration of how media can help people discover themselves and a bold, original vision from Schoenbrun.

"In capturing the trans experience with language that only cinema can convey, Schoenbrun has crafted one of the most original, evocative, adventurous films of this decade." —Jordan Raup, The Film Stage

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Drama - dir. Nuri Bilge Ceylan

Turkish writer-director Nuri Bilge Ceylan has yet to make a bad film. His ninth feature, which debuted at Cannes last year prior to opening in theaters early this year, tells the story of Samet, a young art teacher finishing his required service in a remote village in East Anatolia and dreaming of returning to the city. When Sevim, his favorite student, accuses him of inappropriate behavior, his narcissism is laid bare through his rivalry with fellow teacher Kenan and in a dinner conversation with Nuray (Cannes Best Actress winner Merve Dizdar), a neighboring school principal who lost her leg in a terrorist attack. Their conversation includes a jarring change in perspective that is sure to spark discussion amongst viewers.

"Structured like a quietly grand novel, subtle and elliptical, Ceylan's film unfolds with Chekhovian grace and a cutting understanding of character." —Barry Hertz, The Globe and Mail

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Documentary - dir. Kleber Mendonça Filho

Brazil's official Oscar submission last year (though it didn't ultimately get a nomination), Pictures of Ghosts examines the history of the city of Recife, Brazil (and its inhabitants) through the 20th century by focusing on that city's classic movie theaters, many of which are now closed. It's another terrific feature from Bacurau director Kleber Mendonça Filho, who grew up in Recife, and he incorporates his own personal home movies into the documentary.

"Pictures of Ghosts is so lovely and alive that, if anything, it only reassures you that movies aren't going anywhere." —Alison Willmore, Vulture

Drama - dir. Agnieszka Holland

After winning a Special Jury Prize at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, filmmaker Agnieszka Holland and her latest film, a depiction of the humanitarian crisis in thew swampy forests that separate Poland and Belarus, received accusations of being anti-Polish from Poland's nationalist government prior to the film's release. While a new government took power in January, the film remains a stark black-and-white examination of the migrant struggle from multiple perspectives: a Syrian family fleeing ISIS; the young guards commanded to abuse the migrants; and the activists who risk their lives to aid the refugees.

"A gripping, visceral human drama that occasionally turns shakycam thriller to excellent effect, it's a small victory for empathy over coarseness. Like Michael Winterbottom's prescient 2003 docudrama In This World, it demands that you witness the treatment of refugees with your own eyes." —Phil de Semlyen, Time Out

Fantasy/Rom-com/Adventure - dir. Alice Rohrwacher

Writer-director Alice Rohrwacher won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival for The Wonders and Best Screenplay in 2018 for Happy as Lazzaro. When she returned to the festival in 2023, many expected her to walk away with another major award. It wasn't to be, but critics praised La Chimera and many put it on their year-end top-ten lists. (It's on our 2024 list instead because it didn't reach theaters until a few months ago.) Set during the 1980s in Tuscany, this bracingly imaginative film stars Josh O'Connor as Arthur, an archeologist and dowser who emerges from jail dreaming of his lost love, Beniamina, eventually joining a group of "tombaroli" (grave robbers) in search of Etruscan artifacts. Shot by Hélène Louvart in multiple formats (35mm, 16mm, and Super 16), La Chimera is another folkloric wonder from a true original.

"When we talk about 'movie magic,' the first thing that comes to mind is often something like the bikes achieving liftoff in 'E.T.' But it applies no less to Alice Rohrwacher's wondrous 'La Chimera,' a grubbily transcendent folk tale of a film that finds its enchantment buried in the ground." —Jake Coyle, AP

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Drama - dir. Lila Avilés

Finally getting an American theatrical release in January after first wowing critics at 2023's Berlinale, Mexican director Lila Avilés' follow-up to her 2018 debut The Chambermaid brings audiences into the home of seven-year-old Sol (Naíma Sentíes) and her family, who are gathering to celebrate the birthday of Tona (Mateo Garcia), Sol's father, who is weakened from battling cancer. The film unfolds over the course of a single day through the youngster's point of view as she becomes increasingly aware of the importance of this year's festivities.

"Tótem is one of those films about death that overflows with life, and it's a testament to filmmaker Lila Avilés that this gentle drama never collapses under its own weight or lets sorrow fully take the wheel." —David Fear, Rolling Stone

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Documentary/Music - dir. Neo Sora

Japanese musician and composer Ryuichi Sakamoto died in March 2023 at the age of 71. But he has one last gift for his longtime fans. Directed by Sakamoto's son, Neo Sora, Opus is Sakamoto's final filmed performance, consisting of a selection of 20 pieces recorded at NHK Broadcasting Center 509 Studio in Tokyo in late 2022. Unlike 2017's Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda, there is no exposition or narration: This film is Sakamoto's life revealed through his music, told by his fingers at a piano.

"For the fan, it's an intensely moving experience. But even for the viewer without much knowledge of Sakamoto's work, "Opus" holds its own as the rare cinematic space for contemplation." —Alissa Wilkinson, The New York Times

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Drama - dir. Bas Devos

Writer-director Bas Devos (Ghost Tropic, Violet) returns to contemporary Belgium with this story of Stefan (Stefan Gota), a construction worker planning to return home to Romania and visit his mother. As he struggles to sleep and contemplates not returning to Brussels, he makes soup to hand out as a gift to his friends and older sister. During a rainstorm, he seeks refuge in a Chinese restaurant where he meets ShuXiu (Liyo Gong), a Belgian-Chinese woman preparing a doctorate on mosses. They encounter each other again in nature, where ShuXiu is doing her fieldwork, and form a delicate connection in a film filled with striking imagery.

"It's a modestly proportioned movie of quiet magnificence, one that feels spun of gossamer summer light and rooted in unshakeable depths." —Sheri Linden, The Hollywood Reporter

Drama - dir. Thien An Pham

Winner of the Caméra d'Or (for best first feature) at last year's Cannes, Thien An Pham's existential and dreamlike three-hour epic finds Thien (Le Phong Vu) dealing with family issues following the sudden death of his sister-in-law, as he returns to his family village while caring for his five-year-old nephew and searching for his missing brother.

"A three-hour drama whose slender story serves as the skeleton for a formally exquisite examination of loss, faith, family, and connection, it's the year's first masterpiece." —Nick Schager, The Daily Beast

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Comedy - dir. Radu Jude

Metacritic's #1 Film of the First Half of 2024. Amongst auteurs, Romanian writer-director Radu Jude is on his own unique wavelength right now, both in how he examines contemporary life and how he titles his films. (For the record, this one comes in one word less than 2018's I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians.) Shot mostly in high-contrast black-and-white, his latest is a dark comedy following Angela (Ilinca Manolache), an overworked and underpaid production assistant tasked with interviewing workers of a multinational company for a public-service video. Her alter-ego on social media is Bobita, a male chauvinist she brings to life using face filters and a string of offensive tirades. For Jude, this is just the tip of a giant iceberg of absurdity at which he's chipping away.

Yes, it's a long movie—and the final scene is a single fixed shot lasting nearly 40 minutes—but critics were exhilarated.

"It captures what it's like to live in this chaotic and deadening world so well it might be the movie of the year, and last year, and next year too. If a visitor from the future wanted to know what it was like to be alive right now, this is what I'd show them." —Sam Adams, Slate

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