The 20 best films of 2024, from Anora to Emilia Pérez, MaXXXine and more
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Some say 2024 wasn’t a vintage year for cinema. Tosh! Piffle! Look at the variety of the incredible movies below. Raucous and rude Irish-language comedy, body horror at its barmiest, more bloody noir than you can wave a Colt 45 at, a trans cartel musical! All life is there in (mostly) five-star glory. And, er, sorry Paul, Ridley and the Gladiator posse, but these were the films that were actually brilliant.
Dangerous lesbian liaisons, ‘roid-fuelled muscle women and violent backwoods bastards are quite the combo in Rose Glass’s classy noir. Gym manager Kristen Stewart falls for iron-pumping drifter Katy O’Brien; unlucky for them, Stewart’s father (Ed Harris as the epitome of criminal hideousness) is in their way. It’s bloody, it’s wonderful.
Belfast rap group Kneecap play themselves in this riotous take on their genesis. Told in the Irish language (the band’s raison d’etre), it sticks a rude Republican finger up to the British. Three topless basket cases emerging from a backstreet studio in a cloud of cocaine is 2024’s funniest image.
With a face and eyeballs that emote more than they have in years, Daniel Craig is a revelation as an ageing William Burroughs yearning after young, male flesh (Drew Starkey) in Fifties Mexico. Following the insipid Challengers, Luca Guadagnino is back with a sumptuously saucy and sordid trip.
Easily this year’s cleverest, funniest and most heartfelt animated film. Cyborg personal assistant Roz is shipwrecked on a remote island and becomes the accidental mother to a newborn goose. Truths about loving beyond borders and finding a higher purpose are told beautifully – and the animation is simply sublime.
