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Oh, 2024, what a year you have been. Billion-dollar franchises died on these shores while small-time budget indies made their money back five times over. Does the worldwide box office explain anything about the year coming to an end? No. But then it rarely does.

For us at LSJ, it was a balanced year where exciting new voices in the scene walked hand-in-hand with experienced artists. No one could predict the sequel to Joker would be an almost deranged musical about the franchise’s toxic fandom and that it would lose the equivalent of the GDP of a small country. Everyone could predict that Francis Ford Coppola’s last film wasn’t going to be a success, but the discourse that came out of it – with cinephiles and film critics calling each other out for not enjoying it, was a reminder of why we do this – at the end of the day, talking about the art makes the art worthy.

I don’t think distributors found the sweet spot between streaming and the cinema experience, but they’re getting there. A film like The Substance or Zone of Interest wouldn’t have done well direct-to-streaming, and we’re much richer for it. And I truly feel sorry for everyone who missed Megalopolis on the big screen.

Honourable mentions

For the sake of rounding numbers, we chose a list of only 10 films, but many more deserved a shout-out for narrowly missing or because we found them necessary enough to give props to, even if the rest of the film failed.

Monkey Man was a valiant directorial effort from Dev Patel that showed much love and emotion for the genre and his culture.

Wes Anderson’s The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Three More should not have been separated by Netflix into a bunch of short films. It deserved to be released in the cinema as a whole feature. 

I saw The Wild Robot with my five-year-old, and maybe that influenced my opinion, but very few things charmed me like this little, inventive animated feature did.

Speaking of adorable, whimsical animation, Australia’s Memoir of a Snail was one of the most effective at making adults cry.

Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu doesn’t have the impact of his first two films, but there’s a lot of talk about it—check out our review on Boxing Day.

Kinds of Kindness is a controversial pick. It is one of the year’s funniest films and more effective than Lánthimos’ previous Poor Things.

The Bikeriders is the kind of film that would’ve made it to the top 10 or 15 years ago, and Dune Part Two will deservedly make it onto many critics’ lists.

Robot Dreams was this year’s best-animated feature. A beautiful tale that doesn’t need dialogue to break our hearts and promptly mend them up.

Loves Lies Bleeding was an ecstatic feature from one of the best promises in film nowadays. The bravery to pull a story like this is only matched by the boldness of its message.

Conclave is a surprising crowd-pleaser, especially for a film about the politics of voting for a Pope. 

The Iron Claw may be the best film about “masculinity in crisis” to come out in a very long time, topped by a defining performance by Zac Effron.

Ryusuke Hamaguchi followed his near perfect Drive My Car with an imperceptibly mysterious Evil Does Not Exist, written with such candour and softness that I haven’t stopped thinking about it. It is a leading contender to go up the list on another day.

Finally, Miguel Gomes’ Grand Tour will only be released in our cinemas next year, but it is worth seeing for its endearing new approach to the narrative form.

10. A Different Man

Aaron Schimberg’s A Different Man is a film about our internal destructive obsession with beauty standards. Sebastian Stan plays a man who suffers from neurofibromatosis (a condition where tumours grow continuously and cause severe deformities), affected by how he believes society sees him. He’s cured thanks to a new innovative treatment, but his confidence is shattered when he meets another man with the same condition (played expertly by Adam Pearson) who isn’t affected by it all. A Different Man is layered and complex, like something Hal Ashby would make back in 1972, even if the characters don’t feel too complicated. Schimberg confidently strides the line between satire and morality but keeps a lot to be unveiled and uncovered.

Stan, Pearson and Renate Reinsve (in her American debut after The Worst Person in the World) complement Schimberg’s vision so well, I don’t think any other actors could have played this script as well as these three.

09. All Of Us Strangers

Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott, in a ghost gay love story about reconnection with our emotions, our past, and our traumas, sound like the perfect concoction for a rainy evening when we are cuddled up on the couch. Visually, it feels similar to Charlotte Wells’ Aftersun (our best film of 2023); both have Paul Mescal, and both feature a profoundly emotional scene framed by a Blur song, but apart from that, both films are distinct. Andrew Haigh’s film paces itself slowly, intercutting the Mescal and Scott love story, with Scott visiting his childhood to spend time with the ghost of his parents (played by Claire Foy and Jamie Bell). It cuts deep. At a point, Mescal points at Scott’s heart and whispers, “Don’t let this get tangled up again”. Too late.

08. Civil War

I still think most American critics didn’t like Alex Garland’s Civil War because of what it was trying to say about their country. It’s a profoundly apolitical film that makes a confusing mishmash of its background political context so we’re not distracted by its central message: when it all hits the fan, Americans will not be there to help each other. An almost cynical indictment of the West, told through the perspective of the press, with its amazing last shot reminding us that the downfall of the political establishment will be achieved by the end of the military and the eyes of the press. For 2024, we didn’t want such a pessimistic view, but we sure needed it.

07. Anora

Sean Baker finally gets his overdue megahit with this story about a stripper who marries the son of an influential Russian politician in Vegas. It’s filled with Baker’s typical observations and celebration of America’s counterculture, which he sees as the country’s most unique cultural asset. It’s all supported by a tremendous performance by Mikey Maddison, probably this year’s best, and Baker’s infectious world-building. In the second half, he introduces elements that could quickly turn the film into an oppressive crime drama, but his characters are so fleshed out, and his impulses are so positive that it turns into an entertaining road trip. Like an Adriana-centric episode of The Sopranos directed by John Cassavetes. Out in Australia on Boxing Day.

06. The Taste of Things

Tran Anh Hung’s film went under the radar – we regrettably didn’t review it when it came out – but it deserves a good look, especially for the cozy holiday nights when you just need something to lull you into a sense of comforting joy. It’s a period piece about a French chef, played by Benoît Magimel, and his cook, played by Juliette Binoche. A celebration of two things we hold true – that French food is phenomenal and that Juliette Binoche will always be one of the sexiest people on this planet. Part of the film challenges the idea that good food has to show excess and opulence, honouring instead its simple and honest roots. The other part is a tender love story between two people who share the same passionate dedication.

05. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

George Miller’s sequel to the high-octane action romp Fury Road caught many people off-guard. It’s a larger-than-life, long tale of biblical proportions, framed around a story told like a legend as if we’re all gathered around the fire listening to a wise elder. It doesn’t have the same impact as the first one, but it’s grander and bolder and should be celebrated. It works as a build-up where the pay-off is the 2015 classic, and in the process, gives us two things: the best action set piece Miller has ever directed and Chris Hemsworth’s best performance to date.

04. I Saw The TV Glow

During my obsession with Jane Schoenbrun’s film, I recommended it to a good friend I’d known since my late teens. “If I had seen this when I was 16, it would’ve been my favourite film of all time”, and I get it. I Saw The TV Glow is a film that speaks to the millennial generation, educated by serialised television programmes to cope with our suburban ennui. For the lonely kids in high school listening to Broken Social Scene on their Discman, who found solace in Buffy The Vampire Slayer or Twin Peaks reruns. Schoenbrun’s film broke me; it spat me out to the streets after the screening and left me wondering aimlessly through Sydney’s CBD. Very few films have that effect on a person, let alone a whole generation.

03. Challengers

I wasn’t expecting to enjoy Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers as much as I did, given the marketing campaign’s focus on steamy young adult shlock. Not that there’s nothing wrong with that, but after Call Me By Your Name and Bones and All, I was expecting Guadagnino to break some boundaries.

And break them, he did. Challengers suffered from a misplaced marketing campaign that missed out on this film’s best traits. It’s a wildly entertaining soap opera thriller that subverts all expectations. All topped with a fierce soundtrack from Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor, unlike anything they’ve ever done. I defy anyone to watch this and not feel their heart pump a little faster, especially during that final tennis match.

02. The Zone of Interest

There hasn’t been a film more important than Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest since Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Act of Killing. Based on Martin Amis’s novel, the film chronicles the life of a German family who live right next to the concentration camp of Auschwitz. Glazer doesn’t show death, but the idyllic countryside lifestyle of the Höss is constantly perturbed by the realisation of what is happening in the background. A chimney spouting smoke, a train arriving, and the distant sound of a gun firing all contrast with the family’s obliviousness. One of the producers said it best when he accepted the BAFTA for Best Film Not in the English Language: “A friend wrote to me after seeing the film that he couldn’t stop thinking about the walls we construct in our lives, which we choose not to look behind. Those walls aren’t new, from before, during or since the holocaust. And it seems stark, right now, that we should care about innocent people being killed in Gaza or Yemen in the same way we think about innocent people being killed in Mariupol or in Israel, or anywhere else in the world”.

01. Perfect Days

Who knew German filmmaker Wim Wenders still had it in him to effortlessly concoct a classic. Without much of a story, Wenders follows a Japanese toilet cleaner through his day, detailing his routine when he works and during his time off. It’s like a warm blanket of a film that slowly envelops us in a small but effective dramatic problem. Stoicism has never been this tranquil, but most importantly, there are many life lessons to take from it. Something to give back to our neighbours, to live appreciating simple moments – a can of coffee in the morning, a Patti Smith song, a next chapter of our book. 2024 ends tumultuously with war, misery and the promise that 2025 won’t be much better. Everything around us is loud and oppressive. Maybe it will continue until we stop and smell the flowers. Or, in this case, stop and look at the trees.

 

 

Ticket giveaway – Emilia Perez

LSJ and Kismet Movies have 5 passes to the upcoming film Emilia Perez.

From acclaimed director Jacques Audiard (Rust and Bone) comes a gripping, hot Oscar contender that’s taking the world by storm. Starring Zoe Saldana, Selena Gomez, and Karla Sofía Gascón, this film isn’t just a story—it’s a profound journey of transformation. With an evocative score, Emilia Perez delivers a powerful tale of ambition and identity. In cinemas 16 January. Watch the trailer here.

For a chance to win one of the doubles passes, email your contact details to [email protected] with the subject line EMILIA PEREZ before COB Monday 23 December.