By Dwight Brown film critic for DwightBrownInk.com and NNPA News Wire
These 10 films rose to the top of 2024’s mountain of excellent movies. Many will vie for Oscars®. Join the fun, view these movies in theaters or on streaming services and watch great cinema.
The Brutalist (****)
Hard to believe this entrancing bio/drama, which exhibits an artistry and craftsmanship usually rendered by foreign directors, was created by Arizona-born filmmaker Brady Corbet. Hard to believe that’s what’s on view is complete fiction! László Toth, a Jewish Hungarian architect, flees post-WWII Europe in 1947. He finds refuge in Pennsylvania, where he tries to rebuild his life and career. Exquisitely shot (Lol Crawley), produced and directed. Adrien Brody melts into the soul-torn lead character. Actors Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce and Isaac De Bankolé are stellar. A brilliant work of art.
Conclave (****)
This riveting film adaption by director Edward Berger (All Quiet on the Western Front) and Oscar-nominated screenwriter Peter Straughan is an extraordinary drama/thriller. An incisive religious parable about those who connive in the Vatican. No one, not even a detective or mystery film afficionado, could ever guess where the storyline is going. Evidently, choosing a new pope can be a fiendish and deliciously political process. Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, Lucian Msamati, Carlos Diehz and Isabella Rossellini embody the meaning of ensemble acting. The final reveal is a shocker. A jolt.
Daughters (****)
Start with a humanizing premise and there’s nowhere to go but up. When a little girl shares her feelings, “My dad can’t come to the father/daughter dance because he’s in jail,” that becomes a catalyst. It initiates a conscious effort to bring little girls together with their incarcerated dads for a prom that could change their lives for the better. First-time documentary director Angela Patton, the CEO of Girls for Change, and video music director Natalie Rae (Leon Bridges: Bad Bad News) bring this bit of misty-eyed redemption and heaven to film fans with love. When a father says, “The streets don’t love us. Our kids love us,” you know this film bears witness to a wondrous metamorphosis.
Emilia Pérez (***1/2)
Gender ID transformations, crime, thrills and romance get mixed into a surprising cocktail of emotions in this musical/thriller. A successful defense lawyer Rita (Zoe Saldana) is pressured into heading the transition team for a Mexican drug cartel kingpin (Karla Sofía Gascón). Audiences, along with Rita, won’t be prepared for the transition that ensues. Director Jacques Audiard (A Prophet) and his co-screenwriters Thomas Bidegain and Nicolas Livecchi fathomed a crime story that thwarts any predictability. Stunning reveals, awkward upheavals and violent reactions snowball. Genre categories are defied. As intense as a shot of Tequilla.
Monkey Man (***1/2)
“Every day, I’ve prayed for a way to protect the weak,” says the lead character Kid (Dev Patel, Slumdog Millionaire). And thus, his quest to stamp out corrupt leaders in his region of India. Patel, as the writer and director, crafts a revenge allegory that plunges audiences into India’s social issues and politics. They get a feel for the country’s mysticism and are introduced to Hanuman, the Monkey God. An ancient Hindu deity whose powers include strength, intelligence and compassion for the less fortunate. A crazed John Wick style of direction delivers a steady flow of fight-or-flight incidents in a very frenetic art film.
No Other Land (****)
It’s a calling. Risking your life to document human tragedy is an assignment the heavens would only give the stalwart. Palestinian writer/director Basel Adra, Israeli journalist and co-writer/director Yuval Abraham, Israeli cinematographer/editor/director Rachel Szor and Palestinian photographer/filmmaker Hamdan Ballal are game. They, especially Basel and Yuval, chronicle the largest forced land transfer ever carried out in the occupied West Bank. A deadly years-long encroachment that allows Israeli soldiers to bulldoze Palestinian homes and schools. The community of Masafer Yatta is being forced into a nomadic life. It’s all in the cinéma vérité footage shot and compiled by a brave Palestinian/Israeli film collective.
The Piano Lesson (***1/2)
This legacy of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson is alive and well. In 1936 Pittsburgh, a prized ancestral heirloom, a 137-year-old upright piano, is fought over by a brother (John David Washington) and sister (Danielle Deadwyler, Till). Their divergent opinions of how it should be revered and used cause a firestorm. Malcolm Washington, in his feature film debut, directs the actors, story and production like a pro. His adaptation is cinematic, not just a filmed play. Emotions explode. The virtue of heritage is canonized. Actors Ray Fisher, Corey Hawkins, Michael Potts Skylar Aleece Smith and Sam Jackson shine bright. Erie horror elements add a haunting dimension. Malcolm is a griot. Wilson would be proud.
Sugarcane (****)
It’s a day of reckoning. Time to hold people accountable. Graves are found around St. Josephs Mission, a residential school once run by priests from the Catholic Church starting back in the 1930s. The facility in British Columbia, Canada had a killing field. This investigative doc, by co-directors Emily Kassie and Julian Brave Noisecat, digs deep. Noisecat has a special interest, as his dad went to St. Joseph’s. Interviews with ex-students, who are elders now, detail mindboggling emotional, physical and sexual abuse. Reflections and accountability bring healing. America’s Indigenous people expose crimes, testify and control their own narrative. Unlike Killers of the Flower Moon. Breaks your heart then lifts it up.
Saturday Night (***1/2)
It’s crazy! One hour and 40 minutes of controlled chaos is displayed during the reenacted buildup to the first Saturday Night Live show on Oct. 11th, 1975. Wow. Mayhem starts and doesn’t end until showtime. Some of America’s most iconic comedians and comic actors are portrayed by a talented young cast who understands the assignment: Be funny. Slather on the satire. Make ‘em laugh. Skillfully directed by Jason Reitman (Up in the Air) and ingeniously cowritten by Reitman and Gil Kenan. Legends like Lorne Michaels, Chevy Chase, Gilda Radner and Garrett Morris are played respectively by Gabriel La Belle, Cory Michael Smith, Ella Hunt and Lamorne Morris. Funny as hell. The best comedy of 2024.
Sing Sing (****)
It’s refreshing when a film shows answers to the most confounding social issues. The Sing Sing Correctional Facility, a maximum-security prison in Ossining, New York, found a unique way to rehabilitate inmates. It encouraged them to act in plays and express their feelings in their Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) program. In this behind bars and based-on-fact drama, theater director and mentor John “Divine G” Whitfield (Colman Domingo, Rustin) writes many of his troupe’s plays. Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin, a former prison yard bully, becomes a gifted, sensitive thespian. The real Maclin plays himself—and is excellent. Greg Kwedar’s sensitive direction and a compelling script (Clint Bentley, Brent Buell and Kwedar) prophesize and the message is that no one is beyond redemption.
Visit Film Critic Dwight Brown at DwightBrownInk.com.
BEST OF THE BEST 2024
Strong performances, astute directing and behind-the-lens talent abounded in 2024. Along with stellar non-fiction, animated, first films and honorable mention movies. Use this guide to hunt down stunning performances, great writing and behind-the-camera feats that served films well and will impress you, too.
Honorable mention films: Bob Marley: One Love, Challengers, A Complete Unknown, Dune: Part Two, Ernest Cole: Lost and Found, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, Green Border, Hard Truths, Heretic, The Idea of You, The Order, A Quiet Place: Day One, A Real Pain, Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story, Twisters, Wicked.
Best Directors: Brady Cobert (The Brutalist), Edward Berger (Conclave), Jon M. Chu (Wicked), Dev Patel (Monkey Man), Ivan Reitman (Saturday Night).
Best First Films: Monkey Man (Dev Patel), The Piano Lesson (Malcolm Washington), The Fire Inside (Rachel Morrison), Thelma (Josh Margolin), Fancy Dance (Erica Tremblay).
Best Foreign Language Films: All We Imagine as Light, Dahomey, Emilia Pérez, I’m Still Here, Sujo.
Best Documentaries: Daughters, Luther: Never Too Much, No Other Land, Sugarcane, Union.
Best Animation: Flow, Inside Out 2, Piece by Piece, The Wild Robot
Best Actors: Adrien Brody (The Brutalist), Colman Domingo (Sing Sing), Ralph Fiennes (Conclave), Gabriel LaBelle (Saturday Night), Dev Patel (Monkey Man).
Best Actresses: Cynthia Erivo (Wicked), Karla Sofía Gascón (Emilia Pérez), Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Hard Truths), Mikey Madison (Anora), Lupita Nyong’o (A Quiet Place: Day One).
Best Supporting Actors: Yura Borisov (Anora), Austin Butler (Dune: Part Two), Clarence Maclin (Sing Sing), Guy Pearce (The Brutalist), Denzel Washington (Gladiator II).
Best Supporting Actresses: Leonie Benesch (September 5), Joan Chen (Didi), Danielle Deadwyler (The Piano Lesson), Selena Gomez (Emilia Pérez), Ariana Grande (Wicked).
Best Screenplays: Emilia Pérez (Jacques Audiard), Monkey Man (Dev Patel, Paul Angunawela and John Collee), Saturday Night (Gil Kenan, Jason Reitman), Sing Sing (Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar), The Brutalist (Brady Corbet, Mona Fastvold).
Best Cinematography: All We Imagine as Light (Ranabir Das), The Brutalist (Lol Crawley), Dune: Part Two (Greig Fraser), The Fire Inside (Rina Yang), Monkey Man (Sharone Meir).
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
Visit Film Critic Dwight Brown at DwightBrownInk.com.
