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I’m hesitant to make grand pronouncements about what a year conclusively “was” cinematically: unless enough time has passed to generate some clarifying hindsight, I can’t help but wonder if something was a true defining trend or if I was simply more inclined to be drawn to and like certain kinds of movies. But as I reflected on my favorite films of 2024, I was nonetheless struck by the wealth of razor-sharp movies that astutely, sometimes even cathartically, reckoned with the societal and cultural frustrations and hang-ups that can make the contemporary world feel unbearable to live in. (It’s heartening to have so much urgent, original work amid the rise of artificial intelligence and the ongoing inescapability of lazy, IP-forward moviemaking — an abundance I cautiously hope will continue in the coming years.) Read on for my picks, in no particular order. 

Red Rooms, dir. Pascal Plante

The unequivocally greatest movie I saw at the 2024 Seattle International Film Festival is a chilly, incisive indictment of true-crime-as-entertainment and the degree to which it can desensitize those who get too wrapped up in its lurid thrills. Juliette Gariépy’s frosty, inscrutable performance continues to stay with me.

Janet Planet, dir. Annie Baker 

Playwright Baker’s feature-length debut is a quietly devastating account of the unavoidable period in childhood when a parent suddenly starts to appear a lot more infallible and human and youthful naïveté in general starts to fade. 

The Substance, dir. Coralie Fargeat 

Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, and Dennis Quaid are unforgettable in Fargeat’s indelibly nightmarish, gleefully antic horror-comedy that takes the lengths to which one will go to stave off the inevitability of aging to a new, monster movie-evoking level. 

Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World, dir. Radu Jude

This three-and-a-half-hour-long black comedy from Romania is one of the best evocations of misery under capitalism I’ve ever seen.

The Beast, dir. Bertrand Bonello

Léa Seydoux is among the most fearless, exciting-to-watch actresses working today; the haunting, mysterious The Beast inspires a similar kind of awe. 

See the full list at 425.