Marie begins our coverage of the best in Film of 2024.
Regular visitors to this site will not be at all surprised to learn that the majority of my favourite films of 2024 are not in the English language. Mainly because these are the types of films I specifically seek out to cover for The Movie Isle, but also because some of those in English which I did get to see just didn’t float my boat, oftentimes putting me in a minority (see the much-lauded Maria, as an example).
However, knowing that you, dear reader, are more than happy to jump the one-inch tall barrier of subtitles, then I hope you’ll find some suggestions from the list below (if you haven’t already seen them!).
In March of 2024 I achieved a lifetime dream to visit Japan, and so there’s some serendipity in there being four films from that country in this list. It’s not deliberate, that’s just how Letterboxd told me I’d rated these films. But Japan’s submission for the 97th Academy Awards isn’t even on my list, as it hasn’t been released here yet (as far as I can make out). So watch out for Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Cloud more than likely here in 2025!
As ever, UK release dates don’t always line up with the rest of the world, but here are my 10 favourite films with UK releases (including festivals) which I saw this year. If I’ve reviewed the film for The Movie Isle, there’ll be a link in the title to the relevant page.
Embarrassing sidebar – for those following, last year I proudly shared my solid progress on trying to watch all the films on the Sight and Sound Greatest Films of All Time list (the top 100, 2022 version). In 2023 I had started the year at 58% and made it to 86% by 31st December. At the time of writing, with just a couple of days to go until 2024 reaches its end, that figure is currently at 88%. I’m going away now to hang my head in shame.
As a first feature, this is quite an impressive feat from Jason Yu. Sleep is the most natural thing in the world at the end of the day. But what if the person sleeping next to you woke in the middle of the night and was totally different, acting in a way that put you and your family in danger?
Featuring Lee Sun-kyun in his last film before his death in December 2023, Sleep is a film about which it’s best to know as little as possible before watching. But it’s a gripping, tense psychological thriller featuring the best use of a PowerPoint presentation I can ever remember seeing, a striking colour palate shift, and a somewhat ambiguous ending which will allow the viewer to draw their own conclusions. Currently available to rent in the US on Amazon, Apple and YouTube, and available to stream in the UK on BFI Player.
Das Lehrerzimmer is a film which superbly captures the microcosm of a mini-society and its hierarchies within a school setting, and the various relationships between classmates and colleagues. It asks several questions about leadership, inherent racism, gossip, the burden of proof, and media truth, any of which could just as easily be asked of larger organisations, enterprises, or nations as a whole while keeping everything on a very human level. One of the strengths of Das Lehrerzimmer is that it poses these questions, but does not seek to directly answer them for the audience.
This was Germany’s nomination in the International Feature Film category at the 2024 Academy Awards, and deservedly so. Leonie Benesch is outstanding. Currently available to stream in the US on Netflix, and in the UK on BFI Player.
8. Small Things Like These (dir Tim Mielants)
This film is based on a book by Claire Keegan, who also wrote the book behind 2022 Irish language film The Quiet Girl. When reading the book, the Bill Furlong character I had in my mind was not Cillian Murphy, but actually, he is outstanding. The film is low key, dark, sad, and incredibly moving, and speaks to the atrocities of the Magdalene laundries in Ireland, and the stranglehold that the Catholic church has on society. Murphy is so fragile – if the weight of the sacks of coal he has to carry don’t break him, then the weight of the world which is on his other shoulder definitely will.
The only one of my top 10 this year in the English language. Currently available to rent or buy in the US and UK on a variety of platforms.
Marie begins our coverage of the best in Film of 2024.
Regular visitors to this site will not be at all surprised to learn that the majority of my favourite films of 2024 are not in the English language. Mainly because these are the types of films I specifically seek out to cover for The Movie Isle, but also because some of those in English which I did get to see just didn’t float my boat, oftentimes putting me in a minority (see the much-lauded Maria, as an example).
However, knowing that you, dear reader, are more than happy to jump the one-inch tall barrier of subtitles, then I hope you’ll find some suggestions from the list below (if you haven’t already seen them!).
In March of 2024 I achieved a lifetime dream to visit Japan, and so there’s some serendipity in there being four films from that country in this list. It’s not deliberate, that’s just how Letterboxd told me I’d rated these films. But Japan’s submission for the 97th Academy Awards isn’t even on my list, as it hasn’t been released here yet (as far as I can make out). So watch out for Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Cloud more than likely here in 2025!
As ever, UK release dates don’t always line up with the rest of the world, but here are my 10 favourite films with UK releases (including festivals) which I saw this year. If I’ve reviewed the film for The Movie Isle, there’ll be a link in the title to the relevant page.
Embarrassing sidebar – for those following, last year I proudly shared my solid progress on trying to watch all the films on the Sight and Sound Greatest Films of All Time list (the top 100, 2022 version). In 2023 I had started the year at 58% and made it to 86% by 31st December. At the time of writing, with just a couple of days to go until 2024 reaches its end, that figure is currently at 88%. I’m going away now to hang my head in shame.
10. Sleep / 잠 (dir Jason Yu)
As a first feature, this is quite an impressive feat from Jason Yu. Sleep is the most natural thing in the world at the end of the day. But what if the person sleeping next to you woke in the middle of the night and was totally different, acting in a way that put you and your family in danger?
Featuring Lee Sun-kyun in his last film before his death in December 2023, Sleep is a film about which it’s best to know as little as possible before watching. But it’s a gripping, tense psychological thriller featuring the best use of a PowerPoint presentation I can ever remember seeing, a striking colour palate shift, and a somewhat ambiguous ending which will allow the viewer to draw their own conclusions. Currently available to rent in the US on Amazon, Apple and YouTube, and available to stream in the UK on BFI Player.
9. The Teachers’ Lounge / Das Lehrerzimmer (dir İlker Çatak)
Das Lehrerzimmer is a film which superbly captures the microcosm of a mini-society and its hierarchies within a school setting, and the various relationships between classmates and colleagues. It asks several questions about leadership, inherent racism, gossip, the burden of proof, and media truth, any of which could just as easily be asked of larger organisations, enterprises, or nations as a whole while keeping everything on a very human level. One of the strengths of Das Lehrerzimmer is that it poses these questions, but does not seek to directly answer them for the audience.
This was Germany’s nomination in the International Feature Film category at the 2024 Academy Awards, and deservedly so. Leonie Benesch is outstanding. Currently available to stream in the US on Netflix, and in the UK on BFI Player.
8. Small Things Like These (dir Tim Mielants)
This film is based on a book by Claire Keegan, who also wrote the book behind 2022 Irish language film The Quiet Girl. When reading the book, the Bill Furlong character I had in my mind was not Cillian Murphy, but actually, he is outstanding. The film is low key, dark, sad, and incredibly moving, and speaks to the atrocities of the Magdalene laundries in Ireland, and the stranglehold that the Catholic church has on society. Murphy is so fragile – if the weight of the sacks of coal he has to carry don’t break him, then the weight of the world which is on his other shoulder definitely will.
The only one of my top 10 this year in the English language. Currently available to rent or buy in the US and UK on a variety of platforms.
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