The 25 Best Movies of 2024

Animation/Sci-Fi/Family - dir. Chris Sanders

September's animated adaptation of the 2016 children's sci-fi novel by Peter Brown centers on a shipwrecked robot (voiced by Lupita Nyong'o) who befriends the local wildlife on the island where she is stranded. The first solo directorial effort for Chris Sanders (Lilo & Stitch, How to Train Your Dragon) was deemed an instant classic when it debuted at TIFF, with praise going to both the film's gorgeous hand-painted look and its emotional storyline. The film was also a surprise hit at the box office, grossing more than $320 million worldwide.

"It's rare that a movie fires on all cylinders as this one does. The jaw-dropping animation tells a bittersweet and lovely story. The voice work is stellar, and the score sweeps you along on a wave of excitement. Fans of the books will not be disappointed." —Odie Henderson, Boston Globe

Rent or buy from Apple or Prime Video; it also will stream on Peacock beginning Jan. 24

Drama - dir. Víctor Erice

The first feature film in more than three decades from 84-year-old Spanish filmmaker Víctor Erice (Spirit of the Beehive) tells the story of Miguel Garay, a film director haunted by the memory of his friend Julio Arenas, a famous actor who disappeared while they were shooting a film together. When an investigative television program revives the case decades later, Miguel is encouraged to unravel the mystery, reconnecting with former lovers, Julio's daughter, and the film's crew in hopes of finding closure to a disappearance that has haunted all their lives. The film premiered out-of-competition at Cannes in 2023 to strong reviews before finally showing up in theaters last summer.

"I can imagine many a moviegoer entering the theatre knowing nothing of Erice and his work, and getting caught up in the gentle grip of his filmmaking. Miguel's journey may sway to a leisurely, elegiac art-film beat, but that rhythm barely conceals the pulsing machinery of a detective story." —Justin Chang, The New Yorker

Rent or buy at Apple or Prime Video

Drama/Thriller - dir. Mohammad Rasoulof

While imprisoned in 2022, Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof formed the idea for his latest film, which incorporates the Woman, Life, Freedom protest movement following the death of Mahsa Amini. After shooting the film in secret, Rasoulof received an eight-year prison sentence and made the difficult decision to flee his homeland for Germany, which allowed him to attend the film's premiere in Cannes last year (where Fig won the Special Jury Prize)—and which also makes Fig Germany's official Oscar entry this year (rather than Iran's).

The propulsive film tracks the disintegration of a family: father Iman, who has recently been promoted to investigating magistrate in the Revolutionary Guard, his wife Najmeh, and their two daughters Rezvan and Sana. When a friend of Rezvan's is injured in the protests and his gun goes missing, Iman destroys those he loves to protect himself. It remains to be seen whether Fig will get any Oscar nominations (it has been shortlisted), but it was already selected by the National Board of Review as 2024's best international film, while Los Angeles critics named Rasoulof the year's best director.

"It's a remarkable, revolutionary work of art. As precisely focused and tightly constructed as it is expansive in its aspirations, it's a rallying cry for the irreplaceable value of artistic expression in a world that will repress it at all costs." —Chase Hutchinson, Collider

Documentary - dir. Mati Diop

Mati Diop's feature follow-up to her 2019 Metacritic Must-See Atlantics is a documentary about the return of 26 royal treasures from Paris to the Kingdom of Dahomey, now known as the Republic of Benin. Plundered along with thousands of other artifacts by French colonial troops in 1892, those that are returning are given voice by Diop through the statue of a Dahomey king. In a haunting, reverberating voice, the spirit of the statue narrates the journey and the years it spent crated in darkness. Winner of the Golden Bear for Best Film at last year's Berlin Film Festival, this stirring political document also gives time to a public debate among students at the University of Abomey-Calavi in Benin about what the repatriation of the long-lost ancestral items mean in the modern world.

"Easily one of the best and most modestly brilliant piece of nonfiction filmmaking you'll see this year." —David Fear, Rolling Stone

Rent or buy at Prime Video and Apple or stream it at MUBI

Drama/Comedy - dir. Jesse Eisenberg

Jesse Eisenberg's second film as director and writer is a crowd-pleasing dramedy that finds Eisenberg and Succession's Kieran Culkin playing bickering cousins who go on a tour through Poland (with Will Sharpe as their guide) to retrace their family's history. Successfully coupling an odd-couple road trip comedy with a Holocaust remembrance, Pain was one of the most acclaimed films at last year's Sundance Film Festival, where Eisenberg won a screenwriting award, and the film has also started collecting awards from critic groups and other organizations over the past month, including several acting wins for Culkin.

"A Real Pain is an easy watch, a buddy movie rooted in the existential fun of verbal sparring. Yet it has an emotional kick that sneaks up on you." —Owen Gleiberman, Variety

Rent or buy at

Horror/Drama - dir. Jane Schoenbrun

Jane Schoenbrun's follow-up to 2022's We're All Going to the World's Fair follows Owen (played first by Ian Foreman, then by Justice Smith), a teenager growing up in the 1990s, as he bonds with Maddy (Brigette Lundy-Paine) over The Pink Opaque, a Buffy the Vampire Slayer-esque TV show featuring heroines Isabel (Helena Howard) and Tara (Lindsey Jordan, a.k.a. Snail Mail). It's an exploration of how media can help people discover themselves and a bold, original vision from Schoenbrun. Glow was nominated for five Independent Spirit Awards, tied (with Anora) for the lead this year.

"In capturing the trans experience with language that only cinema can convey, Schoenbrun has crafted one of the most original, evocative, adventurous films of this decade." —Jordan Raup, The Film Stage

Stream it at Max (or with the Disney+/Max bundle)

Animation/Family/Fantasy - dir. Gints Zilbalodis

Metacritic's Best Animated Film of 2024.

A surprise winner of the Golden Globe for best animated feature, where it defeated several major studio films, this low-budget indie release first began collecting acclaim when it won the Audience Award at last year's Annecy International Animated Film Festival. Gints Zilbalodis' follow-up to his award-winning 2019 animated feature Away once again finds the Latvian filmmaker writing, directing, editing, and composing the score for a film that follows a courageous cat who teams up with a capybara, a lemur, a bird, and a dog to survive a great flood and find a new home on a now-watery planet. Meditating on the fragility and beauty of nature, Flow is also Latvia's entry for Best International Feature at this year's Academy Awards.

"A movie brimming with sentiment but not sentimentality, this is one of the most moving animated films in recent memory, and, beyond that, groundbreaking too." —Christian Blauvelt, IndieWire

The film is still playing in theaters in some cities and should also be available to rent or buy from a variety of digital storefronts by the time you read this

Drama - dir. India Donaldson

Writer-director India Donaldson 's debut feature follows 17-year-old Sam (Lily Collias) as she accompanies her father (James Le Gros) and his best friend (Danny McCarthy) on a weekend backpacking trip in the Catskills. It's a modest drama that gains emotional power as it progresses thanks to Collias' subtly complex performance and Donaldson's keen observations of human behavior.

"In its lived-in quality and gathering churn, Good One is a dream of an indie, from the craft in every frame to the humor, epiphanies and mysteries that gird its portraiture." —Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times

Rent or buy from Apple or Prime Video

Documentary - dir. Kleber Mendonça Filho

Brazil's official Oscar submission in 2023 (though it didn't ultimately get a nomination), January release Pictures of Ghosts examines the history of the city of Recife, Brazil (and its inhabitants) through the 20th century by focusing on that city's classic movie theaters, many of which are now closed. It's another terrific feature from Bacurau director Kleber Mendonça Filho, who grew up in Recife, and he incorporates his own personal home movies into the documentary.

"Love suffuses Pictures of Ghosts, a cleareyed, deeply personal and formally inspired rumination on life, death, family, movies and those complicated, invariably haunted places we call home." —Manohla Dargis, The New York Times

Stream it at the Criterion Channel

Drama - dir. Mike Leigh

After his two large-scale historical dramas Mr. Turner and Peterloo, writer-director Mike Leigh reunites with Marianne Jean-Baptiste, the star of his 1996 Palme d'Or winner Secrets & Lies, for a bleak contemporary character study centering on Pansy, a caustic woman unable to find the happiness in life that comes so easily to her younger sister (Michele Austin). It's a Metacritic Must-See with a stunning, layered performance from Jean-Baptiste, who has already been named the best actress of 2024 from multiple critic associations and could be headed for an Academy Award nomination next week.

"With a heartbreaking lead performance from Jean-Baptiste at its center, Leigh has crafted one of the most sincere slice-of-life films to come out of British cinema in recent years." —Nadira Begum, Paste

The film is already playing in theaters in a few cities and expands nationwide on January 10

Drama - dir. Nuri Bilge Ceylan

Turkish writer-director Nuri Bilge Ceylan has yet to make a bad film. His ninth feature, which debuted at Cannes last year prior to opening in theaters early this year, tells the story of Samet, a young art teacher finishing his required service in a remote village in East Anatolia and dreaming of returning to the city. When Sevim, his favorite student, accuses him of inappropriate behavior, his narcissism is laid bare through his rivalry with fellow teacher Kenan and in a dinner conversation with Nuray (Cannes Best Actress winner Merve Dizdar), a neighboring school principal who lost her leg in a terrorist attack. Their conversation includes a jarring change in perspective that is sure to spark discussion amongst viewers.

"Structured like a quietly grand novel, subtle and elliptical, Ceylan's film unfolds with Chekhovian grace and a cutting understanding of character." —Barry Hertz, The Globe and Mail

Rent or buy from Prime Video or Apple or stream it at the Criterion Channel or for free with most library cards at Kanopy

Drama - dir. Brady Corbet

This year's Golden Globe winner for best drama and a lock for multiple Oscar nominations, The Brutalist is a very, very long historical drama from director Brady Corbet that chronicles the life of an architect (Adrien Brody) who survives the Holocaust, reunites with his wife (Felicity Jones), and moves to America, where a wealthy client (Guy Pearce) eventually gives his floundering career a boost. As with his previous features, The Childhood of a Leader and Vox Lux, Corbet wrote the film with his partner, filmmaker Mona Fastvold (The World to Come). And while those prior films didn't lack ambition, this is Corbet's biggest swing yet: a behemoth in scale and theme that has been screening in large formats including 70mm and IMAX.

"This film is monumental. It's thrilling and emotional, quiet and observant, loud and furious. Corbet's film is a provocative portrait of the pursuit of the American dream." —Barry Levitt, The Daily Beast

See it in theaters now (expanding nationwide through January)

Drama - dir. Agnieszka Holland

After winning a Special Jury Prize at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, filmmaker Agnieszka Holland and her latest film, a depiction of the humanitarian crisis in thew swampy forests that separate Poland and Belarus, received accusations of being anti-Polish from Poland's nationalist government prior to the film's release. While a new government took power in January, the film remains a stark black-and-white examination of the migrant struggle from multiple perspectives: a Syrian family fleeing ISIS; the young guards commanded to abuse the migrants; and the activists who risk their lives to aid the refugees.

"A gripping, visceral human drama that occasionally turns shakycam thriller to excellent effect, it's a small victory for empathy over coarseness. Like Michael Winterbottom's prescient 2003 docudrama In This World, it demands that you witness the treatment of refugees with your own eyes." —Phil de Semlyen, Time Out

Rent or buy from Apple or Prime Video or stream for free with most library cards at Kanopy

Documentary - dir. Emily Kassie and Julian Brave NoiseCat

Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie won the Directing Award in the U.S. Documentary competition at last year's Sundance Film Festival for their investigation into unmarked graves discovered near St. Joseph's Mission, a Canadian Indian residential school near Sugarcane Reserve. Designed to separate kids from their families and strip the Williams Lake First Nation of its culture, the school was a place of torture and abuse for generations. Julian Brave NoiseCat's father, Ed, was born there, and his grandmother can't speak of it. An excavation of history and the damage that remains, this powerful film earned universal acclaim from critics and was named best documentary of 2024 by the National Board of Review.

"Beautifully shot and powerfully told, Sugarcane is a moving tale of resilience in the face of overwhelming injustice." —Shaina Weatherhead, Collider

Stream it at Hulu or Disney+

Documentary - dir. Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, and Rachel Szor

This timely, vérité-style documentary chronicles the systematic destruction of Palestinian villages in the southern West Bank by the Israeli military. Shot over five years and directed by Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Hamdan Ballal, and Rachel Szor, the film focuses on the evolving relationship of Adra, a Palestinian activist, and Abraham, an Israeli journalist. As they learn to trust each other, they capturing damming footage, exposing the strategy of the Israeli government to hide their actions from international governing bodies.

It's possibly the most acclaimed doc of 2024, winning the Audience Award for Best Documentary Film at multiple festivals (including last year's Berlinale) and named best documentary of 2024 by many organizations including the International Documentary Association and New York Film Critics Circle, but that doesn't mean you can see it. Without an American distributor, No Other Land hasn't screened much in the United States, and there are no current plans for a streaming release.

"Along with the documentation of material destruction and displacement, the movie is a record of psychological warfare, of the effort to demolish morale, suppress energy, break will. This, as much as the physical violence that it documents, gives the movie immense moral authority." —Richard Brody, The New Yorker

Not currently available to stream or purchase

Fantasy/Rom-Com/Adventure - dir. Alice Rohrwacher

Writer-director Alice Rohrwacher won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival for The Wonders and Best Screenplay in 2018 for Happy as Lazzaro. When she returned to the festival in 2023, many expected her to walk away with another major award. It wasn't to be, but critics praised La Chimera and many put it on their year-end top-ten lists. (It's on our 2024 list instead because it didn't actually reach American theaters until March 2024.) Set during the 1980s in Tuscany, this bracingly imaginative film stars Josh O'Connor as Arthur, an archeologist and dowser who emerges from jail dreaming of his lost love, Beniamina, eventually joining a group of "tombaroli" (grave robbers) in search of Etruscan artifacts. Shot by Hélène Louvart in multiple formats (35mm, 16mm, and Super 16), La Chimera is another folkloric wonder from a true original.

"When we talk about 'movie magic,' the first thing that comes to mind is often something like the bikes achieving liftoff in 'E.T.' But it applies no less to Alice Rohrwacher's wondrous 'La Chimera,' a grubbily transcendent folk tale of a film that finds its enchantment buried in the ground." —Jake Coyle, AP

Stream it at Hulu or Disney+ or for free with most library cards at Kanopy

Drama/Comedy - dir. Sean Baker

The latest unconventional dramedy from The Florida Project director Sean Baker follows a few eventful weeks in the life of a New York stripper (Better Things' Mikey Madison). When she impulsively marries the young son (Mark Eydelshteyn) of a Russian oligarch, the latter sends several goons to force the young couple to annul their marriage. In addition to directing, Baker also wrote and edited the Anora, and the crowd-pleasing result is the filmmaker's most commercially successful feature to date. It also is one of 2024's most honored films, winning the Palme d'Or at Cannes (becoming the first American film to take that prestigious award since 2011) and collecting numerous critic awards prior to what should be a massive Oscar nomination haul next week.

"Endlessly entertaining and frequently hysterical, 'Anora' is one of the year's best films and a formidable Oscar contender." —Johnny Oleksinski, New York Post

Rent or buy from Apple or Prime Video; it is also likely to show up on Hulu in the first half of 2025

Drama - dir. Lila Avilés

Finally getting an American theatrical release in January 2024 after first wowing critics at 2023's Berlinale, Mexican director Lila Avilés' follow-up to her 2018 debut The Chambermaid brings audiences into the home of seven-year-old Sol (Naíma Sentíes) and her family, who are gathering to celebrate the birthday of Tona (Mateo Garcia), Sol's father, who is weakened from battling cancer. The film unfolds over the course of a single day through the youngster's point of view as she becomes increasingly aware of the importance of this year's festivities.

"Grievous, loving, organic and mysterious. What a celebration." —Bob Strauss, San Francisco Chronicle

Rent or buy from Apple or Prime Video or stream it at the Criterion Channel or for free with most library cards at Kanopy

Documentary - dir. Johan Grimonprez

Director Johan Grimonprez investigates the connection between African politics, American jazz, and the CIA in this essay-style documentary about the multi-nation plan behind the 1961 assassination of Congo leader Patrice Lumumba. Grimonprez utilizes interviews with jazz icons, CIA operatives, mercenaries and eyewitnesses to expose the impact of state-sanctioned violence on colonial history.

"Informative, exhaustively researched, but never dry or didactic, this is a phenomenal achievement by Grimonprez, who holds his own country to account for its shameful role in this sorry tale." —Wendy Ide, The Observer

By the time you read this, the film should be available to rent or buy from a variety of digital storefronts

Documentary/Music - dir. Neo Sora

Metacritic's Best Documentary of 2024.

Japanese musician and composer Ryuichi Sakamoto died in March 2023 at the age of 71. But he has one last gift for his longtime fans. Directed by Sakamoto's son, Neo Sora, Opus is Sakamoto's final filmed performance, consisting of a selection of 20 pieces recorded at NHK Broadcasting Center 509 Studio in Tokyo in late 2022. Unlike 2017's Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda, there is no exposition or narration: This film is Sakamoto's life revealed through his music, told by his fingers at a piano.

"For the fan, it's an intensely moving experience. But even for the viewer without much knowledge of Sakamoto's work, 'Opus' holds its own as the rare cinematic space for contemplation." —Alissa Wilkinson, The New York Times

Rent or buy from Apple or stream it at the Criterion Channel or for free with most library cards at Kanopy

Drama - dir. RaMell Ross

Hale County This Morning, This Evening filmmaker RaMell Ross makes his narrative feature debut with this adaptation of Colson Whitehead's Pulitzer-winning novel from 2019. The 1962-set drama sees young Elwood Curtis sent to the Nickel Academy, a brutal reformatory school (based on Florida's notorious Dozier School for Boys), where he forms an alliance with Turner, a boy who has seen it all. Ross takes a daring formal risk by shooting the film almost entirely from the first-person perspective of its main characters. As the film's Metascore reflects, that gamble paid off: Critics love the adaptation, and the film has already won numerous awards (including for its screenplay and cinematography) from critic groups in Toronto, Chicago, Los Angeles, and more.

"A clear masterpiece held together by visual splendor and idiosyncratic performances." —Robert Daniels, RogerEbert.com

The film is currently in a few theaters, with a nationwide rollout expected in January followed by a Prime Video streaming debut in the spring

Drama - dir. Bas Devos

No, it's probably not the one you're thinking of. The other 2024 movie titled Here is a return by writer-director Bas Devos (Ghost Tropic, Violet) to contemporary Belgium. His Here tells the story of Stefan (Stefan Gota), a construction worker planning to return home to Romania and visit his mother. As he struggles to sleep and contemplates not returning to Brussels, he makes soup to hand out as a gift to his friends and older sister. During a rainstorm, he seeks refuge in a Chinese restaurant where he meets ShuXiu (Liyo Gong), a Belgian-Chinese woman preparing a doctorate on mosses. They encounter each other again in nature, where ShuXiu is doing her fieldwork, and form a delicate connection in a film filled with striking imagery.

"Devos' films can feel overly studied, slick to the point of being contrived, yet with each passing work––each reduction to the most potent flavors––he edges closer to something truly great. Here is his finest yet, an almost-perfect little film." —Rory O'Connor, The Film Stage

Rent or buy from Apple or stream it at the Criterion Channel or for free with most library cards at Kanopy

Drama - dir. Payal Kapadia

Writer-director Payal Kapadia's follow-up to her highly-regarded but little-seen debut (and Golden Eye winner at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival) A Night of Knowing Nothing won the Grand Prix (second place) at 2024's Cannes. Set in contemporary Mumbai, this gentle, humane story follows the struggles of three nurses: Prabha (Kani Kusruti) has been abandoned by her husband who is living in Germany; Anu (Divya Prabha), the youngest, is in love with a Muslim boy; and Parvaty (Chhaya Kadam) is being pushed out of her home after her husband's death. When Parvaty decides to relocate to Kerala, Prabha and Anu go with her, taking time away from the city and finding rejuvenation in the seaside village.

"One of the year's great movies, in any form, style, or language." —Justin Chang, The New Yorker

The November release can still be found in theaters in some cities. (A VOD/digital release date should be announced soon.)

Drama - dir. Thien An Pham

Metacritic's Best Drama of 2024.

Winner of the Caméra d'Or (for best first feature) at last year's Cannes and a nominee at this year's Gotham and Independent Spirit Awards, Thien An Pham's existential and dreamlike three-hour epic finds Thien (Le Phong Vu) dealing with family issues following the sudden death of his sister-in-law, as he returns to his family village while caring for his five-year-old nephew and searching for his missing brother.

"A three-hour drama whose slender story serves as the skeleton for a formally exquisite examination of loss, faith, family, and connection, it's the year's first masterpiece." —Nick Schager, The Daily Beast

Rent or buy from Prime Video or Apple or stream it for free with most library cards at Hoopla or Kanopy

Comedy - dir. Radu Jude

Metacritic's Overall Movie of the Year for 2024.
Metacritic's Best International Film of 2024.
Metacritic's Best Narrative Film of 2024.
Metacritic's Best Comedy of 2024.

Amongst auteurs, Romanian writer-director Radu Jude is on his own unique wavelength right now, both in how he examines contemporary life and how he titles his films. (For the record, this one comes in one word less than 2018's I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians.) Shot mostly in high-contrast black-and-white, his latest is a dark comedy following Angela (Ilinca Manolache), an overworked and underpaid production assistant tasked with interviewing workers of a multinational company for a public-service video. Her alter-ego on social media is Bobita, a male chauvinist she brings to life using face filters and a string of offensive tirades. For Jude, this is just the tip of a giant iceberg of absurdity at which he's chipping away.

Yes, it's a long movie—and the final scene is a single fixed shot lasting nearly 40 minutes—but critics were exhilarated.

"It captures what it's like to live in this chaotic and deadening world so well it might be the movie of the year, and last year, and next year too. If a visitor from the future wanted to know what it was like to be alive right now, this is what I'd show them." —Sam Adams, Slate

Stream it at MUBI or rent or buy from Prime Video or Apple

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