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Published by Film at Lincoln Center

Best Films of 2024: Individual Ballots

By Film Comment on December 13, 2024

The results are in for our 2024 poll of Film Comment's contributors and colleagues! On this page you’ll find a selection of the individual ballots submitted by our voters for the Best Films of 2024 category, covering features that were released either theatrically or virtually in 2024 in the United States. To see which films came out on top, check out our Best Films of 2024 list, which features original appreciations from critics, as well as links to features, reviews, and interviews about these films and directors from across the year.

Don’t see your favorite? Check out our Best Undistributed Films of 2024 list, featuring films that premiered this year but have not yet announced stateside distribution.

Coming next week: critic and programmer Inney Prakash’s list of Best Short Films of 2024, and filmmaker and programmer Gina Telaroli’s list of Best Restorations of 2024.

And finally, don’t miss our Best of 2024 Countdown Podcast, featuring guest critics Molly Haskell and Michael Koresky.

Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World (Radu Jude)

Lucia Ahrensdorf (critic)

Aggr0 Dr1ft
All We Imagine as Light
A Different Man
A Traveler’s Needs
Coma
Emilia Pérez
Gaucho Gaucho
Hard Truths
Hit Man
La cocina
Last Summer
Megalopolis
Red Rooms
Seeking Mavis Beacon
Spermworld
The Beast
The Room Next Door
The Seed of the Sacred Fig
The Substance
Vermiglio

Jamsheed Akrami (critic, scholar)

All We Imagine as Light
Anora
Close Your Eyes
Crossing
Dahomey
Dune: Part Two
Emilia Pérez
Ghostlight
I’m Still Here
LaRoy, Texas
Nowhere Special
Sing Sing
The Last Stop in Yuma County
The Room Next Door
The Seed of the Sacred Fig
The Wild Robot
Touch
Terrestrial Verses
Vermiglio
Will & Harper

Jonathan Ali (programmer)

About Dry Grasses
Aggr0 Dr1ft
Bye Bye Tiberias
Dahomey
Ernest Cole: Lost & Found
Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell
Janet Planet
La chimera
No Other Land
Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat

Julien Allen (critic, Reverse Shot)

  1. The Old Oak
  2. The Taste of Things
  3. Rebel Ridge
  4. About Dry Grasses
  5. Juror #2
  6. The Human Surge 3
  7. The Substance
  8. Megalopolis
  9. The Beast
  10. Longlegs
  11. Hit Man
  12. Furiosa

Paul Attard (critic)

The Beast
Here (Zemeckis)
Juror #2
Megalopolis

“When we leap into the unknown, we prove that we’re free.”

Miriam Balanescu (critic)

About Dry Grasses
A Different Man
All We Imagine as Light
Anora
Challengers
Didi
Hoard
How to Have Sex
I Saw the TV Glow
Janet Planet
La chimera
Love Lies Bleeding
Nickel Boys
Perfect Days
Queer
Red Rooms
Robot Dreams
The End
The Seed of the Sacred Fig
The Taste of Things

Margaret Barton-Fumo (critic)

  1. A Prince
  2. La chimera
  3. Anora
  4. Janet Planet
  5. Last Summer
  6. The Beast
  7. A Different Man
  8. Challengers
  9. Rumours
  10. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
  11. The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed
  12. Love Lies Bleeding
  13. Dahomey
  14. How to Have Sex
  15. Furiosa
  16. Evil Does Not Exist
  17. Queer
  18. Oddity
  19. Eno
  20. Mambar Pierrette

Michael Blair (Film Comment)

  1. Hard Truths 
  2. No Other Land
  3. Pictures of Ghosts
  4. Universal Language
  5. A Traveler’s Needs
  6. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
  7. La chimera
  8. Janet Planet
  9. A Different Man
  10. The Room Next Door
  11. Between the Temples
  12. Last Things
  13. All We Imagine as Light
  14. Dahomey
  15. Union

Guilherme Blanc (Artistic Director, Batalha Centro de Cinema)

  1. Dahomey
  2. The Human Surge 3
  3. All We Imagine as Light
  4. 20,000 Species of Bees
  5. West Indies: The Fugitive Slaves of Liberty
  6. The Old Oak
  7. Kinds of Kindness
  8. Soundtrack to a Coup D’Etat
  9. La chimera
  10. Samsara
  11. Life is Beautiful: a Letter to Gaza

 

Oh, Canada (Paul Schrader)

Richard Brody (critic, The New Yorker)

  1. Nickel Boys
  2. Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point
  3. Megalopolis 
  4. My First Film
  5. Oh, Canada
  6. Blitz
  7. Between the Temples
  8. The Feeling that the Time for Doing Something Has Passed
  9. Juror #2
  10. It’s Not Me
  11. Hit Man
  12. The Featherweight 
  13. Evil Does Not Exist 
  14. I Saw the TV Glow
  15. Last Summer
  16. The People’s Joker
  17. Dahomey
  18. No Other Land
  19. The Seed of the Sacred Fig
  20. Sasquatch Sunset

Graham L. Carter (critic and filmmaker)

A Prince
Black Tea
Close Your Eyes
Coconut Head Generation
In Our Day
Juror #2
Kottukkaali
Ricky Stanicky
Stress Positions
The Shadowless Tower

Amanda Chen (critic)

  1. No Other Land
  2. Dune: Part Two
  3. Perfect Days
  4. Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus
  5. Anora
  6. Challengers
  7. Universal Language
  8. Janet Planet
  9. The Settlers

Edo Choi (programmer, Museum of the Moving Image)

  1. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
  2. Youth (Homecoming)
  3. Youth (Hard Times)
  4. Nickel Boys
  5. Evil Does Not Exist
  6. Last Summer
  7. Eureka
  8. Janet Planet
  9. Here (Devos)
  10. It’s Not Me
  11. Between the Temples
  12. No Other Land

Frame for frame, experimental shorts were the strength of 2024: Banging on Their Bars in Rhythm (Everson), Being John Smith (Smith), Careless Passage (Hiler), Dedication: Bernice Hodges (Beavers), Hey Sweet Pea (Peoples), How to Run a Trotline (Elsaesser), Labores in curse (Ramo), Man Number 4 (Pennell), Neighboring Animals (Clark), Refuse Room (Liu), A Shifting Pattern (Sherman), Sinking Feeling (Epcar), Unstable Rocks (Rosinska)

Phil Coldiron (critic)

A Fidai Film
All We Imagine as Light
Coma
Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
Music
The Beast
Youth (Hard Times)
Youth (Homecoming)

Matt Connolly (critic)

  1. Last Summer
  2. All We Imagine as Light
  3. Janet Planet
  4. Didi
  5. The Wild Robot
  6. A Real Pain
  7. Challengers
  8. Anora
  9. La cocina
  10. I Saw the TV Glow
  11. The Beast
  12. Nickel Boys
  13. Evil Does Not Exist
  14. The Substance
  15. The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed
  16. The Seed of the Sacred Fig
  17. Kinds of Kindness
  18. Hit Man
  19. Furiosa
  20. Juror #2

Benjamin Crais (critic and scholar)

Close Your Eyes
No Other Land
Red Rooms
Stress Positions
Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In

Jordan Cronk (critic; programmer, Acropolis Cinema)

  1. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
  2. It’s Not Me
  3. Close Your Eyes
  4. The Beast
  5. The Human Surge 3
  6. Music
  7. Eureka
  8. Megalopolis
  9. Last Summer
  10. The Brutalist
  11. In Our Day
  12. Aggr0 Dr1ft
  13. Youth (Hard Times)
  14. Anora
  15. Juror #2
  16. Hit Man
  17. Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell
  18. Trap
  19. Evil Does Not Exist
  20. Samsara

Limited to one film per director, lest Hong (A Traveler’s Needs), Bonello (Coma), and Wang Bing (Youth [Homecoming]) take up too much of this list.

Adrian Curry (critic)

  1. Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
  2. About Dry Grasses
  3. Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell
  4. The Beast
  5. Kinds of Kindness
  6. Challengers
  7. Nickel Boys
  8. The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed
  9. All We Imagine as Light
  10. Trap

Trap (M. Night Shyalaman)

Robert Daniels (critic, RogerEbert.com)

All We Imagine as Light
Babygirl
Dahomey
Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
Evil Does Not Exist
Furiosa
Green Border
How to Have Sex
Hundreds of Beavers
I Saw the TV Glow
Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell
La cocina
Nickel Boys
No Other Land
Sing Sing
The Beast
The Brutalist
The Monk and the Gun
The People’s Joker
Under the Fig Trees

Bedatri Datta Choudhury (critic; programmer, DOC NYC; editor, The Philadelphia Inquirer)

  1. No Other Land
  2. About Dry Grasses
  3. All We Imagine as Light
  4. Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
  5. Nickel Boys
  6. Dahomey
  7. The Room Next Door
  8. Perfect Days
  9. A Different Man
  10. Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell
  11. Pictures of Ghosts
  12. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
  13. The Taste Of Things
  14. Universal Language
  15. Janet Planet
  16. Union
  17. Bye Bye Tiberias
  18. I Saw the TV Glow
  19. Didi
  20. Santosh

Ayanna Dozier (critic and scholar)

  1. The Beast
  2. Evil Does Not Exist
  3. Toute une nuit 
  4. Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus
  5. Coma
  6. La chimera
  7. No Other Land
  8. A Different Man
  9. My First Film
  10. Megalopolis

Jessica Dunn Rovinelli (filmmaker)

  1. Last Things
  2. Dahomey
  3. The Beast
  4. No Other Land
  5. Love Lies Bleeding
  6. Conclave
  7. A Different Man
  8. Red Rooms
  9. Club Zero
  10. Coma
  11. La Chimera

A Different Man (Aaron Schimberg)

Daniel Eagan (critic)

  1. At Averroès & Rosa Parks
  2. The Breaking Ice
  3. All We Imagine as Light
  4. Juror #2
  5. No Other Land
  6. Evil Does Not Exist
  7. The Roundup: Punishment
  8. Love Lies Bleeding
  9. Girls Will Be Girls
  10. Black Dog
  11. Furiosa
  12. Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In
  13. Megalopolis
  14. Perfect Days
  15. Cu Li Never Cries
  16. Mexico 86
  17. Inside Out 2
  18. Mori / I Died
  19. Customs Frontline

Sarah Fensom (critic)

  1. Dahomey
  2. About Dry Grasses
  3. Last Summer
  4. The People’s Joker
  5. Megalopolis
  6. In Our Day
  7. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
  8. Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell
  9. The Seed of the Sacred Fig
  10. Samsara
  11. Terrifier 3
  12. A Traveler’s Needs
  13. The Shadowless Tower
  14. Rumours
  15. Evil Does Not Exist

Such an engrossing year of releases! What impressed me about the films on my list this year wasn’t their faultlessness but rather the scope of their ambition.

Jason Fox (critic)

Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
Janet Planet
Last Things
Life Is Beautiful: A Letter to Gaza
No Other Land
Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
The Last Year of Darkness
Three Promises
Union

Jean-Michel Frodon (critic)

  1. Evil Does Not Exist
  2. The Beast
  3. A Traveler’s Needs
  4. La chimera
  5. Dahomey
  6. All We Imagine as Light
  7. Megalopolis
  8. The Old Oak
  9. Bird
  10. The Room Next Door
  11. Joker: Folie à Deux
  12. Youth (Hard Times)
  13. No Other Land
  14. Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell
  15. The Mother of All Lies
  16. Perfect Days
  17. Here (Devos)
  18. On the Adamant
  19. Bushman
  20. Ernest Cole: Lost & Found

Lawrence Garcia (critic)

  1. This Closeness
  2. A Prince
  3. Coma
  4. Close Your Eyes
  5. The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed
  6. Music
  7. Last Summer
  8. The Human Surge 3
  9. In Our Day
  10. A Traveler’s Needs

Annie Geng (critic and scholar)

Anora
A Different Man
A Traveler’s Needs
Between the Temples
Good One
Kinds of Kindness
La chimera
My First Film
Stress Positions
The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed

Devika Girish (Editor, Film Comment)

  1. La chimera
  2. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
  3. Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell
  4. All We Imagine as Light
  5. Dahomey
  6. No Other Land
  7. The Human Surge 3
  8. The Beast
  9. A Traveler’s Needs
  10. The Room Next Door
  11. Youth (Hard Times)
  12. Nickel Boys
  13. Coma
  14. The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed
  15. Here (Devos)
  16. Union
  17. Last Things
  18. Mambar Pierrette
  19. Santosh
  20. A Fidai Film

Best Old New Picks: Tongpan (Isan Film Group, 1977); Camp de Thiaroye (Ousmane Sembene, 1988); Law and Order (Frederick Wiseman, 1969); The Spook Who Sat by the Door (Ivan Dixon, 1973)

Best Film-Viewing Experience: Seeing Tamone Prai (Thamrong Rujanaphand, 1959)—an amateur King Kong movie shot in rural Thailand by a wedding videographer—projected on 16mm at the Thai Film Archive with live narration and scoring. Courtesy of the 2024 Flaherty Seminar!

The Brutalist (Brady Corbet)

Leonardo Goi (critic)

  1. The Brutalist
  2. The Beast
  3. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
  4. Evil Does Not Exist
  5. All We Imagine as Light
  6. Dahomey
  7. Megalopolis
  8. Anora
  9. Close Your Eyes
  10. Here (Devos)
  11. Samsara
  12. Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell
  13. Music
  14. La chimera
  15. Good One
  16. Aggr0 Dr1ft
  17. Christmas Eve In Miller’s Point
  18. Dream Team
  19. The Shadowless Tower
  20. Gasoline Rainbow

Leo Goldsmith (critic and scholar)

  1. Last Things
  2. Evil Does Not Exist
  3. Youth (Hard Times)
  4. Janet Planet
  5. Chime
  6. I Saw the TV Glow
  7. Eureka
  8. The Human Surge 3
  9. Dahomey
  10. No Other Land

Caroline Golum (filmmaker, critic, programmer)

Anora
Between the Temples
Conclave
Dream Team
Eephus
Evening Song for Three Voices
Failed State
In Search of Gladys Glover
Juror #2
La chimera
Last Year of Darkness
Megalopolis
My Morning with Magic Mike
Rumours
She is Conan
The Becomers
The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed
The French-Italian
Trap

My sole rubric for what constitutes a “good” film—especially where new releases are concerned—is simple: did I enjoy watching this film? The titles on this unranked list passed with flying colors.

Emerson Goo (critic)

  1. A Different Man
  2. Youth (Hard Times)
  3. Ghost Cat Anzu
  4. Look Back
  5. Juror #2
  6. All Shall Be Well
  7. The Tuba Thieves
  8. Bye Bye Tiberias

Jessica Green (programmer)

Abigail
All We Imagine as Light
Blink Twice
Blitz
Brats
Challengers
Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes
Eureka
Furiosa
His Three Daughters
Last Summer
Megan the Stallion: In Her Words
Nickel Boys
Pictures of Ghosts
Queer
Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
The Greatest Night in Pop
The Substance
Totem

Victor Guimarães (critic, programmer)

  1. The Human Surge 3
  2. Aggr0 Dr1ft
  3. Music
  4. Close Your Eyes
  5. The Tuba Thieves
  6. Last Things
  7. Eureka
  8. Last Summer
  9. Evil Does Not Exist
  10. Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
  11. Dahomey
  12. No Other Land
  13. Trap
  14. Megalopolis
  15. Ernest Cole: Lost & Found

Last Things (Deborah Stratman)

Matilda Hague (critic)

  1. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
  2. Last Things
  3. No Other Land
  4. Aggr0 Dr1ft
  5. The Human Surge 3
  6. All We Imagine as Light
  7. Juror #2
  8. Anora
  9. The Substance
  10. Twisters

Jawni Han (critic)

  1. No Other Land
  2. All We Imagine as Light
  3. Challengers
  4. Close Your Eyes
  5. Last Summer
  6. Juror #2
  7. Dahomey
  8. A Traveler’s Needs
  9. Evil Does Not Exist
  10. Trap

Christopher Harris (filmmaker)

Dahomey
No Other Land
Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat

Undistributed pick: Mascon: A Massive Concentration of Black Experiential Energy, The Otolith Group

Molly Haskell (critic; Contributing Editor, Film Comment)

  1. Anora
  2. All We Imagine as Light
  3. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
  4. Hard Truths
  5. Evil Does Not Exist
  6. The Room Next Door
  7. A Different Man
  8. Dahomey
  9. Janet Planet
  10. The Brutalist
  11. No Other Land
  12. La Chimera
  13. Green Border
  14. About Dry Grasses
  15. Juror #2
  16. Conclave
  17. Last Summer
  18. Hit Man
  19. Nickel Boys
  20. Megalopolis

Maggie Hennefeld (critic)

  1. Union
  2. The People’s Joker
  3. Bird
  4. The Substance
  5. La chimera
  6. Anora
  7. Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell
  8. Rumours
  9. Copa 71
  10. Janet Planet
  11. Love Lies Bleeding
  12. Wicked Little Letters
  13. Bye Bye Tiberias
  14. Girls State

The new restoration of Bona (Lino Brocka, 1980) is definitively the best US theatrical release film of 2024! There are many films I haven’t had the chance to see yet that would surely be on my list, especially All We Imagine as Light and Dahomey. I plan to boycott Nosferatu, which looks totally unwatchable.

J. Hoberman (critic; Contributing Editor, Film Comment)

  1. No Other Land
  2. Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
  3. The Goldman Case
  4. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
  5. Intercepted
  6. Green Border
  7. Dahomey
  8. Civil War
  9. Hard Truths
  10. Janet Planet

Darren Hughes (critic; Artistic Director, Film Fest Knox)

  1. Last Summer
  2. Here (Devos)
  3. Mambar Pierrette
  4. Music
  5. Gasoline Rainbow
  6. Kidnapped
  7. Christmas Eve In Miller’s Point
  8. Eureka
  9. Youth (Homecoming)
  10. In Our Day
  11. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
  12. Mountains
  13. Hit Man
  14. Last Things
  15. Peak Season
  16. Dahomey
  17. Between the Temples
  18. Kinds of Kindness
  19. Dune: Part Two
  20. This Closeness

Eric Hynes (critic; Curator of Film, Museum of the Moving Image)

  1. Look Into My Eyes
  2. Nickel Boys
  3. No Other Land
  4. Janet Planet
  5. Between the Temples
  6. The Seed of the Sacred Fig
  7. About Dry Grasses
  8. Good One
  9. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
  10. Hit Man
  11. Last Summer
  12. Sasquatch Sunset
  13. Bird
  14. All We Imagine as Light
  15. Dahomey
  16. Intercepted
  17. Universal Language
  18. Eureka
  19. I Like It Here
  20. The Blackbox Diaries

May Adadol Ingawanij (scholar; co-curator, Flaherty Film Seminar 2024)

Evil Does Not Exist
Flow
How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies

Azadeh Jafari (critic)

  1. The Beast
  2. The Girl with the Needle
  3. All We Imagine as Light
  4. Vermiglio
  5. The Other Way Around
  6. Totem
  7. Close Your Eyes
  8. Only the River Flows
  9. The Substance
  10. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
  11. I’m Still Here
  12. The Seed of the Sacred Fig
  13. It’s Not Me
  14. Furiosa

Hit Man (Richard Linklater)

Sona Karapoghosyan (critic; programmer, Golden Apricot Film Festival)

  1. La chimera
  2. Dahomey
  3. Eureka
  4. Music
  5. All We Imagine as Light
  6. Here (Devos)
  7. The Human Surge 3
  8. Evil Does Not Exist
  9. Matt and Mara
  10. No Other Land
  11. Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell
  12. Pictures of Ghosts
  13. Rumours
  14. Bird
  15. Agent of Happiness
  16. Perfect Days
  17. Sweet Dreams
  18. Totem
  19. Santosh

Daniel Kasman (editor, MUBI Notebook)

  1. Chime
  2. Last Summer
  3. Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In
  4. Kidnapped
  5. Daaaaaali!
  6. Red Rooms
  7. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
  8. Lumberjack the Monster
  9. Good One
  10. The People’s Joker
  11. Juror #2
  12. A Prince
  13. Aggr0 Dr1ft
  14. Close Your Eyes
  15. Gasoline Rainbow
  16. The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed
  17. Yannick
  18. Trap
  19. Challengers
  20. Between the Temples

John Klacsmann (archivist, Anthology Film Archives)

A Different Man
Evil Does Not Exist
Here (Zemeckis)
Kinds of Kindness
Last Summer
New Strains
Power
Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed
Union

Michael Koresky (critic; editor, Reverse Shot)

  1. Nickel Boys
  2. Hard Truths
  3. Janet Planet
  4. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
  5. I Saw the TV Glow
  6. Juror #2
  7. Evil Does Not Exist
  8. Dahomey
  9. Last Summer
  10. Good One
  11. A Traveler’s Needs
  12. All We Imagine as Light
  13. Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell
  14. No Other Land
  15. The Room Next Door
  16. Eureka
  17. Mambar Pierrette
  18. Hit Man
  19. The Brutalist
  20. Green Border

Clinton Krute (Managing Editor, Film Comment)

  1. The Room Next Door
  2. Evil Does Not Exist
  3. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
  4. Janet Planet
  5. Hard Truths
  6. Mambar Pierrette
  7. A Traveler’s Needs
  8. Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell
  9. In Our Day
  10. Youth (Hard Times)
  11. La chimera
  12. All We Imagine as Light
  13. Dahomey
  14. Music
  15. It’s Not Me
  16. Here (Devos)
  17. Eureka
  18. Queer
  19. Universal Language
  20. The Beast

Dorota Lech (programmer, Toronto International Film Festival)

The Seed of the Sacred Fig
Intercepted
Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
Dahomey
Vermiglio
About Dry Grasses
Universal Language
Black Box Diaries
All We Imagine as Light
Nickel Boys
Green Border
Challengers
La chimera
No Other Land
Hit Man
Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
Last Summer
Evil Does Not Exist
The Beast
Look Into My Eyes

Nathan Lee (critic and scholar)

  1. Here (Devos)
  2. La chimera
  3. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
  4. Chime
  5. A Prince
  6. Challengers
  7. A Traveler’s Needs
  8. Rebel Ridge
  9. Rumours
  10. The Vourdalak

Rumours (Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, Galen Johnson)

Dennis Lim (critic; Artistic Director, New York Film Festival)

  1. Evil Does Not Exist
  2. The Beast
  3. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
  4. The Human Surge 3
  5. Here (Devos)
  6. Eureka
  7. Hard Truths
  8. Last Summer
  9. A Traveler’s Needs
  10. Youth (Homecoming)
  11. Youth (Hard Times)
  12. Dahomey
  13. Music
  14. Nickel Boys
  15. Janet Planet
  16. Blitz
  17. No Other Land
  18. All We Imagine as Light
  19. The Room Next Door
  20. Between the Temples

Chloe Lizotte (editor, MUBI Notebook)

  1. Evil Does Not Exist
  2. Hard Truths
  3. The People’s Joker
  4. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
  5. Last Summer
  6. Last Things
  7. The Human Surge 3
  8. A Different Man
  9. Rumours
  10. Hundreds of Beavers

Beatrice Loayza (critic)

  1. The Beast
  2. Last Summer
  3. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
  4. Evil Does Not Exist
  5. Red Rooms
  6. A Prince
  7. Pictures of Ghosts
  8. Hard Truths
  9. The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed
  10. All We Imagine As Light
  11. A Different Man
  12. Music
  13. Challengers
  14. The First Omen
  15. Mambar Pierrette
  16. Vermiglio
  17. Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell
  18. The Girl with the Needle
  19. The Substance
  20. Anora

Guy Lodge (critic, Variety)

  1. Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell
  2. Close Your Eyes
  3. No Other Land
  4. Housekeeping for Beginners
  5. Babygirl
  6. Anora
  7. All We Imagine As Light
  8. Nickel Boys
  9. Sweet Dreams
  10. The Brutalist
  11. Nosferatu
  12. Apolonia Apolonia
  13. Last Summer
  14. Dahomey
  15. Love Lies Bleeding
  16. Small Things Like These
  17. The Origin of Evil
  18. Good One
  19. Daaaaaali!
  20. The Girl With the Needle

Mackenzie Lukenbill (critic and archivist)

  1. Last Things
  2. No Other Land
  3. Dahomey
  4. The Beast
  5. La chimera
  6. My First Film
  7. Coma
  8. Love Lies Bleeding
  9. Janet Planet
  10. A Different Man
  11. I Saw the TV Glow
  12. A Fidai Film

Saffron Maeve (critic)

  1. Close Your Eyes
  2. All We Imagine as Light
  3. The Beast
  4. Trap
  5. Stress Positions
  6. Janet Planet
  7. Matt and Mara
  8. A Traveler’s Needs
  9. Dahomey
  10. This Closeness

Giovanni Marchini Camia (critic; programmer, Locarno; publisher, Fireflies Press)

  1. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
  2. Evil Does Not Exist
  3. The Human Surge 3
  4. Youth (Homecoming)
  5. Youth (Hard Times)
  6. The Beast
  7. Dahomey
  8. Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell
  9. Last Summer
  10. Only the River Flows
  11. Anora
  12. A Traveler’s Needs
  13. All We Imagine as Light
  14. Music
  15. Coma
  16. Trap
  17. Oh, Canada
  18. The Seed of the Sacred Fig
  19. Flow
  20. The Settlers

Caden Mark Gardner (critic)

  1. The Beast
  2. I Saw the TV Glow
  3. Nickel Boys
  4. Anora
  5. Furiosa
  6. Janet Planet
  7. Last Summer
  8. La chimera
  9. Evil Does Not Exist
  10. Hard Truths
  11. The Bikeriders
  12. The People’s Joker

Hannu Matias Björkbacka (critic)

  1. Anora
  2. Megalopolis
  3. The Room Next Door
  4. Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger
  5. Last Summer
  6. How to Have Sex
  7. Kinds of Kindness

Willow Catelyn Maclay (critic)

Close Your Eyes
I Saw the TV Glow
Juror #2
Last Summer
Stress Positions
The Beast
The People’s Joker
The Substance
Trap

Celia Mattison (critic)

  1. Hard Truths
  2. I Saw the TV Glow
  3. Problemista
  4. A Real Pain
  5. Good One
  6. Bird
  7. The Beast
  8. Nickel Boys
  9. Small Things Like These
  10. Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person
  11. Anora
  12. Challengers
  13. My First Film
  14. La chimera
  15. Oh, Canada
  16. Dune: Part Two
  17. Trap

Carly Mattox (critic)

  1. I Saw the TV Glow
  2. Anora
  3. Dahomey
  4. Here (Devos)
  5. Janet Planet
  6. Nickel Boys
  7. Universal Language
  8. Queer
  9. A Real Pain
  10. The Seed of the Sacred Fig
  11. A Different Man
  12. All We Imagine as Light
  13. La chimera
  14. Limbo (Sen)
  15. Red Rooms
  16. The Beast
  17. Robot Dreams
  18. Conclave
  19. Longlegs
  20. Hit Man

Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell (Phạm Thiên Ân)

Alyssandra Maxine (critic)

  1. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
  2. Moving
  3. Oasis 
  4. How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies
  5. Poetry 
  6. Bona
  7. Anora
  8. Peppermint Candy
  9. I Saw the TV Glow
  10. A Traveler’s Needs
  11. Trap
  12. This Closeness
  13. All We Imagine as Light
  14. Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person

Wish I had more to add here, but releases trickle in slowly into the Philippines (where I’m based) and it’s just been a busy year for me outside of film.

Edward McCarry (critic)

  1. In Our Day
  2. A Traveler’s Needs
  3. Moving
  4. Où sont tous mes amants?
  5. Close Your Eyes
  6. Chime
  7. Evil Does Not Exist
  8. Here (Zemeckis)

Steven Mears (critic; Copy Editor, Film Comment)

  1. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
  2. The Beast
  3. All We Imagine as Light
  4. Anora
  5. Close Your Eyes
  6. Green Border
  7. Sugarcane
  8. Janet Planet
  9. La chimera
  10. Flipside
  11. Hit Man
  12. Evil Does Not Exist
  13. A Different Man
  14. Gasoline Rainbow
  15. Good One
  16. Between the Temples
  17. The Wild Robot
  18. Ghostlight
  19. Small Things Like These
  20. Strange Darling

Vikram Murthi (critic, Downtime)

  1. Evil Does Not Exist
  2. The Beast
  3. Janet Planet
  4. Anora
  5. Red Rooms
  6. Coma
  7. Good One
  8. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
  9. No Other Land
  10. Challengers
  11. Art Talent Show
  12. Hit Man
  13. Flipside
  14. Rebel Ridge
  15. A Different Man
  16. Between the Temples
  17. Nickel Boys
  18. Megalopolis
  19. Pictures of Ghosts
  20. Here (Zemeckis)

A snapshot of my viewing up to 11/26/24. I haven’t yet had the chance to see a handful of “major titles” that may have impacted this list. My ranking is equally rooted in fervent belief and impulsivity.

Cristina Nord (programmer)

  1. La chimera
  2. Music
  3. Dahomey
  4. Queer
  5. West Indies: The Fugitive Slaves of Liberty
  6. I Heard It Through the Grapevine
  7. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
  8. Here (Devos)
  9. Harvest
  10. Concrete Valley
  11. A Traveler’s Needs
  12. Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
Madeline Ostdick (critic)
  1. Youth (Hard Times)
  2. Hard Truths
  3. La chimera
  4. Evil Does Not Exist
  5. Queer
  6. Challengers
  7. Love Lies Bleeding
  8. No Other Land
  9. Rebel Ridge
  10. The Brutalist
  11. Hit Man
  12. Dahomey
  13. The Seed of the Sacred Fig
  14. I Saw the TV Glow
  15. Juror #2
  16. The Bikeriders
  17. Smile 2
  18. Rumours
  19. The Room Next Door
  20. Thelma

Nicolas Pedrero-Setzer (critic)

  1. Knit’s Island
  2. Afternoons of Solitude
  3. It’s Not Me
  4. The Brutalist
  5. Anora
  6. El Mirador
  7. The Secret World
  8. Of Living Without Illusion
  9. Losing Faith
  10. Megalopolis
  11. 1489
  12. Janet Planet
  13. Cu Li Never Cries
  14. No Other Land
  15. Blitz
  16. Matt and Mara

Cici Peng (critic)

  1. Dahomey
  2. Youth (Hard Times)
  3. No Other Land
  4. A Fidai Film
  5. All We Imagine as Light
  6. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
  7. The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire
  8. The Human Surge 3
  9. Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell
  10. Bye Bye Tiberias

Matías Piñeiro (filmmaker)

A Prince
A Traveler’s Needs
All We Imagine as Light
Between the Temples
Bushman
Dahomey
Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
Evil Does Not Exist
In Our Day
Last Summer
Losing Faith
Moving
Nickel Boys
No Other Land
The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed
The Human Surge 3
The Room Next Door
Youth (Hard Times)
Youth (Homecoming)

Adam Piron (filmmaker; programmer, Sundance Institute)

Dahomey
Guts and Glitz
I Saw the TV Glow
In a Violent Nature
Kneecap
Megalopolis
Rap World
Smile 2
The Substance

Inney Prakash (critic; programmer, Asia Society)

  1. A Fidai Film
  2. A Different Man
  3. All We Imagine as Light
  4. Banel & Adama
  5. Dahomey
  6. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
  7. Dream Team
  8. In Our Day
  9. La chimera
  10. Monkey Man
  11. Nickel Boys
  12. Nocturnes
  13. Santosh
  14. The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed
  15. The Old Oak
  16. Three Promises
  17. Union
  18. Youth (Hard Times)
  19. Youth (Homecoming)
  20. A Traveler’s Needs

Caitlin Quinlan (critic)

  1. Janet Planet
  2. Hard Truths
  3. La chimera
  4. Nickel Boys
  5. All We Imagine as Light
  6. Dahomey
  7. Matt and Mara
  8. A Traveler’s Needs
  9. Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point
  10. Megalopolis

I Saw the TV Glow (Jane Schoenbrun)

Jordan Raup (editor, The Film Stage)

  1. The Beast
  2. Close Your Eyes
  3. I Saw the TV Glow
  4. It’s Not Me
  5. Hard Truths
  6. All We Imagine as Light
  7. Nickel Boys
  8. Evil Does Not Exist
  9. Trap
  10. Last Summer
  11. Here (Zemeckis)
  12. Here (Devos)
  13. The Brutalist
  14. Good One
  15. No Other Land
  16. Free Time
  17. His Three Daughters
  18. Chime
  19. Memoir of a Snail
  20. Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger

Vadim Rizov (Director of Editorial Operations, Filmmaker Magazine)

  1. The Beast
  2. Evil Does Not Exist
  3. Music
  4. Red Rooms
  5. The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed
  6. Between the Temples
  7. Pictures of Ghosts
  8. The Settlers
  9. Coma
  10. A Different Man
  11. The Shadowless Tower
  12. Last Summer
  13. Matt and Mara
  14. Hit Man

Jonathan Romney (critic)

  1. Sasquatch Sunset
  2. It’s Not Me
  3. Self-Portrait as a Coffee Pot (Parts 1-9)
  4. Anora
  5. Hard Truths
  6. All We Imagine as Light
  7. No Other Land
  8. Santosh
  9. Dahomey
  10. La cocina
  11. Mediha
  12. Juror #2
  13. Small Things Like These
  14. Ernest Cole: Lost & Found
  15. Between the Temples
  16. Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point
  17. The Girl With the Needle
  18. A Traveler’s Needs
  19. The Fall Guy
  20. The Room Next Door

Julian Ross (critic, programmer)

  1. Dahomey
  2. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
  3. The Tuba Thieves
  4. A Fidai Film
  5. No Other Land
  6. The Human Surge 3
  7. Eureka
  8. Ryuichi Sakamoto Opus
  9. Mambar Pierrette
  10. Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
  11. All We Imagine as Light
  12. Here (Devos)
  13. The Blackbox Diaries
  14. Evil Does Not Exist
  15. Moving
  16. West Indies: The Fugitive Slaves of Liberty
  17. Bushman
  18. Poetry

Isabel Sandoval (filmmaker)

  1. The Brutalist
  2. The Beast
  3. Universal Language
  4. La chimera
  5. All We Imagine as Light
  6. Hard Truths
  7. Last Summer
  8. Joker: Folie à Deux
  9. Kinds of Kindness
  10. The Substance

Imogen Sara Smith

  1. Close Your Eyes
  2. La chimera
  3. All We Imagine as Light
  4. Dahomey
  5. Janet Planet
  6. Perfect Days
  7. Crossing
  8. Here (Devos)
  9. Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
  10. Evil Does Not Exist
  11. A Traveler’s Needs
  12. The Old Oak

David Schwartz (critic and programmer)

  1. A Traveler’s Needs
  2. All We Imagine as Light
  3. Close Your Eyes
  4. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
  5. Nickel Boys
  6. Vermiglio
  7. Matt and Mara
  8. Universal Language
  9. Anora
  10. Twittering Soul
  11. Nocturnes
  12. Green Border
  13. His Three Daughters
  14. Gasoline Rainbow
  15. Last Summer
  16. Totem
  17. Here (Devos)
  18. Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
  19. Pictures of Ghosts
  20. Between the Temples

Adam Shatz (critic; U.S. editor, London Review of Books)

  1. About Dry Grasses
  2. Green Border
  3. Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
  4. The Seed of the Sacred Fig
  5. Totem

Dash Shaw (filmmaker)

  1. Dune: Part Two
  2. Last Things
  3. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
  4. Chicken for Linda!
  5. Look Into My Eyes
  6. Look Back
  7. Challengers
  8. Hayao Miyazaki and the Heron
  9. The Beast
  10. The Substance

Challengers (Luca Guadagnino)

Chris Shields

  1. Dahomey
  2. About Dry Grasses
  3. Samsara
  4. The People’s Joker
  5. Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell
  6. The Shadowless Tower
  7. Megalopolis
  8. In Our Day
  9. A Traveler’s Needs
  10. Evil Does Not Exist
  11. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
  12. Rumours
  13. The Seed of the Sacred Fig
  14. Terrifier 3
  15. Kidnapped
  16. Hit Man
  17. The End
  18. Roadhouse
  19. Perfect Days

Michael Sicinski (critic)

  1. Coma
  2. The Shadowless Tower
  3. Challengers
  4. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
  5. The Beast
  6. The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed
  7. Eureka
  8. Good One
  9. Megalopolis
  10. Anora
  11. Dahomey
  12. Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
  13. All We Imagine as Light
  14. Rumours
  15. His Three Daughters
  16. Music
  17. Close Your Eyes
  18. Nickel Boys
  19. No Other Land
  20. Youth (Homecoming)

Gavin Smith (critic)

  1. Juror #2
  2. His Three Daughters
  3. We Grown Now
  4. Green Border
  5. Here (Devos)
  6. I Saw the TV Glow
  7. Io Capitano
  8. All We Imagine as Light
  9. Nosferatu
  10. Hit Man
  11. Evil Does Not Exist
  12. Hard Truths
  13. The Brutalist
  14. The Promised Land
  15. Didi
  16. Inshalla A Boy
  17. Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1
  18. Pictures of Ghosts
  19. Intercepted

Emmet Sweeney (critic; producer, Kino Lorber)

  1. Do Not Expect Too Much From The End Of The World
  2. Malaikottai Vaaliban
  3. Juror #2
  4. I, The Executioner
  5. Samsara
  6. Eye for an Eye 2
  7. Meiyazhagan
  8. Rap World
  9. Vaazhai
  10. Last Summer
  11. Bramayugam
  12. 100 Yards
  13. Furiosa
  14. Blade of Fury
  15. Dan Licata: For the Boys
Ryan Swen (critic)
  1. The Beast
  2. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
  3. Evil Does Not Exist
  4. Music
  5. The Human Surge 3
  6. Youth (Homecoming)
  7. Youth (Hard Times)
  8. In Our Day
  9. Last Summer
  10. It’s Not Me
  11. A Traveler’s Needs
  12. The Shadowless Tower
  13. Close Your Eyes
  14. Eureka
  15. Here (Devos)
  16. Anora
  17. Nickel Boys
  18. Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell
  19. Coma
  20. Hard Truths

Amy Taubin (critic; Contributing Editor, Film Comment)

  1. Green Border
  2. No Other Land
  3. All We Imagine as Light
  4. Night Is Not Eternal
  5. Queer
  6. Hit Man
  7. A Real Pain
  8. His Three Daughters
  9. La chimera
  10. Hard Truths
  11. It’s Not Me
  12. Chime
  13. Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
  14. Sleep
  15. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
  16. Ernest Cole: Lost & Found
  17. The Brutalist
  18. Union
  19. Eno
  20. Dahomey

Gina Telaroli (critic, programmer, filmmaker)

  1. Hard Truths
  2. Smile 2
  3. The Becomers
  4. Between the Temples
  5. Blink Twice
  6. Conclave
  7. A Different Man
  8. The Exorcism
  9. Family Portrait
  10. The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed
  11. Here (Devos)
  12. Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell
  13. Juror #2
  14. Ryuichi Sakamoto Opus
  15. She Is Conan
  16. Sing Sing
  17. Trap

Antoine Thirion (critic, programmer)

  1. Youth
  2. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
  3. In Our Day
  4. The Human Surge 3
  5. No Other Land
  6. Evil Does Not Exist
  7. A Traveler’s Needs
  8. Matt and Mara
  9. Dahomey
  10. Here (Devos)

Matene Toure (critic)

  1. The Seed of the Sacred Fig
  2. No Other Land
  3. All We Imagine as Light
  4. Fancy Dance
  5. I Saw the TV Glow
  6. La chimera
  7. Seeking Mavis Beacon
  8. Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
  9. Dahomey
  10. Monkey Man
  11. Challengers
  12. Coconut Head Generation
  13. How to Have Sex
  14. Blitz
  15. The Substance

Matt Turner (Managing Editor, MUBI)

Caught by the Tides
Dahomey
Hard Truths
Megalopolis
Spermworld

Carlos Valladares (critic)

  1. La chimera
  2. Evil Does Not Exist
  3. In Our Day
  4. A Different Man
  5. A Traveler’s Needs
  6. Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point
  7. Marianne
  8. No Other Land
  9. Megalopolis
  10. Close Your Eyes
  11. How to Have Sex
  12. I Saw the TV Glow
  13. Juror #2
  14. Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
  15. Here (Zemeckis)
  16. The Old Oak
  17. Challengers

Giovanni Vimercati (critic)

  1. Green Border
  2. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
  3. Anora
  4. Bye Bye Tiberias
  5. The Zone of Interest
  6. A Different Man
  7. Dahomey
  8. Evil Does Not Exist
  9. Pictures of Ghosts
  10. La chimera
  11. Vermiglio
  12. The Spook Who Sat by the Door
  13. West Indies: The Fugitive Slaves of Liberty
  14. The Wages of Fear

Pictures of Ghosts (Kleber Mendonça Filho)

Madeline Whittle (critic; programmer, Film at Lincoln Center)

  1. Janet Planet
  2. Last Summer
  3. La chimera
  4. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
  5. The Human Surge 3
  6. No Other Land
  7. All We Imagine as Light
  8. Between the Temples
  9. Dahomey
  10. Hard Truths
  11. The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed
  12. Matt and Mara
  13. The Room Next Door
  14. Stress Positions
  15. The Brutalist
  16. Green Border
  17. A Different Man
  18. Banel & Adama
  19. Yannick
  20. Santosh

Manu Yáñez Murillo (critic)

  1. Close Your Eyes
  2. Music
  3. The Human Surge 3
  4. Gasoline Rainbow
  5. Hit Man
  6. The Room Next Door
  7. Furiosa
  8. La chimera
  9. Kidnapped
  10. Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
  11. The Beast
  12. Juror #2
  13. Here (Devos)
  14. The Brutalist
  15. Vermiglio
  16. Samsara
  17. Evil Does Not Exist
  18. Anora
  19. Daaaaaali!
  20. Queer

Genevieve Yue (critic and scholar)

  1. Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell
  2. Janet Planet
  3. Dahomey
  4. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
  5. It’s Not Me
  6. Union
  7. All We Imagine as Light
  8. Evil Does Not Exist
  9. Hit Man
  10. Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
  11. His Three Daughters
  12. My First Film
  13. No Other Land
  14. A Traveler’s Needs
  15. Anora
  16. The Human Surge 3
  17. I Saw the TV Glow
  18. The Substance