As the curtains close on 2024, our contributors look back at some of their favourite films of the year.
Brian Bowe
5. Anora
Sean Baker’s Red Rocket opened with a delightful NSYNC needle-drop. Here, the director outdoes himself by kicking things off with a Take That anthem. Looking forward to discover what boyband bop Baker has up his sleeve next time around.
4. Do Not Expect Much From the End of the World
Radu Jude’s latest is full of ideas, humour and constant formal invention. It does things I’ve never seen a film do before. I didn’t see it in the theatre, but I wish I had. In many ways, it’s a film in which you can taste the exciting potential of modern cinema, and it tastes mighty fine!
3. Janet Planet
Though its rollout across the UK was totally bungled, Annie Baker’s debut film enjoyed a brief cinema release here in Ireland thanks to the good folks at Dublin’s Light House Cinema. It’s a quiet marvel of a movie — full of sincerity, off-beat charm and my favourite ending of the year. It also allows Julianne Nicholson, a very fine actor most known for her supporting roles, a chance to lead a film, and she knocks it out of the park!
2. Evil Does Not Exist
Hamaguchi tackles the frustrations of modern life with such elegance and empathy. No one does it better. This is a film so precisely made, so quiet and confident — I mean, the opening shots alone sent me into a happy daze I have yet to emerge from — yet vibrating with guttural terror throughout. At once a whisper and a scream. Spellbinding stuff!
1. Close Your Eyes
Only two films this year brought me to tears. One is a movie powered by many hair flicks and the sad-eyed wisdom of a talking goat (any guesses?), the other is Victor Erice’s long-awaited masterwork, Close Your Eyes. I saw it at the Rotterdam Film Festival at the start of the year and it’s remained my #1 ever since. This is colossal cinema!
Mathew Briody
1. Sing Sing
This A24 gem, which starred an ensemble cast of formerly incarcerated actors, was a fascinating look at life behind bars and the power of the arts in the darkest of circumstances. The fact that most of the people on screen are not professional actors makes the performances all the more impressive.
2. Abigail
What do you get when you cross the comedy and horror genre while throwing in gallons of blood for good measure? One of the most original and memorable vampire movies in recent years. Alisha Weir is on top form in the eponymous role. Well worth sticking your teeth into if you haven’t seen it yet.
3. Deadpool & Wolverine
After years of failed multiverse attempts and superhero fatigue, they finally made a good superhero movie! From a ridiculously funny script to endless rewatch potential, Deadpool & Wolverine was the cinematic gift that kept on giving.
4. Kathleen Is Here
Eva Birthistle perfectly adapted her previous short film into a feature-length movie. Hazel Doupe gives a flawless performance in the lead role. Merging drama and thriller, Kathleen Is Here was one of the best Irish films of the year. Expect more big things from Hazel and Eva in the next few years.
5. Wicked
Faithfully adapting the beloved stage musical while putting its own unique spin on the source material, Wicked gave people cause to rejoicify. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande defy gravity in their respective roles. I’m eagerly anticipating part two when we can return to the wonderful world of Oz.
Turkey of the year: Joker: Folie à Deux
I think I could write a whole article on what went wrong with this film. Instead, I’ll just keep things brief and say that the closest I’ve ever come to walking out of a film was when I sat through this incoherent mess.
Carmen Bryce
Inside Out 2
A delightful and clever sequel that was highly anticipated and did not disappoint. While it’s essentially a kids’ movie, Inside Out 2 is super relatable to all ages and does a brilliant job at delivering an important mental health message with layers of Pixar humour and Disney charm.
Longlegs
So disturbing and grotesque is Nicolas Cage’s performance as Longlegs that it’s hard to watch but harder to look away. The torturously slow building of tension and dark twisting of the plot is an echo of great horror-thrillers that went before like Seven and Silence of the Lambs.
Kneecap
A cheeky and unapologetic telling of the rise to fame of charismatic anti-heroes Kneecap. Funny, bold and leaving you curious to see what the band’s next move will be.
Will and Harper
Charming and poignant road trip documentary that sees Will Ferrell reconnect with Harper Steele, a fellow SNL veteran and recently out trans woman. The documentary shows that the might of love, friendship and comedy will trump intolerance every time and we journey with Ferrell and Steele as they explore momentous social, political and personal landscapes. The bond between the two is heartwarming and resilient enough to navigate the difficulties of this new terrain together.
All of Us Strangers
A beautifully emotional and unique telling of love and loss that stays on the mind long after the credits roll. The chemistry between the two leads in Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott is stunning and the performances are outstanding.
Stephen Burke
Reawakening
Reawakening is a tense mystery boasting superb performances from two of the most underrated talents in British cinema – Jared Harris and Juliet Stevenson. For the most part, Virginia Gilbert’s drama keeps the viewer guessing while also forcing he or she to question how they might act in such an unthinkably horrifying situation – attempting to solve the disappearance of their only child.
King Frankie
The perennially underrated Peter Coonan anchors Dermot Malone’s debut feature. It’s a promising and mature directorial bow with Malone utilizing the talents of Coonan to maximum effect. Why isn’t Coonan an even bigger name? It’s a puzzle, but in King Frankie he gets to play a character at two distinct stages of his life and the result is essentially two excellent performances for the price of one.
The Bikeriders
In The Bikeriders, ridiculous characters do ridiculous things for ridiculous reasons. I had a blast watching it and the July release date provided an alternative Summer blockbuster choice of sorts for those of us outside the superhero bubble. What really enhanced the film for me though was discovering that most of the crazy events on screen actually happened and that most of the larger than life characters depicted were based on real people. Lead actor Austin Butler has been occasionally accused of having only one trick (intense gaze while looking cool). However, it’s an undeniably good trick.
The Holdovers
A lovely heartwarming film with Alexander Payne back to his best, The Holdovers could well have netted Paul Giamatti a Best Actor Oscar were it not for our Cillian. It’s a funny, sad, touching and ultimately uplifting tale and one that’s sure to quickly become a staple of Christmas viewing.
Sing Sing
This was probably the most unique film I saw this year. Using both professional and amateur actors (many of them ex-cons) was a gamble but it paid off for director Greg Kwedar. Colman Domingo delivers a stellar lead performance as an incarcerated actor who forms a Drama society while serving time in Sing Sing Prison, New York. Devastating in parts and inspiring in others, Sing Sing also features one of the more interesting end credit sequences that you’ll see.
Turkey – Blitz
This isn’t really a turkey but I’m giving it that title because of how disappointing I found it to be given the amount of talent involved both in front of and behind the camera. It’s not a good film but it’s not a bad film either. It’s just a nothing film that does not come to life at all. Calling something boring is often too simplistic a description but unfortunately that’s exactly what Blitz is.
June Butler
1) Poor Things
My favourite film from at least the last decade and in my top 5 of all time. Absurd, wild, hilarious, Emma Stone excels in this wonderfully imagined romp where the phrase ‘coming-of-age’ can be definitively applied.
2) Anora
A refreshingly honest film about the perils of finding love. Mikey Madison transcends in her role as Anora, a stripper who meets a millionaire playboy and falls under his spell.
3) The Settlers
A true story about the Selk’nam genocide of 1880 in the remote wilderness of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago. It highlights the awful brutality of colonialism.
4) The Zone of Interest
A tale of horror made even more visceral because it was true from beginning to end. The commandant of Auschwitz lives in cosy domesticity with his wife and children next door to the death camp where thousands died in the gas chambers.
5) The Holdovers
A brilliant performance from Paul Giamatti, a quirky but loveable teacher who is selected to take care of 5 teenage boys at a boarding school over the Christmas holidays.
Turkey – La Chimera
133 minutes too long. The most loathsome characters you will ever encounter.
It is rare that I watch a film where I wish everyone died at the beginning.
Minutes, seconds and hours I will never get back.
Sarah Cullen
Another year where a whole host of films came along in the last couple of months and sent my best laid plans into disarray! (Is perhaps because I always end up playing catch up? No, it’s the films that are wrong.)
Society of the Snow
A hard watch certainly, but also a beautiful life-affirming story based on the true events of the 1972 Uruguayan plane crash in which the survivors’ tight bond enabled them to endure the punishing winter months in the Andes. Despite my familiarity with the events, it still took me by surprise with its ingenious and considerate storytelling. An important reminder that even those who didn’t make it left an indelible mark on the survivors through their friendship.
The Holdovers
The Holdovers feels both extremely contemporary and from a different era. And hopefully that means it’s well on its way to being a timeless classic. Paul Giomatti is Paul Hunham, a classics teacher who has been semi-volunteered to supervise the small number of boys at their boarding school over the Christmas break. The relationships that form between the unlikely group are wonderfully realised, and Hunham’s palpable anger at the post-Vietnam world has clear and undeniable parallels with our current era.
The People’s Joker
One of the funniest films I have watched in a long time. To call it a parody of Joker is probably technically correct, but it’s very much building its own narrative – in fact its own universe – using Batman characters to say something completely new. Certainly, it’s a particular type of humour, with director Vera Drew starting out in editing and camera crew for shows including Tim and Eric and Nathan For You. But if you like your comedy deadpan, understated and pseudo-schlocky this is the movie for you. Heck, it’s the movie for the people.
Thunivu
When I watch Indian movies, it’s pretty hard to stomach how tame so much Western media is. So without giving too much away about Thunivu, let’s just say these guys are out here doing heists in order to redistribute wealth that the country’s biggest corporate bank stole from poor farmers. Not sure I should need to go so far afield to see a story like that. And of course, our badass anti-hero Dark Devil played by S. Ajith Kumar is also a song and dance man reminding us all to be cool and be yourself. It really has it all.
River
What changes if you work in the hospitality industry and you get stuck in time? Turns out, nothing at all! This is the premise of River, in which a hotel in rural Kyoto gets caught in a two-minute time loop. Cue a series of entertaining hi-jinks and misunderstandings as the hotel workers attempt to keep the guests satiated and relaxed while also trying to discover the cause of the break in the space-time continuum.
Turkey: The Substance
Oof. Now The Substance had a long way to fall, considering I had heard a lot of good things about it. And, well, it’s getting lavished with praise so I’m certainly in the minority here. But unfortunately it ended up being another finger-wagging tale aimed at women who are getting too many notions. There’s some good body horror sequences admittedly but most of the time I was wishing I was watching a Cronenberg instead (David and/or Brandon, either’s good).
Richard Drumm
5. Dune: Part Two
Given the book’s ‘unfilmable’ reputation as one book let alone a story split in two, that Part 1 was not only coherent but unambiguously good felt like a miracle. That it made enough money (during covid) and got a sequel was akin to divine intervention. But Part 1 was all setup. Sticking the landing of the second half of the book seemed like an impossible task. And somehow Denis managed it. Stripping out as much continuity and exposition as he could was the key – as evidenced by that lore-heavy but very dry and plodding prequel series – and focusing instead on stunningly realised spectacle, and on two of the most charismatic and attractive young actors currently working, was a resounding success. He should quit while he’s ahead… but lets see him cap off an all-timer film trilogy.
4. Longlegs
In what was a good year for horror, this was a refreshing and chilling beacon of restraint. On the surface a throwback to the ’90s serial killer procedurals, this intentional wrong-footing hides a much stranger beast altogether. You could argue that – good as he is here – Cage is a tad distracting, or that the swerve into the full-on supernatural could have benefitted from more ambiguity; but those concerns fall away when faced with the absolute masterclass in atmosphere and dread that this reveals itself as.
3. Challengers
Don’t have much fancy to say on this one. What a picture! What a time at The Movies™! Its over-ambitious plot structure shouldn’t work and Reznor/Ross or no, it should not be possible to make tennis matches look this exciting. Yet here we are. A nightmarishly messy ménage à trois wrapped up in sex, betrayal, ego, ambition, spite and just unbridled horniness, that all culminates in a thrilling and deeply satisfying finale that, again, is ostensibly just a tennis match. Pure, sexy, cinematic sorcery.
2. The Promised Land
Well, that’s what it was retitled for international release. Its native title (and what clearly appears onscreen in giant font at the start) is “The Bastard”. Despite the period setting, this is still a thoroughly modern parable about the quixotic pursuit of trying to gain the approval and resources to enable you to become one of the elites; when you should instead simply be killing them because they’re callously inhuman and deserve it. Flawless on the technical side, frequently stunning to look at, and some of the best use of Mads and his intensity from a film in a while. Maybe this is just in my genes – or maybe it’s just an immaculately assembled film – but no sequence in a movie this year has felt as tense or devastating as Mads waking up to frost on his breath and desperately trying to save his fragile potato crop.
1. A Different Man
It was looking like the Sad Mads Potato Epic was going to be my film of the year since February but right near the calendar’s finish line arrived A Different Man. A difficult film to easily summarise the appeal of – and really, the surprise of it all as it unfolded was a not insignificant amount of the fun – but broadly it’s a film about the perils of ego and being a self-pitying weirdo. Stan and Pearson both give phenomenal performances as the two sides of the dramatic coin but really, this is a tonally daring film that makes you laugh, makes you wince, makes you feel actively uncomfortable about how it was made only to then introduce a play-within-the-film that metatextually addresses and explores those very concerns only to then push the boundaries of the film off a cliff. One of the most fearless and exciting films in recent memory.
Turkey – Baghead
In a year of quite good horror releases, this one ranks as a notable nadir. Dull, not scary and another desperate attempt to capitalise on an interesting short/concept that got some traction only for the film version to feel like a soulless studio piece of slop. It also commits the cardinal sin of thinking you’ll be interested in its lore and just keeps piling the exposition on.
Mick Jordan
Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice
Artists revisiting their early successes can often seem like they’re cashing in and exploiting their fans but there’s no dynamic pricing with Tim Burton. Rather than a lazy rehash of the original film this is very much its own beast and is every bit as good as its predecessor. It is every bit as funny too. Michael Keaton clearly relishes playing his favourite role again while Winona Ryder reminds us just what made her the breakout star of the original.
Blackbird, Blackbird, Blackberry
One of the joys of the Dublin International Film Festival for me every year is going to a film you know nothing about and discovering an absolute gem. This year it was this Georgian film from Elene Naveriani. Eka Chavleishvili is wonderful as a woman who feels (as does everyone else around her) that life has passed her by. A near death experience changes her outlook and she completely turns her life around all leading up to probably the most delightful surprise ending of the year.
Crossing
Another film from Georgia and another perfectly judged ending. Levan Akin’s film tells the story of an aunt in search of a niece who is transgender – and who has been rejected by her family. It is a very powerful story of regret and the longing for forgiveness. It is also a call for tolerance that is more a demand than a request. You leave the film wondering how anyone, anywhere can treat their own children like this.
Fallen Leaves
Aki Kaurismaki makes films for fans of Aki Kaurismaki, and perhaps Jim Jarmusch. If you don’t like them then that’s fine but if you do – you love them. His latest is a love story between two lonely people who meet at a cinema and then have numerous obstacles thrown in their way to stop them dating. Lost phone numbers, mistaken locations, timings etc. As always with Kaurismaki the characters are odd, quirky and utterly lovable as is the world he has created for them. A real treat (for those of us who love his films).
That They May Face The Rising Sun
Pat Collins. beautiful film of John McGahern’s novel is the perfect adaptation of a story where nothing happens – except human life. There is a wedding, there is a funeral, there are lots of events but they are all incidental. This film is about the people they are happening to, people we’ve all known and loved. Beautifully shot and capturing its era perfectly this is a film to sit back and relax into.
Liam Hanlon
Challengers
The horniest film of 2024, that’s for sure. I loved Challengers. The dynamics between the three leads is infectiously riveting and Challengers felt like a cultural milestone crossing boundaries between film (Guadagnino’s direction etc.), music (a Berlin-inspired Reznor/Ross soundtrack) and fashion (JW Anderson’s sartorial sensibilities) to game, set and match-winning effect.
Kneecap
I don’t think I can hear/read “tiocfaidh ár lá” in the same way ever again after seeing Kneecap. The fictionalised portrayals of Mo Chara, Móglaí Báp and DJ Próvaí, by the three men themselves, were nothing short of incredible. This film has so much sincerity and emotion alongside its hilarity and, irrespective of genre, cinema is far richer with Gaeilge.
All of Us Strangers
Andrew Haigh emotionally devastating me once again. Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal were a kinetic piece of casting and both offer performances without any sense of artifice involved. Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s ‘The Power of Love’ will now always trigger me.
The Substance
As much as I never want to see The Substance again, this film is cinema. The last 30 minutes or so is beautifully bonkers. It stunned me and made me squirm to uncomfortable levels. However, Demi Moore’s performance here is simply iconic. The nuance Moore possesses in the bathroom sequence as she prepares for her date is more effective and devastating than any harrowing prosthetic could offer.
Dune: Part Two
Masterful moviemaking. Charlotte Rampling’s delivery of the Reverend Mother calling Paul Atreides an “abomination” was enough for Denis Villeneuve’s sequel to win me over.
Steven Galvin
Love Lies Bleeding
A firework of a film exploding in glory into the night sky. Kristen Stewart is in control of every nervy tic while writer/director Rose Glass smashes up a well-trodden pulpy narrative and pumps enough steroids into it to make something that feels so fresh.
The Zone Of Interest
A chilling study in the banality of evil. Jonathan Glazer’s dread-soaked depiction of human nature at its lowest form is a scabby, lice-infested, brilliant piece of filmmaking.
The Substance
A bananas beast of a film from Coralie Fargeat. The opening shot of that Hollywood star sets in motion a frenzy of hilariously brutal body horror. Its unabashed sledgehammer politics is refracted through the dazzling hall of mirrors of its many influences.
I Saw The TV Glow
Jane Schoenbrun takes you on a pitch-perfect journey through a maze of identity, isolation and the bonds that make us strong. Its dreamy ooziness celebrates falling in love with fiction and finding truths there.
Green Border
Agnieszka Holland’s powerful tale of the refugee crisis in Europe is a difficult watch and the on-screen horrors will fill you with rage and sadness. Green Border is a meticulously crafted docudrama that claws at the shameful heart of humanitarian neglect.
Cian Geoghegan
5. Challengers
A romantic thriller about the haves and the have-nots of tennis – everyone has rightly praised the bisexual love triangle, full of tension and ambiguity, but the more gripping divide is between Mike Faist’s uber-rich Majors champion, who navigates the sport like a corporate strategist, and Josh O’Connor’s lowly Pro competitor, who depends on tournament prize money to pay for his convenience store sandwiches and smokey motel rooms. Guadagnino sketches his characters beyond the abstraction of the tennis court, of training and tactics, and positions them as the product of circumstances, which form a mindset that could be their undoing.
4. Dune: Part Two
Denis only went and did it – he concluded the Dune story with a thoughtful, inventive and challenging follow-through on 2021’s Part I. Comparisons to sci-fi franchises like Star Wars don’t do this justice. This is more ambitious and confrontational, a sci-fi Godfather duology which probably feels the closest to Blade Runner of any sci-fi film made since – yes, even Villenueve’s 2017 Blade Runner sequel.
3. Small Things Like These
Cillian Muprhy’s return from Oscar glory is a treatise on the Magdalene laundries that is at once understated and towering. Murphy’s rattled gaze takes on new depths here – his characters is a siphon for an Irish society reckoning with its complicity in decades of abuse and sin in the name of The Lord. Exactly what an actor of his cache should do with newly-amassed clout. Here’s hoping he continues to produce.
2. Kneecap
This one felt tailored made for me, existing in the perfect centre of my Venn Diagram of pet interests: film, hip-hop and Irish political history. Initial talks of the film began in 2018, when Kneecap had hardly a handful of singles on Spotify and about as many monthly listeners. This is key to the whole thing really – it’s not a congratulatory ego-stroking exercise, or an outsider-led puff piece. It’s a story that birthed from the band’s own origins, and bound to everything they represent. In the process, their discography and the final film are each elevated by the existence of the other.
1. Anora
Sean Baker has been accused of making ‘poverty porn’, films that take the viewer as tourists on a whistle-stop tour through poverty, turning real suffering and precarity into a fun aesthetic that festival audiences get to step away from once the credits roll. I always felt these claims was bullshit, and Anora flies further in the face of them. It’s about what happens when someone in a hopeless position, the titular stripper Anora, sees a way out. Her relationship with Ivan, the son a Russian oligarch, is blind faith. She knows he’s using her to stay in America, and on some level it’s all a sham, but from the chance of escape, however fleeting, springs love. When Ivan’s parents clamp down and threaten to cut him off if he doesn’t annul the marriage, he falls in line. From both sides of this social divide, Baker recognises the power money has over our lives, and the hard reality that if our livelihoods are put under threat, our true feelings take a backseat to survival.
Dale Kearney
Anora
Mikey Madison is honestly a revelation in this. The care that both she and Sean Baker put upon her character, Anora, is so delicate and extremely respectful towards that profession. It also features an amazing Take That needle-drop — a sentence I never thought I’d say — which somehow works wonders. An emotionally moving and hilarious film at the same time.
Challengers
Possibly the most fun I’ve had watching a film this year. The script is like a tight tennis match between Nadal and Federer, bouncing back and forth, swapping who has control over the story at any given moment. It’s one of the best scripts I’ve seen, and Luca’s hypnotising direction just adds an authentic kinetic feel to an already lively film. Shout-out to possibly the best lines of the year from Zendaya regarding a tennis player who is 31.
Civil War
I was never really a huge fan of Alex Garland’s direction, but Civil War sold me on how good of a director he is. The world created here is genuinely scary — maybe it’s because I can see parallels from real life. Garland questions the morality of standing by and letting terrible things happen, leaving me with so many thoughts after the credits rolled. Big plus for Jesse Plemons, whose scene will stick in my head for years to come.
Dune: Part Two
Films like this remind me of how important the cinema experience is. There were so many moments while watching when I got goosebumps from the epic set pieces playing out. Denis Villeneuve truly knows how to bring emotion out; it’s extremely hard to make a wide shot feel as devastating as a close-up, but Denis pulls it off with the final shot.
Longlegs
Longlegs is one of the most atmospheric films I’ve seen this year. I was completely absorbed into it solely through the stunning cinematography. Andrés Arochi’s unsettling, wide-angle photography makes you scan around the frame; checking the out of focus sections for any hints of a potential scare. There’s also an uncomfortable amount of space left in the frames, as if it is framed with a second person in mind to fit into the shot with Lee Harker. Just… mwah! The cinematography suits the whole thing to a tee. For the visual look alone, this film is worth a watch.
John McGarr
5. All We Imagine As Light
An understated, thoughtful film that explores love and longing in an intimate way. Brimming with vibrance, deeply immersive, at times feels magical. It’s a film that’s easy to get lost in.
4. A Different Man
One of the freshest and smartest comedies of recent years. Wrapped in countless layers of satire, humour and meta-commentary, this Aaron Schimberg firmly establishes himself as a director to watch. Couldn’t take my eyes off the screen, couldn’t stop laughing, and couldn’t stop thinking about it afterwards. It’s a shame this didn’t get the attention it deserved.
3. The Substance
One of the most insane horror films ever made. Everything is dialled up to 11. You can see the veins bulging out of this thing. This film is a wild beast. An endlessly fun premise executed flawlessly. It’s like the Aristocrats’ joke, where the film is constantly daring itself to be pushed to the farthest possible extremity.
2. Anora
Can’t imagine anyone disliking this film. Mikey Madison doesn’t just deliver the performance of the year, it’s one of the best performances of the decade. It’s almost impossible to pick a favourite character. The film is a constant downward spiral of chaos, making it a stressful, but hilarious experience. Already feels like a classic, with one of the best endings ever.
1. The Brutalist
Where do I even begin? Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist is the cinematic equivalent of the Pyramids; you look at it and can’t even begin to imagine how it was made. It’s a perfect film in just about every single way. Every single aspect comes together to create a cohesive, mind-blowing experience that can’t be found anywhere else. One of the few films that deserves to be labelled as a masterpiece. It’s fitting that a film about architecture is itself a gigantic monument that will likely stand the test of time.
Brian Ó Tiomáin
1. Kneecap
Another great film in the Irish language. Kneecap features a cracking score, great performances and is unapologetically un-PC. Wonderful cameo from Michael Fassbender.
2. That They May Face the Rising Sun
Most of the cast are north of 70 in this wonderful take on John McGahern’s portrayal of an Ireland that has almost disappeared. Great casting.
3. Perfect Days
A wonderful meditative film from the veteran Wim Wenders.
4. All We Imagine as Light
A deeply moving film, Payal Kapadia’s first drama feature announces the arrival of a significant new talent
5. Small Things like These
Great performances all round, including by the DOP. A mirror to a very dark corner of our recent history.
Will Penn
1) Perfect Days
Wim Wenders delivers a beautiful slow burner here that is an undoubted favourite. Each rewatch reveals something different about the silent Hirayama. Prepare to be moved – but oh so quietly.
2) Kneecap
Kneecap’s self-mythologising biopic was billed to be one of the biggest moments in Irish cinema this year – no mean feat considering its company! A bitingly funny film to brighten Irish classes for generations to come.
3) Challengers
The story of a throuple who thoroughly deserve one another – tennis has never been sexier!
4) The Zone Of Interest
I left Zone of Interest with a sickened feeling in the pit of my stomach. Before watching, I asked, why a holocaust movie? What new is there really to be said? But for a visual medium like film, I have never experienced the auditory power like this. It floored me for weeks, and the discussions around it simply added to the intrigue.
5) Chasing The Light
A beautiful and balanced story of a community of people who dare to dream of a better world. When their core teachings and values are brought into disrepute, the skill of Maurice O’Brien truly flourishes.
Turkey – Buy Now!
I often steer well clear from Netflix’s straight to streaming documentaries and this was a good reminder why. Narratively redundant and a barren waste devoid of any
real insight, Buy Now left me in a pit of despair for the state of contemporary documentaries for mass audiences.
James Phelan
5) Heretic
Hugh Grant undercuts his affable avuncular image with a performance of slowly released menace and creepiness in this solid chiller. Like a lot of horror, it unravels a bit as it goes on. I mean how much prep did Grant’s character invest in having this very precise encounter? I don’t know. I’m genuinely asking. Still for the most part, this is an incredibly tense three-hander that is impeccably acted and crafted.
4) Small Things Like These
In New Ross in the mid-eighties, a local coal merchant Bill Furlong finds his conscience troubled by what he witnesses at the local mother and baby home during his fuel deliveries. A father of five girls of his own, he must strive to find his bravery and his voice in a community draped in a complicit silence. Can he summon the courage to act is the question that runs through this powerful film and if he does so, what will be the consequences of going against the church? For him and his family.
3) Anora
I’m tempted to describe this Palme d’Or winner as a slightly more serious take on Meet the Parents. Certainly, there might be another film in just focusing on how two oligarch parents (over) react to their wastrel son getting married to a sex worker. Anora is a ballsy outspoken dancer who wants union rules at work. And such a free spirit, she decides that marrying a spoilt, rich and smitten client is the way to go. Everything changes when her feckless partner in crime becomes a runaway groom and she is left alone to crawl out of the wedding wreckage.
2) The Holdovers
In a lovely lead role, Paul Giamatti plays a cantankerous teacher at a boarding school forced to babysit several students who can’t go home for Christmas holidays for a variety of reasons. Everyone in the movie badly needs a big hug. Which is what the viewer ends up getting from this genuine and heartfelt charmer.
1) Kneecap
This film arrived like a rocket, positively fizzing with energy and attitude. Miraculously well- acted by a trio already famous for musical performances, this was a jolting shot of adrenaline for movie making in Ireland and beyond. Resisting any impulse to tone things down for the mass market, ‘Kneecap’ is a profane riot that mixes swagger and cockiness with bracing authenticity. It’s a heady mix fuelled by the music that got the band noticed in the first place. All things considered, this trio are unlikely saviours of the Irish language but look how far it has taken them and the language. The only shame would be if the Oscar for best foreign language film can’t look past the hardcore posturing and misses the verve, style and charisma that is the real heartbeat of Kneecap.
Ronan Power
1. The Substance
A brave and well-conceived film. A clever tale about the endless race to be current and popular as a celebrity. The self-defeating struggle to maintain youth and beauty despite age and time. Perfectly played by Demi Moore in what I firmly believe is her best performance ever. It’s not for the faint-hearted, especially the eventual pay-off but the story and images stay with you long after the movie ends.
2. Kneecap
This Hip Hop trio took Ireland by storm this year. The film, though a fictionalised account of their story has a sprinkling of truth here and there. I have heard it being referred to as the Irish Trainspotting. It’s fun and its full of energy. It appeals to both young and old and it spotlights our native tongue and gives as Gaeilge an appeal to a new generation. 13 best film awards including BIFA, Galway Fim Fleadh,Lisbon Film Festival and Sundance.
3. Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story
A moving and thought-provoking documentary on the life of actor Christopher Reeve. From his big break with his Superman role to the terrible accident in 1995 that left him paralysed. The documentary highlights the strong bond of love shared between Reeve and his last wife and Reeves children from both his marriages. A real love letter to family and perseverance among impossible odds.
4. The Front Room
A delightful gem of a movie that’s hard to pigeonhole. Horror film or black comedy? Either way Kathryn Hunter chews up the scenery in every scene she appears in as the ailing stepmother forced upon her unsuspecting stepson’s family to live in their house and be looked after by newly pregnant wife Brandy Norwood. These two strong characters are pitted against each other from the start and things just get darker and darker as the story progresses. Priceless.
5. The Apprentice
This film takes us back to the early days of Donald Trump the businessman. The story follows his struggles in business. We see a young Trump follow the people he looked up to for example, studying their techniques, the way they treat people and money. Trump moulds himself around these individuals resulting in a new model of the man, the new Trump of the 1980s that we all know today. This film shouldn’t work but it does and its brilliant. A perfect year for this movie to come out.
Kimberly Reyes
Wicked
Are you kidding? Have you seen the musical? The press tour (please never let it end)? The casting spoke for itself and delivered. Get out of Oz (town) with this one.
The Outrun
I haven’t seen cinematography and pacing match a film’s content (alcoholism and familial mental health struggles) so well in… well, I’m not sure how long. Ronan is an absolute movie star.
Blitz
This was without question Steve McQueen’s Spielberg/Shindler’s List moment. There are scenes that will absolutely stop your heart from a cinematic point of view, and McQueen as always, gives us a perspective that history is so desperately lacking. Is it his best film? No. Is this the film that should win him a ton of awards? Absolutely.
Nickel Boys
Director RaMell Ross faced a difficult task adapting Colson Whitehead’s novel, but his ambition and unique perspective honour fans of the book while breathing new life into the story.
A tie between Challengers & Kneecap
For the last spot I couldn’t decide between two fresh, entertaining films that were important for different reasons. In Challengers you’re never entirely sure, even up until the very last moment, who is who good/bad/in love/playing games… race and queer politics are at the heart of the power dynamics, but also never centred, making the characters that much more multi-dimensional. And with Kneecap, the fact that Móglaí Bap and Mo Chara are so naturally good at acting is maybe just a testament to how badly their story needed to be told on a global scale. As a GenXer, I was a bit shocked at how much the film drew from Trainspotting (and the implications of that for Northern Irish youth), but the viewing experience is nothing if not raw and honest.
Pia Roycroft
1. The Substance
An explosion of both colour and viscera, The Substance makes you feel the whole range of emotions from wonder to disgust, and it isn’t shy about making your skin crawl. I nearly threw up multiple times, and that’s a good thing.
2. I Saw the TV Glow
A definite must-watch; there aren’t enough words to describe how it makes me feel. A film you have to experience yourself firsthand and then watch for a second time to really understand I think. I cried, many times.
3. Oddity
I’m a a huge fan of Damian McCarthy. He brings to horror such a fresh and raw perspective that the genre needs and Oddity is a perfect example of this. A masterclass in tension, this film will keep you on the edge of your seat.
4. Bramayugam
Another fantastic pan-Indian horror film that echoes the craftsmanship of the origins of the horror genre, Bramayugam is almost operatic in nature and I love how it mixes folklore and art so masterfully.
5. Alien: Romulus
Amidst a plethora of subpar horror sequels over the last few years, Romulus did really well to not only uphold the legacy of Alien well, but also is a very entertaining film in its own right.
David Turpin
Mami Wata
Visually extraordinary West African fantasy, centered around the mythology of the eponymous water spirit, but also tuned in to modernity, and its conflicts. Unlike anything else, and unmissable.
Familiar Touch
A film about the experience of an elderly woman entering assisted living, made with sensitivity and insight. Quietly radical in how it presents old age not as a slope of degeneration, but as a journey of change.
Pepe
An experimental Dominican film narrated by the ghost of a hippopotamus kept in the private zoo of Pablo Escobar. Haunting, unclassifiable, and the most artful meditation on the being of the hippo since the ‘Dance of the Hours’ sequence in Fantasia.
Red Island
Robin Campillo’s best film, exquisite child’s-eye filmmaking that bears comparison with The Spirit of the Beehive or El Sur, and with a political consciousness that slowly reveals itself.
Emilia Pérez
Gorgeous Saint Laurent-swathed Shakespearean musical telenovela on the possibilities and limitations of change. Entertained me beyond all reason in the cinema, though I can’t imagine it plays very well on a laptop.
