ANORA

This year’s winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes is a feverish and exhilarating watch powered by a luminous central performance from Mikey Madison. Director Sean Baker brings in a grungy and textured look and feel to his film in which a Brooklyn sex worker (Madison) gets married to the son of a Russian oligarch... and all hell breaks loose.

A lively, manic comedy with electric filmmaking by Baker, Anora blends the playful with the poignant and hilarious with heartbreak. “There was something about it that reminded us of (the) classic structures of Lubitsch or Howard Hawks, and then it did something completely truthful and unexpected,” is how filmmaker Greta Gerwig, head of the Cannes jury, described Anora.

THE BRUTALIST

Picked by many critics as the best film of 2024, this Brady Corbet directorial follows the life of Laszlo Toth (a brilliant Adrien Brody), a Hungarian-born Jewish architect who survives the Holocaust and emigrates to the US where he struggles to achieve the American Dream, until a wealthy client changes his life.

The Brutalist is defined by its sheer scope, audacious ambition and elegant artistic vision. Its fiery and defiant moods and moments power the film through its overlong runtime of 215 minutes. It is similar in tone to Paul Thomas Anderson films as There Will Be Blood and The Master, but is quite its own beast, presenting a haunting cinematic portrait of the price one has to pay for one’s dreams. Sweeping history, struggle and heartbreak meld into the film in which the urgency of its story never lets up.

NOSFERATU

Powered by names like Bill Skarsgard, Nicholas Hoult, Lily-Rose Depp, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Emma Corrin, Ralph Ineson, Simon McBurney and Willem Dafoe, director Robert Eggers’s take on the 1922 German film Nosferatu is a supernatural gothic tale of obsession and horror, described as equal parts repulsive and seductive.

A rare remake that pays homage to its origins and yet brings in its own distinctiveness, Nosferatu stands tall on its compelling performances, visceral cinematography and award-worthy make-up and prosthetics. A truly immersive horror experience which is artful and lavish at the same time.

HARD TRUTHS

Legendary filmmaker Mike Leigh fashions a cathartic film on mental illness and toxic anger through a full-bodied portrayal of both in his middle-aged, depressed protagonist. Marianne Jean-Baptiste turns in a tour de force performance as Pansy, making her fierce and complex yet vulnerable. Through Hard Truths, Leigh explores the limits of compassion and empathy, all the while examining what pushes us to hurt one another. An unflinching, dark character study that may not be easy to sit through, but which demands to be watched.

THE SUBSTANCE

Demi Moore is electrifying in this satirical body-horror film that manages to balance the audaciously gross with the wickedly clever, all the while making a comment on ageism in a time and culture which is obsessed with youthfulness. Boundary-breaking in terms of its horror tropes, The Substance builds on the best traditions of the David Cronenberg school of body horror with director Coralie Fargeat imbuing the genre with a certain freshness and sensibility which manages to find subtlety and sensitivity even within its maximalist framework. Inventive, grotesque and provocative, The Substance has a pulse-pounding third act that instantly elevates it to much more than a horror film.

INSIDE OUT 2

Inside Out was a delight, and its sequel, arriving nine years later, takes the franchise several steps forward. Revisiting Riley, the teenager, whose family’s relocation to a new city in the first film unlocked five personified emotions within her that controlled her thoughts and actions, the sequel has several new emotions joining in.

Moving, wildly inventive and sparkling from start to finish, Inside Out 2 expands its audience with its inclusive messaging that strikes a chord with audiences of all age groups. It captures the imaginative brilliance of the original and, elevated by a strong voice cast, marks a return to form for Pixar. The numbers speak for themselves — Inside Out 2 is the highest-grossing animated film of all time, the biggest hit of 2024 and the eighth-highest-grossing film of all time.

A REAL PAIN

Actor Jesse Eisenberg’s sophomore directorial is described as profoundly funny and emotionally resonant, with Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin starring as estranged and mismatched cousins of Jewish-American heritage who travel to Poland to honour their late grandmother. A scene-stealing performance by Culkin is complemented by an assured Eisenberg who is superlative both in front of the camera and behind it.

A Real Pain scores in looking at trauma, mental health and the complexities of familial relationships through a familiar yet honest lens, making it much more than an odd couple travelogue. It is earnest, humorous and, surprisingly, deeply emotional, with Eisenberg infusing his film with so much humanity that he has no trouble earning our empathy.

CHALLENGERS

Zendaya is the spirit and soul of this complex relationship drama that follows the love triangle between an injured tennis star-turned-coach (Zendaya), her low-circuit tennis player ex-boyfriend (Josh O’Connor) and her tennis champion husband (Mike Faist) over a period of 13 years.

In the hands of director Luca Guadagnino, Challengers has a ticking time-bomb quality about it and plays out like a thriller, which immediately makes it different from any other sports drama. A magnetic score pulsates throughout the narrative, with the three-way relationship keeping the viewer invested. Though the ending may seem unsatisfactory to some, Challengers presents many highs — a masterclass in screenplay writing, a rare self-awareness in tone and treatment and a solid character study.

QUEER

The second Luca Guadagnino film to make it to this list, Queer is set in 1950s Mexico City and focuses on an outcast American immigrant (Daniel Craig) who becomes infatuated with a younger man (Drew Starkey). Guadagnino, the man behind Call Me By Your Name, once again explores a same-sex equation, with Queer enchantingly talking about the yearning desire to make a proper connection with another human being. In a direct antithesis to his testosterone-powered James Bond act across five films, Daniel Craig turns in his career-best performance as an insecure gay author with a painful need for love, one which is tinged with agony and heartbreak.

Queer is a tad bloated but in the hands of Guadagnino, the trippy ride it promises makes it worth your time. Craig’s soul-baring — and skin-baring — performance expertly navigates through a complex churn of emotions, making Queer as poignant as it is provocative.

CONCLAVE

‘Papal pulp’ is dramatically and satisfyingly brought alive, courtesy gripping performances, striking visuals and a smart mix of suspense and wit from master storyteller Edward Berger. A strong ensemble cast comprising Stanley Tucci, Isabella Rossellini and John Lithgow is led by Ralph Fiennes as Cardinal Thomas Lawrence who organises a papal conclave to elect the next Pope and finds himself investigating secrets and scandals about each candidate.

A masterclass in building drama and intrigue, Conclave captures all the grandeur, tradition and intrigue of the real Vatican deal, but with its tongue firmly in its cheek. A highlight is its crackling tete-a-tetes, courtesy Peter Straughan’s pulsating lines. A few Oscar nominations are on the cards.