Amid the constant turmoil of the entertainment industry and the encroachment of AI on screens big and small, filmmakers still captured beauty, horror and hilarity this year at 24 frames a second.
Below are 24 of the best films of the year that left me gasping, laughing and inspired.
24. Drive Back Home
Drive Back Home functions as an interesting companion piece to the classic Canadian travelogue Goin’ Down the Road. The story, also set in 1970, finds Weldon reluctantly driving from small-town New Brunswick to Toronto to bail out his gay brother Perley (Alan Cumming). Perley long ago fled to Toronto where he drinks to forget what drove him away. During the drive back, the two men slowly shed their assumptions and begin to see each other again.
The moment: Weldon bares his soul to a Francophone farmer who just nods politely.
Where to watch: In theatres.
23. Eno
For his documentary about music producer Brian Eno, Gary Hustwit created “bespoke software” that generates new versions of the film every time it’s shown. It’s an apt approach for Eno, the unpretentious musician who’s worked with Devo, David Byrne, Coldplay and more. Bouncing between his present-day studio to archival interviews, Eno’s playfulness and openness to ideas holds this algorithmically created doc together.
The moment: Eno patiently talks to Bono about his singing during a recording of U2’s Pride (In the Name of Love).
Where to watch: A special 24-hour live-stream screening is planned for Jan. 25.
22. Wicked
Don’t come for me, Wicked hive — I liked the musical, but it didn’t crack my top 10. While some of director Jon M. Chu’s colour and de-saturation choices boggle the mind, the musical sequences made magic.
The moment: Jonathan Bailey effortlessly surf-slides across books in Dancing Through Life.
Where to watch: In theatres.
21. The Piano Lesson
There’s been a few other adaptations of playwright August Wilson’s work, but never anything as cinematic as what Malcolm Washington brings to the screen. Directing his brother John David Washington, and Samuel L. Jackson (who starred in the Broadway original), the result is a foot-stomping, spirit-raising experience.
The moment: Bernice hammers away on the piano. If you watch it at home, play it loud.
Where to watch: Netflix.
20. Sasquatch Sunset
Puerile and tender? Adjectives seem puny when it comes to describing this film, which follows a family of Sasquatches. The result forces you to watch differently, almost as an anthropologist, learning to interpret the behaviour of this strange but surprisingly human group.
The moment: The big guy gets drunk on fermented berries.
Where to watch: Available to rent or buy online.
19. The Shadow Strays
Jason Bourne could never. Every now and then an action film comes along that redefines the genre. Set in Indonesia, Aurora Ribero is code-named 13, a brainwashed assassin who begins to defy her programming. Filled with grizzly set pieces and gory kills, The Shadow Strays is a relentless thrill ride that rarely pauses for a breath.
The moment: A warehouse showdown climaxes with a brutal baseball bat battle.
Where to watch: Netflix.
18. La Chimera
If Fellini made a heist movie drunk on Italian wine, it might be something like La Chimera, a weirdly wonderful tale set in the 1980s among the hills of Tuscany, starring Challengers‘ Josh O’Connor as Arthur, a lost soul with an uncanny ability to locate buried antiquities.
The moment: Arthur watches as Italia begins to dance with increasing abandon.
Where to watch: Available to rent or buy online.
17. Hundreds of Beavers
Shot over a series of unforgiving winters in Wisconsin, Hundreds of Beavers is one of the most hilarious and downright creative comedies I’ve seen in ages. With a slapstick style equal parts Daffy Duck and Buster Keaton, this backwoods black-and-white epic begins with a war waged between hunter and beaver — and builds from there.
The moment: Beavers try to boldly go where no beaver has gone before.
Where to watch: Prime Video.
16. Civil War
To quote the Talking Heads, this is Life During Wartime, a road movie with a group of battle-hardened reporters bearing witness to the carnage and chaos. The strength of Alex Garland’s film isn’t in the deliberately obscured reasons for the conflict, but the physiological effects the characters endure because of it.
The moment: Camping out in the woods, reporters watch tracer rounds light up the night sky like fireworks.
Where to watch: Prime Video.
15. Blitz
It’s Life during Wartime — part 2. Inspired by a photograph of Black boy being evacuated during the bombing of Britain, director Steve McQueen reframes the story of England’s endurance around a tale of a boy and mother separated. Blitz adds a visceral new angle to a story we thought we knew.
The moment: A group of boys climb onto the roof of a train heading to London, looking at the landscape around them with wonder, as they hurtle back toward the war zone.
Where to watch: Apple TV+ or Prime Video.
14. A Real Pain
Directed, written by and starring Jesse Eisenberg, A Real Pain is an intimate, hilarious and heart-wrenching road movie about the memories we carry and the bond between two cousins. Kieran Culkin is electric as Benji, who is always the centre of attention but never at ease.
The moment: A dinner table revelation, as Benji’s eccentricities spin out of control.
Where to watch: In theatres.
13. We Live in Time
In the best parts of We Live in Time, Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield show us what it’s like to fall in love — that moment when you allow yourself to be vulnerable, lower your guard and let the other person inside. The story is about a life lived out of order, but the open-hearted performances tie it together.
The moment: A scene at a gas station. You’ll know when you see it.
Where to watch: Available to rent or buy online.
12. Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
Johan Grimonprez’s latest documentary is a dazzling dissertation, fusing the burgeoning bebop jazz scene of the 1950s and ’60s with post-colonial Africa’s drive for independence. Grimonprez slowly builds his case, showing how Louis Armstrong’s African tour was an inadvertent smokescreen for the CIA’s intent on stamping out the seeds of revolution.
The moment: Protesters yell “murderer” at the United Nations. Max Roach and Abbey Lincoln’s We Insist! Freedom Now Suite accents the anger.
Where to watch: Available to rent or buy online.
11. Rumours
If the dog sitting in a burning office meme were a movie, it would be Rumours, where the G7 leaders resolutely focus on finishing their provisional statement, as a creeping tide chaos engulfs the globe. Not only is Rumours Cate Blanchett’s funniest film, but it also features Roy Dupuis, who deserves the Order of Canada for his role as the lovesick prime minister.
The moment: Blanchett as German chancellor breathlessly trying to seduce Canada’s prime minister with political talking points.
Where to watch: Available to rent or buy online.
10. September 5
This riveting recreation thrusts us into the control room of ABC Sports during the 1972 terror attack at the Munich Olympics. The film is both a time capsule of tactile ways of making television and an all-too-relevant examination of the power and pitfalls of live reporting.
The moment: The show director asks, “Can they see us?” as the camera pushes in on the flickering TV screen, in the room where the hostages are being held.
Where to watch: In theatres.
9. The Brutalist
A film about a towering edifice, The Brutalist comes with an equally intimidating runtime (three hours and 35 minutes, with intermission). Director Brady Corbet takes his time, introducing Adrian Brody as a Hungarian Jewish architect coming to America. Slowly, the scaffolding takes shape in this film about an artist and his patron, about compromise and compulsion, featuring a captivating performance by Brody and a welcome return for Guy Pearce as the dashing captain of industry.
The moment: Trumpets blare as smoke from a train blooms an angry orange.
Where to watch: In theatres Dec. 20.
8. Kneecap
The bastard son of Trainspotting and The Commitments, Kneecap is the cheeky, sort-of-true story of the rise of Kneecap, a Gaelic-language hip-hop band. The members of the group play themselves, adding a level of authenticity to the scrappy story of local drug dealers with a knack for spitting rhymes (when they’re not doing lines).
The moment: High on ketamine, Kneecap board a bus where passengers are wearing track suits with the same pattern as the bus seats.
Where to watch: For free on Hoopla.
7. Challengers
(WARNING: Spoilers ahead.)
I still remember the electricity in the theatre watching the final volley between the two former friends, and the reaction as Art leapt over the net and into Patrick’s arms. Challengers is to movies what Britney Spears’s Toxic was to music, by which I mean pure pop perfection.
The moment: The entire scene where Patrick and Art share a churro — from Patrick pulling the stool closer at the start to the bites as the friends bicker at the end.
Where to watch: Prime Video.
6. Dune: Part Two
In an industry where so much seems to be contracting, director Denis Villeneuve pushes back, showing us new vistas of vision. Dune: Part Two is a wild riot of world-building anchored by the performance of Timothée Chalamet as a prince wrestling with his fate. Bring on Dune Messiah.
The moment: Chalamet as Paul Atreides rides a Sandworms, clinging to its back as the wind screams and Hans Zimmer’s music soars.
Where to watch: Crave or Prime Video.
5. Anora
Anora is a movie that left me gasping for breath. Centred on a few weeks in the life of an exotic dancer of the same name, it’s about power and brittle fantasies, told in a manic screwball style. Mikey Madison breathes fire into the main character, but there are many pleasures to be found in the supporting cast, particularly in befuddled middlemen such as Toros, dragging Anora across New York City, looking for her prince.
The moment: Anora’s new husband Ivan gets up to answers the door, as Toros’s thugs come to check up on him.
Where to watch: In theatres.
4. Nickel Boys
A historical drama like no other, Nickel Boys is a daring breakthrough for director RaMell Ross, applying his skills as a documentarian to tell the stories of Elwood and Turner. The two Black teens meet at Nickel Academy, a reform school based on a notorious real-life institution. It’s told entirely from either Turner’s or Elwood’s point of view, putting us in the headspaces of the two characters. The result is a radical act of empathy — prioritizing luminous images and humanity in the midst of horror.
The moment: An audacious visual essay as the film rockets toward its conclusion.
Where to watch: Coming to theatres in Canada in January 2025.
3. Flow
Flow is a wordless wonder, an animated epic about a cat, dog, capybara, bird and a lemur in a boat. Set in a world where the water rises without warming, Flow sucks you in from the first moment. While most major animated movies plunder stories from old IP, director Gints Zilbalodis created an original realm with a little over $5 million and the open-source software Blender. The result is a journey I dare say Hayao Miyazaki would admire.
The moment: At the top of a mountain, a portal to another plane beckons.
Where to watch: In theatres.
2. Universal Language
Only in Canada? Only from the mind of director Matthew Rankin, who took his love of Iranian cinema and Winnipeg and blended them in a new city where Farsi is the first language, wild turkey roam the snow-covered streets and boxes of tissues are given out as gifts. Yet for all the ways Rankin pokes fun at the city’s climate, this is a warm film about returning home and what connects us all.
The moment: An alternate-reality Tim Hortons, familiar and strange all at the same time.
Where to watch: In theatres January 2025.
1. Sing Sing
Inspired by the the prison-run theatre organization Rehabilitation Through the Arts, Sing Sing is a film about the power of art to create change. Led by their instructor Brent (a wonderful Paul Raci), the prisoners improvise, pretend and, for a moment, escape. As the wrongly convicted prisoner Divine G, Colman Domingo is the soul of the story. Real-life RTA grad Clarence Maclin is the proof, playing a prisoner who goes from hustling to performing Hamlet.
The moment: Jail cell neighbours Divine G and Mike Mike share stories about their outside, and the shocking morning that follows.
Where to watch: Netflix.
CBC’s Eli Glasner spoke with Sing Sing star Colman Domingo and director Greg Kwedar about sharing scenes with ex-prisoners playing themselves and the powerful performance of ex-prisoner and RTA alumni Clarence Maclin.