Contrary to some well-respected voices working in the film industry, I think last year was a fun one for film fans. Sure, there was some typical awards season bait otherwise known in the United States as “Oscar Bait,” and of course, some box office successes that left me scratching my head. However, there were so many more international gems, independent breakthroughs, and arthouse triumphs to love.

I still have a lot of catching up to do, not just with last year’s releases, but also with many high-profile film festival favorites and awards season snubs from previous years since 2020. I thought it would be fun to compile a quick list of five of my favorite films from last year, along with a brief explanation of why I chose each one!

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The Girl with the Needle

I recently signed up for a few month-long trial of the streaming service MUBI to catch up on some other acclaimed releases from last year like Andrea Arnold’s latest feature Bird, Coralie Fargeat’s body horror The Substance, and Mati Diop’s documentary Dahomey.

One of those films I wasn’t prepared for was Magnus von Horn’s The Girl with the Needle, a timely gothic period piece of a once-unwanted child’s so-called mercy and a spouse believing herself a widow seeking closeness and purpose amongst a recording continent.

I’m not shocked this flick isn’t caching more buzz from the academy with the success and campaign surrounding Robert Eggers’ gothic hit Nosferatu, looming over its appearances but I’m saddened that more film fans aren’t talking about its atmosphere and tight screenplay.

Maybe some moments are a bit too much for mainstream moviegoers like Dagmar’s solution to the seemingly widespread inability of families or, more often than not, single women to care for their children. That’s not to say the women of Copenhagen weren’t fit to raise children alongside their husbands. After the Great War (World War I), so many husbands and lovers alike didn’t make it home from the trenches. Therefore, so many mothers were left without a partner in the home and fewer job prospects as men came home reclaiming factory, farm, and textile jobs.

I’ll close by giving each of the characters and their flaws a chance as they are a product of their time, and I hope you all will, too!

Sing Sing

I’ve been excited for Greg Kwedar’s A24 film festival favorite Sing Sing since early 2024 when I caught one of the first trailers on YouTube. I was so committed to this film that I spent $24.99 to own it digitally on Fandango At Home! Though I was nervous that it wouldn’t live up to my expectations, it blew them out of the water. Sing Sing quickly became my favorite film of 2024, and I’m furious the academy didn’t nominate Clarence Maclin for Best Supporting Actor. “[He] killed that Hamlet.” My undergraduate degree is in English Literature and Writing & Publishing, so I can confirm this by having taken a handful of Shakespeare and playwriting courses.

Maclin’s portrayal of the Danish prince is as egotistical, stubborn, and infused with trauma as it should be; he’s a young man who just lost his father, his king, and feels trapped between duty to his kingdom and family as well as what he feels must be done.

“Divine Eye” is similarly trapped not only behind bars but between his past and any thought of opportunity incarcerated or otherwise. His evolution into a corner man for Colman Domingo’s “Divine G” when all his efforts to use the system for his redemption go south exemplifies what Hamlet could have been in Shakespeare’s tragedy.

I won’t say more, but please check out this flick. It’ll be available to rent somewhere between $5.99 – $7.99 in the coming weeks on services like Fandango At Home and Amazon Prime.

Joker: Folie à Deux

Okay, I know so many of you hated Joker: Folie à Deux, but I’m a massive DC, specifically Elseworlds fan, and this kicked ass! I’ll admit Quentin Tarantino’s admitting he enjoyed the film led my mother and I to finally check this sequel out on MAX after loving our theater viewing of the original back in 2019.

You can’t go into Folie à Deux expecting a traditional sequel because that’s not what it is. It’s an expansion to a unique retelling of a classic character’s origin. Like a follow-up to one comic book run, this one has the right to and, indeed, will be quite different.

I’d love to see more of Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker and Gaga’s Harley Quinn in the graphic novel medium as I think open-minded comic fans will eat it up.

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