Sunday, January 19, 2025

The Wallys: The Best in Film 2024


It's that time of year again!

Here's my rundown of the best in film in 2024. As always, release dates are a bit fungible. You'll find a few big movies that qualified for Oscars last year and there'll be a few more movies (I'm looking at you, All We Imagine as Light and Hard Truths and The Nickel Boys) that don't expand to my neck of the woods until well into 2025.

If you haven't already, check out my YouTube rundown of the top films of the year — including 10 bonus honorable mentions — and my podcast, Cinema Double Shot, discussing The Wallys and all things movies.

1. PERFECT DAYS (Japan, Wim Wenders)

2. THE SUBSTANCE (U.S., Coralie Fargeat)

3. ANORA (U.S., Sean Baker)

4. I SAW THE TV GLOW (U.S., Jane Schoenbrun)

5. THE ZONE OF INTEREST (Poland, Jonathan Glazer)

6. CHALLENGERS (U.S., Luca Guadagnino)

7. FLOW (Latvia, Gints Zilbalodis)

8. INSIDE THE YELLOW COCOON SHELL (Vietnam, Pham Thien An)

9. DO NOT EXPECT TOO MUCH FROM THE END OF THE WORLD (Romania, Radu Jude)

10. EXHIBITING FORGIVENESS (U.S., Titus Kaphar)

11. HUNDREDS OF BEAVERS (U.S., Mike Cheslik)

12. A REAL PAIN (U.S., Jesse Eisenberg)

13. RED ROOMS (Canada, Pascal Plante)

14. PROBLEMISTA (U.S., Julio Torres)

15. FREMONT (U.S., Babak Jalali)

16. ORIGIN (U.S., Ava DuVernay)

17. MONSTER (Japan, Hirokazu Kore-eda)

18. AMERICAN FICTION (U.S., Cord Jefferson)

19. MEGALOPOLIS (U.S., Francis Ford Coppola)

20. CONCLAVE (U.K., Edward Berger)


BEST PICTURE

Anora

I Saw the TV Glow

Perfect Days

The Substance

The Zone of Interest


BEST DIRECTOR

Sean Baker (Anora)

Coralie Fargeat (The Substance)

Jonathan Glazer (The Zone of Interest)

Jane Schoenbrun (I Saw the TV Glow)

Wim Wenders (Perfect Days)

Honorable Mention: Luca Guadagnino (Challengers and Queer), Radu Jude (Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World), Titus Kaphar (Exhibiting Forgiveness), Pham Thien An (Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell), Gints Zilbalodis (Flow)





BEST LEAD PERFORMANCE

Amy Adams (Nightbitch)

Sakura Andô (Monster)

Timothée Chalamet (A Complete Unknown)

Daniel Craig (Queer)

Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor (Origin)

André Holland (Exhibiting Forgiveness)

Mikey Madison (Anora)

Demi Moore (The Substance)

Jeffrey Wright (American Fiction)

Koji Yakusho (Perfect Days)

HM: Cynthia Erivo (Wicked), Ralph Fiennes (Conclave), Margaret Qualley (The Substance), Zoe Saldaña (Emilia Pérez), Justice Smith (I Saw the TV Glow), Anaita Wali Zada (Fremont), Zendaya (Challengers)


BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE

Laurie Babin (Red Rooms)

Yura Borisov (Anora)

Joan Chen (Dìdi)

Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain)

Danielle Deadwyler (The Piano Lesson)

Carol Kane (Between the Temples)

Karren Karagulian (Anora)

Brigette Lundy-Paine (I Saw the TV Glow)

Jeremy Strong (The Apprentice)

Tilda Swinton (Problemista)

HM: Erika Alexander (American Fiction), Monica Barbaro (A Complete Unknown), Jamie Bell (All of Us Strangers), Ray Fisher (The Piano Lesson), John Earl Jelks (Exhibiting Forgiveness), Edward Norton (A Complete Unknown)


BEST ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE

All of Us Strangers

Bird

Challengers

Conclave

Fremont

HM: The Bikeriders, His Three Daughters, Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell, La Chimera, Monster, The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat


BEST BODY OF WORK

Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, actor (The Deliverance, Exhibiting Forgiveness, Origin and The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat)

Luca Guadagnino, director (Challengers and Queer)

Margaret Qualley, actor (Drive-Away Dolls, Kinds of Kindness and The Substance)

Jeremy Allen White, actor (“The Bear” and Fremont)

Emma Stone, actor/producer (“The Curse,” I Saw the TV Glow, Kinds of Kindness, Problemista and A Real Pain)

HM: Sakura Andô (Godzilla Minus One and Monster), Josh O’Connor, actor (Challengers and La Chimera), Isabella Rossellini (La Chimera, Conclave and Problemista), Sebastian Stan (The Apprentice and A Different Man),  Zendaya (Challengers and Dune: Part Two)


BEST BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE

David Dastmalchian (Late Night with the Devil)

Juliette Gariépy (Red Rooms)

Ilinca Manolache (Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World)

Aaron Pierre (Rebel Ridge)

Justice Smith (I Saw the TV Glow)

HM: Carlos Diehz (Conclave), Elliott Heffernan (Blitz), Damon Herriman (The Bikeriders), Katy O’Brian (Love Lies Bleeding), Anjana Vasan (Wicked Little Letters)


BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Sean Baker (Anora)

Jesse Eisenberg (A Real Pain)

Coralie Fargeat (The Substance)

Justin Kuritzkes (Challengers)

Wim Wenders and Takuma Takasaki (Perfect Days)


BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Ava DuVernay (Origin)

Jonathan Glazer (The Zone of Interest)

Cord Jefferson (American Fiction)

Justin Kuritzkes (Queer)

Jeff Nichols (The Bikeriders)


BEST ANIMATED FILM

Flow

Inside Out 2

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl


BEST DOCUMENTARY

Dahomey

A House Is Not a Disco

Pictures of Ghosts

Three (Extra)Ordinary Women

Will & Harper


BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World

Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell

Perfect Days

Red Rooms

The Zone of Interest


BEST OLD FILM I SAW FOR THE FIRST TIME

Le Bonheur (1965, Agnes Varda)

Christmas Evil (1980, Lewis Jackson)

The Only Son (1936, Yasujiro Ozu)

A Special Day (1976, Ettore Scola)

Vengeance Is Mine (1984, Michael Roemer)


BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Dinh Duy Hung (Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell)

Hélène Louvart (La Chimera)

Sayombhu Mukdeeprom (Challengers)

Eric K. Yue (I Saw the TV Glow)

Lukasz Zal (The Zone of Interest)

HM: Vincent Biron (Red Rooms), Jarin Blaschke (Nosferatu), Drew Daniels (Anora), Rob Hardy (Civil War), Franz Lustig (Perfect Days), Jonathan Ricquebourg (The Taste of Things), Robbie Ryan (Bird)


BEST EDITING

Sean Baker (Anora)

Mike Cheslik (Hundreds of Beavers)

Marco Costa (Challengers)

Jerome Eltabet, Coralie Fargeat and Valentin Féron (The Substance)

Paul Watts (The Zone of Interest)

HM: Spencer Averick (Origin), Catalin Cristutiu (Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World), Toni Froschhammer (Perfect Days), Chris Gill and Julian Ulrichs (Kneecap)


BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

Blitz

Megalopolis

Problemista

Queer

You’ll Never Find Me


BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Milena Canonero (Megalopolis)

Mari-An Ceo (MaXXXine)

Steph Hooke (Late Night with the Devil)

Paul Tazewell (Wicked)

Emmanuelle Youchnovski (The Substance)


BEST HAIR & MAKEUP DESIGN

Love Lies Bleeding

Nosferatu

MaXXXine

The Substance

Wicked


BEST STUNTS & CHOREOGRAPHY

Dune: Part Two

Emilia Pérez

The Fall Guy

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

Wicked


BEST MUSIC SCORE

Volker Bertelmann (Conclave)

Jherek Bischoff (Exhibiting Forgiveness)

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (Challengers)

Lia Ouyang Rusli (Problemista)

Ryuichi Sakamoto (Monster)


BEST SONG SCORE

Simon Astall [music supervisor] (Love Lies Bleeding)

Jessica Berndt and Chris Swanson [music supervisors] (I Saw the TV Glow)

Milena Fessmann [music supervisor] (Perfect Days)

Kneecap, Michael Asante, Jeanette Rehnstrom and Gary Welch (Kneecap)

Robin Urdang [music supervisor] (The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat)


BEST SONG

“Bricks” by Andra Day (perf.), Cassandra Batie and Jherek Bischoff (writers) (Exhibiting Forgiveness)

“El Mal” by Camille, Karla Sofia Gascón and Zoe Saldana (perfs.), Camille Delmais, Clément Ducol and Jacques Audiard (writers) (Emilia Pérez)

“Harper and Will Go West” by Kirsten Wiig (perf.), Josh Greenbaum and Sean Douglas (writers) (Will & Harper)


BEST SOUND DESIGN

Blitz

Civil War

Flow

The Substance

The Zone of Interest


BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Alien: Romulus

Dune: Part Two

Godzilla Minus One

Hundreds of Beavers

The Substance


And here are Josh's The Snoddys in their first year:


BEST PICTURE

A Real Pain

In a Violent Nature

I Saw the TV Glow

Perfect Days

The Substance


BEST DIRECTOR

Colin and Cameron Cairnes (Late Night with the Devil)

Coralie Fargeat (The Substance)

Rose Glass (Love Lies Bleeding)

Chris Nash (In a Violent Nature)

Jane Schoenbrun (I Saw the TV Glow)


BEST LEAD PERFORMANCE

David Dastmalchian (Late Night with the Devil)

Demi Moore (The Substance)

Justice Smith (I Saw the TV Glow)

Kristin Stewart (Love Lies Bleeding)

Zendaya (Challengers)


BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE

Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain)

David Howard Thornton (Terrifier 3)

Kathryn Hunter (The Front Room)

Carol Kane (Between the Temples)

Tilda Swinton (Problemista)



BEST ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE

All of Us Strangers

Love Lies Bleeding

Suitable Flesh

Stream

Wicked


BEST BODY OF WORK

Barbara Crampton, actor/producer/writer (Suitable Flesh and The Last Stop in Yuma County)

Damien Leone, director/editor/special effects artist/ producer (Terrifier 3 and Stream)

Margaret Qualley, actor (Drive-Away Dolls, Kinds of Kindness and The Substance)

Isabella Rossilini, actor (La ChimeraConclave and Problemista)

Andrew Scott, actor/producer (All of Us Strangers and "Ripley")


BEST BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE

David Howard Thornton (Terrifier 3) Paul Mescal (All of Us Strangers) Kathryn Newton (Lisa Frankenstein)

Katy O'Brien (Love Lies Bleeding)

Justice Smith (I Saw the TV Glow)


BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Jarin Blaschke (Nosferatu)

Pierce Derks (In a Violent Nature)

Ben Fordesman (Love Lies Bleeding)

Sayombhu Mukdeeprom (Challengers)

Eric K. Yue (I Saw the TV Glow)


BEST EDITING

Sean Baker (Anora)

Mike Cheslik (Hundreds of Beavers)

Marco Costa (Challengers)

Jerome Eltabet, Coralie Fargeat and Valentin Féron (The Substance)

Alex Jacobs (In a Violent Nature)


BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

Destroy All Neighbors

Hundreds of Beavers

In a Violent Nature

The Substance