I think as you’ve all come to know, there were a lot of movies in my life this year. 130 to be exact! It might be my lowest total since the start of the pandemic, but I was busy! What can I say? Anyway, I was also so lucky to take part in so many film festivals this year, both in person and virtually, and I hope the trend continues until I tire of it (HA!). Here are my favorite films of the year (and see the rest at the bottom!).
No Other Choice – I think part of the appeal of Park Chan-wook’s latest film for me is that I got to see it when it was initially released – IN KOREA! On an evening with no plans I was able to track down a little indie theater that shows films with English subtitles. Just because I’ve been learning the Korean language does not at all mean I could follow a movie of this quality with what I currently know. In this film, Man-soo loses his management job when the paper company he works for gets bought out by a US company. In order to try and keep his family’s life comfortable, he does some increasingly desparate acts. As each act progresses, they get funnier and also somehow more grisly. I loved every second of it, and I can’t wait to watch it again when it finally gets a wide release in the US, likely later this month.
Relay – Though I technically saw this at TIFF in 2024, it didn’t get its official release until late this summer. And it still just blows most of the things I saw this year out of the water. Yes, this time around I knew the twist, but that still didn’t make it any less delicious. In fact, it just made me want to pay closer attention to any and all details in the film to see if I could have actually predicted it. Nope. It’s on Netflix currently, so everybody should be taking some time out of their lives to sit down and watch this masterpiece.
Marty Supreme – Nothing like squeezing this in a few days before the New Year! Co-written and directed by Josh Safdie, I really shouldn’t have been that surprised at how anxious I was feeling for Marty Mauser as this film progressed. Marty is a ping pong prodigy in the US, but in order to keep going up, he needs to keep palying in overseas tournaments. The man barely made it to London to lose, but the rest of the film is spent him doing the craziest and most risky stuff to try and get the money together to go to Japan. He keeps failing, but bless him for continuing to try. This film was fantastic, and if you can stomach the chaos, it is 100 percent something to check out.
F1 – I don’t know what it is about racing movies, but I love them. Could you pay me to go watch an F1 race in real life? Absolutely not. But here, we get the tension from the race intertwined with the drama of real life. In order to help an old racing friend, retired Sonny Hayes agrees to be the team’s second driver in order to secure a Grand Prix win so the team can stay with his friend. There are definitely some battling egos in this film, but the banter is fun and the races are tense, and I can see why Brad Pitt still makes those ‘Sexiest Man’ lists. This was a blast from start to finish (see what I did there) and you’d be a fool to miss watching this.
Sorry, Baby – Though I felt this was one of Sundance’s weakest years as far as virtual offerings go, there is no denying the power of this debut drama from writer, director, and lead actress Eva Victor. She plays Agnes, a professor, somewhat detached from her life, which hasn’t changed since she was sexually assulted by her professor while she was in grad school. It’s a film about coping, and how that looks for people. While there is comedy laced throughout the film, it’s more somber moments stand out. I especially like John Carroll Lynch’s small role near the end of the film.
K-Pop Demon Hunters – I’d be remise to not include the movie that finally made K-Pop a big deal to the non-listeners out there. It helps that the movie is actually great. As someone who is also not that fond of animated films, I liked that the style varied from time to time. I was also a huge fan of the short run time bursting at the seams with material that actually made the story solid from start to finish. Rumi, a half hunter/half demon, keeps her true identity secret as she slays bad demons with her bandmates, Mira and Zoey, in order to keep the Honmoon in tact. All of that is put to the test when equally musically gifted, Jinu, enters the picture, threatening her career and her identity. Derpy Tiger is THE best character – a cute, fluffy, blue tiger? What’s not to love? Plus an earworm of a soundtrack gives me hope that this could walk away with an Oscar later this spring.
Lurker – If you want a film to make you both uncomfortable and also give you the willies, look no further. Matthew wants to be famous. He might think he just wants friends, but as this film plugs along, it’s clear that he just doesn’t want to do much work to get worldwide recognition. In order to get there though, he has to start small potatoes, but even that’s a challenge. He somehow manages to impress up-and-coming musician, Oliver, but it’s too late before Oliver realizes Matthew for the blood-sucking leach that he is. While at times this film dragged a little bit, it more than made up for in the outcome.
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You – Maybe it’s because I don’t have anxiety in my real life that these types of films appeal to me. Like, how can a person’s life spiral so hard and so fast? Where is the bottom? In something quite unique, this film explores what I believe is caregiver burnout in the form of Linda. A therapist, she’s basically the sole caregiver for her young daughter battling an eating disorder. As things start to fall apart even outside of her progress with her daughter, she starts making increasingly poor decisions that could have dire consequences. I was truly exasperated near the end of this film when finally the tension broke, but I know it won’t end up being an easy fix.
The Monkey – This movie was so freaking fun! Even though it came out back in February, I still think about the blood and guts of this film. Hal has had a lifetime of bad luck, all thanks to a creepy ass wind-up monkey toy that’s been in his family forever. Thinking that’s it’s finally been buried for good, he finds himself fighting for his own life when The Monkey’s curse is awoken again. We learn that his estranged identical twin brother has a lot to do with it. The kills are creative and gory, but this film was so funny, too! If you can handle a few little jump scares and some blood, this is definitely a fun one to add to the list.
Twinless – While it was not my favorite film from Sundance, it sure takes the award for shock factor. Truly, this is one of the few films from the year whose twist had my jaw drop. I couldn’t stop thinking about it, and actually, I still can’t. The twist is revealed early, but it’s fun to see how Dennis navigates his web of lies as the film goes on. I don’t want to say much more because that will ruin the fun if you decide to watch it, but as a twin, I absolutely had to.
There were actually so many good movies that came out this year, so some other totally worthy films that you should check out include Presence, Heart Eyes, Black Bag, The Amateur, Warfare, Sinners, Superman, The Knife, Rental Family, and 10DANCE.
And as usual, not all films can be good, so some of the films that made me sad to have spent time watching them this year include By Design, F*** Marry Kill, A Working Man, Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning, Bride Hard, The Roses, Frankenstein, Him, Emilia Perez, and Honey Don’t! If you’re curious as to why I found them to be some of the worst, please go search for my reviews on the site!
