Best of 2024, arts•meme movie picks!

Film
in mumbai, with ‘all we imagine as light’

We’ll leave THE BRUTALIST, Timothée Chalamet, Angelina Jolie descending the staircase of the Metropolitan Opera House in a St. Laurent cape, possibly confusing herself with the diva she played in MARIA. Leave all that to others. Can we say a polite “no thank you” to the horrifying THE SUBSTANCE? As for ANORA, a wild movie ride, but the feminist in me must note yet another example of the male filmmaker’s undying fixation with the whore with the golden heart. The trials of a lap dancer. EMILIA PEREZ was all over the map, but we liked the dance sequences. And, shoot me, I liked THELMA, so much fun, and included it below.

Here’s where you get the lowdown, the skinny, the minimal ‘must see’s. These are the sparse motion pictures we unabashedly loved in the year, even though two of them will not have wide distribution till 2025!

HARD TRUTHS, writer/director Mike Leigh
Speaking of THE BRUTALIST, it took a full week to recover from the tough love on view in British maestro Mike Leigh’s domestic drama, a journey into the perils of intimacy — and mental illness. I loved it. But very hard-hitting. A tour de force performance by an actress with the chops to pull it off, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, depicting a mother afflicted with depression and the rough ride that gives those around her.
ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT, writer/director Payal Kapadia
Boy it’s so good, it’s so good, it’s still so good, and then, meh, in its final moments it isn’t anymore. Someone attached a twenty-minute “resolution/denouement” onto this stunning walk through the lives of three ladies in Mumbai: a steady nurse whose personal life has left her in shock; a sexy young woman whose hormones are in overdrive; and a hospital cook in a whom society has rendered invisible. Ah, the elegance of camera work as it captures the teeming urban landscape of Mumbai. A mesmerizing film that ties its story with a neat bow it really does not need.
NICKEL BOYS, writer/director RaMell Ross
Using a fluid camera in a subjective capture of the best life Florida has to offer a Black youngster in the early ’60s (and that’s a pretty low bar), RaMell Ross provides a shattering, immersive cinematic experience that no objective rendering could equal. I loved the movie and wrote remarks here.
PERFECT DAYS, writer/director Wim Wenders, co-writer Takuma Takasaki
More daily life in Asia, this time in Tokyo, where a simple man, by choice, cleans toilets and looks at trees. And so it flows. A masterwork reviewed on artsmeme here.
THELMA, writer/director Josh Margolin
She’s no little old lady from Pasadena. No, she’s a Jewish grandma in Encino played by June Squibb. Adorable set-ups, clever script, many laughs, and Richard Rountree in his final movie role. Further artsmeme remarks here.
CONCLAVE, director Edward Berger
Adapted from Robert Harris’s bestselling novel, Conclave is a “meticulous, impeccably acted, finely tuned thriller provides several twists and an abundance of topicality that may inspire a deeper dive into the source material.” So writes our critic Steve Koplowitz, whose full review is here.
STAY WITH US, writer/director Gad Elmaleh
After three years living and working in America, French-Jewish actor and comedian Gad Elmaleh decides to move back to Paris — as a Catholic. A super-dry, witty, challenging, charming, and so-Jewish movie, a cinema verite in which the filmmaker’s parents play themselves.

And three arts documentaries we liked and recommend.

OBSESSED WITH LIGHT: LOIE FULLER
The history, impact, and influence of Loie Fuller, a self-made genius dance artist experimenting in the effects of color and velocity on the dancer essentially hidden draped in fabric. The film features talking heads in ancillary fields, architecture, fashion design, puppetry, and of course dance, describing Fuller’s influence. It features the champion of Loie Fuller in the contemporary dance community, Jody Sperling.
THAT’S THE WAY GOD PLANNED IT: BILLY PRESTON
A child of South Los Angeles reared in traditions of the gospel church, Billy Preston grew up pounding piano and organ keyboards he could barely reach. He went on to provide swinging and soulful underpinnings to, significantly, the Beatles, Rolling Stones and many more sixties bands. His credible run at a solo career crumbled despite several strong hit records, brought down in great part by a nasty drug habit. Further remarks here.
ONCE UPON A TIME: MICHEL LE GRAND
Well, you’re talking about a genius. Composer/pianist/singer Michel Le Grand’s prodigious output, sparkling musicality, and his vast contribution to film scoring, particularly in collaboration with his dear associate, filmmaker, Jacques Demy, with whom he made two masterpieces, makes for delightful and insightful viewing in David Dessite’s documentary, a labor of love.

We are holding out for THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO seeing very soon.

Picks by artsmeme editor Debra Levine

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