"You know what my problem is with every fanatic fundamentalist, from the Catholics, to the Orthodox, to the KKK? The one thing you all have in common is, and you're too ignorant to see it, is that you're too inept to get by in the world, so your only recourse is to try and curtail the enjoyment of others."
Those are some of the first words we hear at the start of Justin Kurzel's The Order, the best film of 2024. They are spoken by Alan Berg (played by Marc Maron), a Jewish talk radio host was murdered by members of a white supremacist group (known as The Order) in 1984.
It's an arresting piece of voiceover, paired with a haunting God's eye view of a dark winding road in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. In a lot of ways, that winding road imagery was the perfect epilogue to 2024: there was unease, uncertainty and an overall devastation felt from the fascist figures taking power in the U.S. government.
I first saw The Order at AFI Fest in October. It was electrifying, timely and featured a scenery-chewing Jude Law -- who seemed to have walked out of a 1970s Sidney Lumet picture. The secret weapon of the film, however, is the subdued (but salient) performance by Nicholas Hoult as real-life American neo-Nazi Bob Mathews. There's something to be said about how a figure like Mathews preys on the lonely, disenfranchised sections of the population; one can see the parallels of certain figures in governmental power doing that now.
It's a real shame this film wasn't released before the election (it didn't get a wide release until December) because the film's coda might've made some people think twice before casting their ballot.
Here go all of 2024's best films:
- The Order Directed by Justin Kurzel
- Anora Directed by Sean Baker
- La Chimera Directed by Alice Rohrwacher
- Tuesday Directed by Daina Oniunas-Pusić
- Close Your Eyes Directed by Víctor Erice
- Nickel Boys Directed by RaMell Ross
- Nosferatu Directed by Robert Eggers
- The Bikeriders Directed by Jeff Nichols
- Here Directed by Robert Zemeckis
- Civil War Directed by Alex Garland
- Maria Directed by Pablo Larraín
- The Brutalist Directed by Brady Corbet
- I’m Still Here Directed by Walter Salles
- Sing Sing Directed by Greg Kwedar
- Longlegs Directed by Osgood Perkins
- Challengers Directed by Luca Guadagnino
- Red Rooms Directed by Pascal Plante
- Better Man Directed by Michael Gracey
- Exhibiting Forgiveness Directed by Titus Kaphar
- The Girl with the Needle Directed by Magnus von Horn
- A Complete Unknown Directed by James Mangold
- The Substance Directed by Coralie Fargeat
- Juror #2 Directed by Clint Eastwood
- September 5 Directed by Tim Fehlbaum
- Daughters Directed by Angela Patton & Natalie Rae
- The Old Oak Directed by Ken Loach
- Love Lies Bleeding Directed by Rose Glass
- Memory Directed by Michel Franco
- Kinds of Kindness Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
- Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga Directed by George Miller
- The Wild Robot Directed by Chris Sanders
- Smile 2 Directed by Parker Finn
- His Three Daughters Directed by Azazel Jacobs
- Flow Directed by Gints Zilbalodis
- Didi Directed by Sean Wang
Special Citation Award: (tie)
AGGRO DR1FT Directed by Harmony Korine
Megalopolis Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
Other films I enjoyed (in no particular order): Joker: Folie à Deux, Perfect Days, Trap, Inside Out 2, Alien: Romulus, Oddity, Speak No Evil, The Apprentice, The First Omen, Rebel Ridge, Queer, A Different Man, Nowhere Special, A Quiet Place: Day One, Thelma, Emilia Perez, Strange Darling, Problemista, Conclave, A Real Pain, Woman of the Hour, Coup de Chance, Nightbitch, MoviePass, MovieCrash, We Live In Time, Blitz, Small Things Like These, Oh, Canada, Hard Truths, Kneecap, and Never Let Go
Best Television Series (fiction): 3 Body Problem
Best Television Series (non-fiction): Ren Faire
Other television shows I enjoyed (in no particular order): The Penguin, True Detective: Night Country, Griselda, Ted, Tokyo Vice Season 2, The New Look, Expats, Trying Season 4, Acapulco Season 3, The Acoylte, Ripley, The Perfect Couple and Bad Monkey