What Were the Best Films of 2024?

"The Brutalist"

As I suspected, a second viewing of "The Brutalist" proved it was projected out of focus at the Venice Film Festival press screening I attended. Ironically, on my 4k HDTV I was able to truly appreciate every aspect of this monumental work so much more than the first time.

"The Brutalist" is a highly ambitious epic centering on the real-life Hungarian-born Jewish architect László Tóth (Adrien Brody in his best role in years) who emigrates to the US in 1947 having survived the Holocaust, seeking a better life. What he finds is more heartache.

The film is a keen and scathing comment on class and antisemitism in our country post-WWII. Sadly, and scarily, it's timelier than ever.

"A Complete Unknown"

Yes, Timothée Chalamet fully embodies Bob Dylan in "A Complete Unknown." Yes, he gets the look and the voice and the cool. But he also honors the enigma. James Mangold is smart enough to let the music and poetry of Dylan's work tell most of the tale. Edward Norton, Monica Barbaro, and especially Elle Fanning, provide the film with its human pulse. The film doesn't shy away from Dylan's tempestuous relationship with both Joan Baez (Barbaro) and Suze Rotolo – known as Sylvie Russo in the film (Fanning).