Flasz On Film

Continuing in the vein of providing much needed context for my Year in Review series and planting my most favourite movies of the year in some sort of solid grounding, along comes the second act of that shoulda-woulda-coulda experiment. After outlining a bunch of movies I should have watched and considered for my rankings, here are some movies I gladly would have considered had I been given the opportunity to do so. Sadly, these are all movies that – as far as the global film culture is concerned – will be forever remembered as 2024 releases, but for some reason they will all be released in the UK within the next two months.

1. Oh, Canada

Written and directed by Paul Schrader, Oh, Canada was released in the USA in December (after a Cannes world premiere in May), but so far its UK release date is yet to be determined. Now, my relationship with Schrader’s work remains a bit patchy, especially since I feel his “man in the room” trilogy didn’t need to be a trilogy as Master Gardener seemed a bit like an echo of the much more powerful The Card Counter and First Reformed. However, as much as I think Schrader’s work seems permanently coloured by his biggest screenwriting achievement (Taxi Driver), he remains an unflinching voice in the culture whose movies are always worth watching, so I’ll be looking forward to the release of Oh, Canada in my neck of the woods with bated breath.

2. Nightbitch

The new Marielle Heller film premiered at TIFF, went on the festival circuit and recently opened wide across the pond. Meanwhile, having made a few appearances at UK-based festivals I think it is currently in limited release in the UK, so for all intents and purposes it remains unavailable for Joe Public to consume. And the reason I have been looking forward to this film is three-fold: (1) I think Marielle Heller is a greatly interesting voice, (2) Amy Adams is a performer I never tire of watching and (3) the movie split the critical response down the middle. And I do love these marmite movies, so I’m here to find out for myself if it’s as inspired or as tone-deaf as the respective halves of the critical opinion seem to indicate.

3. Saturday Night

Co-written and directed by Jason Reitman, Saturday Night is one of those movies that has a good-to-excellent chance of endearing me to it on the back of its own nostalgic slant and the filmmakers personal connection to the subject matter. Also, I do have a soft spot for stories about the kitchen side of the entertainment industry, so there’s a strong possibility a movie about the genesis of SNL (which tangentially connects to the filmmaker whose father then went to work with a bunch of these crazy men) will be a feel-good experience I can honestly get behind. Sadly, despite its September US release, it is only going to land in UK cinemas on 31st January 2025.

4. Queer

At this point, any new Luca Guadagnino movie is an event as he seems to have tapped into the zeitgeist with ferocity and panache over the recent years. Therefore, the other part of his 2024 output (in addition to the much lauded Challengers) is a movie I am desperate to see. This adaptation of William S. Burroughs dealing with themes Guadagnino consistently returns to, like the struggle to find connections in the atomized world and the perennial pursuit to identify which tribe you belong to, is sure going to be a movie I’d like to see the minute it opens in my neck of the woods. Sadly, it is still only available in very limited engagements and Queer will open wide towards the mid-point of January 2025.

5. A Complete Unknown

This movie could honestly be a coin toss because I don’t have a strong record of vibing well with musical biopics. But at the same time I adore Inside Llewyn Davis and James Mangold, who’s at the helm of this Bob Dylan biopic, is the closest thing to Steven Spielberg we currently have, so chances are it’ll be good. Also, seeing Timothée Chalamet spread his wings and take on a more prestige role might be an interesting experience. And it also helps that the opinions I have heard thus far seem to be rather split, so I am now actively looking forward to a prestige biopic, which are words I never thought I’d see myself type on the screen. A Complete Unknown opens in the UK on 17th January 2025.

6. Hard Truths

Mike Leigh is a filmmaker who’s been around since the 70s and he typically takes a while between coming out with anything new. So, breaking a six-year silent streak with Hard Truths is enough to coax me into the theatre to see it for myself. It also helps that the critical opinion so far (and this movie has been in circulation on the festival circuit since its premiere at TIFF) seems to be skewed towards unfiltered praise. So, that’s all the excuse I need to look forward to Hard Truths which is technically a 2024 release but it seems that it will be available for wide consumption in the UK and the US only in January.

7. Nickel Boys

Adapted from a novel by Colson Whitehead (the acclaimed author of The Underground Railroad) and directed by RaMell Ross in his feature debut (transitioning from documentary work), Nickel Boys is a true critical darling. Therefore, I feel this is one of those movies I’d love to see for myself at the earliest opportunity as I tend to resonate very well with movies of similar ilk. I absolutely adored If Beale Street Could Talk, Small Axe and others and something tells me this film is going to be something. However, it only opens in the UK shortly after New Year’s Day.

8. The Brutalist

The Brutalist is a movie I have been looking forward to ever since I learned that Brady Corbet was going to be working on it as his third movie. Granted, his directorial work is an acquired taste (Vox Lux and Childhood of a Leader), but he is nonetheless one of the currently working young filmmakers I see as most promising. The guy has a strangely uncompromising way of translating stories into visuals and he has worked (as an actor) with a great collection of truly inspired artists like Michael Haneke, Gregg Araki or Noah Baumbach, so his upcoming movie about Holocaust survivors in America starring Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones and Guy Pearce is a movie I am now officially desperate to see. The Brutalist opens in the UK on 24th January 2025.

9. Maria

Pablo Larraín is probably one of my favourite living filmmakers whose work I almost uniformly adore. Therefore, I simply cannot wait to witness what looks like a conclusion to the loose thematic trilogy about iconic women, following Jackie and Spencer (which also happened to be my favourite movie of 2021). I think Larraín’s controlled Kubrickian directorial approach paired with Angelina Jolie in the titular role as Maria Callas are going to be something to behold and I cannot wait to see it. In fact, I may have had a very tiny window of opportunity to witness it in the cinema as it played locally one evening as an advanced screening (which I unfortunately missed due to other commitments), but let the record state that I will be camping outside the cinema to watch what Pablo Larraín has for me next. Maria opens in the UK on 10th January 2025.

10. Nosferatu

Robert Eggers seems to have become a bit of a lightning rod in the critical community as his work is praised to high heavens in some circles, while others dismiss him as “hollow” and “unnecessarily technical.” I happen to count myself among those who cherish the works he has released thus far (The Witch, The Lighthouse and The Northman) and I believe that the idea to remake Murnau’s Nosferatu (while inadvertently re-adapting Bram Stoker’s Dracula) is a wonderful opportunity for Eggers to lean heavily into what he does best, which is conjuring mood and tone and exercising a profound understanding of the way to imbue a period piece with vivid life and reflect the world as it may have been at the time using the viewer’s own senses and imagination while remaining elevated and artistically accomplished. If anything, had I had the opportunity to see this movie ahead of its release, I bet you’d have seen it on my best-of list as this is one movie I anticipated the most this year.

In a way, what I just outlined are ten 2025 movies I look forward the most even though for all intents and purposes they will be referred to as 2024 movies decades from now. Maybe one day I’ll look into this phenomenon a bit deeper but this is just a part of the reality I live in. Dwelling in the UK has its perks, but when it comes to watching movies everyone seems to rave about, we seem to get to watch them when everybody else has moved on. You can be sure that you’ll see some writing on any and all of those in the forthcoming weeks and months.