Flasz On Film

The other side of the coin I explored in the previous list of 2024 films I didn’t get to see because they will open theatrically in the UK in 2025 is that the same happened last year as well. And many UK-based critics acquiesce to this state of affairs by composing their end-of-year lists using the UK release date as the main criterion. Now, I don’t think it’s a good idea because it only works for the moment and in twenty years time these movies will be referred to in accordance to their US release dates. Which means that I always end up missing out on a good handful of movies, some of which would have messed with my rankings. As such, because they’d otherwise never get mentioned in this context, here are five movies that I could have considered for my 2024 list had I been thinking like a UK-based critic (and also movies I would have definitely considered for my 2023 list had I had access to them at the time.

1. Priscilla

As a massive fan of Sofia Coppola I looked forward to this film for a while and, unsurprisingly, enjoyed it quite a bit. This emotive tale of love, possession, celebrity and taboo was a perfect continuation of Coppola’s own career-long exploration of womanhood in the spotlight and on the outskirts of fame. (Full Review Here)

2. All of Us Strangers

Andrew Haigh’s All of Us Strangers broke my heart asunder with its potent and emotionally draining story of love and belonging wrapped around a towering duo of performances from Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal who had me transfixed. This thoroughly understated and soul-crushing poem about a search for love in the atomized world could have easily made it close to the top of either the 2023 or the 2024 best-of list for me. (Full Review Here)

3. American Fiction

This was one of the biggest surprises for me and a movie I tend to think about a lot almost a year after seeing it theatrically. A brutally poignant, razor-sharp and utterly uncompromising in its critique of the current cultural landscape, American Fiction was also exceedingly funny and subtle in equal measures. As a result of that, Erasure (which is the book this movie was based on) is now lying on my shelf waiting for me to pick it up and immerse myself in its satire once more. (Full Review Here)

4. The Holdovers

Even though I never vibed with Alexander Payne’s more recent films like Downsizing or Nebraska, The Holdovers took me by surprise with its irreverent energy and a bite I thought this filmmaker had lost years ago. It’s funny, witty, caustic and intellectually accomplished while also working exceedingly well as a period piece and it could have easily found its way close to the top of the list had I used a different guiding heuristic while working on it. (Full Review Here)

5. Poor Things

Look, there’s no easy way to say this. Despite the fact I had put Past Lives as my number one last year and I still stand by this choice, Poor Things could have easily undermined this decision. In fact, I think I could have placed it as my second favourite movie of this year as well, just behind Anora, if I used the UK release date as the criterion of eligibility. Lanthimos makes weirdness incredibly familiar and accessible in this utterly wild spectacle and also drives the viewer into places of utter thematic discomfort using a play on the age-old Frankenstein archetype. It was cinematic perfection and it pains me that I didn’t get to rave about it at the time when everybody else had the opportunity to do so and I wouldn’t want a great movie like this to slip into the limbo because of outside circumstances involving release calendars. (Full Review Here)

Thus, the “filmy” part of my own 2024 in Review is now complete. I hope you have enjoyed it thus far, dear Reader, and maybe you might have added a few titles to your watchlist as a result.