Film Comment’s Top 20 Films Of 2024 List Includes ‘All We Imagine As Light,’ ‘Dahomey,’ No Other Land’ & More

When it comes to annual lists of each year’s top films, Film Comment’s always manages to please, in no small part because it’s so thorough. The online publication (RIP, its print magazine) boasts a top 20 of its favorite movies each December and an additional list of the best films still seeking US distribution.  That’s some extensive coverage, and there are always a couple of picks in there that one never would’ve stumbled upon without it.

Film critics Molly Haskell and Michael Koresky joined Film Comment editors Devika Girish and Clinton Krute at Lincoln Center last night to unveil both lists, which were culled from votes by 116 contributors and colleagues of the publication worldwide. And while it’s best to let the two lists (check them out below) speak for themselves, let’s briefly look at some highlights anyway.  Payal Kapadia‘s Cannes 2024 favorite “All We Imagine As Light” takes the top spot on the year’s best list, with Radu Jude‘s “Do Not Expect Too Much From The End Of The World” coming in at #2. The rest of the top 10 features some familiar acclaimed 2024 films, like Mati Diop‘s “Dahomey” at #3, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi‘s “Evil Does Not Exist” at #6, and Sean Baker‘s Palme d’Or winner “Anora” at #10.

As for the Top 10 Undistributed Films Of 2024, “No Other Land” takes the top spot; no surprise there, as critics have championed the doc since it premiered at the Berlinale in February. Other highlights on the list include Albert Serra‘s “Afternoons Of Solitude,” which will almost certainly get a US theater release soon, Kiyoshi Kurosawa‘s “Cloud,” and Ben Russell and Guillaume Cailleau‘s “DIRECT ACTION.”

Check out each list in its entirety below, and be sure to add those you haven’t seen yet to your watchlist.

Film Comment’s Top 20 Films Released in 2024

1. All We Imagine as Light, Payal Kapadia, India/France/Netherlands/Luxembourg
2. Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World, Radu Jude, Romania
3. Dahomey, Mati Diop, France/Senegal/Benin
4. No Other Land, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, and Rachel Szor; Palestine/Norway
5. The Beast, Bertrand Bonello, France
6. Evil Does Not Exist, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Japan
7. La Chimera, Alice Rohrwacher, Italy
8. Last Summer, Catherine Breillat, France
9. Janet Planet, Annie Baker, U.S.
10. Anora, Sean Baker, U.S.
11. Hard Truths, Mike Leigh, U.K./Spain
12. A Traveler’s Needs, Hong Sangsoo, South Korea
13. Nickel Boys, RaMell Ross, U.S.
14. The Human Surge 3, Eduardo Williams, Argentina/Portugal/Netherlands/Taiwan/Brazil/Hong Kong/Sri Lanka/Peru
15. Close Your Eyes, Víctor Erice, Spain
16. A Different Man, Aaron Schimberg, U.S.
17. I Saw the TV Glow, Jane Schoenbrun, U.S.
18. Juror #2, Clint Eastwood, U.S.
19. Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat, Johan Grimonprez, U.S.
20. Megalopolis, Francis Ford Coppola, U.S.

Film Comment’s Top 10 Undistributed Films of 2024

1. No Other Land, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, and Rachel Szor; Palestine/Norway
2. Afternoons of Solitude, Albert Serra, Spain/France/Portugal
3. DIRECT ACTION, Ben Russell and Guillaume Cailleau, France/Germany
4. Pepe, Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias, Dominican Republic/Namibia/Germany/France
5. Scénarios + Exposé Du Film Annonce Du Film “Scénario,” Jean-Luc Godard, France/Japan
6. exergue – on documenta 14, Dimitris Athiridis, Greece
7. Cloud, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Japan
8. bluish, Lilith Kraxner and Milena Czernovsky, Austria
9. My Undesirable Friends: Part I — Last Air in Moscow, Julia Loktev, U.S.
10. Lázaro at Night, Nicolás Pereda, Canada/Mexico