HAMMER TO NAIL’S BEST FILMS OF 2024

As of the publication of these lists, the domestic box office for 2024 sees films like Inside Out 2, Deadpool & Wolverine, Despicable Me 4, Wicked, Moana 2, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Dune: Part Two, Twisters, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, and Kung Fu Panda 4 in the Top 10 for the year, profits-wise (as per Box Office Mojo). Here at Hammer to Nail, we may indeed like some or all of the above, but chances are we will champion quite a different selection, given our commitment to promoting independent cinema.

Below, our critics their own personal favorites of the year. The team comprises Editor-in-Chief Don Lewis, Editor-at-Large Matt Delman, and Lead Critic Christopher Llewellyn Reed, as well as Melanie Addington and Jessica Baxter. Where a given critic has reviewed the film, the title is linked to that review. In addition, we each write a blurb or two about films not reviewed. Haven’t seen some of these? Be sure to check them out!

Lead Critic Christopher Llewellyn Reed

NARRATIVE FICTION (in alphabetical order):

• All We Imagine As Light
• The Brutalist
• Conclave
• Flow
• I’m Still Here
• Memoir of a Snail
• Nightbitch
• The Seed of the Sacred Fig
• September 5
• Sing Sing

A still from MEMOIR OF A SNAIL

Memoir of a Snail: Animation comes in as great a variety as any other storytelling format. It is not strictly for children, nor has it ever been. Even the first Walt Disney short to star Mickey Mouse, “Steamboat Willie,” features content that veers towards the mean-spirited and away from family-friendly fare. Irrespective of primary intended audience, the best animated films speak universal truths that can engage a wide range of spectators. One thing is certain, however, which is that Memoir of a Snail, from Australian director Adam Elliot (Mary and Max), is a work of deep complexity that is clearly intended for a mature audience (though kids play a central role in the narrative). Its stop-motion images are the result of years of painstaking labor, resulting in a visually stunning movie filled with flights of fancy both heavy and light. It is sui generis, start to finish, and a gripping watch.

DOCUMENTARY (in alphabetical order):

• Billy & Molly: An Otter Love Story
• Dahomey
• Every Little Thing
• God & Country
• Mistress Dispeller
• No Other Land
• Secret Mall Apartment
• She Looks Like Me
• Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
• Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story

A still from BILLY & MOLLY: AN OTTER LOVE STORY

Billy & Molly: An Otter Love Story: In Billy & Molly: An Otter Love Story, from longtime wildlife photographer and cinematographer Charlie Hamilton James, we have the great fortune to see an adorable otter up close. We are in the Shetland Islands, a Scottish archipelago that is the United Kingdom’s northernmost domain. Molly is a river otter, even though she spends much of her time in the ocean. Most likely orphaned as a pup when her mother and sibling were hit by a car, she makes her way to the dock in front of a man named Billy’s house, surprisingly open to interacting with him when he first encounters her. Correctly guessing that she is alone, young, vulnerable, and hungry, he begins to feed her and act as surrogate parent. Eventually, through Billy’s ministrations, Molly improves and moves on. Billy does his part to save Molly, and Molly returns the favor by living as an otter was meant to live. How lucky we are to witness their relationship.

Critic Jessica Baxter

NARRATIVE FICTION (in order by preference):

• The Substance
• A Real Pain
• Challengers
• Anora
• Flow
• I Saw the TV Glow
• Queer
• Kinds of Kindness
• We Live in Time
• The People’s Joker

A still from THE SUBSTANCE

The Substance: Even folks who caught Coralie Fargeat’s fantastical gore-fest debut, Revenge, could not have been prepared for The Substance. Though Fargeat pays tribute to her influences in many shots (among them – Kubrick, Hitchcock, Lynch, and Cronenberg), she has alchemized her lessons into a wholly unique monstrosity (complementary), helmed by a juggernaut Demi Moore with nothing left to lose. It’s not a subtle commentary on the commodification of youth and Hollywood’s impossible beauty standards for women. It’s a missive that repeatedly punches you in the face. If you just sit back and let it happen, by the end, you’ll find yourself content to wallow in your pummeled brain. You’ll never look at a chicken drumstick the same way again.

DOCUMENTARY (in order by preference):

• Will and Harper
• Daughters
• Black Box Diaries
• Sugarcane
• BitConned
• Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution
• Gaza
• Realm of Satan
• God & Country: The Rise of Christian Nationalism
• Lover of Men: The Untold History of Abraham Lincoln

Editor-at-Large Matt Delman

NARRATIVE FICTION (in order by preference):

• The Brutalist
• La Chimera
• All We Imagine As Light
• Evil Does Not Exist
• Hard Truths
• The Substance
• The Beast
• Challengers
• Good One
• Love Lies Bleeding

A still from HARD TRUTHS

Hard Truths: As far as directors go, Mike Leigh seems like a convivial guy, but below the surface he is able to channel his rage through Marianne Jean-Baptiste’s sweltering, year best performance in Hard Truths. Audiences may recognize someone they know, as a mother, wife or sister, in Baptiste’s portrayal of a nerves-fully-frayed woman at the end of her rope. The first act of the film is an outrageous comedy thanks to Leigh’s screenplay and Baptiste’s volcanic delivery. I would hazard a guess that she contributed some of her own one-liners. But by the third act, the tone effortlessly shifts into drama and moments of heartbreaking clarity. While the plot relies heavily on dialogue and family dynamics, in Leigh’s hands it becomes enthralling, thanks in large part to Baptiste who has a real shot at the Oscar.

DOCUMENTARY (in order by preference):

• Gaucho Gaucho
• Sabbath Queen
• No Other Land
• Sugarcane
• Skywalkers A Love Story
• Dahomey
• Resynator
• Ernest Cole: Lost and Found
• Girls State
• Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat

Critic Melanie Addington

NARRATIVE FICTION (in alphabetical order):

• A Different Man
• In The Summers
• Kneecap
• Los Frikis
• Megalopolis
• The People’s Joker
• The Secret Art of Human Flight
• The Substance
• Thelma
• Tokyo Cowboy

A still from MEGALOPOLIS

Megalopolis: Of all the edgy and fun independent films released this year, one takes the cake for being the ballsiest release – Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis. Love or hate it, you likely saw the spectacle at least once on the big screen, and if you didn’t, you sure missed something special. A once-in-a-lifetime release.  Coppola self-funded the $120 million project, taking out a line of credit on his winery. As a Roman epic set in modern-day America, its work as fiction reminds us of a hard truth ahead: that empires have fallen before when taken over by the wealthy and ludicrous and that we are heading to the same fate, ignoring utopic visions of what the American dream once was.

DOCUMENTARY (in alphabetical order):

• Black Box Diaries
• Checkpoint Zoo
• Eno
• Missing from Fire Trail Road
• Never Look Away
• No Other Land
• Porcelain War
• Red Fever
• Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
• Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted

– Christopher Llewellyn Reed (@ChrisReedFilm), Jessica Baxter (@tehBaxter), Matthew Delman (@ItsTheRealDel) and Melanie Addington (@melanieladdington)

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