From "I Saw the TV Glow"
It’s been a weird year for film. The writer and actor strikes left us without a ton of obvious awards contenders. Still, we managed to get plenty of interesting and exciting films. Here were some of my favorites (and you can find the full list on my Letterboxd).
I Saw the TV Glow
(Spoilers ahead)
I Saw the TV Glow is one of the most profoundly disturbing movies ever made. It worms its way into your head, past your defenses and burrows into your deepest fears. It doesn’t even show any violence.
The movie follows two teenagers, Owen and Maddy, who bond other a goofy ‘90s teen monster-of-the-week show called The Pink Opaque. Then Maddy vanishes. She reappears years later and tells Owen that she has been in the show. The Pink Opaque is real, and she and Owen are actually its two female protagonists. Owen needs to wake up from his fake life so he can return to the real world (The Pink Opaque). All he has to do is bury himself alive.
This news is delivered in one of the best pieces of acting of the year. Brigette Lundy-Paine tells him the show is real in a monologue so intense it gave me goosebumps. When she urges Owen to wake up and become his true self, you believe she’d punch through concrete to make it happen.
Owen turns her down, though. He’s too scared to do it. It sounds crazy. So Maddy disappears, and Owen gets old alone. Movie over.
TV Glow is a horror movie directed by a non-binary person who transitioned late in life and it depicts what happens to a trans person too terrified to transition. It shows closeted queer people what happens if you’re never brave enough to bury your old self - you get old, wither and die.
The film is designed to crack the shell of anyone not living their true life. It’s no surprise a top review of the movie on film dork site Letterboxd is from a trans woman who realized if she didn’t come out, she would end up like Owen.
I Saw the TV Glow is a capital-g Great horror film, because it mines one of the scariest feelings a person can experience - the feeling of being trapped in the wrong life, and knowing you need to change.
Challengers
Challengers follows two friends turned rivals as they compete on the court in tennis and off the court for a woman (Zendaya). Director Luca Guadagnino fearlessly abandons subtlety for a sweaty, hyperactive clash between two guys who feel most alive when they’re challenged the hardest.
The boys are great, but the star is Zendaya. She portrays a complex character that would make zero sense in a lesser actress’ hands. In hers, we see a woman driven to compete, someone who would rather break her own leg than give anything less than her best. She just wants to see some good fucking tennis.
I would also be remiss to not shout out the stunning score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (YouTube, Spotify). Their synth-y tracks are instantly iconic and their best work since The Social Network.
Twisters
I have a weakness for big, dumb, well-crafted movies. If you can give me two hours of polished entertainment about anything, no matter how silly, I’ll watch it. It’s why I’ve always had a weakness for Armageddon and now, Twisters.
Twisters is a full-throated cowboy whoop. It’s a yell of pride as you drive into a storm at top speed. It is the most fun I had in a theater all year.
The movie follows a group of young storm chasers as they try to figure out how to stop the winds devastating the Great Plains. That’s… kind of it. The rest of the movie is big, dumb and a blast. It’s setpiece after setpiece of people running toward or away from big tornadoes.
The thing is, though, Twisters rocks. It’s directed by Lee Isaac Chung, the guy who wrote and directed 2020’s Minari. Going from a tiny Oscar-winning drama about the Korean-American experience to “what if there were multiple Twisters” may seem improbable, but Chung finds the throughline with a deep affection for the American West. He knows the people he grew up with in rural Arkansas like the back of his hand.
Twisters is probably long gone from your local theater. On the off chance it comes back in the future, do not miss it. This movie demands to be seen on the biggest screen possible.
Sasquatch Sunset
Sasquatch Sunset follows a family of sasquatches as they travel through a forest. There are no human characters. It’s 88 minutes of sasquatch grunts.
If that sounds impenetrable… well, it is. But it’s not lazy and it’s not a bit. The movie really is interested in these creatures. There is genuine pathos. By the end, I was actually bummed out.
Here’s an example of what I like, without spoiling too much (can an English-free sasquatch movie be spoiled?). Over the course of the movie, the family of sasquatches faces some tragedies. The movie ends with the mother coming face to face with a large sasquatch statue. At first, she growls, thinking it is a rival. When it does nothing, her posture changes. She stares at it, then cries out in sadness. It kind of feels like she’s come face to face with Sasquatch God and wants to know why he makes her suffer.
I don’t know. Maybe I’m reading too much into the grunting. That happens with sasquatch movies.
The Substance
(NSFW trailer)
The Substance is the most intense theatrical experience of 2024. It is a full-body workout. It is almost impossible to recommend because of how disgusting it is. It’s perfect.
This is the first movie in seven years from Coralie Fargeat, a French writer-director. Fargeat’s last movie, Revenge, got seemingly little notice. This confused me, because Revenge displayed phenomenal talent. For me, it cemented Fargeat as a superb director.
The Substance is proof I actually underestimated her. Fargeat has proved herself one of the best directors working in horror today with a demented fairy tale you have to see. Demi Moore plays Elisabeth Sparkle, a woman who’s turned 50 and is being pushed out of Hollywood by her sexist pig boss (Dennis Quaid, giving a Verhoeven-worthy performance). Desperate to hang onto her youth, she tries a mysterious shot called The Substance. One grievous injury later, her body produces Margaret Qualley as her youthful doppelganger Sue.
Only one of the two can be conscious at any given time. Elisabeth and Sue switch off every seven days, or else. Things obviously unravel, but they unravel to insane, Cronenbergian degrees. This movie contains some of the most intense body horror I’ve ever seen. It a rough, rough watch.
The People’s Joker
The last 15 years of DC Extended Universe movies have been rough for the Joker. We went from a Heath Ledger performance so good it won an Oscar to, well… Jared Leto laughing in a circle of knives.
The Clown Prince of Crime just hasn’t felt transgressive lately. Thank god for The People’s Joker.
Written, directed and starring trans female comic Vera Drew, The People’s Joker is both heartfelt and unhinged. It tracks Drew as she grows up, becomes a comedian and of course transitions into being a female Joker.
Drew is a talented filmmaker. Her pre-movie digital short, in which she marries a blow-up Joker doll, is the funniest thing I’ve seen all year. I also loved her visual aesthetics - she layers flat moving images on top of each other in a manner reminiscent of the Wachowskis’ live-action Speed Racer.
Not to be corny, but The People’s Joker embodies the spirit of the Joker better than anything since The Dark Knight. For one, they did not have Warner Bros’ permission to use its universe. For another, they use that universe to tell the story of a transgender woman, something a major corporation would not touch with a 10,000-foot pole in today’s bigoted climate. You couldn’t ask for more from a Joker movie.
Megalopolis
My partner has made me sit through a lot of abstract, modernist films. They love weird nonsense like Southland Tales, Synechdoce, New York and The Green Knight. It’s taught me some movies don’t want to be literal. Some movies use plot, characters or setting to just invoke a feeling. Good modernist films speak to you on a subconscious level. Nothing makes literal sense, but everything makes perfect sense.
So, when I saw Francis Ford Coppola’s misshapen masterpiece Megalopolis, I immediately recognized it for what it was. This is hundred-million-dollar modernism. It doesn’t make a lick of sense, but you know what? It’s good. It is a good movie.
Megalopolis features Adam Driver as a visionary genius architect / engineer who has figured out how to stop time. I cannot summarize the rest of the plot because it is too complicated, and because it doesn’t matter.
This is Coppola’s ode to the creative process. Adam Driver represents the artist. He dreams of the future, and then shares that dream with humanity. What is a piece of art if not a moment in time, frozen on the page or screen? Art reflects us, challenges us and pushes us toward utopia, or something like it. By having the conversation, we create utopia.
Kinds of Kindness
It’s nice to see director Yorgos Lanthimos let loose. That guy’s been too uptight for his last couple movies, which were very normal. Kinds of Kindness is a triptych of nasty little modern-day fairy tales. It’s bad people making worse decisions, plus a funny little dance.
Furiosa
Director George Miller returned this year with a prequel to Mad Max: Fury Road. Fury Road is, without hyperbole, one of the greatest action films ever made. It is an astonishing masterpiece, boasting flawless storytelling and unparalleled stunts.
Furiosa has some of that. Miller gives us a chase scene or two, just enough to remind us he is the best living action director. But this time, he’s more interested in the emotions of the wasteland. He dives deep into the psychology of the survivors. In his world, everyone is wounded. Everyone’s just a few steps from madness. The difference between a hero and a villain, according to Miller, is those who stop walking.
Love Lies Bleeding
(NSFW trailer)
Love Lies Bleeding is a fun crime thriller. When a mysterious stranger (Katy O’Brian) rolls into town, she gets romantically involved with a local (Kristen Stewart) and pulled into a violent mess.
Love Lies Bleeding comes to us from Rose Glass, who also directed the horror film Saint Maude. I enjoyed this more than Saint Maude, despite the latter having a trained cockroach who is credited by name. Love you, Nancy.
The movie is a good time, but the real joy is Katy O’Brian. This is her first lead role, and she kills it. Insane charisma with off-the-charts physical presence. This woman is jacked. It is so much fun watching her on screen, and I can’t wait to see her in the next Mission: Impossible.