Written by Andreas Babiolakis

2023 is done.

Okay, let’s not get too bitter. 2023 was actually quite fruitful when it came to film, so there’s not much to complain about on that front (and this isn’t the kind of site that deviates and brings up political goings-on without any connection to films, television series, and/or the film and TV industries, so I won’t be indulging in such content now in order to bring up the biggest problems and crises of last year). Still, I always like to look ahead with optimistic eyes. Will 2024 hold up as well as 2023 did? It’ll be tough, considering that this past year was easily the best of the 2020s thus far. Even so, I’d like to think that this wasn’t a one-off event of a year and that we are hitting a stride within the decade’s prime. I don’t like good things to slow down, and there are quite a few films that have led me to believe that we may have more great cinema coming our way; perhaps there won’t be any lulls after all (let’s hope). As per usual, I’ll not bring up any films I’ve anticipated on past lists so I can get excited about more work (for instance, Dune 2 was supposed to be a 2023 release, so I already shared my glee about its release in last year’s article of the same topic). Anywho, there is no worse way to kick off a year than by dilly-dallying. Let’s get into ten of the films I am looking forward to the most in 2024.

The Actor

Anomalisa is one of my favourite films of the 2010s and an underrated film by Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson. Well, we finally get to see the latter break out on his own with the feature film The Actor, starring André Holland as an actor who is suffering from amnesia after being beaten nearly to death and is tasked with — essentially — acting as the person he thinks he was. Meta. It sounds like a dark, unique take on existentialism that I am all for, and it will be great to see Johnson take on such a fascinating feature single-handedly.

Civil War

I’ll never not be excited for an Alex Garland project (yes, even if it winds up being Men, which was disappointing but had interesting and worthwhile components to it). With that in mind, here’s Civil War: the writer-director’s first attempt at an action feature. His films usually have something to say, and here he comments on the current divide in the United States via a futuristic look at the titular civil war that only breaks the nation further. In general, I find Garland a risk-taker of a director: the kind whose biggest gambles feel like they will age well with time or are worthy of being revisited multiple times. I don’t expect Civil War to be any less rewarding, thought-provoking, and polarizing.

The End

One of my favourite documentary filmmakers, Joshua Oppenheimer (The Act of Killing, The Look of Silence), is finally returning, only this time he is presenting us with a narrative film (and a musical, of all things). Nonetheless, Oppenheimer is not one to shy away from the atrocities of the world, so this film will take on the end of the world and the surviving family responsible for the death of everyone else. Will they be forced to grapple with guilt or remorse? Will they choose to ignore the extinction they caused? Will music be their escape or their consciousness? Only time will tell, but The End is coming in 2024.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

I’ll be honest: not everything about the Furiosa trailer has sat well with me (mainly the heavy use of CGI when the previous film, Mad Max: Fury Road, was such a spectacle partially because of its heavy use of practical effects). Nonetheless, I feel like it is safe to say that most fans of George Miller’s previous film(s) have waited many years for this Furiosa prequel, and you can count me in that group of eager thrill seekers. I feel like enough time and talent went into this film that it will be a must-see action release this year. Will it be as good as Fury Road or better? Likely not, since I consider that film to be one of the greatest action films of all time, but anything even close will do. I’m also happy to be proven wrong and surprised, so let’s see where Furiosa lands quality-wise (I still expect it to be great).

Kinds of Kindness

I’m always down for more Yorgos Lanthimos, and you can call me impatient. Poor Things wound up being both my favourite Lanthimos feature and my second favourite film of 2023, and yet the news of the Greek auteur’s next film already has me prepared for more. Previously titled AND, this anthological film will have actors playing multiple parts in three different stories (all of which are set in the United States). Considering the Lanthimos vets who are returning to work with him again (Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe) and the newcomer actors who feel like they will work nicely in his absurdist style (Hong Chau, Jesse Plemons, Hunter Schafer), Kinds of Kindness bodes very well.

Maria

While I am a huge fan of Pablo Larraín in general, I particularly adore his nightmarish fables based on real, strong women and the tribulations they face (Jackie and Spencer), so the third such film, Maria, seems promising to me. Based on the final years of opera singer Maria Callas’ life, Maria features Angelina Jolie as the woman of the hour. Not much else is known about the project yet (like which brilliant musician will write the score this time around after Mica Levi and Jonny Greenwood), but what else is needed after the track record we already have? Count me in!

Me

Me was announced only days ago by the time of this article, and you can already consider it one of the films I anticipate the most this year. I am one of the biggest Don Hertzfeldt fans you will ever find (I consider It’s Such a Beautiful Day and the first World of Tomorrow to be masterpieces of animation), and I don’t need to know anything outside of the two-letter title to watch this film as early as possible. It would be nice to find out what this film is really about (there’s not much information as of yet) just to know what I’m in for, but I also think Hertzfeldt is a director whose films work best when you watch them blindly.

Mickey 17

We finally have a new Bong Joon-ho film after the game-changing Parasite. As always, this film is a social commentary on classism and the suffering of the working class and lower. This time, it’s a science fiction adaptation of Edward Ashton’s Mickey7 (Joon-ho’s film is the slightly-differently titled Mickey 17), and is Joon-ho’s first English language film since Okja; I do prefer his fully Korean films because his ideas and themes seem to translate better in them, but I’ve never seen him direct a bad film, and I don’t think Mickey 17 will be his first either. We don’t have to wait very long as the film has a March 29 release date.

Nosferatu

I usually prefer original ideas to remakes, but there hasn’t been a project as perfect on paper as this one in quite some time. If anyone should be remaking Nosferatu yet again (if there is even a call to remake it at all), it must be Robert Eggers, whose handle on horror and anthropological, geographical, and historical perfectionism makes him the ideal director. We’ll have to wait until Christmas for this title, but I think such a promising title warrants the extra time and dedication put into it. Egger is one of the strongest directors of this most recent wave of masters, so this is one remake that will most likely be essential viewing.

Polaris

Has it already been over six years since Lynne Ramsay’s previous film, You Were Never Really Here? That’s more than enough time for her latest film, which will finally be arriving this year (I hope)! Polaris reunites Ramsay with Joaquin Phoenix (whose partner, Rooney Mara, also stars alongside him here) in a film about a photographer coming face-to-face with the devil during an expedition. We don’t know much more than this so far, but I’m expecting harrowing, visceral cinema from Ramsay.

Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Ryerson University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.

10 Anticipated Films of 2024