Here are some films from 2024 that I think went under the radar and deserve more love. Now some of them had festival releases in 2023, but wide theatrical releases in 2024, so I am counting them!
All We Imagine as Light
This one’s like poetry in motion. Payal Kapadia crafts a gentle, hypnotic portrait of three women in Mumbai just trying to breathe. It’s the kind of cinema that takes its time – meditative, intimate, almost tactile. I didn’t watch it so much as float through it.
Ghostlight
I dare you to stay emotionally neutral during this one. It’s about a grieving man who stumbles into community theater, and somewhere between the lighting cues and the amateur Shakespeare, he finds himself again. This movie gave me real feelings – like, journal-worthy ones.
The Outrun
Adapted from Amy Liptrot’s memoir, this is one of the most emotional depictions of addiction and recovery I’ve seen in years. Saoirse Ronan retreats to the Orkney Islands, and what follows is like a spiritual reboot, which is quiet, raw, and beautifully unsanitized.
Wicked Little Letters
I live for Olivia Colman weaponizing passive aggression, and this movie delivers that in spades. It’s a scandal comedy set in a tiny English village where anonymous vulgar letters start appearing, and the social order unravels in the funniest way. It’s like Broadchurch had a drink and decided to loosen up.
I’m Still Here
This Brazilian drama might’ve been the biggest emotional gut-punch I didn’t see coming. Directed by Walter Salles, it’s a slow-burn family saga set during political unrest. It’s political, yes, but it’s also deeply personal.
Handling the Undead
If you thought you were tired of zombie films, think again. This Norwegian horror-drama doesn’t care about brains or apocalypse tropes. It’s a film about grief and what we’d do to see our dead loved ones again. It’s slow, cold, and heartbreaking. Think The Leftovers, but undead.
Good One
A deceptively small film about a teen girl going on a wilderness trip with her dad and his friends, and it absolutely cracked me open. It’s awkward, it’s tense, and it understands the weird nuances of trying to navigate masculinity as an outsider. Quiet, smart, and real.
The Sweet East
Imagine Alice in Wonderland filtered through indie-political satire, and you’re close. It’s a fever dream road trip across a fragmented America, and it never stops evolving. Bizarre, brilliant, and oddly hypnotic. A24 would’ve killed to release this first.
Black Dog
A tender, rugged Chinese drama that had me hooked from the first frame. It’s about a man returning home to round up stray dogs. It has some sparse dialogue, stark landscapes, and so much unspoken pain, and is a film that trusts your intelligence.
Animalia
If you like your sci-fi weird and metaphor-heavy, this Moroccan gem is for you. It’s got aliens, sure, but also faith, identity, and some really disorienting dream logic.
Crossing
A beautifully crafted Georgian film about an aunt searching for her trans niece across Europe. It’s sensitive without being preachy, and its compassion is as powerful as its cinematography. Bring tissues. Then bring your friends.
Four Daughters
Half-documentary, half-psychological re-enactment, this Tunisian film blurs reality and fiction in ways that left me reeling. It’s about motherhood, radicalization, and generational trauma – and it’s as formally inventive as it is emotionally raw.
Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person
Yes, that’s the title. Yes, it’s really good. This French-Canadian film is goth-girl cinema at its finest. A coming-of-age story where a vampire tries to live ethically and finds an unlikely bond with a depressed boy. Dark, funny, and more touching than you’d expect.
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