It’s that time of year. A time to reflect. A time to decompress. A time to put the best content of the year on a pedestal. A time to realize that what was supposed to be a weak year in film and television was anything but. 
Yes, it’s time for our annual top 10 lists.
READ MORE: The Playlist’s Top 20 Films of 2024
Granted, a studio or established distributor produced only one movie on my top 10 list this year. (Well, yes and no. It probably depends on how you consider the financing and production background of my number 1 film.) That being said, every other title was an acquisition. Sorta wild. On the television side, I can’t remember the last time an animated series cracked my top 10 or two shows I had to force myself to watch would make the list (can you guess which ones they were?).
The Playlist has already published its year-end Top 20 Films and Top 20 TV Programs.  I had some influence on the former and zero on the latter. Happily, I always publish my own lists, and for 2024, the results were eclectic across the board. And yes, if you subscribed to my new newsletter, The Breakdown, you would have gotten them first.
FILM
1. “The Substance”
Even more impressive on subsequent viewings, Coralie Fargeat’s masterpiece will influence filmmakers and artists for decades.

2. “The Seed of the Sacred Fig”
Should have won the Palme d’Or.

3. “A Real Pain”
Sure, Kieran Culkin is great, but the dramedy’s secret weapon is Jesse Eisenberg‘s work in front of the camera.

4. “Challengers”
The real directing tour-de-force from Luca Guadagnino that was released this year. 

5. “The Brutalist”
Brady Corbet’s immigrant epic will haunt you. And how has Joe Alwyn‘s superb performance gotten lost in all the hype?

6. “Hard Truths”
Marianne Jean-Baptiste with a performance for the ages. You cannot hype it enough.

7. “The Beast”
Bertrand Bonello’s audacious era-jumping epic features absolute stellar turns from Léa Seydoux and George MacKay and an ending that will stab you in the heart.

8. “Sing Sing”
Colman Domingo is incredible in one of the most unexpected tear-jerkers in years.

9. “Civil War”
Alex Garland’s near-future thriller hits too close to home, but so close we haven’t stopped thinking about it since it arrived in theaters last March.

10. “Sujo”
Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez‘s inspired collaboration surprises you again and again. 

Notable: “Flow,” “In The Summers,” “Armand,” “Conclave,”  “Kinds of Kindness,” “The Room Next Door,” “Nosferatu,” “Wicked”