If all art is a form of escapism, then this year's best output deserves extra credit for helping us travel far and wide.
From prestige miniseries which took us back in time (15th century Japan) and across the seas (the Amalfi Coast of the early 1960s), to wide-screen vistas both real (Tuscany) and imagined (Arrakis!), this was a year where getting away from the familiar was as easy as sitting down in a darkened cinema -- or booting up an interactive fairy tale.
Here, then, are my picks for the best of 2024...
FILM
Proof positive that Quebecois auteur Denis Villeneuve has survived the transition from weird Canadian arthouse (Enemy remains fantastic) to big screen spectacular, DUNE: PART TWO is the best sci-fi sequel since, well, Villeneuve's own Blade Runner 2049. Improving on its (very good) predecessor in every respect, Dune Two is more exciting, more dramatic, way funnier, and more varied, deftly weaving together such threads as Paul (Timothée Chalament) and Chani (Zendaya)'s burgeoning romance, the political machinations of the evil House Harkonnen, and Paul's swift, but believable, ascendance to would-be space messiah. The sandworm-riding sequence is one for the ages, and probably the best use of IMAX I've ever seen.
Nearly eight months later, it's the visuals of LA CHIMERA I remember most. There's shaggy dog Arthur (Josh O'Connor) in his impeccably grimy white suit, leaning coolly against the aluminum-sided shack he calls home. There's the marble statue - redolent of another famed cinematic statue - slowly lifted by forklift. And then, of course, there's the brief and extraordinary glimpse, courtesy director Alice Rohrwacher, of an untouched ancient Etruscan tomb, opened for the first time in thousands of years by Arthur's band of merry tombaroli. La Chimera is strange and mystifying, and also funny and quite beautiful, and will likely make tomb robbers of us all. See you in Tuscany.
Likely the lowest budget epic ever made, Brady Corbet's THE BRUTALIST is a dazzling, occasionally dizzying spectacle, at once majestic and deeply personal. Adrien Brody is riveting as László Tóth, a Jewish-Hungarian architect who arrives in the United States in the aftermath of World War II, the long shadow of his (unmentioned) experiences hanging over him. Soon drawn into the orbit of a wealthy industrialist (Guy Pearce, excellent), Tóth is given the opportunity to bring a monumental design to life, if only he can overcome the demons (personal and external) which stand in his way. At 215 minutes, it's a strong argument for the vitality of independent cinema, and a testament to what can be accomplished by a visionary at the top of their game.
TELEVISION
It was probably inevitable that Hiroyuki Sanada, easily the greatest Japanese actor since Toshiro Mifune, would tackle the same role, Toranaga Yoshi, which Mifune portrayed so memorably in the 1980 version of SHŌGUN. This year's remake doesn't exactly improve upon the original - which absolutely stands the test of time - so much as expands upon it, fleshing out its Japanese characters and blessedly recognizing the inherent absurdity of "English Samurai" John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis, doing a better job with this character than Richard Chamberlain in the original). While it's disappointing the showrunners, unable to let a good thing rest, have since announced plans for a sequel (the original miniseries restricted itself to the source material, the 1975 novel by James Clavell), this first season was the must-watch TV event of 2024.
It was a feat none thought possible, but Steven Zaillian's RIPLEY manages to make both the Amalfi Coast and Andrew Scott look cold and inhospitable. While not the definitive adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley (that honour goes to the masterful Anthony Minghella film), it's a compelling take, and a fine showcase for Scott. This version gains in austere beauty what it loses in youthful lustre, substituting one of today's great actors, the 47-year-old Scott, for a role typically played by twenty-something beauties like Matt Damon (Ripley 1999) or Alain Delon (Purple Noon 1960). Scott carries this series on his back as the eerie and inscrutable Tom Ripley, who plays mostly like an anti-charismatic version of James Moriarty, the role which brought Scott to fame. The black-and-white cinematography is simply stunning.
Viet Thanh Nguyen's Pulitzer prize-winning THE SYMPATHIZER (Cảm tình viên) has its weaknesses - a showy supporting performance from a Robert Downey Jr. so desperate for an Emmy you can practically see the empty space reserved on his mantelpiece; Vietnamese dialogue which, by most accounts, does not resemble anything spoken by actual Vietnamese people - and yet is anchored by such a wonderful, charismatic, complex central performance, by Hoa Xuande as "The Captain", that it's worth checking out nonetheless. That it came from the combined minds of Don McKellar, best known for Toronto apocalypse movie Last Night, and Park Chan-wook of Oldboy fame, suggests that the era of the international co-production is alive and well, with rewards for those who gamble on the oddities which would result from such a team-up. Bonus points for reuniting McKellar with his Last Night star Sandra Oh.
GAMING
If fortune is a fickle mistress, then BALATRO (LocalThunk) is the most fickle mistress of all. Best described as poker on steroids, this dangerously addictive indie title brilliantly reimagines the classic game by letting players enhance their card decks in increasingly colourful ways. Want to build a deck out of face cards only? Purchase some "Death" tarots to systematically destroy unwanted cards. Saving up in-game currency? Slap a gold polish on one of your cards and watch the dollars roll in every time it's played. Canadian-made, by one-person mononymous developer LocalThunk, this deceptively complex game is one of the most imaginative I've played in years.
I have paused to take more screenshots of NEVA (Nomada Studio) than any gave I've ever played, save perhaps Ōkami. This devastatingly beautiful fairy tale is like a watercolour painting come to life, and not a single one of its shortcomings - the drawn-out combat, the too-demanding platforming - can detract from the fact Neva belongs in a museum. Likely alongside Ōkami and Journey, the two games from which it draws a very healthy inspiration. (And, incidentally, two of the greatest video games ever made.)
It's both astounding and, frankly, alarming, that it took a solo developer to finally unlock the PSVR2's potential, but we can finally thank the astounding SUBSIDE (Khena B) for giving us the system-defining software we've been clamouring for for so long. A diving simulator released in the waning days of 2024, Subside is at once joyful (turtles!) and terrifying (sharks!), and the game you've always pictured when you fantasized about what virtual reality could do. If Sony or Meta had any sense, they'd swoop up developer Khena B as soon as possible and hand them the keys to their VR kingdoms.
THE BIG SMOKE AWARD 2024
Longtime readers will know I typically single out the best maple-blooded something for special consideration at the conclusion of each of these roundups. In recent years, I've doled out imaginary statues to a darkly comic HBO miniseries, Toronto's Sweetheart (and Last Night co-star) Sarah Polley, and an award-winning video game trilogy. The award, in each case, was more for the work itself, than for anything particularly Canadian about it.
This year, however, I can't resist the opportunity to celebrate something which very much puts Canada - and Toronto - squarely in the spotlight: the goofy, surprisingly funny, and altogether wonderful MATT AND MARA, from director Kazik Radwanski.
Matt Johnson (Matt) and Deragh Campbell (Mara) are equally matched in this low-key, Linklateresque meander through Toronto, and, later, that most romantic of getaways, Niagara Falls. Playing old friends, literary rivals, and, it's implied, former lovers who reconnect after a long absence, Johnson and Campbell make the most of this largely improvised film, which generates unexpected laughs with everything from a TTC subway ride to the joy of taking a passport photo. The best joke in the film deploys High Park as a (loving) punchline.
There are very light shades of last year's best film Past Lives, which similarly featured a Toronto writer whose life is shaken up by the re-appearance of an old friend, although, in Matt and Mara's case, the stakes are far lower. Mostly we're here for the vibes, and Johnson/Campbell's very funny comic stylings. Not since Scott Pilgrim vs. the World has Toronto been so much fun on the big screen.
