Movies about lesbian bodybuilders, a gay beatnik, and Brutalist architecture topped filmmaker John Waters’ list of The Best Movies of 2024, out this week on Vulture.com, part of New York Magazine.
Waters’ list is always highly-anticipated because it’s one of the first in a long line of year-end reviews that roll out between Dec. 1 and Christmas — and he’s willing to consider works that some critics won’t. One of his more surprising choices this year is “Joker: Folie a Deux,” a film that many critics panned.
“Love Lies Bleeding,” by director Rose Glass, is Waters’ choice as the best movie of the year. Set in 1989 and starring Kristen Stewart and Katy O’Brian, it’s a romantic thriller that follows a lesbian relationship between a reclusive gym manager, who is part of a crime family, and an ambitious bodybuilder who uses too many steroids and gets wrapped up in organized crime. Waters called it a “hilarious, bloody film noir” that “Russ Meyer might have made if he had been a lesbian intellectual addicted to steroids.”
“Queer,” directed by Luca Guadagnino, is second on Waters’ list. Set in 1950s Mexico City, it features Daniel Craig as an outcast American expat who becomes infatuated with a younger man, played by Drew Starkey. Waters wrote that Craig is “absolutely brilliant” in the “gay beatnik role.” The film is based on a novella by William S. Burroughs, the writer who dubbed Waters “The Pope of Trash.”
“The Brutalist,” a 3.5-hour film directed by Brady Corbet, is third on the list. Waters called it a “cold-as-concrete” epic about “the cruelty of architecture and the agony of being ahead of your time.” Adrien Brody plays the visionary architect Laszlo Toth, and Guy Pearce is the wealthy industrialist who hires him.
Fourth is “Hard Truths,” by director Mike Leigh. Waters described it as “a sad and sometimes hilariously funny portrait of the most unpleasant sourpuss woman in the history of cinema.” Watching it, he said, is “a wretched experience I’ll cherish forever.”
“Messy,” Waters’ choice for fifth place, is a romantic comedy from director Alexi Wasser, who also stars in the film. It follows the life of a promiscuous love addict who moves to New York after a bad breakup and her quest to find love again – one disappointing date at a time. Waters wrote that it reminds him of the best of Woody Allen’s comedies: “I’m glad young people are still angry and confused about mating.”
Here’s a clip from an interview with the director and star:
“Joker: Folie a Deux,” by director Todd Phillips, is sixth on the list. The film follows failed comedian Arthur Fleck (played by Joaquin Phoenix) who is struggling with his dual identity, as he meets the love of his life, Harley Quinn, (played by Lady Gaga), while incarcerated at Arkham State Hospital. Though many reviewers bashed the film, Waters isn’t one of them: “Stupid critics,” he wrote. “Gaga so good. Joker so right. Die, dumbbells, die!”
“Femme,” directed by Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping, is Number seven. Waters’ assessment: “A twisted S&M love affair between a black drag queen (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) and a white rough-trade gay-basher (George MacKay) that gives new meaning to sexual role-playing.”
“Emilia Perez,” by director Jacques Audiard, is Number eight. Calling it a “wildly original musical-drama about the Mexican drug syndicate and its trans crime boss,” Waters said it “proves you can sing about anything in a film if it’s well-enough directed.”
Number nine is “Babygirl,” from director Halina Reijn, which stars Nicole Kidman as a high-ranking business executive in a torrid affair with a much-younger intern, played by Harris Dickinson. Kidman “continues taking big chances in her career, and she deserves our salute,” Waters wrote.
“Viet and Nam” by director Truong Minh Quy, rounds out Waters’ list. It had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Queer Palm prize, and was banned in Vietnam. Waters called it “an eerie, surprisingly haunting drama” about two young gay coal miners who “flee together to foreign shores as immigrants in a doomed floating container.” What could go wrong? Plus, it features the sort of activity that would fit right in with one of Waters’ movies: Eating wax from a lover’s ear (with an “ear spoon.”)
The complete article, “The Best Movies of 2024, According to John Waters,” is on Vulture’s website.
