There are few filmmakers as sharp as Romanian Radu Jude when it comes to questioning, critiquing, or simply moking our contradictions – and blatant failures – as postmodern humans. Do Not Expect Too Much From The End of The World continues the director's acerbic and incisive style. The plot follows Angela, an exploited and underpaid audiovisual producer who, ironically, must cast among injured workers from a corporation to film a video about the importance of workplace safety. In her spare time, she records TikTok videos as her alter ego created with a camera filter, "Bobita," a misogynistic man who satirizes macho culture. The film exposes the double standards and predation of an economic system where we victimize and exploit each other (or even ourselves) in front of the camera. Jude suggests, with irony, that the end of the world will not be a great apocalyptic explosion: we are already living it, and humanity will die in an audiovisual dump where dignity is sacrificed at the altar of the rich and powerful. – Lalo Ortega, editor-in-chief of Filmelier
Dune: Part Two is a film with as many lovers and detractors—many have recently criticized director Denis Villeneuve's style as too clinical. I disagree. This film is an epic like we haven't seen in a long time, capturing much of the magic of Frank Herbert's books. The plot is more engaging than the previous film, with Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) and his mother, Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), hiding in the dangerous desert of planet Arrakis with the native Fremen, whose customs they must learn while trying to find a way to resist the Harkonnen. In the process, Paul fights against his destiny as the Lisan al Gaib, destined to free the Fremen at a great cost. It’s an intense film that keeps viewers glued to their seats, highlighting the political game in this universe so well reconstructed by Villeneuve for the big screen, after two failed attempts by other filmmakers. It deserves to be on the list for this reason. – Matheus Mans, editor of Filmelier.
Setting aside a localized title that is not particularly evocative, When Evil Lurks (Cuando acecha la maldad) is, in very simple terms, one of the most ruthless and honest horror films released in recent years. Director Demián Rugna presents a rural Argentina whose reality is not only extrapolable to other social contexts, but does not hesitate in its vision of a world not only brutal in its violence, but empty of law, morality, and compassion, where hatred and cruelty spread literally like a disease. Because the only thing more terrifying than all of that is imagining that the hope to combat this evil is extinguished. – Lalo Ortega
Challengers might be the most mature film by Luca Guadagnino —the director often considered the most American of Italian filmmakers. Despite a history of good films like Call Me by Your Name and A Bigger Splash, Challengers solidifies Guadagnino as an auteur, mastering the cinematic language and toying with the audience's emotions. This time, through a tennis match involving two former colleagues (Josh O'Connor and Mike Faist) facing off on the court, while past stories (told through well-inserted flashbacks) and relationships with one's wife (Zendaya) unfold. Ultimately, Guadagnino, with style and excellent direction, shows that a tennis game is also about relationships—and in the end, everything in the world is about sex. – Matheus Mans
Today's filmmakers rarely have the audacity that Rose Glass has demonstrated with Love Lies Bleeding, her second feature film with an unclassifiable mix of genres ranging from thriller to fantasy, horror, and acid comedy, all filtered through a queer lens. The plot follows a withdrawn gym employee (Kristen Stewart) and a bodybuilder (Katy O'Brian) who fall in love, but are trapped in a spiral of violence and revenge by a criminal past that comes to haunt them. A delightful fever dream of romance and violence in equal parts, that baffles as much as it excites. Undoubtedly, one of the best movies of 2024. – Lalo Ortega