Best Directors of 2024
It's been quite a few years since I had such strong opinions on the best directors in a given year. Obviously, directors are important to the finished product of a film. It just takes a lot at this point to get me to connect those dots.
The same rules apply for all the Sketchys categories. There are 10 nominees and two winners, with the write-ups presented in no particular order.
Jane Schoenbrun, I Saw the TV Glow
Jane Schoenbrun is a strong, singular voice in an emerging world of unapologetically queer films receiving proper theatrical releases and acclaim. She pulls so many strings behind the camera in I Saw the TV Glow to make the nostalgic psychological horror as metaphor for struggling to come out work. From the shifting style of camerawork to match the passage of time to the subtle shifts in the perception of reality, Schoenbrun proves she is a director with great skill, confidence, and creativity. I'll be there opening night for her next project, wherever that takes us.
Sean Baker, Anora
Sean Baker doesn't miss. Anora is possibly his most accessible film to date, though it clearly matches the skill seen in projects like Tangerine and The Florida Project before. Baker's strength as a director comes in two key aspects: directing actors and directing setting. Baker brings out the best in his cast, turning the character of Ani into a star is born moment for Mikey Madison. You never doubt the authenticity of his cast onscreen. Setting is the unspoken final cast member of his films, doing as much to produce the tension in the story as the screenplay and edit.
RaMell Ross, Nickel Boys
Like I mentioned when including Nickel Boys in my best films of 2024 list, I think RaMell Ross nailed this film. The decision to film an adaptation of this story entirely in the first person is incredible. It's a gimmick, sure, but it doesn't feel like one. It's a natural extension of the way Ross directs the story and that is worth celebrating.
Coralie Fargeat, The Substance
When I think of new voices in horror, I think of Coralie Fargeat first. She is unafraid to tackle the worst ills of society through a twisted lens of violence tolerated by her characters as easily as breathing air. The fact that she wrote and directed The Substance, a brutal body horror film with one of the most absurd (complimentary) climaxes I've seen since Chronenberg trapped Debbie Harry in a TV broadcast, into a film being celebrated by mainstream audiences and critics is astonishing. Fargeat has her finger on the pulse of humanity and she's squeezing it extra tight to pump the veins dry onto the screen.
Damian Mc Carthy, Oddity
Damian Mc Carthy's brand of horror isn't for everyone, but it is for me and I will celebrate it. Oddity is probably the best pure horror film of 2024 and it's because Mc Carthy knows how to twist the knife and pull the rug out from underneath you. Between this and Caveat, he has proven himself a master of supernatural storytelling. I hate to be so cagey when praising a film on a list like this, but the less you know going into Oddity, the better.
Parker Finn, Smile 2
I'll be vulnerable for a moment. I actually hated the first Smile. It felt extremely exploitative to me of mental wellness and suicidal ideations, especially with so much being set in and around psychiatric facilities. Parker Finn knew how to build a sense of dread and stage a scare, but I questioned his voice. Smile 2 wiped those doubts from my mind. Focusing the cursed smile demon on a popstar already being pushed to the limits by the demands of press, practice, and touring worked wonders. It removed the icky feeling I had about cursing suicidal patients with brutal suicides while also raising the stakes on what it meant to be chosen by this entity. I'll be bold and say Parker Finn directed Smile 2 into the best new musical of the year.
Gints Zilbalodis, Flow
Flow is an animated story told with precision and artistry. Gints Zilbalodis tells a dialogue-free tale of domestic animals surviving a tsunami in the wild in beautiful detail. The pacing, the characterization, and the style of the storytelling make this a must-watch animated film in a year crowded with outstanding animation from around the globe. You try using free 3D rendering software to make a dialogue-free animation in a world dominated by big budget studios hiring the best songwriters, casting the biggest actors in the world, and spending more money than you could imagine on the latest and greatest software and hardware available in the industry. Zilbalodis delivered in spades.
Rose Glass, Love Lies Bleeding
Rose Glass knows how to build relationships onscreen. That's a small glimmer of hope in her bleak presentation of the world. Nothing is easy and we're all just fighting to survive in our own way. The fast-moving romance of a gym worker and an amateur body builder is harrowing enough; then you layer on the familial connections to organized crime, drug abuse, and the growing toxicity in the relationship. Glass throws everything at Love Lies Bleeding--drug injections with a hint of magical realism, romance that's rough around the edges, backroom deals and jobs with a crime family, rags to riches fantasy, and brutal body horror--to make this world come alive. Mission accomplished.
Jon M. Chu, Wicked
I'll be vulnerable again. I don't like Wicked as a stage show. Why? It misses the point of the source novel. This isn't a girl power narrative; it's a deeply satirical text ripping apart the rampant destruction of the environment and native populations through the forced centralization of power. Jon M Chu's adaptation of Wicked, so far, not only soars as a movie musical (the man knows how to make a movie musical), but actually leans into so much of the content previously discarded from the novel. Guess what? The erasure of animal rights in Wicked is the text, not a subplot, and I'm glad we can finally have this discussion thanks to Chu's direction.
Marielle Heller, Nightbitch
Marielle Heller is an actor's director. Unfortunately for those actors, she chooses bizarre, often off-putting topics for most of her films that will probably have you howling at the audience as an antihero rather than delivering those tear-stained monologues that show off the finesse of your craft. It takes a special kind of director to make something as absurd as Nightbitch work in motion and Heller nails it.
The winners?
Coralie Fargeat for The Substance and Rose Glass for Love Lies Bleeding.
Ask me again in five minutes and any combination of these directors could be crowned at the Sketchys. It really was a fantastic year for directing.
