Film Discoveries of 2024

Best first viewings of 2024:

Pre-2024 titles that I saw for the first time this year. Standout titles from within the list are marked with an asterisk (*).

*Albert Savarus (Alexandre Astruc, 1993)

*Alice or the Last Escapade (Claude Chabrol, 1977)

*Anatahan (Josef von Sternberg, 1953)

*Andrina (Bill Forsyth, 1981)

Bandits of Orgosolo (Vittorio De Seta, 1961)

The Battle at Elderbush Gulch (D.W. Griffith, 1913)

Black Moon (Roy William Neill, 1934)

*The Cavern (Edgar G. Ulmer, 1964)

Christmas in August (Hur Jin-ho, 1998)

*Coup de Chance (Woody Allen, 2023)

*The Enchanted Desna (Yuliya Solntseva, 1964)

The Epic of Everest (J.B.L. Noel, 1924)

Every-Night Dreams (Mikio Naruse, 1933)

*The Fall of the House of Usher (Alexandre Astruc, 1981)

Fires on the Plain (Kon Ichikawa, 1959)

Fort Massacre (Joseph M. Newman, 1958)

*Germany Year 90 Nine Zero (Jean-Luc Godard, 1991)

*Grass (Hong Sang-soo, 2018)

Gunslinger (Roger Corman, 1956)

Hell’s Heroes (William Wyler, 1929)

*Hell's Hinges (Charles Swickard, Clifford Smith, William S. Hart, 1916)

*Hotel by the River (Hong Sang-soo, 2018)

Hunters’ Sense of Touch (Hisayasu Satô, 1995)

I'll Do Anything (James L. Brooks, 1994)

Kuhle Wampe or Who Owns the World? (Slatan Dudow, 1932)

*The Lady is My Wife (Sam Peckinpah, 1967)

*The Mask of Medusa (Jean Rollin, 2009)

*The Margin (Walerian Borowczyk, 1976)

*The Mouth Agape (Maurice Pialat, 1974)

The Outcasts (Robert Wynne-Simmons, 1982)

Parsifal (Hans-Jürgen Syberberg, 1982)

*Playing with Fire (Alain Robbe-Grillet, 1975)

Il Posto (Ermanno Olmi, 1961)

*The Power of Speech (Jean-Luc Godard, 1988)

*A Real Young Girl (Catherine Breillat, 1976)

*The Restless Breed (Allan Dwan, 1957)

*The Romance of Astrea and Celadon (Éric Rohmer, 2007)

The Salt of Tears (Philippe Garrel, 2020)

See You Friday, Robinson (Mitra Farahani, 2022)

Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (Sergei Parajanov, 1965)

*Tange Sazen and the Pot Worth a Million Ryo (Sadao Yamanaka, 1935)

*The Testament of Doctor Cordelier (Jean Renoir, 1959)

Theater in Trance (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1981)

Under the Bridges (Helmut Käutner, 1946)

Victor and Victoria (Reinhold Schünzel, 1933)

Walking from Munich to Berlin (Oskar Fischinger, 1927)

*We Won't Grow Old Together (Maurice Pialat, 1972)

When the Cat Comes - aka The Cassandra Cat (Vojtěch Jasný, 1963)

*Wife (Mikio Naruse, 1953)

Yesterday Girl (Alexander Kluge, 1966)

I've also posted this list on my Letterboxd account.

Best rewatches:

Equinox Flower (Yasujirō Ozu, 1958)

Ordet (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1955)

Crimes and Misdemeanors (Woody Allen, 1989)

Noon Wine (Sam Peckinpah, 1966)

Stars in My Crown (Jacques Tourneur, 1950)

The Whip and the Body (Mario Bava, 1963)

The Uninvited (Lewis Allen, 1944)

Bluebeard (Edgar G. Ulmer, 1944)

Irrational Man (Woody Allen, 2015)

Hour of the Gun (John Sturges, 1967)

Die, Monster, Die! (Daniel Haller, 1965)

The Ghost Ship (Mark Robson, 1943)

Popeye (Robert Altman, 1980)

The Sorcerers (Michael Reeves, 1967)

The Black Cat (Stuart Gordon, 2007)

Everyone Says I Love You (Woody Allen, 1996)

Dances with Wolves: Extended Edition (Kevin Costner, 1990)

Film Highlights of 2024:

- "Breakfast Special" a new short story by Woody Allen, published by The New Criterion. In addition to this, Allen’s latest stage play, 'Brooklyn Story', was performed at the Belvárosi Színház in Budapest and Coup de Chance got a belated US release but not, alas, in the UK. I ended up getting an imported US disc in order to finally see it and it was well worth the extra expense.

- 'Cure' (BFI Classics)' by Dominic Lash released in October.

- The Epic of Everest screening at Harrogate Theatre (9th March)

- 'Directed by Yasujiro Ozu' by Shiguéhiko Hasumi published for the first time in an English translated version in March, courtesy of University of California Press.

- First UK screening of An Officer and a Spy. 

- Lost Clara Bow film found and screened after 101 years.

- The first English language edition of Chris Marker’s 1982 photo-essay, 'Le Dépays' is published by Film Desk Books.

- Restored version of Zoe Lund’s Hot Ticket.

- Two Cartrivision films by Orson Welles found.

- The Magic Hours: The Films and Hidden Life of Terrence Malick by John Bleasdale 

- Koji Yakusho’s Criterion picks.

Notable Physical Media releases:

I Walked with a Zombie/The Seventh Victim (Criterion)

The Valiant Ones (Eureka/Masters of Cinema)

Planet of the Vampires (Radiance)

The Story of Adele H. (Radiance) 

Floating Clouds (BFI) 

Exorcist II: The Heretic (Arrow)

Circle of Danger (Studio Canal)

Bruiser (Powerhouse/Indicator) 

Escape from Fort Bravo (Warner Archive)

That Cold Day in the Park (Arrow)

Daiei Gothic - Japanese Ghost Stories (Radiance)

The Sword (Eureka Classics)

Watership Down (BFI)

Vital (Third Window)

The Outcasts (BFI Flipside)

Louis Feuillade: The Complete Crime Serials 1913-1918 (Eureka/Masters of Cinema)

L’amour fou (Radiance)

You and Me (Powerhouse/Indicator) 

Death Game (Radiance)

Happiness (Criterion)

Favourite books I've read in 2024:

'Dark Tales' by Shirley Jackson

'The Haunted Screen' by Lotte H. Eisner

'The Authentic Death of Hendry Jones' by Charles Neider

'The Invention of Morel' by Adolfo Bioy Casares

'Ride Lonesome (Reel West)' by Kirk Ellis 

'Lord of a Visible World: An Autobiography in Letters' by H. P. Lovecraft, David E. Schultz (Author, Editor), S. T. Joshi (Author, Editor)

'Start to Finish: Woody Allen and the Art of Moviemaking' by Eric Lax

'Duras/Godard Dialogues' by Marguerite Duras, Jean-Luc Godard. Introduction, afterword and footnotes by Cyril Béghin. Translation by Nicholas Elliott. 

Music:

'Nobody Loves You More' by Kim Deal

'Space Coast: Original Score' by Annie Hart