By JJ Ledewitz, Staff Writer
2024 was a great year for cinema. If you’ve seen a movie or two from this year, you can attest to that. But, every year, a few films fall through the cracks and don’t get as much appreciation. Here are a few of those hidden gems from 2024.
Hit Man
Hit Man is a romantic comedy directed by Richard Linklater. It stars Glen Powell as Gary Johnson, a teacher who also works as a fake hitman to prevent contract killings. Gary goes undercover as hitmen tailored specifically toward different clients, gets them to admit their intentions and has them immediately arrested. It’s a side job that works surprisingly well.
All of this falls apart, however, when an undercover Gary falls in love with Madison (played by actress Adria Arjona), a woman who wants her abusive husband killed.
Now, he’s living two separate lives: there’s Gary the teacher, and Ron, the charismatic hitman who is dating Madison. Gary is plagued by his own teachings from his philosophy class. What is the “self?” Is it something you create to conform to your surroundings? Or is it something others create for you?
If you love those fun 2000s romcoms, you’ll love this movie. The chemistry between Powell and Arjona is near perfect, making Hit Man a lighthearted and entertaining watch.
Thelma
Thelma is a comedy drama film directed by Josh Margolin, starring June Squibb – at the age of 95 – in her first lead role of her career. The film follows Thelma, an elderly woman who is scammed out of $10,000 and sets out to find those who took her money.
This movie is hilarious. It pokes fun at the relationships we all have with the elders in our lives, all while reminding us of why we love them. There are so many comedic bits that only work because of the (correct) assumption that the audience has been through similar experiences.
The premise of an elderly woman falling for a scam and then vowing to get that money back plays out as comedically as you’d expect. Squibb embodies the role of Thelma incredibly well. Fred Hechinger plays Danny, Thelma’s grandson, who seems to be the voice of reason. Throughout the film, however, it becomes apparent that Danny has issues of his own, and maybe all he needs to do is let his grandmother do her thing – which, in this case, is find those scammers and demand the money back.
Thelma isn’t like any other film from this year. It’ll make you laugh, it’ll make you cry, and it will make you want to hug your grandma and never let go.
Orion and the Dark
Orion and the Dark is an animated film that follows Orion Mendelson, a kid afraid of almost everything, who is brought on a journey by the embodiment of “the dark” to overcome his fears.
There’s something truly special about a children’s movie that explores irrational fears, because the film must portray images that incite fear in the main character, while making sure not to actually scare off the intended audience. The animation style perfectly matches with the tone of the film, creating a stunning spectacle that only gets better as it progresses. The character design of the living embodiment of “Dark,” and the other night entities Orion meets along the way, is unique and used to the utmost advantage. It is a visibly beautiful film.
The film excels at dealing with both the anxieties of kids and adults. It makes the viewer, no matter their age, realize how much fear has affected their life. It doesn’t tell the viewer to rationalize anxiety, but rather to face it.
Strange Darling
Strange Darling is a thriller film written and directed by JT Mollner. It follows a man (Kyle Gallner) and a woman (Willa Fitzgerald) whose one-night stand turns into a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse. But there’s a twist: the film is presented out of order.
Of the six “chapters” of the film, the audience gets the third one first, which is right in the middle of the chase, then the fifth chapter, which shows the climax of the events, as well as the rest of the chapters out of order. What would normally be a generic thriller film ends up being an unpredictable, entertaining and exhilarating sequence of events. You’d think that knowing how the film (seemingly) ends would spoil the story, but it’s more complicated than that. Clever dialogue, lighting and camera angles cause a more complex and darker story to emerge as the out-of-order “chapters” play out, telling a tale you didn’t even realize you were watching.
The film feels like a rock being skipped over a pond. Every time you think it’s getting calmer, the stone hits the water and it becomes an absolute thrill ride. But that’s the beauty of a film like this – the bits of calmness feel fake because you’ve got a peek at the future already; you think you’ve seen how it ends. But, in reality, you haven’t, so when you finish the film, you still feel the thrill.
The writing and the acting are what makes this film so incredibly entertaining. Fitzgerald and Gallner play their unnamed characters so well, and Mollner’s writing makes their characters come off as authentic – maybe sometimes a little too authentic.
It’s one of the best films I’ve seen this year, and it’s a shame most people haven’t even heard of it.