Got some free time over the holidays? Well here are some movie recommendations for you.
Jerome Douvendahns, resident film critic at sablues.org presents his top 12 movies of 2024.
1 The Teachers’ Lounge
Carla is a Seventh-grade maths and physical education teacher and a newcomer to a German middle school. She unwittingly becomes the centre of seemingly small matter which unfortunately snowballs out of control and engulfs the whole school. A compelling and unsettling drama.
2 Touch
A widower after receiving an early-stage dementia diagnosis sets out from his Reykjavik home to resolve a mystery from his life as a student in London five decades earlier. Kristofer had fallen in love with Miko, whose father owned the Japanese restaurant where they both worked. But at the height of their whirlwind affair, Miko abruptly vanished.
3 The Promised Land
A captivating historical drama set in 18th-century Denmark. A former Army Captain turns farmer and his conquest and development of the forbidding Jutland heath makes for a compelling opus.
4 Ballad of a White Cow.
Set in a Tehran where Mina's life is turned upside down when she learns that her husband was innocent of the crime for which he was executed. She takes up a futile fight against the cynical state apparatus. Fortuitous events transpire and life seemingly goes well for Mina …or does it!
5 The Settlers
Join an early 20th century expedition as they venture through a largely unexplored area of Patagonia. Their mission is to violently clear the Indigenous people from the land on behalf of a powerful and ruthless landowner. In the midst of the colonising and border disputes between Chile and Argentina an investigation is launched into the atrocities inflicted upon the indigenous Patagonians. The movie offers a haunting yet fascinating glimpse into a remote part of the world and its comparatively recent history.
6 Memory
An absorbing and heart-warming story about the discomforting reunion of a care worker (played brilliantly by Jessica Chastain as a single mother with a teen aged daughter) and a friend from her past ( played wonderfully by Peter Sarsgaard as a dementia sufferer).
7 Stormskerry Maja.
This is a remarkable love story set in the 19th century Finland. The story follows Maja, a young peasant woman, married to a man she hardly knows and relocated to a secluded island. There despite all the challenges and setbacks she adapts and survives.
8 The Substance
An over the top satire of Hollywood's ageist and sexist propensities. if you are an aging out of work celebrity cocaine may not the staple drug of choice but a certain black market drug might just be the answer to your woes …or not!
9 American Fiction
An African American writer sets out to reveal how black-victimhood stereotypes are an affliction on contemporary literature. His endeavours to do this result in some surprising and humorous consequences.
10 Red Rooms
Kelly-Anne knows how to get around and manipulate the dark web. What are her ulterior motives for these clandestine activities? Is it a deviant infatuation? Where does her unhealthy obsession take her?
11 The Holdovers
The story of a cantankerous Boarding School teacher holed up for Christmas with an errant teenager and the school’s matronly cook. This trio of characters all have their own personal issues which looks like troubled times ahead …or does it?
12 Out of Darkness
The movie is set in the Old Stone Age. A clan of early humans is searching the bleak wilderness for a new home. What they encounter is a creative interpretation of what Palaeontologists and Geneticists have only recently discovered.
Another Movie of note.
13 Lee.
It si the story of American photographer Lee Miller, a fashion model who became an acclaimed (belatedly) war correspondent for Vogue magazine during World War II. A war correspondent for Vogue? Yes and boy does she get down and dirty as a photo journalist!