The 25 Best Films of 2024

An eclectic round-up spanning feature-length investigative documentaries, avant-garde short films, YouTube essays, and even talk shows. | Eileen G’Sell, Dan Schindel, Hrag Vartanian, and Lisa Yin Zhang

A CLOSER LOOK

The Insidious False History of Gladiator II

The film’s casting of Africa and Africans as largely rebellious, uncivil, and above all outside of the bounds of the Roman empire is incorrect and dangerous.

Doug Aitken’s Poetic Tableau of Southern California

“I wanted to make something aggressively non-linear, using sound and music to express things that hard language couldn’t,” the artist said of his latest work. | Matt Stromberg 

LATEST REVIEWS

A Dazzling Light in Dance History

When dancer Loïe Fuller’s spinning garment reflected the stage lights, it took on a life of its own, beguiling those in New York, Berlin, and Paris. | Eileen G’Sell

Social Bonds May Save Our Lives

Join or Die is part of a cresting wave of cultural production circling around the intertwined issues of loneliness, divisiveness, and our political right turn. | Alexis Clements