20 Best Movies Of 2024 (So Far)

Continuing her intuitive career assessing social structures and prejudice, Ava DuVernay has taken to the big screen with Origin, a sweeping biographical drama about journalist Isabel Wilkerson and her attempts to explore the repercussions of injustices such as American slavery, the Holocaust, and India's caste system. 

The film is bursting with difficult discussions and, for a brief spell, seems about ready to overflow with ideas, but with DuVernay at the helm it never does. Instead, the focus is razor-sharp and informative, urgent and eye-opening in the conclusions it draws. 

None of this would be possible without the work of star Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, whose portrayal of Wilkerson is as moving as it is intrepid, nor her breathtaking co-stars Jon Bernthal, Audra McDonald and Niecy Nash, who add plentiful fresh dimensions to the writer's incredible story. 

Ambitious and bold, Origin is not an easy watch, but it is a stirring one that leaves no stone unturned in its quest for answers. The scope of DuVernay's vision, as with previous miniseries When They See Us, is a sight to behold.