20 Best Movies Of 2024 (So Far)
1. Perfect Days
If Roger Ebert was right when he called movies "machines that generate empathy," then Wim Wenders' recent masterpiece Perfect Days may be the truest example of what he meant.
Because this beautiful film - which follows a lonely toilet cleaner in Japan as he wanders through life - finds solace amongst the local wildlife, and lives in seemingly wonderful harmony with his ritualised routine, is an empathetic slice-of-life drama for the ages, created by a filmmaker who's soared with tales such as these his entire career.
Starring a heartwarming Koji Yakusho (another legend who seems to have been building toward this film for many decades), Wenders' character study is a film of remarkable restraint and life-affirming beauty, the kind of simple but deeply affecting production that leaves you more aware of the world around you, and the colourful people within it.
2024 has been a great year for cinema, and Wim Wenders' latest - perhaps the finest achievement in a career with many highs - is the best film we've been blessed with so far. Time to head out and rest beneath the trees, I think.