How Leaving LA Led to a 40 Theater Release With a First Script

Another year, another eloquently edited video countdown of the year's best films from Indiewire's Chief Film Critic, David Ehrlich. If you happen to navigate time and space using when you saw a movie as a metric of time, Ehrlich's countdowns never fail to stir up some self-reflection, even some tears.

No matter what kind of year you had in 2024, there's no denying it was an amazing year for movies. From action masterpieces like Furiosato gritty, tragic fairy tales like Anora, complex explorations of identity in I Saw the TV Glowto horny tennis in Challengers, this was a magnificently oddball year for movies (in all the best ways). As a cinephile through and through, I couldn't have been happier with this year's roster.

Ehrlich puts the movies of 2024 to amazing use, cutting in and out of each clip as if all these movies belong together as a grand masterpiece. He also somehow compiles the perfect playlist to cut to, integrating "Like a Prayer" from Deadpool & Wolverine, "Greatest Day" from Anora, and 12 other tracks seamlessly with meaning. In a particularly inspired section, he uses "My Heart Will Go On" from the Celine Dion documentary to string together Nosferatu, LaBete, and Challengers—and, yes, it is bliss.

Enjoy the slick video countdown below, and don't forget to associate every moment of your year with when you saw these movies! Or to cry. Please don't pretend like I'm the only one crying.