The year 2024 has already delivered some fantastic movie experiences in the first six months. At Moviepilot, we have selected the 15 best films of the first half of the year
The year 2024 is halfway over. So it’s a good time to take stock: After the 2023 winners, which films stood out as particularly good between January and June 2024? Which highlights should no movie fan miss out on? The Moviepilot editorial team’s ranking shows you the best films of the first half of 2024
The 15 best films of 2024 so far: We have chosen
Before we get started, here’s a brief explanation of how the list of the best films of 2024 came about:
Only feature films that had their first theatrical, streaming, TV or home cinema release in Germany between January 1, 2024 and June 30, 2024 were considered
All Moviepilot editors were able to submit a list of 10 films, with first place in the evaluation receiving 10 points, second place 9 points and so on. In total, 32 different films made it into the race
In the evaluation of the list of winners, the number of points achieved counted first and, in the event of an equal number of points, the number of times the film was nominated, then the first place nominations and, in the event of a further run-off, the average rating of the film in the Moviepilot community.
Are you ready? Then dive into the outstanding works here that we warmly recommend to you from 2024:
The best films of 2024 – 15th place: Opus – Ryuichi Sakamoto
103 minutes in a dark room, in pensive black and white images and with just one instrument: in Opus – Ryuichi Sakamoto, the composer of the title sits down at the grand piano one last time and guides us through his work with dedication. Ryuichi Sakamoto died of cancer on March 28, 2023. Director Neo Sora captured his last concert on camera, creating one of the most astonishing, thought-provoking and touching films of the year. (MH)
Opus – Ryuichi Sakamoto is currently still showing in individual cinemas
8 points, 1 mention
The best films of 2024 – 14th place: May December
May December came to Germany six months late. In his oppressive masterpiece about an actress who visits her real-life role model for an authentic impersonation, Todd Haynes opens up an unusual mixture of soap kitsch and taboo subject matter that allows the leading actresses Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore to perform at their best.
9 points, 2 mentions
The best films of 2024 – 13th place: La Chimera
La Chimera is an enigmatic adventure film with Josh O’Connor, a fragile drama and a meditation on loneliness in society. After the powerful Happy as Lazzaro, Italian director Alice Rohrwacher has created another work that thrives on the texture of its analog images and follows a character who we can never be sure whether she is marching straight into the abyss or finding fulfillment in the uncertainty of her journey. An eternal search for treasures that are perhaps better left hidden. Fortunately, Rohrwacher has brought this movie to light. (MH.)
9 points, 3 mentions
The best films of 2024 – 12th place: Dying
As a must-see German film in 2024, Matthias Glasner’s Sterben stood out in the first half of the year. With a brilliant Lars Eidinger, we immerse ourselves in the broken Lunies family and experience 3 hours of the deepest blows of fate and unexpected comedy, when orchestras rehearse, mother-son relationships break down and farewells are followed by new beginnings, which could just as easily have given the film the title “Life”.
11 points, 1 mention, 1x in 1st place
The best films of 2024 – 11th place: The Boy and the Heron
With the Oscar-winning animated film The Boy and the Heron, veteran anime master Hayao Miyazaki returned once again for an extraordinary fantasy trip, showing us the exciting journey of a Japanese boy who, after the war, ends up in a colorful and dark fantasy world full of weird characters (human herons and giant parakeets!) in search of his deceased mother. Thought-provoking, stirring and touching, it won us over too.
The Boy and the Heron is currently not available anywhere
13 points, 2 mentions
The best films of 2024 – 10th place: The Holdovers
It is very likely that The Holdovers will become a Christmas movie classic this year. Alexander Payne’s quirky, feel-good holiday film about an unloved teacher captivates with quirky yet lovable characters led by Paul Giamatti and looks as if Snape and Harry Potter had to spend Christmas together at Hogwarts.
16 points, 2 mentions, 1x in 1st place
The best films of 2024 – 9th place: Innocence
Following films like Shoplifters and Broker, Japanese director Hirokazu Koreeda once again cautiously introduces us to the pitfalls of families in Innocence: Because her son is behaving strangely, a mother publicly accuses his teacher. But what really happened in the movie, which has the international title Monster? Koreeda explores this with sensitivity and captivating images – a very rewarding experience.
16 points, 2 mentions, 1x in 1st place
The best films of 2024 – 8th place: Furiosa
Highly anticipated after his action hit Mad Max: Fury Road, George Miller plunges into the spectacle of Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, the prequel to Charlize Theron’s character. Between roaring engines and crazy stunts, Anya Taylor-Joy delivers a thrilling performance and keeps the air on fire for 148 minutes.
22 points, 4 mentions
The best films of 2024 – 7th place: Civil War
With Civil War, sci-fi talent Alex Garland returned this year to unleash a second civil war in the USA in the not-so-distant future. Following the strongly acted quartet of war reporters led by Kirsten Dunst on their devastating road trip required strong nerves, but rewarded with a gripping war movie experience that made it impossible to look away.
23 points, 3 mentions
The best films of 2024 – 6th place: Everything is upside down 2
Everything Stands on its Head 2 not only successfully stormed the cinema charts (and became the most successful film of 2024 to date), but also our top lists. Animation company Pixar once again causes chaos in the mind when the personified emotions of a pubescent girl spill over and new additions like Doubt perfectly capture youth. Fun and touching, the sequel is surprisingly in no way inferior to the outstanding first part.
24 points, 4 mentions, 1x in 1st place
The best films of 2024 – 5th place: The Zone of Interest
With a sobriety that makes the horror all the more palpable, Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest shows the idyllic life of Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss and his family, who live right next to the concentration camp, bathe and cultivate their garden. The 105 minutes are disturbing, grueling and jolting, shedding light on the subject of the Holocaust from a completely new perspective and thus succeeding in casting the indescribable in images.
25 points, 5 mentions
The best films of 2024 – 4th place: All of Us Strangers
A tender ghost story and stirring fantasy highlight, All of Us Strangers left an enormous emotional resonance that won’t disappear any time soon. When Andrew Scott as a lonely screenwriter unexpectedly reunites with his dead parents and cautiously approaches his neighbor (Paul Mescal), Andrew Haigh stages it with a forcefulness that leaves no eye dry at the end.
34 points, 5 mentions
The best films of 2024 – 3rd place: Poor Things
In his usual bizarre fashion, Yorgos Lanthimos gave us Emma Stone as a child in a woman’s body this year, turning Poor Things into a provocative Barbie counter-design. The wacky reinterpretation of Frankenstein won four Oscars, including Best Actress in a Leading Role, and also won over many of us as a bizarre sci-fi fairy tale.
36 points, 6 mentions, 1x in 1st place
The best films of 2024 – 2nd place: Dune 2
Dune: Part Two features in most of the Moviepilot editorial team’s top half-year lists. Denis Villeneuve’s hotly anticipated sci-fi sequel to his Frank Herbert adaptation swept through the cinemas like a sandworm, leaving us in its wake as a visual spectacle with a devastating story when Paul Atreides launched his counterattack against the Harkonnen. Luckily, Dune 3 has already been announced to quench our thirst for the return to the desert planet with further anticipation.
50 points, 7 mentions, 1x in 1st place
The best films of 2024 – 1st place: Challengers
Our biggest movie experience of the year so far was Challengers. After Call Me by Your Name and Bones and All, director Luca Guadagnino has of course long been known to film fans as an exceptional talent. But what he tells (and how he tells it) with this sweat-inducing masterpiece of a tennis love triangle is simply breathtaking and insanely sensual right up to the very last redemptive shot. The best movie of the year, with Zendaya even surpassing her Dune 2 performance.
