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John Waters names his 10 favourite films of 2024

Thu 12 December 2024 19:50, UK

Every year, John Waters publishes a list of his favourite films. Despite his reputation as the Pope of Trash, he has shown some pretty sober judgment over the years and is often in lock-step with the critical consensus. There are, of course, plenty of exceptions. He is the provocateur who brought us some of the most disgusting films ever made, after all.

In 2021, for example, he chose The Onania Club, an unreleased horror film from Human Centipede director Tom Six. Centred on a club of wealthy Beverley Hills women who can only be sexually aroused by watching the abject suffering of others, it’s David Cronenberg’s Crash in the wrong hands.

More often, however, Waters praises mainstream prestige features. Baby Driver, Once Upon a Time In Hollywood, and Oppenheimer have all made the cut in recent years, demonstrating, yet again, that the Prince of Puke contains multitudes. This year, he proved it yet again, publishing a delightfully eclectic list of films with a glowing review of his number-one pick.

Luca Guadagnino’s Queer, Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist, and Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Pérez all make the list, putting Waters in concert with many critics. Mike Leigh’s drama Hard Truths made the cut as well, as did Halina Reijn’s erotic sizzler, Babygirl. At number one was Rose Glass’s Love Lies Bleeding, a genre-defying thriller starring Kristen Stewart as a woman who falls for a female bodybuilder in 1980s New Mexico and faces off with her dangerous father over a missing relative.

“This hilarious, bloody film noir is the best movie of the year,” Waters wrote. “[O]ne that Russ Meyer might have made if he had been a lesbian intellectual addicted to steroids.”

Stylish, dark, and occasionally surreal, it’s a film that won over many critics and film-goers this year, featuring two standout performances from Stewart and Katy O’Brien, and a bone-chilling turn from Ed Harris in the world’s most terrifying wig.

On the more unconventional end of the spectrum, Waters singled out Todd Phillips’ much-maligned Joker sequel, Joker: Folie à Deux, which became one of the most financially disastrous flops in recent history. “Finally, a love story I can relate to,” Waters quipped, adding, “Stupid critics.”

One film that made the list that has not enjoyed Joker levels of publicity is Vietnamese filmmaker Truong Minh Quy’s Viet and Nam. Released to mixed reviews at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, it’s easy to see why Waters would be taken in by it. He described it as a haunting drama about two gay coal miners, “one of whom licks anal blood off his partner’s stomach and the other eats wax from his lover’s ears.” All of that sounds like it would be right up Waters’ alley.