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In 2024, Video Librarian is excited to carry on the tradition of ranking our top-reviewed narrative films. These picks represent the best of the year, from theatrical releases to Blu-rays and the latest streaming hits.
This year’s lineup spans a wide range of genres—from a queer reimagining of an iconic comic book villain and musical comedy tackling the often-unspoken challenges of infertility, to a raw and powerful drama exploring eating disorders.
No matter your audience—whether it’s library patrons, students, or members of your community—these films have something for everyone. They come from a dynamic mix of filmmakers, each offering fresh, thought-provoking visions from all corners of the globe.
Narrative films can be more than just pleasure and entertainment—they can start conversations, invoke personal reflection, and encourage community connections.
As we continue to face global challenges and a shifting political landscape, films can provide us with a much-needed escape or a chance to confront issues with empathy and imagination.
Take a look at our 2024 best narrative films that are ideal for adding to your library collection, incorporating into your classroom syllabus, or sharing through public film screenings.
Caroline Madden Editor-in-Chief
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Dark Star Pictures "Chuck Chuck Baby"
Dark Star Pictures | Romance, LGBTQ, Musical | English | 101 Minutes | 2024
Writer-director Janis Pugh’s feature film debut, the musical love story Chuck Chucky Baby, opens with a neon sign for the titular chicken packing plant where our protagonist, the middle-aged and working-class Helen (Louise Brealey), works. We follow a dandelion puff as it flows on the wind through a working-class neighborhood - “A LAND NOT SO FAR AWAY,” a title card tells us—until landing in Helen’s pink bedroom. She lives with her ex-husband, Gary (Celyn Jones), his girlfriend and their newborn, and his mother, Gwen (Sorcha Cusack). Helen’s childhood crush, Joanne (Annabel Scholey), moves back to town after the death of her despicable, abusive father. Is it too late for Helen to pursue love and a fresh start? Is it too late for Joanne?
Louise Brealey leads the film with a natural, breezy performance as Helen, radiating both charm and depth. It’s touching to watch Joanne and Helen heal their inner children while playing with a doll and stilts, listening to music on a boombox, openly enjoying what they couldn’t all those years ago. Helen grew up in a Catholic girls’ home until Gwen graciously took her in and Joanne feels haunted by the past, reminded by the whole neighborhood of her father’s cruelties. Their joy in each other’s company protests their isolated, joyless childhoods and serves as an act of love for their adult selves.
A love letter to the working class—like a DeadPoet’sSociety for the invisible women who carry the world on their shoulders - ChuckChuckBaby celebrates the humor, joy, music, friendship, and love that keeps us alive. Janis Pugh’s film would make a splendid fit alongside musicals both classic and contemporary in any film collection, a surprisingly under-seen gem. Chuck ChuckBaby's class-conscious, lesbian love story sings out a universal truth: It’s not too late.
Read full the LGBTQ romance film review here.
Innocence "The People's Joker"
Altered
Altered Innocence | Comedy, Women's Studies, LGBTQ | English | 95 minutes | 2024
Directed and edited by Vera Drew and co-written with Bri LeRose with the help of “a team of over 100 artists on three separate continents during the Covid-19 pandemic,” ThePeople’s Joker premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2022, but further screenings were canceled due to rights issues. Almost two years later, ThePeople’sJoker finally saw a theatrical release in the US, followed by the home video release from boutique label Altered Innocence, which appropriately specializes in LGBTQ+ and coming-of-age stories.
An antidote to soulless AI art and a reclamation of beloved pop culture icons from heartless corporations, Vera Drew’s ThePeople’sJoker subverts the familiar plot structure of a comic book origin story by retelling her own coming-of-age tale through the lens of the film’s trans protagonist, Joker the Harlequin. Fantastical, autobiographical, joyful, funny, and complex, this “fair use film” lampoons cultural touchstones like the ubiquitous Batman himself and the longrunning sketch comedy show SaturdayNightLive, while also paying homage to the neonlit filmography of BatmanForever’s Joel Schumacher. (The film’s dedication is to Vera Drew’s own mother and Schumacher.) ThePeople’sJoker’s original and daring approach to beloved IP and a vulnerable coming-out narrative make the film a necessary addition to any film collection that values trans voices and exciting, experimental filmmaking.
Filled with rapid-fire jokes (including voice-over cameos from comedy greats like Bob Odenkirk, Maria Bamford, and Tim Heidecker) that don't always land, a multitude of montages, and references to past Joker iterations, ThePeople’sJoker lends itself to multiple watches and – while it’s not required – rewards knowledge of past DC Comics adaptations. (The wall art hanging in Joker’s apartment a la Catwoman in BatmanReturns, for example.) ThePeople’s Joker will make audiences laugh and reflect on their connections to the pop culture that shapes us all.
Read the full LGBTQ comedy film review here.
The Cinema Guild | Social Issues, World Cinema, Art, Environment | French, Romanian, English subtitles | 85 minutes | 2024
Here invite viewers into the contemplative journey of Stefan, a Romanian construction worker residing in Brussels, as he prepares to return home, possibly for an extended period. Utilizing leftover ingredients from his fridge, Stefan concocts a hearty pot of soup, which he distributes as parting gifts to loved ones. However, a chance encounter with Shuxiu, a Belgian-Chinese woman engrossed in her research on mosses, diverts Stefan's attention. Her fascination with the seemingly mundane captivates him.
As Stefan navigates interactions with recipients of his soup, explores the lush forests surrounding Brussels, and nurtures a budding romance with Shuxiu, the film delicately explores themes of connection and belonging. Through its rich imagery and heartfelt simplicity, Here gently unfolds Stefan's world, inviting audiences to contemplate the transformative power of human connection in the midst of urban life.
This pensive slice-of-life drama takes a long time to unfold, giving viewers extended long shots of street corners, apartment windows, restaurant interiors, and the green spaces that dot the city, gazing deeply like one would in their last days at home, savoring the stillness. This will certainly make Here a bit too highbrow for some, but those seeking an artistic experience connected to a profound drama will be enthralled.
Read the full art film review here.
Film Movement | Gender, Religion, Drama | English | 110 Minutes | 2024
"Maybe you need to consider that what you think is true might not be true after all,” a beautiful, starving teenage girl (Ksenia Devriendt) scolds her parents as they beg through her bedroom door for her to eat. The green-yellow bags under her eyes echo a hue found throughout acclaimed Austrian director Jessica Hausner’s (LittleJoe, AmourFou) latest film: her school uniform’s baggy sweatshirts and neat polos, the school’s empty cafeteria trays, and the destination of the faithful members of ClubZero.
The psychological, dark, comic, disturbing, and ultimately undefinable ClubZero follows star Mia Wasikowska’s (BergmanIsland, CrimsonPeak) Ms. Novak as she molds the minds and bodies of several teenage students at a prestigious private school through her “conscious eating” lessons. She provides one-size-fits-small solutions to all her students’ problems. Whether wanting to enhance academic or athletic performance, or to rebel against absent or hypercritical parents, the solution is simple: stop eating so much. Then less. Then nothing at all. By introducing “next levels” to conscious eating, like something out of a cult, Ms. Novak preys on wealthy-yet-vulnerable teens by promising them visibility and belonging. ClubZero goes beyond skewering diet and wellness culture (though it certainly does plenty of that) and uses the universal experience of eating to explore heady topics like faith, truth, and the use of manipulation in belief systems.
Jessica Hausner’s ClubZero , co-written by Géraldine Bajard, unsettles viewers in its matter-offact tone as the plot escalates and the students and their teacher aspire to starvation and salvation. The film’s examination of religious fervor and groupthink could prompt nuanced conversations in religious studies classes, as well as in certain psychology courses. A dark and disturbing plot combined with light and meticulous aesthetics – anchored by yet another brave performance from Mia Wasikowska – make ClubZero a must-watch arthouse thriller that belongs on any narrative film collection’s shelves.
Read the full drama film review here.
Canyon Media | Thriller, Crime, Drama, Art, Horror | English | 90 Minutes | 2024
As the thriller IBringJoy begins, the audience already feels a sense of both dread and unease. The eponymous Joy (Elena Rivers) lives a reserved life in London. She has few friends, and her career as a dancer seems to be stagnant and unfulfilling.
Then the killings start.
Joy is attacked one night but manages to turn the tables and kill her assailant. The culprit was a member of a local crime syndicate who became hellbent on finding out her identity. Rather than be traumatized by the event, Joy starts claiming more victims. Killing transforms Joy, helping her break out of her stale existence.
Rivers delivers a mesmerizing performance. As she claims more and more victims, her character from earlier in the film is almost unrecognizable. However, the more she kills, the closer her assailants come to unraveling her identity. We meet some of them, including Floyd (Daniel Blake). A former family man, Floyd resorted to a life of crime to support his family. Director David Stuart Snell does a superb job of creating a world where not everything is at it seems.
Read the full thriller review here.
The Criterion Collection | Drama, Romance, World Cinema | Turkish, Persian, Azerbaijani, English subtitles | 107 Minutes | 2022
Most people grow excited when they discover secret information, or in this case, a film made in secrecy. That’s precisely the case with Iranian director Jafar Panahi, who was arrested for creating propaganda against the Iranian authorities. Panahi was imprisoned and banned by the government from making films in 2010. Yet these restrictions, including living under house arrest, have not prevented Panahi from producing movies. His latest, NoBears, is both a compelling drama and an autobiographical look at the unstoppable desire to create art.
Panahi plays a fictionalized version of himself: an Iranian director seeking to direct a film remotely, using his laptop to communicate to his actors and crew filming in Turkey, where the director is not allowed to visit. When his WiFi connection goes out, the director’s work appears to be finished for the day until a local man asks him to take some photos of a local Iranian village ceremony.
The director complies and then discovers that by photographing the event, he has inadvertently created enormous controversy. He finds himself hounded by local officials who demand an account of his actions and motives. Meanwhile, we learn that the film within the film, the one the Iranian director is attempting to complete, also contains an interesting and possibly deadly level of art imitating life.
Read the full drama film review here.
Bleecker Street | Comedy, Sci-Fi, Drama | English | 97 Minutes | 2023
Overlooked by audiences in a blink of a theatrical release, Marc Turtletaub's sci-fi whimsy is the most successful blend of senior citizens and space aliens since Cocoon (1986). A lively nerddriven argument could result from which of those two is superior, as Jules offers no escapistwish-fulfillment ET fountain of youth in its plotline, and does not sugar-coat indignities of age and society's marginalization of the elderly.
The setting is a small town on the Ohio-Pennsylvania border (portrayed by New Jersey) where widowed Milton (Ben Kingsley) lives alone, exhibiting undeniable, creeping dementia, and semi-estranged from his adult children over his inadequacies as a father. Milton's localeccentric existence is interrupted by a flying saucer crashing in his backyard and disgorging a stricken, child-sized humanoid.
Nobody believes Milton's attempts to inform them about the amazing visitor, whom polite Milton stolidly nurses back to health. A female acquaintance (Harriet Harris, best known to viewers of “Frasier”) chances to learn about the UFO occupant and, recovering from her initial fright, names him/her “Jules.” And—correctly so, it turns out—she is adamant about keeping Jules a secret, lest menacing government types come hunting. A neighborhood busybody (Jane Curtin), however, grows suspicious.
Read full comedy film review.
Indie Rights | Drama, Romance | English | 72 Minutes | 2022
Many filmmakers intentionally trick their audiences using camera movements, tone, and more to mislead or misdirect their audiences. What may seem like a completely normal scene or piece of dialogue may have a different meaning later on. First-time filmmaker Stuart Howes succeeds in misdirecting his audience with his debut film, Tableau.
We meet the aspiring photographer and soon-to-be-college-graduate Nicole (Sofia Smith). Seemingly part of a normal, loving family, Nicole’s life is soon turned upside down after her mother Michelle (Amy Davis) reveals a romantic indiscretion of her past while Nicole is on summer break from school. While her father Guy (Dimi Bissig) seems unaffected by this revelation, Nicole’s world changes.
To make matters worse, the family doesn’t tell Nicole’s ailing sister Lou (Katie Bezilla). They feel as if she isn’t “mature” enough to know. Regardless, this revelation takes its toll on protagonist Nicole. The weight of her mother’s secret permeates every part of her life. Whether it’s an internship opportunity, maintaining a bond with her sister, or pursuing romantic interests, the weight of her mother’s secret makes it almost impossible for Nicole to choose a path. In a brilliant metanarrative scene, Nicole reveals to a friend that she wants to shoot “tableaus.” These are model sets representing scenesfromastory.
Read full drama film review.
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Film Movement "Club Zero"