The art that will stay with us long after this year is over.
This year, we read books about aging and immigration, listened to albums about heartbreak and loss, watched television about friendship and anti-colonial struggle, and found new films to love about women's relationships and political intrigue. These are the works of art that sustained us this year and will stay with us long after, curated by the passerby team and our community.
Please enjoy the best of what we’ve read, watched, and listened to this year and stay tuned for our highlights from the year at passerby, which we'll be sharing with our newsletter subscribers on Sunday.
best films of 2024
1. perfect days dir. wim wenders
recommended by Maristella Gonzalez, Marie Méon, clémence polès, and Eleonora de Chiara
Following the daily life of a toilet cleaner in Tokyo, Perfect Days is a calm and lovely reflection on the joy to be found in the simple and the everyday. The soundtrack is also great, befitting the main character’s love of music. Maristella Gonzalez told us that as a result of this movie, “‘Perfect Day’ by Lou Reed became one of my top tracks this year, according to my Spotify Wrapped.”
2. anora dir. sean baker
recommended by @jean.catherine, Michelle Siman, and Kerrilynn Pamer
Part screwball Cinderella story, part anxious drama about love and money, Anora is anchored by Mikey Madison’s tough and vulnerable performance as the titular character, a sex worker from Brighton Beach who marries the son of a Russian oligarch and finds herself tussling with his parents’ henchmen.
3. dune: part two dir. denis villeneuve
recommended by Virginia Chang, @jean.catherine, paola sakr, and Casey Eastwell
The second installment of Villeneuve’s adaptiation of Frank Herbert’s classic novel, Dune: Part Two is a sci-fi opera about colonial resource extraction and messianic fervor. The sets, score, and cinematography create a compellingly strange and spectacular world.
4. Conclave dir. Edward Berger
recommended by @krystianaspractice, yasi salek, and rebecca boorstin
This mysterious thriller is about the quest for truths, both spiritual and human, and about crises of faith both institutional — the movie tracks the backroom dealing involved in selecting the next pope — and personal — Ralph Fiennes’ cardinal had only just asked the now-dead pope for leave to address an internal crisis at a spiritual retreat when circumstance thrusts him into the position of corralling the candidates jockeying for power.
5. all we imagine as light dir. payal kapadia
recommended by clémence polès and kavi moltz
Kavi Moltz told us she appreciated this movie because “I love seeing anything out of India that is poetic and real and focuses on women.” The women at the heart of this movie are Anu and Prabha, roomates who work as nurses at a hospital in Mumbai, and Parvaty, who works at the hospital as a cook. The movie follows them, their friendship and their struggles, which include a love affair kept secret due to religious differences, absent husbands, and the often brutal reality of daily life. It’s a very passerby movie — both a poetic ode to city living and a portrait of female solidarity.
Not currently available to stream
More of our favorite films include:
Janet Planet dir. annie baker (recommended by meghan racklin and @_alicelancaster_)
La Chimera dir. Alice Rohrwacher (recommended by emilia petrarca and @marcatarina_)
Challengers dir. Luca Guadagnino (recommended by shauna saneinejad and @jean.catherine)
The Seed of the Sacred Fig dir. Mohammad Rasoulof (recommended by shauna saneinejad and sunny shokrae)
Blink Twice dir. Zoe Kravitz (recommended by @tolz_ and kaylan rexer)
For even more, our founder Clémence Polès, has published her favorite films of 2024 on her tumblr.
best books of 2024
1. Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar
recommended by Yasi Salek, Dalia Al-Dujaili, Nada Alic, Roya Shariat, Maanasi natarajan, rebecca boorstin, and Sunny Shokrae
This first novel from Iranian-American poet Akbar follows Cyrus, an Iranian-born American poet whose mother was killed when an Iranian passenger plane was shot down by a U.S. Navy warship. In the wake of his mother’s death, Cyrus is obsessed with the idea of martyrdom — a death that matters. The book is also a generational saga, tracing the lives of Cyrus’s family members in Iran before the tragedy. It is a novel about art, pain, and sacrifice, with beautiful, poetic prose. Roya Shariat told us, “This book shook me to my core in the best possible way. I felt electrified reading it and couldn't put it down! It's best not to get into plot — read it with an open mind and see where the story takes you.”
Read Martyr!
2. all fours by Miranda july
recommended by Claire Rousay, Rachel seville Tashjian, kavi moltz, Nada Alic, anne gomez rubin, and Julia Corsaro
As the unnamed narrator of July’s novel grapples with romantic obsession, menopause, and open marriage, what emerges is a funny and moving portrait of a woman at midlife. Kavi Moltz told us that the book “pretty much changed my life and resonated to my core as I enter my later 40s,” and Anne Gomez Rubin said “It’s a really moving and fascinating portrait of middle-age womanhood, and I am finding myself thinking about it every day. It is both sexy and weird and so recognizable!”
Read All Fours
3. intermezzo by sally rooney
recommended by Clio reynolds, Casey Eastwell, and Charlotte Forsyth
Sally Rooney’s latest expands the bounds of her work, formally and thematically. Intermezzo follows two brothers, Ivan and Peter, as they navigate their relationships to one another and to the women in their lives in the wake of the loss of their father, exploring the ways people might love one another — and remake love in their own image — in the wake of pain and grief.
Read Intermezzo
4. the stepdaughter by caroline blackwood
recommended by marlowe granados and meghan racklin
Abandoned by her husband and left to deal with a stepdaughter she despises, J, the narrator of Blackwood’s short, sharp, and sour novel, reissued this year by McNally Editions, turns to writing letters in her mind. For J, the gorgeous apartment her she lives in is a velvet-lined box, sealing her in like a coffin, made worse by the fact that her stepdaughter is stuck there with her. It is a bitter and brilliant book that serves up the worst of human failings — abject cruelty, abandonment, laziness, selfishness — with a manic relish.
Read The Stepdaughter
5. thieving sun by monica datta
recommended by Rachel seville Tashjian and meghan racklin
Arranged according to the logic of a musical scale, as opposed to standard chronology, Thieving Sun inventively and wrenchingly represents the atemporal experience of loss. Arranged around the relationship between Julienne, a sculptor, and Gaspar, a composer, as they meet, fall in love, experience a rupture in their relationship after ten years, and particularly concerned with the impact of Gaspar’s sudden death on Julienne, this is a beautifully-rendered examination of grief, time, and the importance of art.
Read Thieving Sun
More of our favorite books include:
Real Americans by Rachel Khong (recommended by rebekah peppler and shauna saneinejad)
Vivienne by Emmalea Russo (recommended by natalie guevara and rachel seville tashjian)
The Friday Afternoon Club By Griffin Dunne (recommended by rachel seville tashjian and samantha leach)
The Princess of 72nd Street by Elaine Kraf (recommended by meghan racklin)
Forest of Noise by Mosab Abu Toha (recommended by maanasi natarajan)
best albums of 2024
1. brat by Charlie xcx
recommended by marlowe granados, @jean.catherine, Rachel seville Tashjian, Emilia Petrarca, Shauna Saneinejad, Dalia Al-Dujaili, rebecca boorstin, and Fiorella Valdesolo
Inspired by the music of the aughts but with a distinctive lyrical candor and vulnerability — covering everything from competition among women to deciding whether or not to have children. As Rachel Seville Tashjian told us, “Charli XCX's album was both excellently, flippantly entertaining and extremely important. (Only women artists can achieve this combination, I think!).” Emilia Petrarca added, “I can’t believe it, but I’m STILL listening to brat and brat and it’s the same but there’s three more songs so it’s not, AND brat and it’s completely different but also still brat. Charli got me.”
Listen to brat
2. charm by clairo
recommended by Clio reynolds, @_rajonnasarka, and marlowe granados
Intimate, evanescent lyrics paired with ‘70s-inflected rock instrumentals make Clario’s third album special. The album, like Clario’s last, is in the lineage of Carole King, but with an added warmth that makes it a pleasure for longtime fans and new listeners.
Listen to Charm
3. Two Star & The Dream Police by Mk.gee
recommended by @toadoverload and clémence polès
Mike Gordon’s first album as Mk.gee is a singular blend of ‘70s funk, ‘80s synths, and an aughts indie rock sensibility. Inspired by everyone from Prince to Michael Jackson to The Police, it doesn’t sound quite like anything you’ve ever heard before.
Listen to Two Star & The Dream Police
4. god said no by omar apollo
recommended by Shauna Saneinejad and Michelle Siman
A beautiful breakup album, led by Apollo’s low-key vocals and honest, emotive lyrics, and backed by swooning synths and swaying melodies. This is Apollo’s rawest, most emotionally-resonant album yet.
Listen to God Said No
5. Bright future by adrianne lenker
recommended by Clio reynolds and Maanasi natarajan
The fifth solo album from the Big Thief frontwoman has an refreshing authenticity about it, often sounding as if you were in the recording studio with Lenker. That straight-to-tape sound is paired with lyrics that move between diaristic honesty and intricate wordplay. Together, this makes for an especially intimate entry into Lenker’s discography.
Listen to Bright Future
More of our favorite albums include:
Imaginal Disk by Magdalena Bay (recommended by lizzie racklin and maanasi natarajan)
Short n’ Sweet by Sabrina Carpenter (recommended by marlowe granados and natalie guevara)
CHROMAKOPIA by Tyler, The Creator (recommended by rachel seville tashjian and marianna)
I Got Heaven by Mannequin Pussy (recommended by yasi salek and rebecca boorstin)
GNX by Kendrick Lamar (recommended by marianna and chloe lucas-walsh)
For even more, our founder, Clémence Polès, has published her favorite albums of 2024 on her tumblr.
best television of 2024
1. my brilliant friend (hbo)
recommended by marlowe granados, clémence polès, and Charlotte Forsyth
In the final season of this adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Novels, sees Lenù, its narrator and a now-successful author, return to Naples, her childhood hometown, where her lifelong friend Lila has become a powerful businesswoman. Their relationship is, as the title suggests, the axis around which the show revolves, and this season confirms it as one of the most complex, sensitively-depicted relationships yet seen on television — the rage and resentment they feel towards one another as intimate as their love. Marlowe Granados recommends “adding My Brilliant Friend to the diet to even it out with all the Bravo shows (I do it too).”
2. industry (hbo)
recommended by Michelle Siman, Charlotte Forsyth, clémence polès, and Emily Sundberg
The titular industry is London high finance, a corrosive, scandal-wracked world constantly threatening to consume the ambitious and vicious young bankers who make up the show’s ensemble cast. In the third season, the characters give themselves over to the monstrosity at the heart of their industry, their actions often stunningly inhumane and impressively entertaining to watch.
3. Say nothing (Fx)
recommended by meghan racklin, kathleen sorbara, and yasi salek
This adaptation of Patrick Radden Keefe’s book of the same name follows members of the IRA, including the notorious Price sisters, and the children of the McConville family, whose mother the IRA disappeared, through decades, beginning in the late ‘60s. It is a sensitive and captivating look at anti-colonial struggle, political disillusionment, historical memory, and the cost of violence in the aftermath of an aborted revolution, anchored by some of the year’s best performances.
4. shōgun (fx)
recommended by Emilia Petrarca, Rebekah Peppler, and Maristella Gonzalez
Tracing the stories of Lord Toranaga, a war hero jockeying for power amid a succession crisis, Lady Mariko, an aristocratic woman with a mysterious past, and John Blackthorne, a shipwrecked English sailor who becomes embroiled in the politics of the country in which he finds himself stranded, Shōgun is a visually-striking epic saga set in Japan in the 1600s, a time of frequent warfare and increased contact with Europe. As Maristella Gonzalez put it, “It’s a masterpiece — the acting, production design, writing, costumes. Everything is absolutely chef’s kiss. The show’s sweep of the Emmys was well deserved.”
5. somebody somewhere (hbo)
recommended by laurie simmons and rebecca boorstin
The final season of this melancholy comedy about a woman who moves back to her small Midwestern hometown to care for her dying sister is full of depth and heart. It’s a show that thoughtfully explores stasis and change, loneliness and connection, exploring quiet lives with grace and lightness. Laurie Simmons told us, “I loved the final season. Though it can be sad the characters have a genuine ‘isn’t life funny?’ laugh. It has a kind of calmness, sweetness, slowness you don’t often see on TV.”
More of our favorite shows include:
The English Teacher (recommended by fiorella valdesolo, kavi moltz, and rebecca boorstin)
Slow Horses (recommended by clio reynolds and charlotte forsyth)
The Sympathizer (recommended by maanasi natarajan and kathleen sorbara)
Rivals (recommended by @pxory and charlotte forsyth)
Pachinko (recommended by charlotte forsyth and rebekah peppler)
header image from payal kapadia’s all we imagine as light
words by meghan racklin