Cherwell’s Film Section Editors decided to get together and review their favourite releases of 2024. Ranging from animation to drama, these are the Editors’ picks for the must-see pictures of the past year. If you haven’t watched these yet, there are no longer excuses!
Review: Pablo Berger’s Robot Dreams (Dan Paling)
Pablo Berger’s heartfelt animation, Robot Dreams, based on Sarah Varon’s 2007 graphic novel, reached UK screens in March 2024. The protagonist, a lonely dog-stroke-human (he walks upright and watches cable television) orders a life-size robot online. The machine companion — conveniently named ‘Robot’ — arrives at Dog’s door. Dog assembles him; AI-canine friendship blossoms.
Gallivanting around ‘80s Manhattan, the unlikely pair are captured charmingly by Berger’s warm colours and soft curves. The animation is melancholic, yet endearing. There’s something of vintage Hanna-Barbera.
Robot Dreams is the kind of universal cinema that enchants all ages. Dog represents none of us (he’s a dog!). But he’s also everyone: longing for connection, joyful in friendship. These tropes are never diminished as childish, nor rendered ‘too adult’ for youngsters to understand. This is a platonic love story of the most serious character.
Disaster strikes when Dog organises a trip to the seaside and Robot is incapacitated by rust after a swim (he’s made of metal, of course). The two lose sight of each other, the beach closes for the season and our protagonists embark on separate lives, flooded by mourning. The film changes gear. Now it’s about isolation, powerlessness, moving on.
Robot Dreams shows that animation can take on the biggest themes. Therein lies its brilliance. It’s that rare combination of humble and grandiose. All that, and its unforgettable title track (Earth, Wind & Fire’s classic anthem ‘September’), make it difficult to remain unmoved by Berger’s portrait of love and loss.
Review: Miguel Gomes’ Grand Tour (Lara Machado)
In September 2024, Portuguese auteur Miguel Gomes returned to the big screen with his 7th feature film Grand Tour. As a long-term fan of his work, I may be biased but can assure you that it did not disappoint.
The film follows Edward, a British Diplomat working in 1917 Burma, now Myanmar. Overcome by fear when faced with the prospect of being reunited with his long-term, long-distance fiancée Molly, Edward decides to run away from her. Molly, however, is determined to marry Edward and it soon turns into a chase across the Asian continent.
Genre-bending as usual, Gomes mixes modern day documentary footage – captured by three different directors of photography – with the film’s narrative, drawing attention to the artificial nature of what we are watching, all while reminding us of the magic that is cinema. To add to the irreality of it all, modern day items and pieces of the set are sometimes introduced into Edward and Molly’s story and, despite the characters being British, all the actors are Portuguese and speak in their native language. None of the dialogue in the many languages belonging to the countries included in the tour is translated. The characters don’t understand so neither do we. Gomes once said that all his films were bizarre, Portuguese remakes of The Wizard of Oz. So, if you are looking for something to make you believe in the magic of cinema again, I cannot recommend Grand Tour more.
