The most underrated movies and TV shows of 2024

At the end of the year, you may see a lot of "best of" lists. But a lot of great movies and TV shows flew under the radar in 2024. 

Culture critics Rad Simonpillai, Ashley Ray and Thomas Leblanc join guest host Ali Hassan to discuss the best things they watched this past year that most of us never heard about. 

We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, listen and follow Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud on your favourite podcast player.

Ali: Rad, I understand you have a pretty bold statement to make, and that is that the very best movie of the year flew under the radar. What are you referring to there? 

Rad: Yeah. So I'm talking about All We Imagine as Light, which is a very small, gentle Indian film from a director who actually hails from documentary, Payal Kapadia. This is a movie about three women in Mumbai, all from different backgrounds, all from different cultures, and just navigating, on a very subtle level, the patriarchy, the class differences, the different ways the culture has these expectations on women. It's not overt, it's all just baked into this story about these women, who believe that they deserve romance in their lives and deserve happiness. And it's about how they connect and find solidarity with each other. It's a beautiful, tender movie where there's so much meaning, just subtly worked into the writing where even a rice cooker — the staple in my house, in your house, Ali — it's just loaded with meaning. 

It got such a measly release in theatres. It's still playing in a rep cinema here and there….There's one theatre in all of the GTA that is playing this. It barely got that theatrical release, but also India did wrong by that movie. So like when you talk about the Oscar race, you know how every country has to submit their contender for international feature? India picked some other movie, Laapataa Ladies, and the jury defended their decision, saying that All We Imagine as Light is very technically poor, which is like, come on now. So it's been really heartening to see a lot of critics' awards and bodies naming this a best picture prize, despite India's lack of confidence in that film. 

If you have a chance to see it, if it's anywhere in your vicinity, seek it out. Because that's what we all have to do with this movie, we have to seek it out. 

Ali: Yeah, I'm definitely going to do that. And I should say, you're saying it flew under the radar, and yes, it did, but it also won Le Grand Prix at Cannes and it also was nominated for a Golden Globe, so it didn't fly under everybody's radar.

Ashley, what is the movie you want to tell us about because it did not get enough attention this year?

Ashley: My pick is My Old Ass. I loved this movie with Aubrey Plaza. To me, it signifies the changes in movie watching and streaming. This is a film that, if it came out in 2011, would have been a huge comedy hit. Every person would've been like, "We got to go see the new Aubrey Plaza movie. Oh my gosh, we're obsessed with her." And today, it comes out on Amazon and no one cares. This movie is heartwarming, it's hilarious, it's just beautifully shot. It's one of those movies you want to watch over and over again, even though it's kind of sad, but it gives you that joie de vivre to live life. And I thought everyone would be talking about her amazing performance, doing something that felt like it was different from the standard Aubrey Plaza character, and I don't think anyone watched it. I think maybe I was the only person who logged into my Prime Video account and actually watched that movie because no one has heard of it. 

Another reason I thought this would get more attention: it's a really just grown-up role for Aubrey Plaza. It also has a fun sci-fi element and drugs in it — people love that. So I thought it was going to be like one of the comedy hits of the year. I thought this would bring back the comedy-personal movie. I think that's something we've lost recently. It felt good to see it come back. So everyone go watch this movie, so they make more comedies. 

Ali: Thomas, you're based in Quebec. You're here to talk about a film that was a big hit in La Belle Provence but did not land in the rest of Canada — a tale as old as time itself.

Thomas: It's my life's mission to bridge the cultural divide between Quebec and the rest of the country. And the biggest Quebec movie this year is a musical movie named Nos belles-sœurs. Ali, you grew up around Montreal, you might know the play Les belles-sœurs from Michel Tremblay. Michel Tremblay is the premier Quebec playwright. This is a play that was written in 1968, it was the first play to be in French-Canadian slang, so not in normative European French-French, but Quebec joual. It's the story of Germaine, who wins the lottery and she wins a million stamps that she needs to put in these little notebooks. And she invites all her in-laws, her neighbours, her sisters, who are les belles-sœurs, the sisters-in-law. It's a universal tale of envy and sisterhood. And all these women live on the same street, probably the plateau of Montreal. So if you've been to Montreal, you know the area.

This is one of the classic Quebec stories that's been turned into a musical. Listen, it's not only Mean Girls that's a movie turned into a musical, this is a play turned into a musical about 10 years ago. And this year, the musical was turned into a movie, and it grossed $3.5 million at the box office here in Quebec. 

It's a really simple story, but the actresses are really, really lovely. It's interesting because it's a lot of Quebec household names, but Rad or Ashley, if you watch this movie, you'll have no idea who these people are, and as a Quebecker, that's so funny and interesting to me.

I'll be honest, it's not the most inventive or imaginative, especially in terms of direction, but the performances are great. The songs are written by another Quebec hero, his name is Daniel Bélanger, a songwriter from the '90s, and he turned this story into a beautiful musical, and now the musical is even turned into a symphonic show. So listen, the trend of turning IPs into money-printing endeavors is not only in the U.S., but also here in Quebec.

You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Panel produced by Jess Low.