© Mubi, Metropolitan Filmexport, Working Title Films & Blacksmith This year we saw a movie that tapped into the romance of the motorcycle and the open road.
Another skewered society's obsession with youthful looks.
One documentary shone an uncomfortable light on Israeli actions in the West Bank.
While another movie celebrated the redemptive power of the arts.
These are the movies that have made the top 20 list of films that Pomona watched this year.
But where do they lie on the list?
20. SING SING (Greg Kwedar)
Part-scripted, part-improvised, Greg Kwedar's tribute to the redemptive power of the arts has been a bit of a slow burner in terms of audience awareness.
However a good showing in critics' end of year lists and during awards season will definitely change all of that.
Colman Domingo is in terrific form as Divine G, a man incarcerated in Sing Sing Correctional Facility in New York for a crime he did not commit but who finds solace in the prison theatre group in which he acts alongside fellow inmates.
Under the guidance of Paul Raci's theatre director, Divine G blossoms as a playwright and actor.
A new member of the group, Clarence 'Divine Eye' Maclin finds it more challenging, struggling to lay bare his emotions in the way a great performer needs to.
There's more than a hint of 'The Shawshank Redemption' in the way Kwedar's film celebrates the redemptive power of the arts.
However the movie is all the more remarkable because some of the cast members, including Maclin, have been prisoners in real life and are alumni of the Rehabilitation Through Arts program (RTA).
This fact gives the film an air of authenticity as does Kwedar's own history.
A former RTA instructor, he knows the subject so intimately in a way that most directors don't - enabling hom to blur the lines between fact and fiction really effectively.
Even if it doesn't lift any major awards, 'Sing Sing' has already accomplished a lot.
It has challenged society's tendency to write off those who have served time and makes a great case for investment in the arts as a way of transforming lives.
19. THE BIKERIDERS (Jeff Nichols)
There's something wonderfully retro about Jeff Nichols's stirring biker gang crime drama.
Packed full of strong performances from a cast that oozes charisma, Jodie Comer steals the show as Kathy Bauer, a young woman who falls for Austin Butler's hotheaded Chicago biker Benny Cross who joins a gang led by Tom Hardy's Johnny Davis.
Peppered with sporadic outbreaks of violence, the story of the gang's rise and fall is recounted in flashbacks by Kathy to Mike Faist's photojournalist Danny Lyon who once followed them on their adventures.
Over the course of the film, we see Johnny's gang brush up against the police, become part of motorcycle folklore, inspire other chapters across the Midwest and suffer a series of major setbacks.
Reminiscent of Laszlo Benedick's 1953 biker classic 'The Wild One' which it openly references, the movie boasts Hardy at his most Brandoesque as the gang leader who takes Benny under his wing.
Butler is much more James Dean in his approach, offering a brooding presence while Michael Shannon and Boyd Holbrook also catch the eye as two gang members Cockroach and Cal.
Thanks to Nichols' no nonsense storytelling approach, cinematographer Adam Stone's gritty visuals and film editor Julie Monroe's expert pacing, 'The Bikeriders' feels like an authentic study of how toxic masculinity can bleed any romantic ideal dry.
A love letter to the roar and smell of biker culture, it depicts another American dream that became a nightmare as a result of macho culture.
18. THE SUBSTANCE (Coralie Fairgeat)
The shallowness of the beauty and entertainment industries has always been ripe for satire.
However French writer and director Coralie Fairgeat's body horror flick with Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley and Dennis Quaid took its pot shots at vanity and pushed them to an extreme level.
Moore plays Elizabeth Sparkle, an ageing Hollywood star turned TV fitness guru in LA who is fired by Quaid's repulsive producer Harvey because he wants someone younger.
Devastated by being thrown on the scrapheap, Elizabeth learns from a nurse in an emergency ward where she is being treated after a car crash that there is a program known as The Substance that can create a "younger, more beautiful, more perfect version" of yourself if you want.
As Harvey searches for the new Elizabeth Sparkle, she desperately subscribes but there is a golden rule attached to the package of serums she receives.
She can only inhabit her younger persona for just one week on alternate weeks or she will risk horrific changes to her real body if she prolongs the period of being her younger self.
Using the serums, she undergoes a stomach churning birthing procedure of her new self called Sue, who is played by Qualley.
Armed with her new body, she secures her old role as a TV fitness instructor in a much sleazier version of the original workout show.
As Sue becomes an overnight sensation, Elizabeth's new version of herself battles with the temptation to remain in her new body for longer than a week.
Inevitably this brings both versions of herself into conflict.
There are shades of 'The Picture of Dorian Gray,' 'Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde' and 'Frankenstein' in Fairgeat's withering examination of society's lionisation of youthful looks and its unhealthy fixation with image.
Moore and Qualley are fantastic in a film that will have even the most hardened body horror connoisseurs flinching.
As subtle as a rhinoceros on stilts, the film certainly lands its punches - even if it is slightly let down by an overcooked performance by Quaid that leaves you wondering how the original choice, Ray Liotta would have fared.
In only her second movie as a director, Fairgeat shows she has plenty to offer in a filmmaking career that could be well worth following closely.
17. AMERICAN FICTION (Cord Jefferson)
Few films this year were as smart as Cord Jefferson's satire which held up a rather unflattering mirror to society and its tendency to swallow easy stereotypes.
A withering comedy about racial stereotyping in the publishing world, Jeffrey Wright deservedly bagged an Academy Award Best Actor nomination as an author who has become frustrated by diminishing book sales and an industry that lauds work that trades on African American stereotypes.
Returning to Boston to look after his mother, Leslie Uggams' Agnes, Monk lets his frustration with the literary world boil over by creating a new persona and submitting a novel full of stereotypes, pretending to be a former gang member.
As the book becomes a literary sensation, Monk has to wrestle with the sudden death of a sibling, his strained relationship with a feckless gay brother and a romance with a lawyer who is divorcing her husband.
Inevitably, the spoof elements of the film overshadow the family drama, thanks to a genuinely funny central premise.
Wright gels really well with a superb cast that includes John Ortiz as his giddy literary agent, Erika Alexander as his girlfriend, Issa Rae as a rival author, Tracee Ellis Ross as his sister, Myra Lucretia Taylor as the family's long serving housekeeper and Sterling K Brown, who was also Oscar nominated as his plastic surgeon brother Cliff.
Executed with a Billy Wilder meets Robert Altman acerbic wit, 'American Fiction' marks Jefferson out as a talented filmmaker who we'll be expecting more from in years to come.
16. BEETLEJUICE, BEETLEJUICE (Tim Burton)
There's a huge risk in trying to replicate previous successes as a director.
But hats off to Tim Burton, Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder and Catherine O'Hara for revisiting the paranormal world of the 1988 comedy 'Beetlejuice' and coming up with a sequel 36 years later that's actually better than the original.
Ryder returns as Lydia Deetz, a TV psychic who has a strained relationship with her own teenage daughter, Jenna Ortega's Astrid.
Lydia also has to contend witj an overbearing, exploitative boyfriend, Justin Theroux's Rory and is prone to nightmarish apparitions of Keaton's bio-exorcist Beetlejuice.
Soon she finds herself back in the Connecticut town of Winter River with Astrid and her mother, O'Hara's Delia after her father dies in a shark attack.
When Astrid befriends local lad Arthur Conti's Jeremy Frazer, it sets in train a series of events that lead to Lydia reluctantly turning to Beetlejuice for help.
However Keaton's grotesque character has troubles of his own, with Willem Dafoe's former action star turned supernatural detective Wolf Jackson informing Beetlejuice that his ex-wife, Monica Bellucci's witch Delores has returned and is sucking the souls out of anyone who gets in her way as she tries to track him down.
Extremely witty, visually stunning and very Tim Burton, 'Beetlejuice Beetlejuice' might just be the best movie franchise revival of the past decade outside of Denis Villeneuve's 'Blade Runner 2049'.
Boasting a cameo by Danny de Vito, Keaton and Ryder dominate proceedings with magnetic performances while Ortega and Dafoe, in particular, are great additions to Burton's ghoulish world.
In an age where we have become blase about excellent CGI visual effects in boring blockbusters, there's something wonderfully subversive and refreshing about a well crafted Hollywood film that instead uses stop motion animation to depict a plane crash and shark attack.
However it is the high laughter count in Alfred Gough and Miles Millar's script that really impresses, giving a superb cast a hell of a lot to sink their fangs into.
15. CONCLAVE (Edward Berger)
German-Austrian director Edward Berger's English language debut has all the ingredients of a strong awards season contender.
A peak behind the curtains of the Vatican as Cardinals jockey for power during the election of a new Pope, this adaptation of Robert Harris' 2016 thriller boasts a starry cast and handsome visuals.
Ralph Fiennes plays Cardinal Thomas Lawrence, a British Primate tasked with running a bitterly fought contest between conservative and liberal candidates for the Papacy.
Sergio Castelitto's Italian Cardinal Goffredo Tedesco is the great white hope of those who want to return the Church to traditional, authoritarian views.
Stanley Tucci's Italian American Cardinal Aldo Bellini is the standard bearer for the liberal, progressive wing who adored the previous Pontiff.
Lying somewhere in between are Lucian Msamati's Nigerian Cardinal Joseph Adeyemi, John Lithgow's Canadian Cardinal Joseph Tremblay and Carlos Diehz's Mexican born Afghanistan based Cardinal Vincent Benitez.
Over the course of seven votes, runners and riders fall by the wayside as various scandals are unearthed and hidden ambitions are revealed.
As the movie progresses, Cardinal Lawrence emerges as a viable but reluctant candidate, while Isabella Rossellini's nun Sister Agnes and Brian F O'Byrne's Irish Monsignor Raymond O'Malley find themselves dragged into participating in the power games that erupt during the Conclave.
Adapted by English screenwriter Peter Strachan, expect Berger's film to hoover up nominations during awards season with Fiennes, Tucci, Lithgow and Rossellini turning in performances that may well attract Oscar buzz.
Stephane Fontaine's cinematography, Suzie Davies' production design, Lisy Christi's costumes and Volker Bertelmann's musical score should also figure prominently.
A lot of the film's success hinges on whether audiences are prepared to swallow some unexpected, attention grabbing set pieces and a huge twist designed to prevent the film from sliding into a mundane examination of ambition in the Church.
Not all of these narrative gambles convince but there's no doubt Berger has delivered an entertaining meditation on the games that people play in pursuit of power and position.
It is certainly a much livelier film than Anthony Quinn's sombre, reluctant Ukrainian Pontiff in 'The Shoes of The Fisherman' and that in itself is progress.
14. HIT MAN (Richard Linklater)
Glen Powell has one of the most smug faces in cinema.
However you could be forgiven for thinking he has every right to look smug after co-writing and starring in this Netflix acquired comedy drama helmed by Richard Linklater.
Inspired by an article in the magazine Texas Monthly, Powell plays Gary Johnson, a mild mannered New Orleans psychology and philosophy professor who advises the police on sting operations designed to nab people who hire assassins.
Unexpectedly thrust into the role as a fake hitman when the detective who normally does it is suspended, Gary is surprisingly good at pretending to be a cold blooded assassin, securing the arrests of dozens of people.
However one undercover sting goes awry when he takes pity on Adria Arjona's Madison who wants him to assassinate her abusive husband.
Advising her not to go down this murderous path, Gary advises her to use her money instead to quit her marriage, sparing her from being arrested.
Attracted to Madison, Gary gets sexually involved with her in her new single life while still pretending to be a hitman but how long will it be before his fake life is exposed?
A clever and engaging tale, 'Hit Man' could easily be a slight comedy vehicle for a rising star like Powell but instead it playfully riffs on film noir tropes as we begin to question various characters' motives.
Powell is engaging in the lead role and Arjona is a great romantic foil but there are standout supporting performances too by the stand up comic Retta and Sanjay Rao as New Orleans detectives who work alongside Gary, Molly Bernard as his ex-wife, Evan Holtzman as Madison's estranged husband and Austin Amelio as Jasper, the undercover detective whose nose is really put out of joint by the academic supplanting him.
'Hit Man' may not be Linklater's most ambitious movie but it is tremendous fun and possibly his most enjoyable movie so far.
13. NO OTHER LAND (Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham & Rachel Szor)
As the world despairs over the horrors unfolding in Gaza, this extraordinary Norwegian and Palestinian documentary focuses on the grim realities of life in the West Bank.
The film tells the story of Basel Adra, a young Palestinian activist who has risked his life over the years filming the concerted efforts of the Israeli Defence Forces and settlers to drive family, friends and neighbours off their land in the region of Masafer Yatta.
It's a stark and, at times, brutal and shocking depiction of oppression in the land around his village, with Palestinian families forced to live in caves Israeli Defence Forces soldiers and settlers seize their land and bulldoze homes, farms, schools and playgrounds.
During the course of the documentary, Adra befriends Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham who tries to help him publicise the actions of the settlers and soldiers who steamroll onto their land with no respect for basic human rights.
Adra, Abraham, Hamdan Ballal and Rachel Szor's film is an uncomfortable and heartbreaking but illuminating watch - explaining why the hearts and minds of Palestinians have become so hardened over decades towards Israel and especially in the Netenyahu years.
Amid the conflict, the film unearths nuggets of humanity as Basel and Yuval joke during car journeys or reflect on the impact on their lives while grabbing a smoke.
Ultimately, though, the film is an unflinching portrait of an intractable conflict and it contains unquestionably two od the most shocking acts of violence seen on a cinema screen this year - shocking because they are real.
Adra, Abraham, Ballal and Szor's groundbreaking documentary is cinema into a tool of defiance and resistance, using the footage they have assembled to issue an urgent clarion call for the world to sit up and take notice of human rights violations taking place in a region that has been occupied since 1967.
It's a desperate attempt to sway international opinion and will cement the views of the already converted but is anyone else really listening and prepared to intervene?
12. PRISCILLA (Sofia Coppola)
There have been many depictions of Elvis on the big screen - the most recent being Baz Luhrmann's 2022 biopic.
However Sofia Coppola's movie is the first to tell the story of the impact of his superstardom from the perspective of Priscilla Presley, his wife and it is all the better for it.
Callie Spaeny is exceptionally good in the lead role as the young woman who first met Elvis when she was 14 years old while he was stationed in Germany.
After a whirlwind romance, we see through her eyes the gradual disintegration over the course of 14 years of the man she married at 21 l.
Jacob Elordi is very effective in how he handles the transformation of Elvis from the good old boy to a more egocentric, controlling husband whose life has been overtaken by celebrity image.
While the film is more critical of Elvis than most, this isn't a Presley bashing exercise but rather a celebration of how Priscilla developed into a woman who learnt how to assert herself.
Beautifully shot digitally in distinctive colour palettes for each stage of Priscilla's life by Phillippe Le Sourd, we move from darkly lit scenes in Germany to bright Doris Day movie colours as the romance blossoms and back to darker tones as tensions grow in the marriage.
Easily Coppola's best film since 'Lost In Translation,' I'd take this thoughtful movie over Luhrmann's brash depiction of Elvis folklore anyday.
11. BIRD (Andrea Arnold)
Looking for a successor to Ken Loach?
Andrea Arnold has always been one of the main pretenders to the 'Kes' director's social realism crown.
However with 'Bird,' she delivered this year a movie of such narrative daring and heft, it actually pushes her more into the realm of magical realism.
'Bird' tells the story of Nykiya Adams' 12 year old slum dweller and loner Bailey who is wrestling with adolescence, the impending marriage of her dad Barry Keoghan's Bug, her half brother Jason Buda's Hunter's obsession with a local girl and her responsibility towards to a younger brother and two sisters who live in the home their mum shares with a brutish boyfriend, James Nelson-Joyce's Skate.
Filming a lot of what she sees around her on her smartphone, Bailey mostly captures footage of wildlife - especially birds.
One day, however, she stumbles across Franz Rogowski's eccentric foreigner Bird who reveals he is trying to trace his parents.
Bird believes they may have lived on her estate.
A natural carer, Bailey pretty quickly takes up his cause.
Reveling in the music of Fontaines DC, Blur, Sleaford Mods and The Verve, Arnold takes a massive narrative leap of faith towards the end of the film that some audiences may struggle with - just like Vittorio Da Sica's 1951 neo realist classic 'Miracle In Milan'.
Those that go along with the plot twist will be charmed by a movie that shines a bright light on deprivation in post-Brexit Britain without ever wallowing in the misery.
Intimately shot by Robbie Ryan, 'Bird' isa liberating magical realist experience of considerable depth, anchored by a powerful central performance from newcomer Adams.
As ever, Keoghan sparkles in a supporting role as the big talking Bug - making a great 'Saltburn' joke along the way - and confirming his place as one of the most exciting actors working right now on the big or small screen.
Rogowski also hugely impresses in a film that features nicely judged cameos by Sleaford Mods frontman Jason Williamson and Fontaines DC guitarist Carlos O'Connell.
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