this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. hello from new york. i'm tom brook and welcome to our talking movies review of the year in film in 202a. looking back at the year in cinema, there have been some high points and low points, but what did the movie—going public make of it all? my favourite film of 2024 was dune: part two. the visuals were remarkable.

fly me to the moon with scarlett johansson and channing tatum. that one was a really good romcom. all of us strangers. i've never cried so much at a film in my life. - we loved wicked because it's all about friendship and two unlikely strangers meeting and becoming best friends. in our programme, a visit to auschwitz for the polish premiere of the oscar—winning the zone of interest. also, revisiting a french film classic at the time of the summer olympics... entertainment isjust about engagement. ..plus revelations from the british film—maker who won big at the oscars. earlier this year, the executive producer of talking movies asked me if i wanted to go to auschwitz to cover the polish premiere ofjonathan glazer's holocaust drama the zone of interest. i have to say, i hesitated. i'm of germanjewish ancestry. my father was born just 150 miles from auschwitz, and the family fled germany in 1933, not long after hitler came to power.

anyway, despite my hesitation about visiting the site of the largest mass murder in history, i put my fears aside and just forged ahead and visited auschwitz one cold february morning. i'm very intrigued to see the place and to see what film—makerjonathan glazer did with the location to craft a picture that i think in many ways is very unique in terms of the perspective it has and what it tells us about the holocaust. the zone of interest is defined by its point of view. the focus is not on those who suffered at auschwitz but on the perpetrators, chief among them rudolf hoss, the nazi commandant of the camp, who lived with his wife and children a seemingly blissful

life in a house adjacent to the concentration camp, just a short distance from the crematoriums. i felt that the film had to be about this place, and also had to sort of blur the line between then and now. i have to say, it's rather unnerving to be inside this former concentration camp here at auschwitz, and the building right behind me was the real home of the former commandant of auschwitz. one of the things that's incredibly powerful with jonathan glazer's film, the zone of interest, is how he uses sound to convey the horror of the concentration camp. you hear the noises of hoss's children playing joyfully in the garden just back here, combined with the suffering coming out of these buildings. people in pain. gunfire. the juxtaposition of these

sounds is truly horrifying and very powerful cinema. it conveys all the horrors from behind the wall. we don't show it. the sound, which is absolutely a masterpiece, you know, the way it's done, you know, that brings the horrors. and it also helps to build the film together. more than anything else, the zone of interest is a triumph of cinema. there's an unblinking coldness to its observations that makes you acknowledge, rather frighteningly, that the perpetrators of the violence here in auschwitz weren't, in certain key respects, that different from you or me. that is the power of the film. to try and show these people as people and not as monsters was a very important thing to do because human beings did this to other human beings,

and we obviously... it's very convenient for us to try and distance ourselves from them as much as we can, because obviously we think we could never behave this way and we don't behave this way, but i think we should be less certain in that. what a horrible manifestation of humanity this is. and, you know, ithink through cinema, through this film, the zone of interest, you realise that that darkness is still at large in the world. we're all capable of doing, to varying degrees, dreadful things. so this does keep happening. genocide has certainly not gone away. at the oscars, jonathan glazer's the zone of interest won two trophies, one

for best international feature and the other for sound. also on oscars night, many were hoping that actor lily gladstone would make history by becoming the first native american to win a best actress academy award. in the end, she didn't prevail in that category, but she did triumph because she became cinema's most eloquent spokesperson for the representation of native americans on screen. by bringing indigenous performers into a place where, you know, we're leading ladies, we're leading films that people are feeling, they're resonating with from all walks of life, is proving that we belong in these places and we have a lot to offer. like, the stories that we have to tell are ones that everybody can benefit from, not just us. it's interesting you say that, that, you know, the importance of telling your own stories, because i wanted to ask you, you know, martin scorsese, leonardo dicaprio, robert de niro — fine, upstanding men,

but they're all white men. did you have any kind of apprehension about collaborating with white men on telling a story about a terrible wrong done to indigenous people in the united states? absolutely. um, there was apprehension about all of it and all aspects of it, where a lot of comfort came before walking in and seeing what it actually was to work with these incredible, incredible humans, um, was the legacy of work that they all had. you know, leo, with his climate activism and the way that i know his organisation centres grassroots indigenous people. i had a feeling that that's what he would be like to work with on this project, and it certainly was. but the film had built such a strong safety net of osage voices in every department around the whole production, so i neverfelt like i had to be alone or speak out of turn. untranslated. that's how you are. i don't know what you said,

but it must have been indian for handsome devil. she laughs. so what were the most memorable movie moments of 2024 for my talking movies colleagues in london? one of my biggest movie highlights of 2024 was getting to be in france when paris hosted the olympics and paralympics. it's a country that i've loved ever since i first went to the cannes film festival a few years ago. paris has to be one of the most cinematic places on the planet, and if there's one movie that feels like a valentine to the french capital, it's got to be amelie, which was rereleased in french cinemas to celebrate the games. amelie, played by audrey tautou, is a young woman, she works as a waitress in montmartre. she lives this vivid interior life.

but because of her shyness, she's unable to tackle the big things in her own life, and one of those is a crush that she's got on a young man who she collides with one day in paris. so much of montmartre has become famous because of amelie, including here. montmartre has always been an artistic quarter, but amelie, set at the beginning of the 21st century in these dazzling hot, sunny parisian days, all these scenes set around sacre—coeur. and i think in cinema, it gave paris a whole new lease of life just because of the romantic, idyllic, idealistic way that jean—pierrejeunet filmed amelie.

another great moment of 2024 for me was at the venice film festival, when i met the celebrated director pedro almodovar. he had made his first film in the english language, the room next door. even though it deals with a hard topic, he does it with his customary flourishes of colour and humour. being close — in the room next door, so to speak — as a terminally ill person chooses the time of their dying, is the subject of oscar—winning spanish director pedro almodovar�*s latest film. tilda swinton plays martha... grunts in frustration. ..a journalist with incurable cancer. and julianne moore is the friend, ingrid, who is asked to accompany her on what martha wants to be her final journey. i'll sleep with my door open, and the day that you find it closed is the day it's already happened. the story confronts the certainty of death, something that in real life, the 75—year—old director says

he's wrestling with. i think of death almost every day. i don't really accept it with my mind. it's difficult for me to even... we have examples every day, thousands of examples, i mean, but, no, i have a problem with mortality. it's the first time he's worked in the english language in his 50—yearfilm career. with julianne moore and tilda swinton, they really helped me a lot with the language, and also they were very easy to direct. so, no, the problem, it was not the language. but you know that, you know, every movie, every shooting is a big problem, so everything can be wrong, but in this case it was not the language. you're going to need a lawyer. no, this is an absolute secret. this movie, based on sigrid nunez�*s book what are you going through, is released at a time many

nations are debating legalising assisted dying. and almodovar already used his appearance at venice to publicly call for regulated euthanasia to be available worldwide. i'm learning from her, and you should too. the room next door takes time to enthral, but by its conclusion, it is a masterpiece in storytelling as well as in its performances. almodovar was given a lifetime achievement golden lion five years ago. now that looks premature, as this director is at his peak. just when cinema needed some big hitters after a somewhat disappointing year at the box office, i was delighted that glicked — that's gladiator ii and wicked — came along to provide some spectacular entertainment. the original gladiator movie is one of my favourite—ever films. are you not entertained? so it was a dream to sit down with irish actor paul mescal, and he talked about his role in the new film.

whose head could i give you that would satisfy this fury? the entire roman army. it seems to me that rome is on a different scale in terms of its...the level of theatricality. .. mm—hm. ..in gladiator ii. do you feel that? well, you feel it because of the way that ridley constructs it. this is real. there's nothing like i having the real thing. the fight scenes and the kind of scale in terms of extras, and those sequences felt — they were incredibly well populated with people so it just felt like it probably translates on the screen. what do you hope gladiator ii brings? and what do you hope is maybe, you know, is different to the first gladiator? gladiator ii celebrates the dna of the first film. i think it celebrates what that film is. and i think ridley's having... i would say arguably more fun with it. i think he's dialling up the places that he can. and what were alan

moloney�*s most memorable behind—the—scenes encounters? one of the highlights for me in 2024 was joining tom and emma at the oscars ceremony in los angeles. we imagine a future and our imaginings horrify us. it was, of course, the event that gave oppenheimer seven academy awards, including best picture and best director for christopher nolan. from memento to the dark knight trilogy, i've been a huge fan of nolan's work, and it was fascinating to get the opportunity to sit down with him and talk about the craft of film—making. he's a very thoughtful and personable individual. and despite his reputation on set for seriousness, i found him warm and quite relaxed. how important was it to make this film an entertaining film? it's notjust a dry kind of biopic. how important was it to bring that kind of level of entertainment for an audience to you?

well, entertainment is a tricky word to use on the face of it, with such dark subject matter, but entertainment is just about engagement. you know, you can be entertained by a horror story the same way as by a comedy. we wanted to engage the audience. i wanted it to race along. you are the man who gave them the power to destroy themselves. away from hollywood, one of my favourite experiences of the year was travelling to south korea and exploring the movie scene there. it was fascinating to see the changes that are going on there, how korean cinemas are struggling to win back consumers, and how streamers like netflix are pumping money into the industry and coming to almost dominate film—making. it has led to a big surge in korean content being viewed around the world, but several directors told us it may actually be stifling independent film. i'm not speaking on behalf of korean industry, but for me it's becoming more conservative because all the budgets went up, labour costs went up and everything just...costs of making films went up.

this year we have seen a wave of musicals hit cinema screens, including wicked, emilia perez and joker: folie a deux. but as talking movies focused on some classic films from countries around the world, i was able to head to my hometown of dublin to celebrate one that i really love — the irish musical once. released in 2006, it won the academy award for best song and is a genuine crowd—pleaser. it's a low—budget irish film that i feel has been somewhat neglected of late, and definitely deserves more attention. the plot of once, it's actually really simple. it's about a busker in dublin. he's singing, and one night he happens to meet a czech worker, a czech immigrant, and they bond over their shared love of music. this song you just play, you write it? working on it. it's a very, very low—budget film. i think the budget at the time

was about $125,000. and if you look at the film, you can kind of see it's... a lot of it is long lenses, a lot of it is them just rocking up to locations and filming. there's films in buses and films here in grafton street where, you know, passer—by... random people are just getting in the way of shot. two, three, four... in one respect, you could have once in kind of any city in the world. it can be in la, it could be in new york. but on another level, the characters feel irish — and in particular dublin — and it is...a lot of it is located in grafton street, where you have this culture of singing outdoors and singing for an audience. and it feels very much like an irish film in terms of people using songs and people using language and stories to communicate. # i'm caught in a pattern

and i can't escape...# i looking back at various news events over the course of the year, you certainly got the impression that human beings at times are quite fallible. but for me, as a big dog—lover, canines can do no wrong. so it was with great pleasure that i did a story at the cannes film festival this year on the prevalence of dogs in the official festival activities. and they were great to observe, and they certainly didn't put a paw wrong. if you walk along the croisette here in cannes — that's the walkway that hugs the beach — you come across very interesting people and very interesting french dogs, like ginger here. and dogs are a very big theme at the film festival this year, both on the red carpet and in screening rooms. the fabulous actress meryl streep! meryl streep might have been the big star on opening night, but so was messi, getting masses of attention

on the red carpet. the dog appeared in the legal drama anatomy of a fall, which won an oscar for its screenplay. the film was launched at cannes last year, where messi won the palm dog award, given to the best performance by a dog in film at cannes. the annual award was created by toby rose, who's from the uk, more than 20 years ago. in these few short months between last year's palm dog and now, messi has become something of a superstar. namechecked at the baftas, given a seat at the oscars and this year has been all over cannes, including the hallowed red carpet, with his microphone, doing showbiz interviews. what an amazing career! this year is without doubt the doggiest cannes ever. true — messi wasn't the only canine attraction. a dog called cody was

a big star in cannes, having the lead role, so to speak, in the french—swiss film dog on trial. laetitia dosch, who not only starred in the film but directed it, found that getting the dog to perform on camera wasn't difficult. we rehearsed a lot together, and i also rewrote the script for cody. but also he's very professional on set. he learned what cut means. so when you say couper, he stops. he does... he does something else. having a dog in this film wasn't a gimmick. dog on trial is an intelligent, thought—provoking picture that raises some compelling questions about how we treat animals, women, outsiders and the environment. couper! dogs were a great unifier at cannes this year. at this international cinema festival, differences could be put aside as people rallied around man's best friend. so that's it for the talking movies 2024 highlights. what will be the film highlights of 2025? the film i'm most looking forward to in 2025 is

mission impossible: the final reckoning. almost three decades after tom cruise stepped into the shoes of super spy ethan hunt, could this be his final mission? tom cruise is famous for doing all his own stunts. he gives us blockbuster entertainment at its finest and i can't wait to see it. the film i am most looking forward to seeing in 2025 has to be mickey 17 by bong joon—ho. every time you die, we learn something new and humanity moves forward. i think he's a one—off visionary, and it's so exciting to see this south korean director working in english in the sci—fi genre again, and with robert pattinson. it also promises a lot of the grim humour he became famous for with that multiple oscar winner parasite. screams. specifically, i'm looking forward to seeing danny boyle back in the directing chair with the post—apocalyptic

horror film 28 years later. men, men... men go mad with watching him. but more generally, i'm looking forward to seeing some great cinema from film—makers next year, powerful, authentic movies that inspire us in these rather uncertain times. so from me, tom brook, and the rest of the talking movies team here in new york and london, it's goodbye as we leave you with the song beyond from that smash disney—animated musical moana 2. # i'll go beyond. # on the vast, uncharted seas. # will i lose myself between all that we know # and what's out there beyond? # leaving all i love behind #. #i must go, i will go. # then we'll know

what lies beyond # hello there. as we push into part two of the weekend, it looks like we should see that fog issue lifting. that's because the stagnant air associated with the area of high pressure is pulling away into the near continent, and we're picking up a fresher westerly breeze through sunday. that should help disperse the clouds to give more sunny spells. but it will stay unsettled across scotland, with this weather front bringing persistent rain. you'll see more isobars on the charts for sunday, so that breeze will be strong, especially for the northern half of the country. here, it stays cloudy and wet pretty much all day, but southern scotland, northern ireland, large parts of england and wales will see the sunshine breaking through as we head into the afternoon. so a grey start and then a brighter afternoon. temperatures still in single digits across the south—east, a bit milderfurther north — up to around 11 or 12 degrees in central/southern scotland. as we head through sunday

night, it stays wet across the northern half of scotland. some cold air engaging the system could turn some of that rain into snow over the hills across northern scotland, so a real wintry mix there. but elsewhere, further south, it'll be dry with clear spells. but throughout monday into new year's eve, with further rain and hill snow across scotland, we're likely to see some travel issues. it could be bringing some localised flooding to places, so stay tuned to the forecast to keep up to date with all the weather forecasts and head online to check out all the latest weather warnings. this is the picture, then, for monday. we've got low pressure to the north of the uk, active weather front across scotland, bringing heavy rain, further hill snow here. could see some showers pushing into northern and western england and wales, but i think much of england and wales will see the sunshine and stay largely dry throughout the day on monday, but more of a breeze and a milder day to come for all, cold in northern scotland. as we head out to monday into tuesday, which is new year's eve, another area of low pressure moves through to bring a blustery, a windy day for all. outbreaks of rain, particularly in the north and the west. once again, there will be some

hill snow across the north of scotland, so some travel disruption is likely. so, that rain moving across england and wales later on the day on new year's eve, so you have to stay tuned to the forecast if you have travel plans, of course. another mild day to come away from northern scotland. another low pressure system hurtles across the country on new year's day, and as it pulls away, it allows the floodgates to open to a northerly arctic air flow. so after a disruptive day of weather on new year's day, the first week of january 2025 is looking colder, sunnier, with some wintry showers and frosty nights.

live from washington, live from washington, this is bbc news. this is bbc news. vladimir putin apologises vladimir putin apologises for a plane crash that killed for a plane crash that killed 38 people but stops short of 38 people but stops short of in the north of the territory. saying russia was responsible. saying russia was responsible. gaza's health ministry says medical staff are among gaza's health ministry says medical staff are among hundreds of people held hundreds of people held by israeli forces who raided by israeli forces who raided

the last major hospital the last major hospital in the north of the territory. and here in the us, homelessness reaches record highs, jumping 18% in 2024. hello, i'm carl nasman. reports are coming in of a plane crashing as it