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, notjust 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. coming up in talking movies... my talking movies colleagues in london, alan moloney and emma jones, reflect on what was significant for them in cinema in 202a. 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—pierre jeunet 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. withjulianne 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, ifound 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 0nce. 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

# 0n the vast, uncharted seas # 0n the vast, uncharted seas # will i lose myself # and what's out there beyond? # leaving all i love behind #with the future of our people still to find # i must go, i will go # then we'll know what lies beyond # hello there. we've got more strong winds, heavy rain and some snow as we head into the new year. the heavy rain has moved away from scotland, but it's moved further south, and it's across this part of northwest england that we have an amber rain warning from the met office. 100mm of rain in the hills — likely to be flooding

and travel disruption. there's our band of rain in the morning. and on the rain end, particularly south of it, some very gusty winds arriving, particularly so in the southwest and coastal areas. north of the rain band the winds won't be as strong, but it's getting colder. there'll be some snow and ice to start the day in northern scotland. through the morning this heavy rain and squally winds will push down into southern england. then things calm down for a while. another band of rain and hill snow moves southwards across scotland towards northern ireland, later into northern england. sunshine and snow showers continue in northern scotland and we're getting a northerly wind. it's not going to be as strong as the southwesterly wind ahead of the rain, but it is going to be introducing colder air. last of any mild areas across southernmost parts of england. but it'll be a wet end to the day. that weather front does clear away. and then we introduce this arctic air right the way across the whole of the country. temperatures will be dropping. a widespread frost for thursday morning. could be some icy patches following any overnight showers as well. most of the snow showers on thursday are going to be across northern scotland. a few wintry showers for northern ireland, near the west coast of wales, more especially along some

of these north sea coasts, but for large parts of the country it's going to be dry and sunny. certainly going to feel a lot colder everywhere, but away from those north sea coasts at least the winds are not going to be particularly strong. but we're going to stay in that colder air as we head towards the end of the week. and there'll be some more snow showers across the north and northeast of scotland. a few more wintry showers for northern ireland, perhaps towards the north wales, and a few showers getting close to those north sea coasts. but again, many places on friday will be dry and sunny. and again it's cold — temperatures in scotland struggling to get above freezing. things could get very interesting later in the weekend. this low pressure threatening to bring some wet weather into the cold air on sunday. but ahead of that on saturday, that weather front across the north may well bring some rain, sleet and snow to scotland. one or two wintry showers further south. some patches of fog for northern parts of the uk. the winds are going to be quite light. it is going to feel cold as we head into the weekend. again, highs of only around three to five celsius.

hello. you're watching bbc news. let's take you live to times square in new york, where, in just a few seconds, the world —famous glass ball will drop, marking the start of 2025. we have been tracking new year's celebrations across the globe and next up is new york's time. let's have a listen.

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