The 2024 Best Picture Oscar race is starting to take shape, and even better, some of the movies contending this year are already available to stream. Peacock might not seem like the obvious place to catch a potential Oscar winner, but Conclave is one of the best movies of 2024, and it’s absolutely worth checking out.
The movie is set in the days after the death of the pope, and follows the bishops responsible for selecting a new leader for the Catholic church. As they battle over philosophies, they also uncover startling revelations about members of their group, and realize that not everyone has completely pure motivations. Here are three reasons you should check it out in December.
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It features a rollicking cast of old dudes
One of the great things about making a movie like Conclave is that it provides ample opportunities for legends to do great work. Ralph Fiennes remains one of the best working actors, and his central performance is the throughline that keeps the action humming.
John Lithgow and Stanley Tucci are both excellent in supporting roles, as is Isabella Rossellini, who mostly exists on the fringes of the movie, but comes to its center at several key moments, revealing that although she has been largely silent, that doesn’t mean she wasn’t paying attention.
It’s filled with intrigue
Although Conclave is a movie about a bunch of religious old men, the movie is nonetheless also a story about the politics of the group, and the scandals that threaten to undo their various candidacies. As a result, it can feel a bit gossipy and tawdry in ways that keep the movie light.
Conclave is, at least ostensibly, a movie about electing one of the most powerful men in the world. But instead of draping the movie with seriousness, director Edward Berger decided to make what feels more like a thriller with a whip-fast pace and healthy doses of genuine fun.
It has the kind of ending that you’ll want to talk about
No spoilers since we want you to watch the movie, but Conclave features a genuinely walloping ending that leaves you questioning the motives of several central characters, and the morality of what has transpired.
It’s an ending that, even if you find yourself uniquely gifted at predicting major twists, you might find hard to predict, and one that deepens the story that has been unfolding through the rest of the film. Conclave is the perfect mix of high and low art, filled with scandalous intrigue and also serious ideas, and its ending reaffirms both of those impulses.
Conclave is streaming on Peacock.
