Conclave (2024)

This film is nominated in a few categories, but I feel like the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts--the Critics Choice Awards agreed and awarded this Best Cast. The movie sets the stage right away. The Pope is dead. If there is ever an organisation that has embraced the pomp and circumstance, it is the Catholic Church, and this happens in death just as much or even more than life. Cardinal Thomas Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes), who is Dean of the College of Cardinals, has to convene a conclave to pick the next Pope even though he protests that he is unworthy of the task. However, as cardinals fly in from across the globe, it is clear that there is tension regarding how the Church will move forward and also that everyone who is asked will serve, even those who protest they do not want the job. Will they go backwards and embrace tradition or will the vault forward and seek modernization? Or maybe somewhere in between. As the succeeding votes go forward, one secret after another is revealed, and popular candidates gradually lose momentum, until in the end, they make a choice. It is very well scripted and acted, and it is well worth watching.