3 Best Movies to Watch by Joshua Close

Staff & contributors

Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon isn’t a whodunnit; in fact, it’s closer to a who-didn’t-do-it. We know from the very beginning who is responsible for committing the brutal serial murders of wealthy Osage Native Americans in 1920s Oklahoma that the film chronicles: pretty much every single one of their white neighbors, spearheaded by William Hale (a skin-crawling Robert De Niro). Scorsese, most often associated with mafia stories, stealthily suggests here that the most dangerous gang of all is the one into which all these perpetrators have been born. That’s an idea he investigates through the confused loyalties of Leonardo DiCaprio’s Ernest Burkhart, the Judas-like husband of Mollie (movie-stealer Lily Gladstone), an Osage woman who owns lucrative oil headrights that William wants to fatten his own pockets with. This searing epic — based on a harrowing chapter of real American history — is an unsparing and self-implicating look at complicity and greed in the eye, a monumental movie that cements its maker as one of the greatest to ever do it.

Genre: Crime, Drama, History

Actor: Barry Corbin, Ben Hall, Brendan Fraser, Cara Jade Myers, David Born, Elden Henson, Eric Parkinson, Gabriel Casdorph, Gary Basaraba, Gene Jones, J. C. MacKenzie, Jack White, James Healy Jr., Jason Isbell, Jay Paulson, Jesse Plemons, Jo Harvey Allen, Joe Chrest, Joey Oglesby, John Lithgow, Joshua Close, Justin France, Katherine Willis, Larry Fessenden, Larry Jack Dotson, Larry Sellers, Lee Eddy, Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone, Louis Cancelmi, Marko Costanzo, Martin Scorsese, Michael Abbott Jr., Nathalie Standingcloud, Nathaniel Arcand, Nick W. Nicholson, Norma Jean, Pat Healy, Paul Woodiel, Pete Yorn, Robert De Niro, Scott Shepherd, Steve Eastin, Steve Routman, Steve Witting, Sturgill Simpson, Tantoo Cardinal, Tatanka Means, Ted Welch, Victor McCay, Vince Giordano, Wally Welch, Welker White, William Belleau

Director: Martin Scorsese

Rating: R

, 2023

There is so much simmering under the surface of Monica. When her mother Eugenia (Patricia Clarkson) falls gravely ill, the titular character (played by Trace Lysette) returns home for the first time since being turned out as a youngster for her transgender identity. But whatever illness Eugenia has has addled her brain, and she seemingly doesn’t suspect that the woman who has come to help care for her is the daughter she rejected all those years ago. 

Co-writer and director Andrea Pallaoro puts an understated spin on what could be an explosive scenario by letting much go unspoken, frequently framing Lysette’s face in long and wordless static shots. If the filmmaking edges towards being a little too patient at times, the naturally engaging Lysette keeps a firm hold of our attention with a vulnerable performance that expresses much without words. These infrequent wobbles aside, Monica’s restraint is to its credit: by not laying the drama on thick, all sorts of poignant nuances are allowed to bubble up, like the paradoxical difficulties and extraordinary intimacy that come with physically caring for a loved one. In choosing not to give Eugenia and Monica a direct confrontation or moment of revelation, too, the movie opens up to another beautiful possibility: acceptance, finally.

Genre: Drama

Actor: Adriana Barraza, Emily Browning, Jean Zarzour, Joshua Close, Patricia Clarkson, Trace Lysette

Director: Andrea Pallaoro

Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker, The Town, Arrival) plays Gary Webb, a journalist in investigating the American government’s possible involvement in cocaine trafficking in Latin America. Based on a true story, it’s in the same vein as other recent movies on investigative journalism. Jeremy Renner’s performance is the main reason to watch this movie. Even as the story spins into deeper levels of complexity, he remains a coherent, steady point of reference. It was his chance to prove to directors that he can carry a big-budget movie and he nailed it.

Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller

Actor: Andy Garcia, Barry Pepper, Dan Futterman, David de Vries, David Lee Garver, Gil Bellows, Jen Harper, Jena Sims, Jeremy Renner, Joshua Close, Lucas Hedges, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Matt Lintz, Matthew Lintz, Michael Cuesta, Michael Kenneth Williams, Michael Sheen, Nancy Davis Reagan, Nancy Reagan, Oliver Platt, Paz Vega, Ray Liotta, Rhoda Griffis, Richard Schiff, Robert Patrick, Robert Pralgo, Rosemarie DeWitt, Steve Coulter, Susan Walters, Tim Blake Nelson, Yul Vazquez

Director: Michael Cuesta

Rating: R