48 Movies Like A Man Called Otto (2022)

Adapted from the Japanese film Ikiru, which in turn was adapted from the Russian story The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Living is a parable about, well, living. Specifically, it's about the importance of wonder and the magic of the mundane. It's also about legacy and the stories we leave in our wake, which live on long after we're gone. This familiar premise could have very easily been turned into another trite and cheesy movie that warns you to make the most out of your life, but thanks to a lean script, assured camerawork, and powerfully restrained performances, Living is elevated into something more special than that. It’s a technically beautiful, well told, and profoundly moving film, with Bill Nighy giving a career-best turn as a repressed man aching for meaning in his twilight years. 

Genre: Drama

Actor: Adrian Rawlins, Aimee Lou Wood, Alex Sharp, Barney Fishwick, Bill Nighy, Celeste Dodwell, David Summer, Edward Wolstenholme, Eunice Roberts, Ffion Jolly, Grant Gillespie, Hubert Burton, Jamie Wilkes, John MacKay, Jonathan Keeble, Lia Williams, Mark James, Matilda Ziegler, Michael Cochrane, Michael James, Nichola McAuliffe, Nicky Goldie, Oliver Chris, Patsy Ferran, Richard Cunningham, Robin Sebastian, Rosie Sansom, Thomas Coombes, Tom Burke, Zoe Boyle

Director: Oliver Hermanus

On the one hand, Godland is a film about nature’s unforgiving beauty. Like the photographs the priest Lucas (Elliott Crosset Hove) takes, these quietly superb scenes speak for themselves. The Earth moves in mysterious and harsh ways, and we are but mere specks, organic matter to be folded in and absorbed, in the grand scheme of things. It would’ve worked with just this message alone, but Godland also treads on political ground. Through Lucas, who is Danish, and his travel guide Ragnar (Ingvar Sigurdsson), who is Icelandic, we sense a palpable tension that electrifies the film with a colonial strain. There are layers to their deep aversion (and dependence) on one another, and director Hlynur Pálmason does well to pair this with imagery that is just complex, profound, and packed with meaning.

Genre: Drama

Actor: Elliott Crosset Hove, Ída Mekkín Hlynsdóttir, Ingvar E. Sigurðsson, Jacob Ulrik Lohmann, Vic Carmen Sonne, Waage Sandø

Director: Hlynur Palmason

This insightful and uplifting documentary is about a growing movement within indigenous communities: obtaining food sovereignty by going back to pre-genocide ways of cultivating food.

The violent changes that have affected indigenous communities don’t impact just the people, but also the animals, the fish, and the land. All of these are now bearing the brunt of climate change.

Historically, North American governments forbid Native people from fishing and cultivating their foods as a way to repress them and create dependency. Gather is as much a recognition of the damage that was done as it is a forward-looking vision about how these communities are taking control of their faiths.

Genre: Documentary, Drama

Director: Sanjay Rawal

Rating: 0

Filled with dense conversations about classical music and cryptic suggestions of a guilty conscience, Tár makes for a challenging watch that rewards patient viewing. The film is ultimately a study of power in an industry built on preserving centuries-old traditions—which makes the character of Lydia Tár, as a queer woman and as a proud, egotistical conductor, such an anomaly in this world. Certain strange choices by the end notwithstanding, this is a movie that leaves itself wide open to interpretation to its view on karma, accountability, and cycles of power. And Cate Blanchett is as good as the awards say: fully immersed in Lydia's ways of arrogant self-preservation, and twitching at every ambient noise that reminds her how fake she truly is.

Genre: Drama, Music

Actor: Adam Gopnik, Alec Baldwin, Alexandra Montag, Allan Corduner, Alma Löhr, André Röhner, Anselm Bruchholz, Artjom Gilz, Cate Blanchett, Chalee Sricharoen, Christoph Tomanek, Constanze Sandmann, Diana Birenytė, Dorothea Plans Casal, Ed White, Frank Röth, Jasmine Leung, Jessica Hansen, Johann von Bülow, Johanne Murdock, Johannes Pfeiffer, Julian Glover, Juliane Kettschau, Kaela Solene Spranger, Kenneth Won, Kitty Watson, Lee Sellars, Lucie Pohl, Lydia Schamschula, Marie-Anne Fliegel, Marie-Lou Sellem, Mark Strong, Mila Bogojevic, Murali Perumal, Nina Hoss, Noémie Merlant, Phongphairoj Lertsudwichai, Prapruttam Khumchat, Razvan Popescu, Sam Douglas, Sarah Bauerett, Somiko Singha-Sila, Songha Choi, Sophie Kauer, Sorawith Sorinchaipaisal, Sydney Lemmon, Sylvia Flote, Tamaki Steinert, Tanutt Tanavoravongsa, Tatjana Reuter, Teresa Philomena Schild, Tilla Kratochwil, Vincent Riotta, Vivian Full, Xenia Assenza, Zethphan Smith-Gneist

Director: Todd Field

Although Descendant is built around the finding of the Clotilda—the last ship to bring African slaves to the United States—this documentary knows that there's so much more potent drama in the stories of the ordinary people of Africatown, Alabama. As this painful reminder of the roots of their community is salvaged from the water, their view of history itself begins to change. Now they face the responsibility of making sure that the Clotilda doesn't just become a tourist attraction, and that their call for reparations unites the Mobile region of Alabama more than anything else. Its a gripping, complex documentary that feels like reading a great novel.

Genre: Documentary, Drama, History

Actor: Cleon Jones

Director: Margaret Brown

Between its maximalist production design and increasingly dark comedic set pieces, the most striking thing about Damien Chazelle's critically misunderstood industry satire is how it strikes a tone closer to tabloid gossip than anything else. As opposed to the clockwork precision of Chazelle's Whiplash, or the dreaminess of La La Land, Babylon's restlessness doesn't resemble Hollywood spectacle so much as it begins to feel like an unscratchable itch, desperate to feel anything. The film ends up trying to say so much that it threatens to say nothing at all, but its vision of cinema becoming reality is so potent that just the experience is more than worth getting lost in.

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Actor: Aaron Oltman, Albert Hammond Jr., Alex Mansour, Alex Reznik, Alexandre Chen, Andrew Hawtrey, Anna Chazelle, Anna Dahl, Anthony Burkhalter, Ariel Flores, Armando Cosio, Avery Baylin, Azizi Donnelly, Benjamin Jacobson, Bob Clendenin, Brad Pitt, Bregje Heinen, Bryan Scott Johnson, Carson Higgins, Chloe Fineman, Chris Doubek, Christopher Allen, Cici Lau, Circus-Szalewski, Cyrus Hobbi, Dana Marcolina, Danny Jolles, David Abed, David Ury, Dean Anderson, Del Atkins, Diego Calva, Dorian Martin, E.E. Bell, Eamon Hunt, Eric Roberts, Ethan Suplee, Evan Greer, Evgeny Tonkha, Flea, Frederick Koehler, Freya Parker, Hansford Prince, Hayley Huntley, J.C. Currais, Jacob Scesney, James Crittenden, James Vincent, James Wellington, Jean Smart, Jeff Garlin, Jennifer Grant, Jeremy Roberts, Jim O'Brien, Jimmy Ortega, Joe Dallesandro, Joey de Leon, John Kerry, John Macey, John Mariano, John Polite, Johnny Britt, Johnny Hoops, Jonathan Ohye, Jonathan Thomson, Jordan Seigel, Jovan Adepo, Kaia Gerber, Karen Bethzabe, Karina Fontes, Karolina Szymczak, Katherine Waterston, Katia Gomez, Kelly Meyer, Kenajuan Bentley, Kevin Symons, Kevin Toney, Kyle Richter, Laura Steinel, Lewis Tan, Li Jun Li, Lukas Haas, Manny Liotta, Marc Platt, Marcos A. Ferraez, Margot Robbie, Mateo Pollock, Mather Zickel, Max Minghella, Michael Naishtut, Mike C. Manning, Miraj Grbić, Mykail McDade, Nana Ghana, Olivia Hamilton, Olivia Wilde, Oscar Balderrama, P. J. Byrne, Pat Skipper, Patrick Fugit, Pete Ploszek, Phoebe Tonkin, Ric Sarabia, Richard Clarke Larsen, Rickey D. Woodard, Robert Beitzel, Robert Morgan, Rory Scovel, Ryan Porter, Samara Weaving, Sarah Ramos, Sean Billings, Sean O'Bryan, Shane Powers, Sidney Hopson, Sol Landerman, Spike Jonze, Taylor Hill, Taylor Nichols, Telvin Griffin, Terry Walters, Tobey Maguire, Todd Giebenhain, Trisha Simmons, Troy Metcalf, Tyler Seiple, Vanessa Bednar, Walker Hare, William Roper

Director: Damien Chazelle

Rating: R

Dhuin is evidently influenced by the Iranian filmmaker whose work its characters discuss: Abbas Kiarostami. Featuring non-professional actors and full of long observational takes that center everyday conversations in the life of an aspiring actor in a small Northern Indian city, it’s guided by the same social realist impulses that shaped Kiarostami’s work. What’s more, it even ends on an explicit reference to Close-Up. 

But what elevates Dhuin above homage is the acute internal struggle it depicts. Set during COVID lockdown, the film follows Pankaj (Abhinav Jha) as he works on his acting in a bedroom adorned with images of Hollywood stars, chafing against the much less glamorous reality of the home he shares with his financially struggling parents. He's on the cusp of having enough money to fulfill his dream and move to Mumbai (where he hopes to advance his career), but several meetings with puffed-up filmmakers who are visiting from Mumbai give Pankaj a new perspective on the world he’s desperate to join. A testament to the torment of difficult choices, Dhuin also gently offers an alternative to the trope of abandoning home for the big city, suggesting that there might be greater beauty in the reality of where you’ve always been than the places you dream of.

Genre: Drama

Actor: Abhinav Jha, Prashant Rana

Director: Achal Mishra