183 Movies Like Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) (Page 3)

Steve Carrell delivers an amazing performance here. Beautiful Boy is a movie that is based on a true story that first appeared as a best-selling serialized memoir. It’s about a son’s journey through drug abuse and how his relationship with his father evolves. The son is played by Timothée Chalamet (Call Me By Your Name), Carrell is the dad. As you can probably guess, the themes of drug addiction and family are made to induce tears, which this movie manages to do in a lot of ways. It can come across as somewhat emotionally manipulative at times. In those moments, it helps to remind oneself that it is based on a true story. The performances and the exploration of the limits of the father-son relationship remain the reasons why you should consider watching this movie.

Genre: Drama

Actor: Amy Aquino, Amy Forsyth, Amy Ryan, Anastasia Leddick, Andre Royo, Brandon James Cienfuegos, Carlton Wilborn, Cheska Corona, Christian Convery, David Mendenhall, Edward Fletcher, Jack Dylan Grazer, Julian Works, Justin Townes Earle, Kaitlyn Dever, Kue Lawrence, LisaGay Hamilton, Mandeiya Flory, Marypat Farrell, Maura Tierne, Maura Tierney, Minerva García, Nikki Snipper, Oakley Bull, Ricky Low, Seann Gallagher, Stefanie Scott, Steve Carell, Timothée Chalamet, Timothée Chalamet, Timothy Hutton, Tom Beyer, Zachary Rifkin

Director: Felix Van Groeningen

Rating: R

Though only currently available on Prime Video Philippines, Carlo Francisco Manatad's critically acclaimed drama boasts the kind of directorial vision and technical brilliance that deservedly kept it on the international festival circuit throughout 2021 and 2022—and that deserves to be seen around the world. Through textured cinematography and sound design, and art direction that situates its story halfway between reality and a dazed state of mind, Whether the Weather Is Fine isn't so much a factual retelling of life after Typhoon Haiyan but a meditation on what home and freedom mean to those who no longer seem to have it.

Manatad's background in experimental short filmmaking shines through in how the film seems comprised of so many irregular parts, but the emotional through line is unmistakable. Three incredible performances—from Daniel Padilla, Charo Santos-Concio, and Rans Rifol—illustrate the different ways that people try to escape or cling to hope in the wake of devastation. It's the furthest thing from "resilience porn," as the different perspectives of these characters clash and inevitably push each other away. And while that might not sound like the film offers a constructive point of view on disaster management, its intense psychological focus feels like something we haven't seen on screen before.

Genre: Drama

Actor: Charo Santos-Concio, Daniel Padilla, Francis Magundayao, Johnny Manahan, Joji Alonso, Mercedes Cabral, Nico Antonio, Rans Rifol

Director: Carlo Francisco Manatad

If you’ve ever seen a movie by kings of social realism Ken Loach or the Dardenne brothers, you’ll recognize the cinematic tradition The Measure of a Man is coming from, but if you haven’t, don’t fear. The filmmaking here isn’t complicated, academic, or laden with references — in fact, the opposite is true. Stylistically pared back, the intensely modern and human story at the movie’s center expands to fill the frame so we have nowhere else to look.

With a disabled son to provide for, middle-aged Thierry (Vincent Lindon) desperately searches for a job, undergoing several state-required indignities — such as practice interview sessions in which fellow jobseekers critique everything from his body language to his tone of voice — just for a shot at being able to pay his bills. So many scenes and conversations here are palpably laden with the anxieties of real life, both economic and personal. And yet, for all the dehumanization and desperation clouding its edges, Measure of a Man isn’t a hopeless movie. We’re reminded by happy scenes at home just how rich Thierry’s life is, unemployed or not — but it's perhaps his moral compass, which begins to twitch when he takes a security job with an unscrupulous corporate employer, that’s most heartening of all.

Genre: Drama

Actor: Christophe Rossignon, Karine de Mirbeck, Mathieu Schaller, Soufiane Guerrab, Vincent Lindon, Xavier Mathieu, Yves Ory

Director: Stéphane Brizé

Paul Giamatti, man. Ever watched Win/Win? What a performance. I didn’t think he could do any better than that. But here he did. This movie is now on Netflix. It’s about a couple that is trying to have a kid but can’t. Their frustration grows, but so does their willingness to do whatever it takes to become parents. They try to adopt, go to fertility clinics and ultimately ask their niece to donate her eggs. To really work, such a plot requires well-written, multifaceted characters one can relate to. I did, and it really worked.

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Actor: Alyssa Cheatham, Amaya Press, Caroline Martin, Danny Deferrari, Denis O'Hare, Desmin Borges, Emily Robinson, Fenton Lawless, Francesca Root-Dodson, Gabrielle Reidy, Hettienne Park, John Carroll Lynch, Kathryn Hahn, Katrine Hoyt, Kayli Carter, Kelly Miller, Kerry Flanagan, Lizzy DeClement, Maddie Corman, Molly Shannon, Paul Giamatti, Samantha Buck, Siobhan Fallon Hogan, Tracee Chimo

Director: Tamara Jenkins

Rating: R

Barry Jenkins’ follow up to his award-winning film Moonlight, If Beale Street Could Talk is a highly compelling tale that explores the extent of the emotional consequences of racial injustices through the lens of a young couple torn apart by the judicial system. Staying faithful to James Baldwin’s original novel while adopting Jenkins’ signature melancholic style, it fails to reach the brilliance of Moonlight, but still stands strong enough on its own and successfully tugs on your heartstrings.

Genre: Drama, Romance

Actor: Aunjanue Ellis, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Bobby Conte Thornton, Brian Tyree Henry, Colman Domingo, Dave Franco, Diego Luna, Dominique Thorne, Ebony Obsidian, Ed Skrein, Emily Rios, Ethan Barrett, Finn Wittrock, KiKi Layne, Marcia Jean Kurtz, Michael Beach, Milanni Mines, Pedro Pascal, Regina King, Stephan James, Teyonah Parris

Director: Barry Jenkins

With elaborate sets, musical numbers, and an ensemble cast, Aachar and Co doesn’t feel like a regular budget-bound debut feature. In fact, director Sindhu Sreenivasa Murthy, who also stars as Suma, pulls off this family drama with a whimsical yet period-accurate, Wes Anderson-esque style. This style keeps the film’s nostalgic and lighthearted tone, even as the siblings’ journeys, most especially that of Suma, go into darker times. As the family cycles through each of their weddings and funerals, Aachar and Co comments on the societal changes that shifted the lives of Indian women in the 1960s. The resulting film is just as bittersweet and nostalgic as the mango preserves the family makes.

Genre: Comedy, Family, Music

Actor: Anirudh Acharya, Harshil Koushik, Mandara Battalahalli, Sindhu Sreenivasa Murthy, Sudha Belawadi

Director: Sindhu Sreenivasa Murthy

The Young Offenders is a comedy about two Irish teenagers who go on a 160km bicycle trip to salvage 7 million euros worth of lost cocaine. As they sit on a hill overlooking their city, they imagine what they would do with that money. The answer is building a house that has lava lamps, “big gold walls”, Spanish girls, and an English butler to wake them up every morning with the phrase “what’s happenin’?”. You get the vibe. It’s is a silly movie, although the premise is actually based on a real-life event where cocaine from a capsized smuggling boat washed up on the Irish coast. The Young Offenders wears its heart on its sleeve. It’s a sweet funny movie, half slapstick and half plot, which sports an infinity of highly quotable one-liners.

Genre: Comedy

Actor: Alex Murphy, Chris Walley, Ciaran Bermingham, Dominic MacHale, Emma Willis, Hilary Rose, Judy Donovan, Michael Sands, P.J. Gallagher, Pascal Scott, Peter Foott, Shane Casey

Director: Peter Foott

Rating: N/A

When a stranger claiming to be your long lost uncle suddenly announces that he’ll be visiting you, there’s an immediate mystery there: is this man really who he claims he is? The Stranger is centered on that idea, but the way Satyajit Ray expands on his short story transforms this domestic drama into a witty and contemplative dialectic about civil society, Western versus Indian thinking, our ideas of home, and trust in a world that’s forgotten how to do so. Agantuk may not be Ray at his finest, but it’s a great film to end his career on, with a memorable character that encapsulates Ray’s philosophy.

Genre: Drama

Actor: Ajit Banerjee, Bikram Bhattacharya, Dhritiman Chatterjee, Dipankar Dey, Mamata Shankar, Rabi Ghosh, Subrata Chatterjee, Utpal Dutt

Director: Satyajit Ray

This journey is as much about Jake Roberts overcoming his addiction and damaged self-outlook, as it is about the heroic, life-changing efforts that DDP made to get him there. DDP's brand of aggressive wholesomeness and belief in Roberts is palpable, and the rawness of the presentation only accentuates how real this friendship is, and how urgent DDP's mission is—he will do this himself because no one else can. The documentary is inspiring with its vulnerability alone, as the underlying story is of men renouncing toxic behaviors that keep them looped into destructive habits. It doesn't waste time with fluff minutes or details, just straight to your heart from start to finish.

Genre: Documentary

Actor: Adam Copeland, Aurelian Smith Jr., Chris Irvine, Chris Jericho, Cody Hall, Cody Taylor Hall, Dustin Runnels, Gene Okerlund, Jim Duggan, Jim Ross, Page Falkinburg Jr., Scott Hall, Steve Austin, Ted DiBiase Sr.

Director: Steve Yu

This small-scale but incredibly fun 88-minute drama from 2003 is about a group of Latino teenagers who grow up in New York’s Lower East Side.

Victor lives with his eccentric grandmother, which sometimes gets in the way of him pursuing Judy, his dream girl.

The actor who plays Victor is called Victor Rasuk, the one who plays Judy is called Judy Marte. This is a film so personal that both main characters needed to be named after the actors who play them.

Genre: Drama, Romance

Actor: Donna Maldonado, Jeff Knite, Joe Rosario, Judy Marte, Kevin Rivera, Melonie Diaz, Silvestre Rasuk, Victor Rasuk, Wilfree Vasquez

Director: Peter Sollett

Rating: R

This immersive documentary is about a beloved independent record store that opened in front of a major music chain in Manhattan in 1995. Its founders called it Other Music, a jab at the chain and a reference to the music it would carry.

Other Music would go on to become a mecca that welcomes music fanatics from around the world. Its clerks would become legendary for their shaman-like knowledge, many famous bands would have their start at shows in the store, and Other Music would even re-issue artists who were forgotten.

But in today’s hostile world towards independent cultural institutions, can anything, however influential or successful it may be, live?

Genre: Documentary

Actor: Benicio Del Toro, Bill Callahan, Brian Chase, Chris Pappas, David Portner, Dean Wareham, Ezra Koenig, Georgia Hubley, Greta Kline, Ira Kaplan, James McNew, Janeane Garofalo, Jason Schwartzman, Jocelyn Samson, Keigo Oyamada, Martin Gore, Matt Berninger, Noah Lennox, Regina Spektor, Sharon Van Etten, Stephin Merritt, Stuart Braithwaite, Tunde Adebimpe, William Basinski, Yoko Ono

Director: Puloma Basu, Rob Hatch-Miller