Genre: Documentary
Actor: Lhakpa Sonam Sherpa, Shiny Dijmarescu, Sunny Dijmarescu
Director: Lucy Walker
Chasing the feel of watching Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga ? Here are the movies we recommend you watch right after.
Genre: Documentary
Actor: Lhakpa Sonam Sherpa, Shiny Dijmarescu, Sunny Dijmarescu
Director: Lucy Walker
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, Bryant Bentley, Emily Browning, Jean Zarzour, Joshua Close, Patricia Clarkson, Trace Lysette, Vladimir Perez
Director: Andrea Pallaoro
Genre: Animation, Drama, Science Fiction
Actor: Carlo Aquino, Christela Marquez, Dan Villegas, Dolly de Leon, Gio Gahol, Jeremy F. Mendoza
Director: Carl Joseph E. Papa
Genre: Drama
Actor: Himawari Tajiri, Pongsatorn Jongwilas, Putthipong Assaratanakul, Sanya Kunakorn, Sarinrat Thomas, Tontawan Tantivejakul, Usha Seamkhum
Director: Pat Boonnitipat
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Actor: Camille Paglia, Christy Carlson Romano, Chuck Montgomery, Dave Simonds, Don Creech, Fay Ann Lee, Gene Ruffini, James Saito, James Urbaniak, Kevin Corrigan, Liam Aiken, Maria Porter, Marissa Chibas, Miho Nikaido, Nicholas Hope, Parker Posey, Paul Boocock, Paul Greco, Paul Lazar, Rachel Miner, Thomas Jay Ryan, Valorie Hubbard, Veanne Cox, Vivian Bang
Director: Hal Hartley
Genre: Drama, Romance, War
Actor: Hirona Yamazaki, Honoka Yahagi, Kayoko Shiraishi, Keishi Nagatsuka, Kiyotaka Nanbara, Masahiro Takashima, Mugi Kadowaki, Shinnosuke Ikehata, Shinnosuke Mitsushima, Shunsuke Kubozuka, Takahito Hosoyamada, Takako Tokiwa, Takao Ito, Takehiro Murata, Tetsuya Takeda, Tokio Emoto, Tōru Shinagawa, Toshie Negishi, Tsurutaro Kataoka, Wakaba Irie, Yuriko Ono
Director: Nobuhiko Obayashi
In this powerful exploration of suppressed desires and societal constraints, Fire delves deep into the lives of two women trapped in loveless marriages. Radha's husband has banished all desires from their marriage due to Radha's infertility, while the newlywed Sita knows her husband still sees his lover. As they live their stifling lives being dutiful wives and taking care of their paralyzed matriarch on their own, they begin to find solace in each other—eventually igniting a forbidden romance that challenges what they thought living truly was. The performances by Nandita Das and Shabana Azmi are captivating, as they find renewed passion in each other's arms even as they question how tradition doesn't hold a women's benefit in mind. Fire is a bold and groundbreaking film that provokes reflection on love, freedom, and the courage to defy societal norms.
Genre: Drama, Romance
Actor: Alice Poon, Avijit Dutt, Javed Jaffrey, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Laurence Côte, Nandita Das, Ram Gopal Bajaj, Ranjit Chowdhry, Shabana Azmi, Vinay Pathak
Director: Deepa Mehta
Somewhere near the border between Russia and Ukraine lies a shelter for kids coming from unstable homes. Their parents, either alcoholics or abusers, have nine months to prove that they’re fit to look after their children; otherwise, the kids are sent straight to the orphanage, with no chance of a goodbye. A House Made of Splinters is a documentary that quietly and closely follows the shelter’s occupants amid growing joys and pains, not to mention the ever-present danger of war.
Perhaps one of the most striking things about A House Made of Splinters is how attuned it is to the kids. It serves as a reminder of their immense sensitivity and observational skills (more than once, you’ll hear a child assess their home situation in the calmest of manners), as well as their clever ingenuity (there’s a lot of playing going on despite everything, which is heartwarming to watch.
Genre: Documentary, Drama
Director: Simon Lereng Wilmont
Genre: Comedy
Actor: Mike Birbiglia
Director: Seth Barrish
Generation-centric comedy is often of the “kids these days” variety — in which comedians make uninspired jibes about the youth of today while spectacularly lacking self-awareness of their own — but twenty-something stand-up Leo Reich thankfully upends that trend with his self-lampooning debut show. Reich takes a risk by unabashedly casting himself as a self-absorbed nepo baby in the opening — narcissism as a bit can become grating pretty quickly — but his perceptive abilities and readiness to both embody and commentate on Gen Z stereotypes are the saviors of this hour-long comedy special.
Stand-up isn’t the only medium he makes use of: the show is also part-musical, as Reich belts out wry musings on the contradictions of his generation — at once self-loathing but tending towards narcissism, cripplingly self-aware but no more enlightened for it — at intervals throughout. If there’s anything to lament here, it’s that Reich’s main character syndrome is so effectively paired with the doom-and-gloom context he paints (as he puts it, he’s spent way too much of his youth Googling "death toll") that the show’s aftertaste is a little too bitter — but then again, nihilism is another characteristic typically associated with zoomers, so you could argue this is simply supreme commitment to the bit.
Genre: Comedy
Actor: Leo Reich
Director: Thomas Hardiman
Genre: Drama, History
Actor: Betty Schuurman, Cas Jansen, Fedja van Huêt, Fred Goessens, Hans Kesting, Jaap Spijkers, Jack Hedley, Jan Decleir, Janusz Chabior, Jos Verbist, Lou Landré, Marcel Hensema, Mark Rietman, Peter Paul Muller, Tamar van den Dop, Victor Löw, Wim van der Grijn
Director: Mike van Diem
Genre: Crime, Horror, Thriller
Actor: Barbara Hershey, Bianca A. Santos, Ed Begley Jr., Eugenia Kuzmina, Giovanni Ribisi, Jason Patric, Kyle Gallner, Madisen Beaty, Robert Craighead, Steven Michael Quezada, Willa Fitzgerald
Director: JT Mollner
Somewhere in Queens has the familiar feel of an indie dramedy. It’s intimate and unassuming, casually funny and effortlessly moving. It has the low-key charm that evades more large-scale productions, lending the film that rare poignancy that makes something feel special.
All these boost an otherwise simple story of family and acceptance. Couple Leo and Ange (a very compelling Ray Romano and Laurie Metcalf) are getting on in years, and watching them navigate the common pitfalls of people their age is both funny and heartwarming to watch. This is cleverly paralleled with their son Sticks’ (Jacob Ward) coming-of-age journey, which is just as expected but tender as ever.
Theirs is a tight-knit family that fights as much as they love, and watching them in a modest production like this isn't just feel apt but authentic and dear too, like an old family picture come to life.
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Actor: Caryn Richman, Danny Garcia, David St. Louis, Elizabeth Yu, Erik Griffin, Geoffrey Owens, J. C. MacKenzie, Jackson Pace, Jacob Ward, James Ciccone, Jennifer Esposito, Jennifer Simard, Joe Caniano, Jon Manfrellotti, June Gable, Karen Lynn Gorney, Katie Kreisler, Lauren Biazzo, Laurie Metcalf, Matt Romano, P. J. Byrne, Ray Romano, Sadie Stanley, Sebastian Maniscalco, Seth Barrish, Tony Lo Bianco
Director: Ray Romano
Unlike plenty of time torn films, Maboroshi is the kind of film that doesn’t have a straightforward explanation for the town of Mifuse standing still in time. But even when it doesn’t have a logical reason, the way the film unfolds has a distinct feeling as it explores the illusions the town either could cling to, or release to grow. This kind of storytelling would be familiar to fans of the prolific screenwriter Mari Okada, who just started directing in 2018 with Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms, but even those new to her work would appreciate the pure emotion driving Maboroshi, if they can let go of reality and enjoy MAPPA’s exquisite art for a moment.
Genre: Animation, Drama, Fantasy, Romance
Actor: Ayaka Saito, Daiki Kobayashi, Junya Enoki, Kento Hayashi, Koji Seto, Maki Kawase, Misaki Kuno, Reina Ueda, Setsuji Sato, Taku Yashiro, Tasuku Hatanaka, Yukiyo Fujii
Director: Mari Okada, Seimei Kidokoro
Saying that the program I Love Lucy paved the way for television would be an understatement. Lucille Ball inspired a generation of female comedians, Desi Arnez blazed a trail for Latinos making it in America, and the show that they starred in broke records upon records, redefining what sitcoms could be at a time when no one took them seriously.
Millions tuned into their love story as Lucy and Rick, but their real-life relationship as Lucy and Desi was just as compelling. It was complicated by jealousy, race, gender, and class, but it was also solidly grounded in true, enduring love. This documentary, directed by Amy Poehler, does well to tell us the couple’s truth without sensationalizing it. Instead of blowing things out of gossipy proportions, she zeroes in on the messy facts and weaves them into a nuanced, enlightening tale about marriage, celebrity, and fame. Thanks to Poehler, the story about Lucy and Desi is just as riveting as their legendary show.
Genre: Documentary
Actor: Bette Midler, Carol Burnett, Charo, Desi Arnaz, Desi Arnaz Jr., Dick Cavett, Johnny Carson, Laura LaPlaca, Lucie Arnaz, Lucille Ball, Norman Lear, Preston Foster, Vivian Vance
Director: Amy Poehler