5 Movies Like She Came to Me (2023)

Genre: Comedy

Actor: Carlo Mejia, Gianne Rivera, Ianna Taguinod, Julian Narag, Leomar Baloran

Director: Glenn Barit

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

This biopic of the little-known Chevalier de Saint-Georges, the world’s first prominent Black classical composer, opens with a fierce indictment of history’s ignorance of its subject. Even if it’s one example of the movie’s dramatic license-taking, the scene — in which the Chevalier (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) challenges his eminent contemporary Mozart to an onstage musical “duel” and easily bests him — is a dramatically thrilling statement of intent for the movie.

Unfortunately, the rest of its overlong runtime doesn’t quite fulfill the promise of that opener. That’s largely because of the writing, which leaves uber-talented performers like Harrison Jr. with only a limited range of notes to play. What’s more, Chevalier stops short of exploring some of the most fascinating facts of its multihyphenate subject’s life — like the role he played in the French Revolution, commanding the first all-Black regiment in Europe — in favor of hewing to a predictable screenwriting formula that demands a romantic element to the plot, even if the one in question is only thinly backed by actual evidence. Still, while some of Chevalier’s filmmaking choices seem to misjudge what makes its subject so interesting, the key facts of his life — his extraordinary skill at music and fencing, the role racism played in blocking his greatest ambitions — still get enough exposure here to make it an enlightening watch.

Genre: Drama, History, Music

Actor: Alec Newman, Alex Fitzalan, Ben Bradshaw, Henry Lloyd-Hughes, Jessica Boone, Jim High, Joseph Prowen, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Lucy Boynton, Marton Csokas, Minnie Driver, Ronkẹ Adékoluẹjo, Sam Barlien, Samara Weaving, Sian Clifford

Director: Stephen Williams

Locked In is the latest in a long line of B-movie psychological thrillers that seem to place much more importance on the kind of twisty structures they can pull off, rather than the actual content of their stories. Formal experimentation is just as valuable of course, but when a story like this—that relies on the shock of how these various character relationships turn against each other—can't give us characters with any sort of real interiority, the flashback-heavy narrative just begins to seem like unnecessary noise. Trying to keep up with basic emotional beats shouldn't be this complex, and after a while you begin to realize that these people are simply doing things outside any proper context, suspended in a world with no weight or specificity.

Genre: Thriller

Actor: Alex Hassell, Anna Friel, Famke Janssen, Finn Cole, Karl Collins, Rose Williams

Director: Nour Wazzi

Rating: R