This week at the box office: no less than three IndieWire Critic’s Pick, only one of which involves a sexual coming-of-age centered on both a horsetail and foley artists. Cinema! Other standouts beyond the aforementioned “Piaffe” include Emma Seligman’s riotous and deeply weird queer high school sex comedy “Bottoms,” Ellie Foumbi’s Indie Spirit breakout “Our Father, the Devil,” and Charlotte Regan’s charming Sundance winner “Scrapper.”
And, for anyone still hankering for one last blast of summer blockbuster: Neill Blomkamp’s true-ish video game adaptation “Gran Turismo” is also on offer.
Each film is now available in a theater near you or in the comfort of your own home (or, in some cases, both, the convenience of it all). Browse your options below.
Week of August 21 – August 27
New Films in Theaters
“Bottoms” (directed by Emma Seligman) — IndieWire Critic’s Pick
Distributor: MGM
Where to Find It: Select theaters, with expansion to follow
The easiest way to describe Emma Seligman’s sophomore feature, “Bottoms”? It’s hilariously weird. Director Seligman and star Rachel Sennott reunite in their follow-up to “Shiva Baby,” taking as hard a pivot from their 2020 breakout (and a script they co-wrote) as they come.
This is a queer teen sex comedy that wears its influences on its sleeve, yet still resembles no other film. It cements Seligman and Sennott as two of the most exciting young voices in cinema today, delivering a hit in the making with a tone that brings movies like “Wet Hot American Summer” and “Not Another Teen Movie” to a whole new generation.
This is a film set in a weird, parallel world with almost cartoon-like logic, a world heightened to the point of self-serious parody, where the high school’s biggest jock-himbo has his face plastered on every surface of the school and there is a giant mural of himself as Adam in “The Creation of Adam” adorning the cafeteria, a world where the feminism teacher openly reads a nude magazine called “Divorced and Happy” during class — he’s played by Marshawn Lynch, a highlight of the movie. Read IndieWire’s full review.
Plus: Read IndieWire’s interview with director and co-writer Emma Seligman and star and co-writer Rachel Sennott.
“Fremont” (directed by Babak Jalali)
Distributor: Music Box Films
Where to Find It: Select theaters
A former translator for American troops in Kabul — a role that eventually allowed her to leave her birth country but left her with unresolved feelings of guilt and shame — twenty-something Donya now lives by herself in a Fremont, California, apartment complex full of other Afghan immigrants. Whatever sense of community Donya gets from the other people in the building doesn’t seem to alleviate her quiet isolation, even if neighbors like Suleyman (Timur Nusratty) and Salim (Siddique Ahmed) are readily available for wistful conversation at all hours of the night.
When the sun comes up, Donya commutes to her job at a Chinese-owned fortune cookie factory, where she’s responsible for printing out the cryptic sayings that other people will eventually translate for themselves. That might prove to be a good fit for a young girl in a foreign land who, despite her fluency in the native tongue, feels like she’s no longer in conversation with the world around her. As the cookie puts it: “Now is a good time to explore.” Read IndieWire’s full review.
“Golda” (directed by Guy Nattiv)
Distributor: Bleecker Street
Where to Find It: Theaters
Defending her conduct during the Yom Kippur War before a panel of graying men, Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir (Helen Mirren) takes the half-smoked cigarette already dangling from her lips and, instinctually but not all absentmindedly, uses it to light another. This idiosyncratic character beat arrives early in Guy Nattiv’s ho-hum biopic, and speaks volumes about story and subject, telling all you need to know about Meir the person and “Golda” the film.
In theory a docudrama reliving the 1973 Yom Kippur War from the perch of power, “Golda” is, in practice, a compendium of actorly affects, a spotlight on a venerable performer offering them a stage on which to shine. Pushed and pulled between conflicting tonal and narrative approaches, Nattiv’s film finds its clearest identity as an awards bait corollary to a hacky stand-up bit: What if they made the whole plane out of the black box? What if they made the whole film out of the Oscar reel? Read IndieWire’s full review.
“Gran Turismo” (directed by Neill Blomkamp)
Distributor: Sony
Where to Find It: Theaters
After taking on apartheid and economic inequality with “District 9” and “Elysium,” Neill Blomkamp was finally prepared to make a film about the world’s most oppressed social class: gamers. Rather than a straight adaptation of the video game that shares its name, “Gran Turismo” is a celebration of the people who play it. It’s a pious ode to Sony’s wondrous PlayStation system (anyone with even the slightest grievances with “Air” or “Blackberry” should steer clear of this one), and a grating middle finger to anyone who dares suggest that the answers to a gamer’s problems might lie outside the “Call of Duty” lobby.
It’s also a thrilling retelling of one of the craziest stories in recent sports history, shot with the level of skillful spectacle that the source material demands. Blomkamp might have directed the best 90-minute sports movie of the decade — it’s just a shame that “Gran Turismo” is nearly two and a half hours. Read IndieWire’s full review.
“Our Father, the Devil” (directed by Ellie Foumbi) — IndieWire Critic’s Pick
Distributor: Cineverse
Where to Find It: Select theaters
There are no atheists in foxholes and — generally speaking — there are no grifters in gimp bondage. Critics of contemporary Christianity are quick to point out that sects of the faith are filled with so-called “priests” who lie, scam, embezzle, and abuse their followers in the name of enriching themselves. But tie one of them up and threaten to kill him and you’ll see his true nature revealed. Anyone who keeps preaching their Biblical virtues when their physical safety is on the line is probably sincere about it.
That uncomfortable fact becomes apparent to Marie (Babetida Sadjo) when she kidnaps the man who haunts her dreams in “Our Father, the Devil.” Despite a brutal childhood in war-torn Africa, Marie has built a respectable life for herself as the head chef at an upscale French nursing home. But when the seemingly perfect Father Patrick (Souléymane Sy Savané) arrives and starts preaching to her affluent residents, she instantly recognizes him as the warlord who killed her parents, burned her village, and repeatedly raped her after forcing her to join his militia. He might have changed his name and hidden his scars, but she’d recognize his eyes and unusual eating habits anywhere. Read IndieWire’s full review.
“Piaffe” (directed by Ann Oren) — IndieWire Critic’s Pick
Distributor: Oscilloscope
Where to Find It: Select theaters
Using sci-fi to create a sexual allegory is a staple of body horror genre, just ask David Cronenberg. Now, let us introduce the body pleasure genre. No, not porn, but a character-driven drama in which personal and sexual growth synthesise in the name of erotic cinema.
Visual artist Ann Oren’s debut feature “Piaffe” fits this exact mold, following a meek introvert in Berlin who grows a horse’s tail and has a sexual awakening. Oren’s teasing style is the perfect route into the story. Shooting on 16mm, she mounts every scene by slowly, surely feeding in key details. In other words: she has a gift for both horseplay and foreplay. Read IndieWire’s full review.
Plus: Read IndieWire’s interview with filmmaker Ann Oren.
“Scrapper” (directed by Charlotte Regan)
Distributor: Kino Lorber
Where to Find It: Select theaters
From Pitsea railway station in south-central Essex, around 15 miles from London, you can get to a lot of places. Trains go to industrial port Tilbury further south, seaside paradise Southend to the east (admittedly: my home), and of course the Big Smoke a few minutes west. Georgie (newcomer Lola Campbell), a 12-year-old girl motoring through the stages of grief since losing her mom to an unspecified illness, couldn’t care less. The cookie-cutter estate where Georgie lives, all alone, is everything she needs.
Debutant director Charlotte Regan and DP Molly Manning Walker make it feel like all Earth is there. Georgie’s self-contained world matches up with a fierce self-sufficiency. Her primary caregiver, aside from fictional uncle “Winston Churchill,” is Georgie. Even with Britain’s notoriously stretched public services, children are not supposed to live alone. Then dad Jason (Harris Dickinson) leaps over the back fence and into Georgie’s life for the first time. Returning from Ibiza, where he worked as a club promoter and (presumably) a lookalike for English soccer star Phil Foden, Jason is ready for the next phase of his life: fatherhood. Or so he thinks. What happens when your child has ideas of their own? Read IndieWire’s full review.
Plus: Read IndieWire’s interview with filmmaker Charlotte Regan.
Also available this week:
“The Dive” (directed by Max Erlenwein)
Distributor: RLJE Films
Where to Find It: Theaters
“The Issue with Tissue – a boreal love story” (directed by Michael Zelniker)
Distributor: FilmOption International
Where to Find It: Limited theaters
“Retribution” (directed by Nimród Antal)
Distributor: Lionsgate
Where to Find It: Theaters
New Films on VOD and Streaming, Including Premium Platforms and Virtual Cinemas
“Mob Land” (directed by Nicholas Maggio)
Distributor: Saban Films
Where to Find It: Various VOD and digital platforms
One thing is clear after watching “Mob Land”: Kevin Dillon will not be the man to end America’s opioid crisis. In fact, it’s possible that the prescription drug epidemic currently gutting this country will not end at the hands of anysingle “Entourage” cast member.
The man formerly known as Johnny Drama stars in the film as Trey, a reckless drifter whose lime green Japanese sports car raises plenty of eyebrows in his small MAGA town. But despite his life of petty crime and general inability to get his act together, Trey has a few thoughts about the opioids that have begun circulating through his town at an alarming rate. Read IndieWire’s full review.
“You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah” (directed by Sammi Cohen)
Distributor: Netflix
Where to Find It: Streaming on Netflix
Adam Sandler long ago perfected the art of working with his friends (from David Spade and Rob Schneider to Allen Covert and Nick Swardson, Sandler found his people when he was a rising star, and he’s stuck with him). So what’s next? Now, he’s taking that same approach of working with people he already knows and loves to generate a platform, through his Happy Madison production shingle and streaming giant Netflix, for his own daughters Sunny and Sadie Sandler to shine.
Is it still nepotism if it’s this blatant? Probably — but in an added twist, Sandler’s choice to bolster his daughters comes with a pleasant surprise: it works, and well. Directed by Sammi Cohen, this new entry in the Sandler-family-business model, “You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah” is an endearing take on the coming-of-age tween film, with a heavy dose of religion — in the best way. Sunny Sandler stars as Stacy, a sweet 13-year-old who dreams of a blow-out bash bat mitzvah, one heavy on the New York City influences and LMFAO bangers, very light on the Torah. Read IndieWire’s full review.
Also available this week:
“Wayne Shorter: Zero Gravity” (directed by Dorsay Alavi)
Distributor: Prime Video
Where to Find It: Streaming on Prime Video
Week of August 14 – August 20
New Films in Theaters
“The Adults” (directed by Dustin Guy Defa)
Distributor: Variance Films
Where to Find It: Select theaters
Sibling in-jokes — often first formed when our brains are still goofy and undeveloped, and honed through the hysteria of spending too much time with somebody who shares your DNA — are often the most absurd and abiding. The silly voices, the elaborate bits, the rehearsed dance routines, the specific style of patter that an outsider would find impenetrable. But what happens when you grow up, and a family tragedy rips you apart? What do you do when you feel obligated to stay in touch with the siblings you still love, but nostalgia for your childhood has suddenly become too painful a memory to indulge in?
Dustin Guy Defa’s “The Adults” is an emotional scream transposed through low-decibel vocal fry — an endearing sibling drama full of cringe comedy that lands a miraculous, unexpectedly poignant ending, seemingly out of nowhere. Despite the central trio holding each other — and by proxy, the viewer — at arm’s length for the majority of the film’s running time, cynical defenses are chipped away to raise up the sibling relationship as one of the most knotty and meaningful humans can have. Read IndieWire’s full review.
Plus: Read IndieWire’s interview with star Sophia Lillis.
“birth/rebirth” (directed by Laura Moss)
Distributor: IFC Films, Shudder
Where to Find It: Select theaters
“Purpose is a moving target,” Dr. Rose Casper (Marin Ireland) flatly declares towards the end of Laura Moss’ “birth/rebirth.” The Bronx pathologist is talking about her goals for the six-year-old girl she’s just Frankensteined back from the dead in the bedroom of her Co-op City apartment, and yet by that point in this thoughtful but wildly miscalculated Mary Shelley riff it’s already been well-established that Rose is also talking about her own unique sense of womanhood.
The inexpressive mad scientist has always felt at odds with the biological processes that supposedly define her body, and now she rebels against them by creating life with her mind; a rebellion that finds her masturbating random men in bar toilet stalls, injecting herself with their sperm, and then unfeelingly aborting the fetuses after 10 weeks in order to harvest them for the stem cells she needs for her magic resurrection juice. Somewhere out there, May Canady is throwing Rose a disembodied high five. Read IndieWire’s full review.
“Blue Beetle” (directed by Ángel Manuel Soto)
Distributor: Warner Bros.
Where to Find It: Theaters
A creatively orphaned movie about the power of family, Ángel Manuel Soto’s “Blue Beetle” is being released at a strange moment in time, both for superhero movies in general (already sputtering in the wake of “Avengers: Endgame,” and now saddled with a fresh stink of “this again?” in the weeks since “Barbenheimer” reminded Hollywood what real success feels like), and for the DCEU in particular (a damaged brand undergoing the kind of rebuild that you typically only find in salary-capped sports leagues).
On the one hand, the first Latino-led superhero outing from a major studio is a long-overdue lifeline to a woefully underrepresented community of loyal moviegoers (Latinos make up 19 percent of America’s population, but accounted for 29 percent of tickets sold in 2020), and “Blue Beetle” works hard to ensure that its culture isn’t just another dreadfully rendered CGI costume — the film has plenty of those, which makes it that much easier to tell the difference. On the other hand, this ultra-bland origin story is so feckless and familiar that it seldom feels like the first of anything so much as it does a half-hearted invitation to a party that’s already in the process of shutting down. Read IndieWire’s full review.
“Landscape with Invisible Hand” (directed by Cory Finley)
Distributor: MGM
Where to Find It: Select theaters
Cory Finley’s extremely welcome mission to make every conceivable kind of high school movie — at a time when few other serious filmmakers are bothering to make any kind of high school movie — continues with the young director’s third feature and first misstep. Like “Thoroughbreds” and “Bad Education” before it, “Landscape with Invisible Hand” leverages the ecology of American teenagedom into a satirical and/or breathtakingly sad class comedy that explores the value of empathy in capitalism. Unlike either of those two films, it’s full of slimy little aliens who look like a frozen supermarket turkey made out of tongue.
They’re called the Vuvv (rhymes with “love,” not “Clicquot”), and by the time this story begins in 2036, these squat pink colonizers have been holding Earth’s economy hostage for more than five years. They didn’t take over the planet by blowing up the White House or terrorizing major cities with Tripods, they simply disrupted the tech sector with enough out-of-this-world gadgetry until the human race was forced to buy into the Vuvv’s cold vision of the future or preserve their remaining dignity below the poverty line. Read IndieWire’s full review.
“The Miracle Club” (directed by Thaddeus O’Sullivan)
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Where to Find It: Select theaters
On paper, Thaddeus O’Sullivan’s “The Miracle Club” seems like it should be a backboard-shattering slam-dunk for the sort of people whose favorite movies all share the words “and Maggie Smith” in their opening credits, but this trite Irish trifle about a girls trip to Lourdes is so chalky and underbaked that its all-star cast (Laura Linney! Kathy Bates! Stephen Rea!) is left no choice but to chew on the scenery. That’s a glaring problem in a film whose marquee location is so crudely green-screened behind the actors that the Grotto of the Apparitions feels like a leftover backdrop from “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.”
Occasionally sweet despite its general flavorlessness, “The Miracle Club” may have its heart in the right place, but it beats for nothing in a 1967-set period piece that grows faint at the sight of its own blood, let alone in a film that repeatedly dilutes the most dramatic undercurrents of its story with a comedy subplot that would have been stale in 1967. With their wives abroad, the husbands are forced to care for their children and households for the first time in their lives, and if you think these men know how to change a diaper… you might want to think again! Read IndieWire’s full review.
Plus: Read IndieWire’s interview with star Laura Linney.
“Mutt” (directed by Vuk Lungulov-Klotz)
Distributor: Strand Releasing
Where to Find It: Select theaters
Though queer and trans visibility does have its limits, there’s no denying that trans men and transmasculine people have traditionally been sidelined in the fight for trans representation. Through no fault of queer and trans storytellers, mainstream media and the culture at large only had so much space for trans stories it found understandable and digestible. Now, coming up on almost ten years after what Time Magazine dubbed “The Transgender Tipping Point,” film and television is finally starting to tell trans stories that trans viewers and queer community can recognize as their own. Though it started long ago, it’s getting a healthy boost from this year’s Sundance Film Festival.
Debuting in U.S. Dramatic Competition, “Mutt” follows a day in the life of Feña (Lío Mehiel), a young trans guy living in New York City. Over one sweltering and sometimes rainy day, Feña navigates the in between stages of transition, adulthood, and relationships, all while just trying to get through the day. Anchored by a charismatic performance from newcomer Mehiel, “Mutt” keeps a tight focus on its dynamic protagonist, who graciously rolls with the punches of being broke and heartbroken in the city that never sleeps. With three people from Feña’s past pulling him in different directions, “Mutt” sometimes meanders off course, but it manages to string together some beautiful moments in between. Read IndieWire’s full review.
“Strays” (directed by Josh Greenbaum)
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Where to Find It: Theaters
Legally, we cannot say that Josh Greenbaum’s “Strays” is meant for children. The film, despite its dog-centric storyline, is rated R, and frequently shows dogs humping and getting high, and probably will scare kids into thinking Will Forte’s demonic dog-hating Doug is the epitome of the inevitable horrors of adulthood.
Oddly, “Strays” will likely play best to an adolescent audience, because its humor is geared firmly toward the 13-year-old demographic. But that doesn’t mean it’s not enjoyable. To the contrary, “Strays” plays like a slow morphine drip into an oblivion in which Jamie Foxx’s voiceover acting as an adorably emotive Boston terrier named Bug is Oscar-worthy and Will Ferrell’s signature “who, me?” tone (perfected in “Elf”) is on full display as adorable mutt Reggie, a pet who unwittingly escapes a toxic relationship with aforementioned loser Doug. Just let it wash over you. Read IndieWire’s full review.
Also available this week:
“Back on the Strip” (directed by Chris Spencer)
Distributor: Luminosity Entertainment
Where to Find It: Theaters
“Dead Shot” (directed by Tom Guard and Charles Guard)
Distributor: Quiver Distribution
Where to Find It: Theaters, plus various VOD platforms
New Films on VOD and Streaming, Including Premium Platforms and Virtual Cinemas
“Bad Things” (directed by Stewart Thorndike)
Distributor: Shudder
Where to Find It: Streaming on Shudder
“Bad Things” is a great amount of fun as a lo-fi slasher with a killer cast. Writer-director Stewart Thorndike’s sophomore feature, following the 2014 breakout film “Lyle,” is a queer take on “The Shining,” centered on a deserted motel in a sleepy snow-filled suburb. Gayle Rankin (“GLOW”) leads the film as Ruthie, the heir to the Comley Suites, who also has a traumatic tie to the hotel itself.
“Bad Things” leans a little too strongly on “The Shining” inspiration at times, complete with a bar scene homage. However, the film’s lo-fi quality and stellar cast chemistry makes the feature an easily watchable horror film. Annabelle Dexter-Jones’ deadpan delivery is reminiscent of a sultry Wednesday Addams; coupled with Hari Nef’s inherent lovability, the duo’s comedic timing grounds the film, especially while Rankin becomes more and more unhinged. Read IndieWire’s full review.
Also available this week:
“The Monkey King” (directed by Anthony Stacchi)
Distributor: Netflix
Where to Find It: Streaming on Netflix
Plus: Read IndieWire’s interview with filmmaker Anthony Stacchi.
Week of August 7 – August 13
New Films in Theaters
“Aproia” (directed by Jared Moshe)
Distributor: Well Go USA Entertainment
Where to Find It: Select theaters
Judy Greer’s iconic career has spanned from “13 Going on 30” to the revamped “Halloween” franchise, proving the actress can delicately balance comedy, horror, and even a certain flavor of signature detachment onscreen. Yet, somehow, the time travel logic of 2004’s comedy “13 Going on 30” makes more sense than the kind at hand in “Aporia,” the latest Greer vehicle that attempts to marry scraps from Greer’s recent haunting performance as a grieving mother in recent festival premiere “Eric LaRue” and repurposes her masterful tears into a bland sci-fi drama that asks too many unanswered questions about morality, mortality, and the price of happiness.
Greer stars in the film as Sophie, a widowed single mother who lost her scientist husband Malcolm (Edi Gathegi) in a drunk driving accident. She is left to care for their 11-year-old daughter Riley (“This Is Us” alum Faithe Herman), with the pre-teen acting out at school and Sophie feeling helpless… so helpless, in fact, that she is open to the idea of testing a sketchy-looking so-called time machine that her husband’s friend Jabir (Payman Maadi, played with over-the-top Tommy Wiseau inflections) built. Read IndieWire’s full review.
Plus: Read IndieWire’s 2021 interview with star Judy Greer on her work in the new “Halloween” trilogy.
“Between Two Worlds” (directed by Emmanuel Carrère)
Distributor: Cohen Media Group
Where to Find It: Select theaters
No matter how well a job interview begins for Marianne Winkler (Juliette Binoche), things inevitably hit a wall when she’s asked a dreaded question: Why is there a 23-year gap on your resume?
Her standard answer is an economic horror story that women have feared for centuries. She gave up her career to focus on being a stay-at-home mom, only for her husband to leave her and force her to fend for herself. With no career development since college, she’s effectively entering the workforce as a recent graduate, competing with people half her age despite having significantly more expenses and less time to move up the ranks.
It’s a touching story — except none of it is true. As it turns out, Marianne is a world-renowned author who decided to briefly eschew her life of glamor in preparation for her next book. When she came up with the idea to write about poverty in Northern France, she posed a challenge for herself: She would give herself a frumpy makeover and live on pennies a day for as long as it took her to find full-time employment. Once she received a permanent job offer, she would decline it and return home to write her masterpiece. Read IndieWire’s full review.
“King Coal” (directed by Elaine McMillion Sheldon)
Distributor: Drexler Films
Where to Find It: Select theaters
The Appalachian Mountains are beyond ancient. As director Elaine McMillion Sheldon points out in the voiceover narration of her new documentary “King Coal,” the New River is ironically named, given that it’s the second-oldest river in the world. There are rocks in those hills that were formed more than a billion years ago, and the coal nestled inside them is the residue of the Earth slowly digesting plants that lived long before the first Homo sapiens. But the stranglehold that “king coal” — a totemic name that Sheldon gives to coal mining as a business — has had over the region is only a few hundred years old.
Sheldon has made a career of documenting life in her native West Virginia, most notably in the Netflix documentary “Recovery Boys” and its Oscar-nominated counterpart “Heroin(e).” Both films focused on the opioid epidemic, a key symptom of the existential and economic sickness that’s gripped Appalachia for decades. “King Coal” goes deeper into the cultural roots of the opioid crisis, looking at a region both devastated and nurtured by “the King” and asking what a future without it might look like. Read IndieWire’s full review.
“Jules” (directed by Marc Turtletaub)
Distributor: Bleecker Street
Where to Find It: Theaters
To watch Marc Turtletaub’s “Jules” — a middlebrow dramedy starring Ben Kingsley as a widowed, half-senile eccentric so desperate for someone to care about him that he casually befriends the alien who crashes into his backyard — is to be reminded that truly strange movies have become hard to find. These days, a film this unusual is about as rare as a call from Milton’s estranged son, who hasn’t phoned home in several years.
Not that “Jules” would seem all that bizarre just by looking at it. On the contrary, this modest late summer whatsit looks and feels just like a million other milquetoast charmers aimed at audiences of a certain age, what with its reassuringly nice score and endless array of conflict-avoidant medium shots. The difference here is that those medium shots feature Sir Ben Kingsley sitting on a couch next to a silent and seemingly naked extraterrestrial — played with unnerving precision by stunt actress Jade Quon — who listens to him ramble about “C.S.I.” with the attentiveness of a besotted grandchild. Read IndieWire’s full review.
Plus: Read IndieWire’s interview with star Sir Ben Kingsley.
“The Last Voyage of the Demeter” (directed by André Øvredal)
Distributor: Universal
Where to Find It: Theaters
André Øvredal’s “The Last Voyage of the Demeter” is technically adapted from the chapter from Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” in which the famous vampire ships himself to England while feasting on the crew, but this drab and generic piece of mid-August schlock might as well be based on a napkin where someone once wrote: “What if ‘Alien,’ but on big wooden boat?”
The truth of the matter is that screenwriter Bragi Schut Jr. has been tinkering with the idea since his time working at a Hollywood model shop in the early 1990s, but his baby must have gotten lost at sea while treading water in development hell over the last several decades, because the derelict Ship of Theseus that’s drifting into theaters this weekend doesn’t reveal any trace of real passion or serious thought. It’s a movie about people who slowly come to realize over the course of several ultra-repetitive kill scenes that a nocturnal monster of some kind is living in their cargo hold (he’s sleeping in a giant crate that might as well be marked “Dracula’s bed”), but never think to, I don’t know, search for him during the day. Read IndieWire’s full review.
Plus: Read IndieWire’s 2021 interview with star David Dastmalchian on his unconventional career path.
“Love Life” (directed by Kōji Fukada) — IndieWire Critic’s Pick
Distributor: Oscilloscope
Where to Find It: Select theaters
An enormously poignant melodrama told at the volume of a broken whisper, Kōji Fukada’s “Love Life”represents a major breakthrough for a filmmaker (“A Girl Missing,” “The Real Thing”) who’s found the perfect story for his probing but distant style. In that light, it doesn’t seem incidental that “Love Life” is a story about distance — specifically the distance between people who reach for each other in the wake of a tragedy that strands them far away from themselves.
Inspired by the plaintive 1991 Akiko Yano song of the same name (in which the Japanese singer croons, “Whatever the distance between us, nothing can stop me from loving you”), “Love Life” introduces us to a domestic idyll that it disrupts with a deceptive casualness typical of Fukada’s work. The bloom comes off the rose slowly at first, and then all at once in a single moment of everyday awfulness. Read IndieWire’s full review.
“Medusa Deluxe” (directed by Thomas Hardiman)
Distributor: A24
Where to Find It: Theaters, plus various VOD platforms
Elaborate braids, teased curls, and brightly colored dye all mix together at the hands of talented hairstylists prepping their models for an annual hair competition. Similar to the beautiful intricacies of hair styling, writer/director Thomas Hardiman weaves through an intriguing murder mystery with the audience at his mercy. An arresting and visually stunning achievement, “Medusa Deluxe” breaks the framework on storytelling and sheds the skin of a subculture in the process.
Confident and accomplished Cleve (powerfully played by Clare Perkins) is attempting to style the baroque Georgian Fontange on her model as she speculates about the horrific events of the evening with her religious rival Divine (Kayla Meikle). A stylist named Mosca has been found dead and scalped on the premises. Stressed, terrified, and suspicious, the group of stylists and their models at the competition intimately discuss who the killer could be and if the competition is rigged as they wait to be interviewed by the police. Read IndieWire’s full review.
“The Pod Generation” (directed by Sophie Barthes)
Distributor: Vertical and Roadside Attractions
Where to Find It: Theaters
In the 22nd century — somewhat amazingly — human existence has become so technologically advanced that certain things no longer seem necessary. Food comes from 3D printers. Nature has been reduced to something people experience through quick-hit “pod” immersions. Cities are the preferred location for nearly everyone. The sun is bright, outfits are crisp and tidy, and most people look sort of blissed out. It’s enough to fuel a closely tracked “Bliss Index,” which assigns an actual number to how happy the population is. It’s on the upswing and has been for a while.
Oh, and people — at least the people with enough money, some things really do never change — can grow their babies in smooth, egg-shaped pods that look like something Steve Jobs might have cooked up in a garage. The pods aren’t exactly top of mind for Rachel (Emilia Clarke), who is struggling to find the time for a trip to those damn nature pods and has an A.I.-fueled super-Siri named Elaina constantly barking at her that she’s not quite happy enough (to say nothing of her “therapist,” another artificial being who exists only as a giant eye and the voice in Rachel’s head). But when the possibility of a pod is foisted on Rachel in “The Pod Generation,” Sophia Barthes’ cleverly constructed vision of a tech-mad utopia, everything changes. Read IndieWire’s full review.
Plus: Watch IndieWire’s Sundance interview with the team behind “The Pod Generation.”
Also available this week:
“The Eternal Memory” (directed by Maite Alberdi)
Distributor: MTV Documentary Films
Where to Find It: Select theaters
Plus: Read IndieWire’s interview with filmmaker Maite Alberdi.
“Inside Man” (directed by Danny A. Abeckaser)
Distributor: Vertical
Where to Find It: Theaters, plus various VOD platforms
“King on Screen” (directed by Daphné Baiwir)
Distributor: Dark Star Pictures
Where to Find It: Theaters
“Operation Napoleon” (directed by Óskar Thór Axelsson)
Distributor: Magnet Releasing
Where to Find It: Theaters
New Films on VOD and Streaming, Including Premium Platforms and Virtual Cinemas
“Heart of Stone” (directed by Tom Harper)
Distributor: Netflix
Where to Find It: Streaming on Netflix
In the final moments of Tom Harper’s “Heart of Stone” (a film that, yes, hinges on a character named “Stone” and her pursuit of a key piece of tech named “The Heart”), the Netflix spy caper edges as close as it ever does to a joke. As the various players in the film race to possess the powerful artificial intelligence known as “The Heart” (told you), the tech goes offline, inspiring one character to tell another that the best course of action is to turn it off, then back on again. Ah, if only.
As A.I. chatter starts to consume a fractured Hollywood, it’s only natural that such concerns have already made their way into our movies. Earlier this summer, even Tom Cruise took it on with his “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One,” which follows super-spy Ethan Hunt as he attempts to steal back an all-powerful A.I. that threatens the safety of the world. Netflix isn’t too far behind the ball, as “Heart of Stone” similarly follows a super-spy (in this case, played by Gal Gadot) as she attempts to steal back an all-powerful A.I. that threatens the safety of the world. One key difference between the films: While Christopher McQuarrie’s movie could be read as a diatribe against the evils of streaming and algorithmic programming, Harper’s feature scans as the exact opposite. Read IndieWire’s full review.
Plus: Read IndieWire’s interview with director Tom Harper and cinematographer George Steel.
“Red, White & Royal Blue” (directed by Matthew Lopez)
Distributor: Prime Video
Where to Find It: Streaming on Prime Video
It’s been over 20 years since “The Princess Diaries” delighted readers of all ages with its big heart and royal intrigue. 2017 brought the low-budget charms of “The Christmas Prince” onto Netflix (three films and counting). The latest royal romance — based on the beloved bestseller by Casey McQuiston, who executive produces here — is a delight that gives rom-com fans all the trope-y moments they crave: Embarrassing karaoke scenes! Jane Austen references! Declarations of love while wearing a wet shirt due to rain! “Red, White, & Royal Blue” is a hopeful, fresh twist on a genre that should charm both fans of the book as well as anyone who enjoys a frothy love tale.
The story follows Alex Claremont-Diaz (Taylor Zakhar Perez) the son of the current president of the United States (Uma Thurman, landing on an exaggerated Texas accent) and his arch nemesis, England’s Prince Henry (Nicholas Galitzine). At a royal wedding, a literal push comes to shove and the papers report the duo are feuding. Due to forthcoming international manufacturing treaties — don’t worry about it — they must make nice for the cameras so there aren’t any U.S./U.K. diplomacy issues. When the two wind up shoved in a closet together following a make-nice appearance at a children’s hospital (trope alert!) a different kind of sparks begin to fly. Neither are out, and given their respective public roles, a whole host of issues arise before these college-aged guys can get to their potential happily ever after. Read IndieWire’s full review.
Plus: Read IndieWire’s interview with intimacy coordinator Robbie Taylor Hunt.
Also available this week:
“River Wild” (directed by Ben Ketai)
Distributor: Universal
Where to Find It: Various digital and VOD platforms
Week of July 31 – August 6
New Films in Theaters
“Brother” (directed by Clement Virgo)
Distributor: Vertical
Where to Find It: Limited theaters
Clement Virgo’s “Brother” is the kind of movie whose opening scene is obviously meant to serve as a skeleton key for the rest of the story to come, but this decades-spanning drama — a lyrical and probing adaptation of David Chariandy’s novel about two siblings coming of age under the care of their Trinadadian single mother in the suburbs of Toronto — is so unstuck in time and shot through with raw emotion that its clunkier moments tend to function like tender maps back to the heart of the matter.
It starts with a formative memory that feels like a legend, as scrawny teenage Michael (“The Last of Us” actor Lamar Johnson) and his very big bro Francis (“The Underground Railroad” star Aaron Pierre) stand beneath the power lines that run along the Scarborough bluffs and listen for secrets amid the electric hum. “The buzz gets louder the higher you get,” Francis cautions his little brother, “and you can’t make one false move or it will fry you alive.” But the view from the top is worth it, Francis promises, and Michael will be able to see it for himself if he just follows in his footsteps. “Let’s climb.” Read IndieWire’s full review.
“A Compassionate Spy” (directed by Steve James)
Distributor: Magnolia Pictures
Where to Find It: Theaters, plus various digital and VOD platforms
Steve James’ “A Compassionate Spy” is ultimately a minor addition to one of documentary cinema’s great bodies of work (“Hoop Dreams,” “The Interrupters,” “Life Itself”), but it might just contain the one true secret to a happy marriage: sharing historically significant nuclear secrets.
That sure seems to have been a winning strategy for Ted Hall, a young physics student who fell in love with an undergrad named Joan at the University of Chicago in 1947. They seemed like natural soulmates from the start, but Ted’s inevitable proposal came with a radioactive disclaimer. If Joan wanted to spend the rest of her life with him, she would have to accept that Ted — who was admitted to the Manhattan Project as a preternaturally smart teenager — had passed crucial information about the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union. Read IndieWire’s full review.
“Corner Office” (directed by Joachim Back)
Distributor: Lionsgate
Where to Find It: Theaters, plus various digital and VOD platforms
Orson (Jon Hamm) is an upwardly mobile corporate drone who suffers from Main Character Syndrome in a Kafkaesque work environment, his arrogance so vigorously rubbing against his anonymity that the friction created between those two forces is almost powerful enough to sustain the ultra-droll office satire that “Corner Office” constructs around it. Adapted from Jonas Karlsson’s lightly surreal (but extremely Scandinavian) novella, “The Room,” Joachim Back’s feature-length debut promotes a typical skewering of corporate drudgery with the hint of a curious new twist.
Whereas stories about paper-pushing worker drones have been done to death — to the point that Back’s film can seem perversely familiar when it isn’t futzing with the blueprints of reality — the human cog at the center of “Corner Office” might be even more screwed up than the machine he’s screwed into. It’s hard to say — at least at first. Read IndieWire’s full review.
“Dreamin’ Wild” (directed by Bill Pohlad)
Distributor: Roadside Attractions
Where to Find It: Theaters
There is such raw tragedy when it comes to artists like Van Gogh or Jonathan Larson, with success and recognition of their genius only coming after they died. That fear lies in the heart of so many creative people, but “Dreamin’ Wild” is the real-life story of something even stranger. Based on the real story of Donnie and Joe Emerson, and based on the “Fruitland” article published by Steven Kurutz in The New York Times in 2012, “Dreamin’ Wild” is the tale of two musicians finding success when the 30-year-old record they recorded as teenagers finds a new audience.
Donnie Emerson (Casey Affleck) has never fully given up on his dreams of making it as a musician. He lives, unfulfilled, with his loving musician wife Nancy (a conspicuously glamorous Zooey Deschanel) and two children, struggling to make ends meet with running an under-booked recording studio and gigging as a wedding singer. Joe (Walton Goggins) has long stopped trying to pursue music and lives on the much depleted family farm in a beautiful hand-built cabin, content with his lot in life and proximity to the rest of the Emerson clan, headed up by loving patriarch Don Sr. (Beau Bridges). Read IndieWire’s full review.
“Klondike” (directed by Maryna Er Gorbach)
Distributor: Samuel Goldwyn Films
Where to Find It: Limited theaters
Sometimes a single image can be strong enough to support the weight of an entire film, even a film as heavy as Maryna Er Gorbach’s horrifyingly domestic anti-war drama “Klondike,” which fixes its gaze upon a feisty pair of Ukrainian farmers who live along the Russian border. It does so by blowing a giant hole into the side of Tolik (Serhill Shadrin) and Irka’s (Okshana Cherkashyna) house in the opening scene, as an errant mortar shell — misfired by the Kremlin-friendly separatists next door in the middle of the night — obliterates the outer wall of the married couple’s living room as they argue over whether or not to flee Hrabove and raise their unborn child somewhere else.
The exasperated husband wants to avoid conflict at any cost, while his very pregnant wife refuses to abandon their home just because the impotent local men are determined to play war with the big toys Putin lent them. On the one hand, that massive explosion might seem to settle the debate in Tolik’s favor. On the other hand, Irka was just saying she wanted a big window that would allow her to see out onto the rolling fields that stretch beyond their home — a mordantly ironic detail that proves typical of Gorbach’s death-streaked gallows humor. Read IndieWire’s full review.
“LOLA” (directed by Andrew Legge)
Distributor: Dark Sky Films
Where to Find It: Theaters, plus various digital and VOD platforms
An immensely clever and resourceful micro-budget movie about time-travel in the tradition of “La Jetée,” “Primer,” and last year’s loopy Japanese wonder “Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes,” Andrew Legge’s collage-like “LOLA” seamlessly combines authentic World War II-era newsreels together with fictional home videos to create a (very modern) found footage sci-fi story that strives to feel like it could have been made by someone in 1941, or at least by Guy Maddin in 2006.
The premise is tantalizing enough to keep your imagination tickled for most of the film’s brisk 79-minute running time: In 2021, a mystery cache of meticulously edited old celluloid was discovered in the cellar of a Sussex country house that once belonged to Martha and Thomasina Hanbury (played by Stefani Martini and Emma Appleton, respectively). It contained a first-person documentary about two beautiful and brilliant sisters who invented a machine that intercepted radio waves from the future, dubbed the device “LOLA,” and then used their towering, Oscilloscope-like device contraption to watch glimpses of the world to come. Read IndieWire’s full review.
“Meg 2: The Trench” (directed by Ben Wheatley)
Distributor: Warner Bros.
Where to Find It: Theaters
For a certain class of cinephile, the news that Ben Wheatley (Ben Wheatley! “Kill List” and “Free Fire” and “A Field in England” Ben Wheatley!) was directing the sequel to Jon Turteltaub’s 2018 hit “The Meg” could only be met with joy and confusion. If nothing else, it suggested a big-budget film about Jason Statham fighting massive prehistoric sharks that would actually be fucked up, creepy and scary and weird and spine-tingling. Alas, “Meg 2: The Trench” is none of those things, and only occasionally (perhaps even accidentally) fun, yet another seemingly unassailable combination of story and filmmaker that fails to capitalize on any of its obvious promises.
It’s never a good sign when you’re checking your watch during a film — especially a film built on the inherently entertaining elevator pitch of “Jason Statham fights massive prehistoric sharks!” — but audiences will likely find themselves doing just that during the first interminable hour of “Meg 2: The Trench.” At nearly two hours, “Meg 2” spends more than half of its running time cycling through a dull, bizarrely convoluted plot before delivering anything actually amusing. We want very little: again, Jason Statham fighting massive prehistoric sharks, but even that is too much to ask of this tired retread. Read IndieWire’s full review.
“Mob Land” (directed by Nicholas Maggio)
Distributor: Saban Films
Where to Find It: Theaters
One thing is clear after watching “Mob Land”: Kevin Dillon will not be the man to end America’s opioid crisis. In fact, it’s possible that the prescription drug epidemic currently gutting this country will not end at the hands of anysingle “Entourage” cast member.
The man formerly known as Johnny Drama stars in the film as Trey, a reckless drifter whose lime green Japanese sports car raises plenty of eyebrows in his small MAGA town. But despite his life of petty crime and general inability to get his act together, Trey has a few thoughts about the opioids that have begun circulating through his town at an alarming rate. Read IndieWire’s full review.
“Our Body” (directed by Claire Simon)
Distributor: Cinema Guild
Where to Find It: Limited theaters
It’s right there in the title: Claire Simon’s stunningly personal documentary “Our Body” might generally be about her own health journey, but it’s really fixated on the communal experience of occupying a female body. Our body. While academics have tried to uncover the mystique behind women’s physiques, and narrative filmmakers have grappled with the “male gaze” permeating the female form, Simon’s “Our Body” positions the body in its strictly anatomical purposes, ranging from reproduction to even death.
Simon uses the film as both a personal journey through her own cancer diagnosis and as a general observation of the everyday operations of a gynecological ward in a public hospital in Paris. And while watching “Our Body,” the emphasis on public hospital is key to remember: A heartbreaking opening scene in which a high schooler seeks an abortion and is met with compassion from the hospital worker sets the tone for the delicacy that Simon brings to the entire film. Read IndieWire’s full review.
“Passages” (directed by Ira Sachs)
Distributor: MUBI
Where to Find It: Limited theaters, with expansion to follow on August 11
Not long into Ira Sachs’ “Passages” — sometime all too shortly after a restless, self-involved filmmaker (Franz Rogowski) leaves his much softer husband (Ben Whishaw) for the earthy and new woman (Adèle Exarchopoulos) he meets at a dance club after a stressful day of shooting — Tomas launches into a post-coital chat by telling Agathe that he’s fallen in love with her. “I bet you say that a lot,” she replies, bluntly sniffing out his bullshit in a way that suggests this Parisian school teacher doesn’t understand how far most artists would go to convince their audience of an emotional truth. “I say it when I mean it,” Tomas counters. “You say it when it works for you,” Agathe volleys back. They’re both right, but that’s not the problem. The problem is that they’re saying exactly the same thing.
A signature new drama from a director whose best work (“Keep the Lights On,” “Love Is Strange”) is at once both generously tender in its brutality and unsparingly brutal in its tenderness, the raw and resonant “Passages” is the kind of fuck around and find out love triangle that rings true because we aspire to its sexier moments but see ourselves in its most selfish ones. Read IndieWire’s full review.
Plus: Read IndieWire’s interview with filmmaker Ira Sachs and watch our interview with the cast from Sundance.
“Shortcomings” (directed by Randall Park)
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Where to Find It: Theaters
We all have that one friend. Or relative, or coworker, or ex. Some people, no matter how much you love them, can be exhausting — their own stubborn immaturity hindering the way they live life and build relationships. In Randall Park’s “Shortcomings,” Justin H. Min plays Ben, a character with a laundry list of exactly what the film’s name invokes and exactly zero awareness of about it. He’s apathetic and irascible with his long-term girlfriend Miko (Ally Maki), self-absorbed with best friend Alice (Sherry Cola), and utterly complacent in his job as manager of a local movie theater, which is hanging on by a thread.
Based on the graphic novel by Adrian Tomine, “Shortcomings” is the directorial debut of Park and premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Tomine wrote the screenplay, which bursts with visceral, heartfelt dialogue; the jokes sound like those issued from carefree friends, Ben’s lies like panicked improv, the couple’s fights like real-life quarrels between people who just keeping pushing the wrong buttons. Park directs with an eye to both adapt the novel into a new medium and also preserve its essence, aided by the help of editor Robert Nassau. Read IndieWire’s full review.
Plus: Watch our interview with the cast from Sundance.
“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” (directed by Jeff Rowe)
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Where to Find It: Theaters
When the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were first introduced in 1984, comic book creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird set out to skewer the superhero stories then dominating the space (sound familiar?), piling on the parody (teenage…mutant…ninja…turtles?) and (oopsie!) crafting their own unexpected hit heroes in the process. Over the course of nearly four decades, those wily heroes have cycled through countless iterations, eventually becoming a favorite for kids (of all ages) and spawning their very own entertainment complex. So, has this all been done before? Thankfully, no.
“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem,” the latest entry into the half-shell canon, is another fresh, funny animated outing that breathes serious new life into a classic franchise, proving that even old IP has its legs (claws?). Directed by Jeff Rowe and scripted by Rowe, Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Dan Hernandez, and Benji Samit (Rogen and Goldberg also produced through their Point Grey banner, while Rogen voices the iconic mutant warthog Bebop in the feature), “Mutant Mayhem” will inevitably draw comparisons to the “Spider-Verse” franchise. But it ably stands on its own as a genuinely entertaining film for the whole family. Read IndieWire’s full review.
Plus: Read IndieWire’s interview with filmmaker Jeff Rowe.
Also available this week:
“The Collective” (directed by Tom DeNucci)
Distributor: Quiver Distribution
Where to Find It: Theaters, plus various digital and VOD platforms
“What Comes Around” (directed by Amy Redford)
Distributor: IFC Films
Where to Find It: Limited theaters
New Films on VOD and Streaming, Including Premium Platforms and Virtual Cinemas
Also available this week:
“The Passenger” (directed by Carter Smith)
Distributor: Paramount Home Entertainment, MGM+
Where to Find It: Various digital and VOD platforms