Hard Truths
Dir. Mike Leigh
Hurt people hurt people, the saying goes, and nowhere is that more evident than in Hard Truths. Directed by Mike…
All We Imagine as Light
Dir. Payal Kapadia
All We Imagine as Light is a political film that has many smart and moving things to say about the…
Leonor Will Never Die
Dir. Martika Ramirez Escobar
At times looking and sounding like a real Filipino action film from 50 years ago, while painstakingly edited to juggle…
Return to Seoul
Dir. Davy Chou
In both documentaries and films, adoptees meeting their biological parents for the first time is an event often painted in…
Night of the Kings
Dir. Philippe Lacôte
With a script that seems to have been written for a medieval fantasy, but set in a present-day Ivorian jail,…
I Am Not a Witch
Dir. Rungano Nyoni
Remarkably for a movie about women being shunned and exploited by those more powerful than them, I Am Not A…
Bacurau
Dir. Juliano Dornelles & Kleber Mendonça Filho
This incredibly creative and unique movie is set in a fictional small town in the Brazilian Backcountry. It has a…
A Touch of Sin
Dir. Jia Zhangke
“It is better to live miserable than to die happy,” or so says one of the characters in Jia Zhangke’s…
Tyrannosaur
Dir. Paddy Considine
In response to violence, some people consider aggression as the only solution, especially in a place that cannot rely on…
Aquarius
Dir. Kleber Mendonça Filho
If you’ve never heard of Sonia Braga, you’re in for a ride with this movie. She is, in my opinion,…
Under the Shadow
Dir. Babak Anvari
Horror movies have always been creepier to me when they play on our fear of the “unknown” rather than gore.…
Force Majeure
Dir. Ruben Östlund
A seemingly well-adjusted Scandinavian Family vacationing in the French Alps experiences a frightening avalanche scare near the beginning of Force…
Lady Macbeth
Dir. William Oldroyd
Florence Pugh broke through with her powerhouse performance here as Katherine, a young woman who is “sold” into a coldly…
Mustang
Dir. Deniz Gamze Ergüven & Female director
Five orphaned sisters are put under house arrest by their uncle and grandmother after they are seen horsing around with…
Petite Maman
Dir. Céline Sciamma
After the death of her beloved grandmother, eight-year-old Nelly meets a strangely familiar girl her own age in the woods.…
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia
Dir. Nuri Bilge Ceylan
A group of men lead a search for a victim of a murder to whom a suspect named Kenan and…
The Favourite
Dir. Yorgos Lanthimos
England, early 18th century. The close relationship between Queen Anne and Sarah Churchill is threatened by the arrival of Sarah’s…
