Notable 2020 Movies (ordered by total ratings on criticker--there will be some obvious stuff missed out 'cause this is just pulled together from my watchlist)
Tenet (Dir. Christopher Nolan)
from the director of doodlebug.
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (Dir. Jason Woliner)
i'm not fucking typing the sub-title.
Soul (Dir. Pete Docter, Kemp Powers)
pixar. docter directed some of the better pixar movies inc. Toy Story 2, The Incredibles, Wall E and Inside Out. won the academy award for best animated feature. the guardian's #2 film of the year.
The Invisible Man (Dir. Leigh Whannell)
whannell's follow-up to Upgrade, starring elizabeth moss (doesn't everything these days?), based on the h.g. wells story.
Mank (Dir. David Fincher)
follows mankiewicz's tumultuous development of Citizen Kane. winner of oscars for best cinematography and production design.
I'm Thinking of Ending Things (Dir. Charlie Kaufman)
i've avoided learning much about this beyond it being polarising as ever. #5 film of the year according to indiewire's critics survey, #4 on the av club list. available on netflix.
Palm Springs (Dir. Max Barbakow)
riff on Groundhog Day. available on prime.
Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn (Dir. Cathy Yan)
one of the more well-liked DC films so far.
Another Round (Dir. Thomas Vinterberg)
the latest from the dogme 95 legend (The Celebration, The Hunt), starring mads mikkelsen as a high school teacher who decides, along with friends, to test a theory that their lives will improve if maintain a constant level of alcohol in their blood. winner of both the academy award and BAFTA for best foreign language film.
Promising Young Woman (Dir. Emerald Fennell)
divisive spin on the rape-revenge genre starring carey mulligan. nominated for best picture, best director, best actress and best editing at the oscars, winner of best original screenplay.
Sound of Metal (Dir. Darius Marder)
about a heavy metal drummer who starts to lose his hearing, might be too close to home for some people here lol. nominated for best picture, original screenplay, actor (riz ahmed) and supporting actor at the oscars, winner for best sound and best editing. available on prime.
Onward (Dir. Dan Scanlon)
pixar. director of Monsters University.
Da 5 Bloods (Dir. Spike Lee)
spike post-vietnam epic i've seen compared with The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. #8 film of the year according to the indiewire critics survey, #5 at rogerebert.com, #2 at the new yorker. available on netflix.
The Vast of Night (Dir. Andrew Patterson)
low budget Twilight Zone riff. available on prime.
Color Out of Space (Dir. Richard Stanley)
lovecraft adaptation from the cult director of Hardware, starring nic cage. available on prime.
Possessor (Dir. Brandon Cronenberg)
sci-fi from dave's son, follow up to Antiviral starring andrea riseborough, christopher abbott, jennifer jason leigh and sean bean. walter chaw's film of the year.
Bacurau (Dir. Kleber Mendonca Filho, Juliano Dornelles)
from the directors of Neighbouring Sounds and Aquarius, purported to have a strong john carpenter influence. won the jury prize at cannes 2019. #10 film of the year according to the indiewire critics survey, #5 at reverse shot. 2020 status is debatable, screened in france, mexico and brazil in 2019 but everywhere else in 2020.
Underwater (Dir. William Eubank)
lovecraftian Alien riff from the director of The Signal starring kristen stewart and vincent cassel.
Never Rarely Sometimes Always (Dir. Eliza Hittman)
director of It Felt Like Love (which i hated and described as 'sundance breillat' in 2013 lmao) and Beach Rats. winner of the silver bear in berlin. seen it billed as a british-american 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days. #2 film of the year according to indiewire's critics survey, #6 at the new yorker, #7 on the av club list, #7 at reverse shot, #8 at rogerebert.com, #10 for the guardian.
First Cow (Dir. Kelly Reichardt)
from the director of Wendy and Lucy, Old Joy and Meek's Cutoff. been compared to McCabe and Mrs. Miller and Dead Man. av club's #1 film of the year, #3 at sight and sound, #3 on indiewire's critics survey, #4 on rogerebert.com, #9 at reverse shot.
Wolfwalkers (Dir. Tomm Moore, Ross Stewart)
animated, the final installment in the "irish folklore trilogy" preceded by Secret of Kells and Song of the Sea.
Love and Monsters (Dir. Michael Matthews)
post-apocalyptic YA thing about a dude trying to travel to his girlfriend with his dog, fighting cool monsters on the way. Zombieland comps. available on netflix.
Greyhound (Dir. Aaron Schneider)
tom hanks naval WW2 movie, supposedly very lean and process-driven with "an emphasis on tactics and geometry".
On the Rocks (Dir. Sofia Coppola)
reuniting with bill murray. pretty under the radar as coppola always is these days, but i've always respected how stubbornly she does her own inaccessible thing, and a few people do love it.
One Night in Miami (Dir. Regina King)
cassius clay, malcolm x, sam cooke and jim brown gather to chat shit to each other in the aftermath of clay's win over liston. available on prime.
The Assistant (Dir. Kitty Green)
#metoo drama about a woman in a male-dominated office. #8 film of the year at the guardian, #10 at ebert.com, #3 at avclub
Freaky (Dir. Christopher Landon)
gory comic slasher in which vince vaughn switches bodies with a 17 year old girl, by the Happy Death Day director.
Finding the Way Back (Dir. Gavin O'Connor)
aka The Way Back. another sports movie from the director of Warrior, starring ben affleck as a former basketball phenom struggling with alcoholism.
His House (Dir. Remi Weekes)
UK refugee haunted house movie, won best directorial debut at the BAFTAs. available on netflix.
Swallow (Dir. Carlo Mirabella-Davis)
divisive psychological thriller about a newly pregnant housewife compelled to consume dangerous objects. john waters' #2 film of the year.
Relic (Dir. Natalie Erika James)
australian psychological horror starring emily mortimer. garnered some Hereditary comparisons.
Host (Dir. Rob Savage)
zoom-based horror filmed during quarantine. some have called it the best in this sub-genre since Unfriended. just under an hour long.
Ema (Dir. Pablo Larrain)
from the director of Tony Manero, No and Jackie. ehrlich said it feels like it was born out of a three-way between Oldboy, Amelie and gaspar noe. eligibility debatable as screened in chile, italy, turkey and spain in 2019, elsewhere in 2020.
Kajillionaire (Dir. Miranda July)
darkly quirky heist movie starring evan rachel wood, richard jenkins and debra winger. seen it compared to everything from the Oceans movies to lanthimos to Shoplifters. #1 film of the year in the new yorker.
Beanpole (Dir. Kantemir Balagov)
lesbo drama in post-ww2 leningrad. won best director and best film in un certain regard (the secondary competition) at cannes. this director is going to be directing The Last of Us TV series (or at least the pilot). screened in quite a few places in 2019 but not the UK, USA, or aus.
Gretel & Hansel (Dir. Oz Perkins)
from the director of The Blackcoat's Daughter. got some The VVitch comparisons.
Nimic (Dir. Yorgos Lanthimos)
not including many shorts here but hey it's lanthimos.
The Kid Detective (Dir. Evan Morgan)
the director of The Dirties unexpectedly popped up again after 8 years with a canadian neo-noir that has been compared to stuff like Under the Silver Lake, Brick and aaron katz' movies.
Rebecca (Dir. Ben Wheatley)
everyone shat on this hitchcock remake/du maurier adaptation and it seems wheatley continues to sell his soul to netflix, i'm gonna watch it anyway though! available on netflix.
Dick Johnson is Dead (Dir. Kirsten Johnson)
morbidly comedic documentary from the director of Cameraperson in which she stages a number of different ways her dementia-ridden father may die. not gonna list too many docs here but this one sounds different. available on netflix
Black Bear (Dir. Lawrence Michael Levine)
starring aubrey plaza, christopher abbott and sarah gadon. seen cassavetes comps.
Monster Hunter (Dir. Paul W. S. Anderson)
another video game adaptation from anderson. getting a lot of love from the 'vulgar auteurists' who jerk it over everything he ever does. lotsa Mad Max: Fury Road comparisons.
Shirley (Dir. Josephine Decker)
biopic on the novelist shirley jackson by the director of Butter on the Latch, Thou Wast Mild and Lovely and Madeline's Madeline, starring (you guessed it) elizabeth moss. more of a gothic psychodrama than biopic by the sounds of it. available on netflix.
The Rental (Dir. Dave Franco)
directorial debut from james franco's brother. mumbleslasher with dan stevens and alison brie. available on prime.
About Endlessness (Dir. Roy Andersson)
you either love andersson's droll style (Songs From the Second Floor, You, The Living) or ya don't, people who do are hyping this one. won the silver lion for best direction at venice. bergman and tati comps. screened in sweden in 2019, everywhere else in 2020.
The Nest (Dir. Sean Durkin)
long-awaited sophomore feature for durkin nine years after Martha Marcy May Marlene, starring jude law and carrie coon. one of those emotionally violent domestic dramas about an upper-class family falling apart, very well reviewed. mike d'angelo called it Before Midnight shot in the style of The Others.
The Personal History of David Copperfield (Dir. Armando Iannucci)
probably the worst reviewed iannucci thing ever, but the creator of Brass Eye, The Thick of It and In the Loop is a genius so it's worth a go. cast includes peter capaldi, ben whishaw, dev patel, tilda swinton, hugh laurie and paul whitehouse.
Roald Dahl's The Witches (Dir. Robert Zemeckis)
bobby zemeckis (Back to the Future, Forrest Gump, Who Frames Roger Rabbit, Contact, Flight) decided to adapt a book that nicholas roeg already adapted like 30 years ago for some reason, with chris rock, stanley tucci and anne hathaway among the cast.
She Dies Tomorrow (Dir. Amy Seimetz)
seimetz starred in Upstream Color (among many other movies) and directed Sun Don't Shine. she's back with kate lyn sheil for a mumblehorror that's got compared to It Follows and Pontypool. available on netflix.
Synchronic (Dir. Aaron Moorhead, Justin Benson)
another high concept genre film from the duo behind Spring and The Endless.
The Wild Goose Lake (Dir. Diao Yi'nan)
moody chinese noir about a gangster on the run, from the director of Black Coal, Thin Ice. has been compared to Ash is Purest White mixed with Long Day's Journey Into Night eligibility debatable: screened in aus, nz, china, russia, taiwan and france in dec '19, elsewhere in 2020.
Sputnik (Dir. Egor Abramenko)
russian sci-fi horror set during the cold war. comps to Alien, Arrival and Chernobyl. available on netflix.
The Wolf of Snow Hollow (Dir. Jim Cummings)
follow-up to Thunder Road, my out-of-nowhere #2 movie of 2019. if it's that but transposed to the werewolf genre, it's gotta be fucking awesome.
The Wrong Missy (Dir. Tyler Spindel)
largely dismissed romantic comedy but i've seen a few passionately defend it as a hilarious david spade vehicle with an amazing lauren lapkus performance. The Heartbreak Kid and Happy Madison comparisons. available on netflix.
Martin Eden (Dir. Pietro Marcello)
epic italian adaptation of jack london's novel. huge critical hype. marinelli won best actor at venice. eligibility debate: screened in italy, france and netherlands in 2019, 2020 elsewhere. #9 film of the year on the indiewire critics survey, #2 at reverse shot, manohla dargis' film of the year.
Time (Dir. Garrett Bradley)
probably the most acclaimed documentary of the year, about a black woman fighting for the release of her husband who's serving 60 years in jail. #7 on the indiewire critics survey, #2 at sight and sound, #9 at the new yorker, #8 at slant, #3 at reverse shot, #10 at av club, ehrlich's film of the year. available on prime.
The Empty Man (Dir. David Prior)
pretentious 2.5 hour "nasty occult creepypasta procedural existential horror" that's garnered fincher and k. kurosawa comparisons. got bad reviews on release but has developed a big cult following already.
The Truth (Dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda)
his first film since the palme-winning Shoplifters, and his first made in europe with an all-star cast including catherine deneuve, juliette binoche and ethan hawke. screened in italy, japan, korea, hong kong, spain, france, australia and estonia in 2019.
Alone (Dir. John Hyams)
survival cat-and-mouse thriller from the director of Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning. got some Duel comparisons.
Dogs Don't Wear Pants (Dir. J-P Valkeapää)
about a grieving widower whose life is changed by a dominatrix. screened in brazil, finland, russia and ukraine in 2019. available on channel 4 player.
Small Axe (Dir. Steve McQueen)
debatable eligibility, a series of five films of varying lengths by the director of 12 Years a Slave, Shame and Hunger. some might regard it as a mini-series but film publications seem pretty unanimous in treating them as movies. the most acclaimed of the five, Lovers Rock, is 4th on the indiewire critics survey, #1 film of the year at sight and sound and rogerebert.com, 8th at the new yorker, 7th at slant, 8th at reverse shot, 5th at cinemascope and av club.
Young Ahmed (Dir. Luc Dardenne, Jean Pierre Dardenne)
shat on a bit by critics compared to most of their other work (including accusations of islamaphobia -- it's about a muslim kid plotting to kill his teacher lol), but they've set a high bar over the years. one (two) of the rare filmmakers by whom i've seen every single movie before this, and i have no reason to stop maintaining that streak. won best director at cannes. eligibility: screened in various european countries in 2019, UK and USA were 2020.
True History of the Kelly Gang (Dir. Justin Kurzel)
"barren, demented hyper-subjective vision of turn of the century australia" from the director of Snowtown. john waters' #8 film of the year.
Blow the Man Down (Dir. Danielle Krudy, Bridget Savage Cole)
indie small-town neonoir that's generated coen comparisons. available on prime.
Vitalina Varela (Dir. Pedro Costa)
costa is a huge arthouse darling and this is incredibly hyped in those circles, my RYM friends consider this the 5th greatest film of the past 15 years for what that's worth, and it was the LA times' film of the year. seen it described as a dreamlike zombie/ghost movie of sorts. eligibility: screened in portugal in 2019.
The Whistlers (Dir. Corneliu Porumboiu)
austere romanian neo-noir from the director of Police, Adjective. screened in romania and argentina in 2019. available on netflix.
Let Him Go (Dir. Thomas Bezucha)
backwoods kevin costner/diane lane drama/thriller that's getting a lot of eastwood comparisons (specifically A Perfect World).
Family Romance, LLC (Dir. Werner Herzog)
yes, this is a herzog drama with an entirely japanese cast. screened in greece in 2019 (five months before anywhere else) for some fucking reason.
Let Them All Talk (Dir. Steven Soderbergh)
semi-improvised comic drama set on the queen mary 2 surrounded by actual paying customers, starring meryl streep of all people. cinema would be a more boring place without SS.
Spontaneous (Dir. Brian Duffield)
YA horror about a high school where kids start randomly exploding. dunno if it's a metaphor for puberty or school shootings lol.
Archive (Dir. Gavin Rothery)
british sci-fi about a dude trying to bring back his dead wife using new developments in AI. Ex Machina and Moon comparisons.
The Traitor (Dir. Marco Bellocchio)
a gangster epic regarded by many as a late-period masterpiece by the italian vet, perhaps even the best work of his 55 year career. screened in parts of europe in 2019.
A White, White Day (Dir. Hylnur Palmason)
follow up to palmason's excellent Winter Brothers. "off-kilter and intrimate icelandic revenge story". screened in iceland, brazil, hungary, norway and denmark in 2019.
Pinocchio (Dir. Matteo Garrone)
live-actionadaptation from the director of Gomorra and Dogman. a lot of 'what the FUCK' style reviews on letterboxd, and this is an intriguing change in direction for garrone. screened in italy in 2019.
Driveways (Dir. Andrew Ahn)
tender asian indie drama.
A Sun (Dir. Mong-Hong Chung)
emotionally rich family drama, winner of best feature film at the golden horse awards (chinese equivalent of the oscars). #1 film of the year in variety (apparently the film was basically completely unknown before they dropped this bombshell because netflix totally buried it). screened in taiwan in 2019. available on netflix.
Sea Fever (Dir. Neasa Hardiman)
horror set on the sea that's garnered X-Files, Alien and The Thing comparisons.
VFW (Dir. Joe Begos)
it's begos with a stellar cast of character actors. the premise is "a group of war veterans must defend their local VFW post and an innocent teen against a deranged drug dealer and his relentless army of punk mutants." say no more. available on netflix.
Spree (Dir. Eugene Kotlyarenko)
internet-age comic thriller about a dude trying to go viral. people who like this really like it, some people HATE it. saw it described as "the midpoint between kiarostami and GTA" lmao. available on netflix.
Tesla (Dir. Michael Almereyda)
a freewheeling biopic on nikola teslastarring ethan hawke. i'm not normally a biopic guy but i'll make an exception for almereyda, who does nothing the conventional way.
The Wolf House (Dir. Cristóbal León, Joaquín Cociña)
a stop-motion nightmare many are calling jawdropping and worthy of svankmajer comparisons. screened in chile in 2018, germany 2019, USA 2020.
Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets (Dir. Bill Ross IV, Turner Ross)
docudrama on the final moments of a las vegas dive bar, verey beloved for its "bittersweet drunken melancholy". #1 film of the year at slant, #4 at av club.
Shithouse (Dir. Cooper Raiff)
micro-budget mumblecore praised for its authenticity and raw vulnerability. Before Sunrise comps.
Zombi Child (Dir. Bertrand Bonello)
metaphorical fantasy/zombie film from the director of House of Tolerance and Nocturama. has had some tourneur comparisons. screened in france, russia, estonia and korea in 2019.
The Mortuary Collection (Dir. Ryan Spisndell)
very well-liked old-school horror anthology.
I Was At Home, But (Dir. Angela Schanelec)
enigmatic drama from this berliner schuler legend. she's always been a darling of h/c cinephile circles, getting a lot of bresson comparisons here. won silver bear for best director at berlin. screened in germany in 2019.
I'm Your Woman (Dir. Julia Hart)
female-fronted gangster noir from the director of Fast Color. available on prime.
The Climb (Dir. Michael Angelo Covino)
intimate heartfelt indie dramedy i've seen alternately described as "art-house Step Brothers" and "Before Midnight for assholes". won the coup de coeur award at cannes. i don't even know what the fuck that is.
Last and First Men (Dir. Jóhann Jóhannsson)
sci-fi about the last humans, more of a droning visual poem than a movie, narrated by tilda swinton.
Blood Quantum (Dir. Jeff Barnarby)
gory zombie film with a largely indigenous cast.
Fourteen (Dir. Dan Sallitt)
long-awaited (by me anyway) follow up to The Unspeakable Act by the critic-turned filmmaker. mental illness drama.
To the Ends of the Earth (Dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
about "a woman travelling to uzbekistan to shoot the latest episode of her travel variety show", from maybe my favourite working horror filmmaker.
The Twentieth Century (Dir. Matthew Rankin)
described as "nightmarishly canadian", mash-up of guy maddin, modernism, biopic, parody, monty python and silent horror. screened in canada in december 2019.
Ghost Town Anthology (Dir. Denis Côté)
not actually an anthology, an eerie drama about the aftermath of a car accident in a small quebecois village, The Sweet Hereafter comps. from the director of Vic + Flo Saw A Bear. screened in canada and poland in 2019.
Scare Me (Dir. Josh Ruben)
horror anthology, "during a power outage two strangers tell scary stories". seems to have a cult following and also a lot of hate.
Tommaso (Dir. Abel Ferrara)
another self-reflexive ferrara work starring willem dafoe. screened in portugal in december 2019.
Calm with Horses (Dir. Nick Rowland)
violent small-town irish noir cum family drama about an ex-boxer. barry keoghan (the boy in The Killing of a Sacred Deer) plays a starring role. available on netflix.
City Hall (Dir. Frederick Wiseman)
america's all-time greatest documentarian is still churning 'em out in his 90s. cahiers du cinema's #1 film of the year.
The Broken Hearts Gallery (Dir. Natalie Krinsky)
seen it described as an unusually great modern romcom.
Bad Hair (Dir. Justin Simien)
matt lynch names spike lee, de palma, vintage blaxploitation and j-horror as its influences. from the director of Dear White People.
Beasts Clawing at Straws (Dir. Kim Yong-Hoon)
pulpy k-noir getting tarantino, coen and ritchie comps, asian movie pulse's #1 film of the year.
Tread (Dir. Paul Solet)
"Pushed to his breaking point, a master welder in a small town at the foot of the Rocky Mountains quietly fortifies a bulldozer with 30 tons of concrete and steel and seeks to destroy those he believes have wronged him." and it's not a fiction film.
Ham on Rye (Dir. Tyler Taormina)
"A bizarre rite of passage at the local deli determines the fate of a generation of teenagers, leading some to escape their suburban town and dooming others to remain…"
Clifton Hill (Dir. Albert Shin)
eerie small-town indie neo-noir starring david cronenberg as a scuba-diving true crime podcaster. available on netflix.
Days of the Bagnold Summer (Dir. Simon Bird)
about a teenage metalhead who gets stuck on summer vacation with his mum. rob brydon is in it. think it's scored by belle & sebastian so probably not actually very metal lmao.
World of Tomorrow Episode Three: The Absent Destinations of David Prime (Dir. Don Hertzfeldt)
seems to be as well-liked as the others.
Fanny Lye Deliver'd (Dir. Thomas Clay)
"medieval farm invastion tale packed with oppresive atmosphere and grotesque lived-in detail". charles dance is in it. screened in brazil in 2019 for whatever reason, wasn't out anywhere else 'til june 2020.
Nina Wu (Dir. Midi Z)
seen it compared to Black Swan, Irma Vep and Perfect Blue. screened in taiwan and holland in 2019.
Patrick (Dir. Tim Mielants)
"A Flemish dramedy set on a naturist campsite in Belgium, it’s a caper where the site’s 40-ish handyman is dead set on retrieving his missing prized hammer, discovering a conspiracy among the camp’s residents. And almost everyone in the film just happens to be naked." screened in belgium and holland in 2019.
37 Seconds (Dir. Hikari)
japanese drama about a horny aspiring manga artist with cerebral palsy. available on netflix.
Make Up (Dir. Claire Oakley)
psychosexual horror. seen it described as andrea arnold meets nic roeg via david lynch.
Blood on Her Name (Dir. Matthew Pope)
southern noir that's gotten Winter's Bone and Shotgun Stories comps.
The Swerve (Dir. Dean Kapsalis)
a psychodrama that was dark enough to play at frightfest. huge praise for the central performance from azura skye.
We Are Little Zombies (Dir. Makoto Nagahisa)
japanese post-punk drama about teen angst, grief and alienation. "zoomer bubblegum hyperpop cinema." screened in asia in 2019.
Residue (Dir. Merawi Gerima)
angry disorienting drama about a young black filmmaker returning home to his gentrified neighbourhood. available on netflix.prime.
Cocoon (Dir. Leonie Krippendorff)
tender queer coming of age movie.
The Deeper You Dig (Dir. Toby Poser, John Adams)
a movie made by four people, three of them related. creepy atmospheric ghost story.
Jesus Shows You the Way to the Highway (Dir. Miguel Llansó)
someone said it's like a late period philip k. dick novel. also seen comps to jodorowsky, The Matrix and World On A Wire. available on prime.
Ghost Tropic (Dir. Bas Devos)
a middle-aged woman walks home after missing the last bus and has several interesting encounters. minimalistic slow cinema type deal.
Technoboss (Dir. João Nicolau)
a musical with some kaurismaki vibes by the director of John From.
The August Virgin (Dir. Jonás Trueba)
slice-of-life self-realisation drama set in madrid.
Embattled (Dir. Nick Sarkisov)
"The eldest son of a ruthlessly tough MMA champion must fight his way out of the abusive cycle his father has continued."
Murder Death Koreatown (Dir. unknown)
"LA 4chan found footage horror movie"
Pretend That You Love Me (Dir. Joel Haver)
obscure no-budget indie movie getting praised by some as a masterpiece. available free on youtube.
Smiley Face Killers (Dir. Tim Hunter)
obscure but extremely well reviewed paranoid thriller, written by bret easton ellis. available on prime.
The Surrogate (Dir. Jeremy Hersh)
drama about a surrogate mum who finds out her baby has down's. again very well reviewed for this kind of thing.
Muscle (Dir. Gerard Johnson)
claustrophobic british drama. seen people call it the best low budget british indie since Bait.
Space Dogs (Dir. Elsa Kremser, Levin Peter)
documentary from the POV of dogs, centred around laika (the first living being sent into space, to certain death).
The Bloodhound (Dir. Patrick Picard)
arthouse horror, "two guys at an isolated home making each other feel uncomfortable".
The New King of Comedy (Dir. Stephen Chow)
well-liked comedy from the director of Kung Fu Hustle and Shaolin Soccer. screened in much of asia in 2019.
Shock Wave 2 (Dir. Herman Yau)
sequel to the bomb-disposal thriller from the director of Ebola Syndrome and The White Storm 2: Drug Lords. available on prime.
Transnistra (Dir. Anna Eborn)
"come for the gorgeous, sun-dappled 16mm cinematography, stay for the horny teens hanging out in a bombed-out, post-Soviet hellscape. Akin to a less salacious Larry Clark/Korine joint, or early David Gordon Green without the affected Malick-isms."
Minor Premise (Dir. Eric Schultz)
"blend of cerebral science fiction concepts, surrealist sequences, and an impressively grounded narrative"
s01e03 (Dir. Kurt Walker)
"A virtual love story set in Vancouver, New York, and the dying world of a massively multiplayer online role playing game." available free on youtube.
Carrion (Dir. Michael Zaiko Hall)
"this is what i always hope a24ish hipster art-horror will be instead of just boring. not perfect, but too complex, scary & weird to dismiss, somewhere in the realm of what daniel falicki might make after too much time on northern cali/redwood instagram. arcane, disorienting, genuinely challenging."
The Man in the Woods (Dir. Noah Buschel)
shockingly obscure given he's quite a big name. zero ratings on criticker as we speak. great reviews on my letterboxd though, a unique noir that's got some Brick comps again.
Build the Wall (Dir. Joe Swanberg)
another Uncle Kent movie from swanberg. available free on vimeo.
Climate of the Hunter (Dir. Mickey Reece)
"Two beautiful sisters vie for the affections of a man who may or may not be a vampire." "Equal parts Ingmar Bergman and Andy Milligan, yet somehow feels totally freed from influence."
The Gulf of Silence (Dir. M. K. Rhodes)
UFO documentary "floating in the space between dry faux academia, personal tragic history, and genuinely freaky abstraction."
Saint Frances (Dir. Alex Thompson)
realist american indie character study. available on netflix.
We Are (Dir. Eugene Kotylarenko)
comedy about virtual reality and startups. "josh safdie leaned over and said it was the best movie since uncut gems." same director as Spree above, and Wobble Palace. available free on vimeo.
The Mistake (Dir. Bruno Sukrow)
"Think confusing Italo crime drama meets XAVIER: RENEGADE ANGEL as reimagined by some rural German community theater group."
Variant (Dir. Joe Meredith)
"absolutely gorgeous sci-fi gutterpus post-rock dreamgore with outsider art sensibilities."
