Fall festival films to check out when they leave the circuit
With the Venice and Telluride Film festivals underway and the Toronto and New York Film Festivals coming soon, the season that brings the most critically-acclaimed flicks of the year is in full swing. Here are some of the films that have already generated buzz this fall.
“Hamnet”
Ever since Chloé Zhao won Best Director and Best Picture with “Nomadland,” expectations for her have been incredibly high. Her newest film “Hamnet,” based on the novel of the same name by Maggie O’Farrell, imagines how the death of William Shakespeare and wife Anne Hathaway’s only son might’ve inspired his classic tragedies. The film has been called “emotionally shattering,” and viewers can expect a stunning Max Richter score, fantastic direction and a twosome of terrific performances from leads Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley. Don’t be surprised if you see both them and Zhao in the Oscar conversation this year.
“Bugonia”
Yorgos Lanthimos pivots from deadpan to nerve-jangling in this audacious remake of “Save the Green Planet!,” swapping stilted speech for a slick, unsettling character study. Jesse Plemons and a steely Emma Stone square off in a conspiracy-cored kidnapping that keeps shifting the ground under your feet. Dynamic tracking shots, bold color palettes and pitch-black humor ratchet the tension while you laugh, then flinch. Early reactions peg this as Lanthimos in total command — unpredictable, chilly and weirdly hilarious.
“Jay Kelly”
George Clooney plays a George Clooney-sized movie star who can’t stop performing himself in Noah Baumbach’s gentlest, saddest mode. Co-written with Emily Mortimer, the Netflix drama follows a Europe detour to reconnect with a daughter as memories and movie roles blur into one long take. Critics say it’s wistful more than acerbic, with Adam Sandler and Laura Dern adding bite around Clooney’s vulnerable center. Expect debates about fame, persona and how much of your past you get to reshoot.
“Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere”
Scott Cooper narrows the music-biopic lens to six harrowing months as Bruce Springsteen births “Nebraska.” Jeremy Allen White plays Springsteen with bruised restraint; Jeremy Strong’s Jon Landau is tough love incarnate. Cassette-tape recording sessions, Malick and O’Connor on the nightstand, childhood ghosts at the door — it’s all here, stripped and unglamorous.
“No Other Choice”
Park Chan-wook turns capitalist dread into a murderous farce, following a laid-off paper specialist (a phenomenal Lee Byung-hun) who decides the only way to get a new job is to eliminate the competition — literally. The plotting is Swiss-watch precise, the tone gleefully vicious, and Cho Young-wuk’s score prances while bodies drop. It’s not about poverty so much as identity under a system that makes your title your soul.
“Sentimental Value”
Joachim Trier and Renate Reinsve reunite for an intimate, talky heart-breaker about a famous director father (Stellan Skarsgård) who asks his estranged actor daughter to play her grandmother — in the family home — for his comeback film. Trier dials down the flash to trace intergenerational damage with clear eyes, buoyed by Hania Rani’s feather-light score and Kasper Tuxen’s elegant images. Elle Fanning’s superstar casting twist adds spark. Early reviews say that the film is quietly devastating and beautifully acted.
“It Was Just an Accident”
Jafar Panahi’s Cannes-winning thriller begins with a kidnapping in the desert and spirals into a claustrophobic debate about vengeance, doubt and the cost of survival under an oppressive state. A van becomes a courtroom, a coffin and a confessional as victims argue over whether their captive is the torturer who scarred them. Shot under restrictions, made with fearless clarity, it’s both nail-biter and moral X-ray — resistance cinema that lingers like a bruise.
“Frankenstein”
Guillermo del Toro’s lifelong dream project arrives as a lush, mournful howl about creation and consequence. Oscar Isaac’s Victor is haunted on Arctic ice by the being he stitched together; Jacob Elordi’s Creature, all marble-pale flesh and wounded curiosity, is a revelation. Practical effects, tactile sets and dialogue newly wrought in Shelley’s spirit make the familiar feel uncanny. Reviews from the Venice Film Festival say that it’s tender, gruesome and grand — a monster movie with a human soul and a broken heart.
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