As the yin-yang decal on our yoga teacher’s Subaru Crosstrek reminds us thrice a week, every natural force or entity has its perfect mirror inverse. And so, just as during the summer we escaped to movie theaters in order to cool down from record high temps, the temperature extremes caused by climate collapse now drive us back to those same movie theaters for warmth, nursing our frigid tootsies at the hearth of the annual awards season dump of very exciting Don’t-Miss Indies. But TLDR; Happy Holidays!

 

EILEEN

When You Can Watch:  Now 

Where You Can Watch: Theaters 

Director: William Oldroyd 

Cast: Thomasin McKenzie, Anne Hathaway, Shea Whigham, Marin Ireland 

Why We’re Excited: Described as “wildly audacious,” “wondrously twisted” and “deliciously deranged” by Jessica Kiang in her review for Variety, director William Oldroyd’s sophomore feature after 2018’s Lady MacBeth (nominated for a Film Independent Spirit Award for Best International Film) is a psychological thriller set in 1960s Boston. Last Night in Soho’s McKenzie—a 2019 Spirit Awards nominee for Leave No Trace—plays the eponymous Eileen, a young woman working in a boys’ prison. Living in a dilapidated small town with her alcoholic and emotionally abusive father, Jim (Whigham), her small life is so saturated in ugliness and sadness that she sometimes fantasizes about killing herself and her father. But when a new psychiatrist joins the prison staff, her life is turned around forever. Not only does Dr. Rebecca St. John (Spirit Award nominee Hathaway) bring a sudden splash of color and fashion into Eileen’s depressing life, she suddenly becomes her first friend; one, unfortunately, who would quickly rope her into a bizarre crime.

 

 

POOR THINGS

When You Can Watch: December 8 

Where You Can Watch: Theaters  

Director: Yorgos Lanthimos 

Cast: Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef 

Why We’re Excited: A Spirit Award nominee for 2019’s The Favourite, director Yorgos Lanthimos’ latest off-kilter offering started building Oscar buzz for leads Stone and Ruffalo as soon as it premiered at Venice earlier this year. The sci-fi black comedy written by Tony McNamara (The Favourite, Hulu’s period satire The Great) is based on Scottish writer Alasdair Gray’s 1992 novella of the same name. Eyed as yet another heavy awards contender from Searchlight, the Frankenstein-esque story follows Bella (Stone), who is brought back to life by scientist Dr. Baxter (two-time Spirit Award winner Dafoe) and embarks on a journey of sexual liberation once she falls in love with a serpentine lawyer, Duncan Wedderburn (Spirit Award winner Ruffalo).

 

 

ORIGIN

When You Can Watch: December 8 (Limited) 

Where You Can Watch: Theaters (wide release, January 19) 

Director: Ava DuVernay 

Cast: Aunjanue Ellis, Jon Bernthal, Vera Farmiga, Audra McDonald 

Why We’re Excited: Aunjanue Ellis sure has had a busy year! First, she was the spunky defense lawyer in this summer’s highly anticipated Justified series revival, Justified: City Primeval. And on Christmas Day, she’ll be starring in the musical coming-of-age remake of The Color Purple, directed by Ghanaian filmmaker Blitz Bazawule. But before that, you can catch her in Spirit Awards alum Ava DuVernay’s (Selma, When They See Us) biographical drama about IRL Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Isabel Wilkerson (Ellis). The film charts Wilkerson’s journey as she investigates the nooks and crannies behind racism to write her acclaimed book, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. Nominated for a Golden Lion at this year’s Venice International Film Festival, the film will expand into wide release on January 19, 2024.

 

 

THE BOY AND THE HERON

When You Can Watch: December 8 

Where You Can Watch: Theaters 

Director: Hayao Miyazaki 

Cast: Soma Santoki, Masaki Suda, Takuya Kimura, Robert Pattinson 

Why We’re Excited: Already grossing more than $83 million worldwide since its Japanese premiere in July, Hayao Miyazaki’s latest offering is his first film since 2013’s The Wind Rises. Rumored to be the legendary animator’s final feature, the semi-autobiographical animated fantasy film follows Mahito (Santoki), a 12-year-old boy who has recently lost his mother after Tokyo is bombed in 1943. After moving to the countryside to live with his dad, he copes with the trauma by befriending a taking grey heron (Pattinson, in the English dub) discovered living in an abandoned tower. And as if that’s not confusing enough, the cagey Heron also seems to know something about Mahito’s mother…

 

 

ZONE OF INTEREST

When You Can Watch: December 15 

Where You Can Watch: Theaters 

Director: Jonathan Glazer 

Cast: Christian Friedel, Sandra Hüller, Ralph Herforth, Johann Karthaus 

Why We’re Excited: A prior Spirit Award nominee for both Under the Skin and Sexy Beast, visionary British filmmaker Jonathan Glazer’s latest feature has already won the FIPRESCI Prize at Cannes and, more recently, Camerimage. A historical drama loosely based on Martin Amis’ 2014 novel by the same name, Zone of Interest follows the longest-serving commandant at the Auschwitz concentration camp, Rudolf Höss (Friedel, from the German neo-noir series, Babylon Berlin) and his wife Hedwig (Hüller, who is also getting significant awards buzz this season for Anatomy of a Fall). As millions of Jews are exterminated, the Höss family try to live their dream life in a house and garden right next to the camp, turning a blind eye to the unspeakable atrocities transpiring on the other side of the wall.

 

 

AMERICAN FICTION

When You Can Watch: December 15 

Where You Can Watch: Theaters 

Directors: Cord Jefferson 

Cast: Jeffrey Wright, Tracee Ellis Ross, John Ortiz, Issa Rae, Sterling K. Brown 

Why We’re Excited: An Emmy winner for the HBO series Watchmen, writer-director Cord Jefferson’s (The Good Place, Master of None) feature film debut is based on Percival Everett’s 2001 novel Erasure. A frustrated Black professor and novelist, Monk Ellison (Spirit Awards alum Wright, from Westworld and No Time to Die) is tired of the entertainment industry’s excessive monetization of stories that too often rely on shopworn and offensive tropes of what it means to be Black in America. When he turns around to write an outlandish “Black” book of his own to make the point, the sales go through the roof. “The dumber I behave, the richer I get,” he says. Film Independent Member Hannah Offer serves as an Associate Producer on the film. Check out our Q&A with Jefferson from last month’s screening at Film Independent Presents.

 

THE IRON CLAW

When You Can Watch: December 22 

Where You Can Watch: Theaters 

Director: Sean Durkin 

Cast: Zac Efron, Jeremy Allen White, Stanley Simons, Harris Dickinson, Maura Tiernay, Lily James 

Why We’re Excited: As a longtime fan of professional wrestling, writer-director and three-time Spirit Awards nominee Sean Durkin (Martha Marcy May Marlene) has wanted to work on a project about the 1970s Von Erich wrestling dynasty for years. He still recalls how the string of tragedies in the Von Erich family—which sparked rumors of a family curse—impacted him in his youth. Now, their story comes to life with Durkin’s biographical drama, which focuses on four of the inseparable brothers: Kevin (Efron), Kerry (White), David (Dickinson) and Mike (Simons). One of the most impressive aspects of the film is Durkin’s decision to film the wrestling sequences as full-length wrestling matches performed in one take, as opposed to using multiple edited sequences.  

 

 

SOCIETY OF THE SNOW

When You Can Watch: January 4, 2024 

Where You Can Watch: Netflix 

Director: J.A. Bayona 

Cast: Enzo Vogrincic, Simon Hempe, Matías Recalt, Rafael Federman 

Why We’re Excited: After three successive English-language projects including Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and Amazon’s Lord of the Rings prequel The Rings of Power, Spanish writer-director Bayona returns to his native language with his latest feature, also Spain’s official submission for Best International Feature Film at the 2024 Oscars. This survival thriller is based on a true story: in 1972, the Uruguayan Air Force flight carrying a rugby team to Chile crashes on a glacier in the heart of the Andes mountains. After 29 of the 45 passengers survive the crash, they have to endure subzero temperatures, a lack of food and water, injuries and avalanches to wait for rescuers. Aside the actual crash site—the Andes in Chile and Argentina—the film was also shot in Sierra Nevada (Spain) and Montevideo (Uruguay). Not only did the research materials include more than 100 hours of interviews with all of the living survivors, the actors also had contact with some of the survivors and family members to prepare for their roles. Check our Film Independent Presents playlist on YouTube for last month’s Q&A with Bayona, actor Vogrincic, cinematographer Pedro Luque, composer Michael Giacchino and real-life survivor Roberto Canessa.

 

 

MERRY GOOD ENOUGH

When You Can Watch: December 19 

Where You Can Watch: VOD 

Director: Caroline Keene, Dan Kennedy 

Cast: Raye Levine, Joel Murray, Susan Gallagher, Comfort Clinton, Neil Cassey 

Why We’re Excited: Filmed around Boston in the winter of 2022, this dramedy is perfect for those who prefer a heavy dose of realism with their holiday cheer—the anti-Hallmark Christmas movie, if you will. In co-director Keene’s feature debut, Lucy (Levine) is wary of her dysfunctional family but dutifully goes home for Christmas anyway. When her mother disappears on Christmas Eve, most of the family assume Lucy and her mom got into a fight. But while their dad doesn’t seem at all concerned, Lucy is determined to bring the family together and get to the bottom of this Yuletide missing persons case. Co-director Kennedy also serves as the film’s cinematographer.

 

 

*PROGRAMMER’S PICK* ALL OF US STRANGERS

When You Can Watch: December 22 

Where You Can Watch: Theaters 

Director: Andrew Haigh 

Cast: Andrew Scott, Paul Mescal, Jamie Bell, Claire Foy 

Why We’re Excited: From Jenn Wilson, Film Independent Senior Programmer: “British filmmaker Andrew Haigh’s beautifully written and shot feature All of Us Strangers which just captured seven awards at the British Independent Film Awards, and is sure to garner many more nominations, is an intensely profound tribute to lonely Gen X queers everywhere. Andrew Scott gives a phenomenal performance as quiet British screenwriter, Adam. He and his neighbor, Harry (the always brilliant Paul Mescal) are the only two residents of a brand-new high rise condo building. Introverted Adam is doing research for a personal project on the death of his parents in a car accident when he was a child. He looks at old photos and plays 1980s British music by bands like The Housemartins for inspiration. At first he’s not much interested in a relationship with handsome young Harry until he becomes inspired to travel to his hometown in suburban London for research on his parents and makes an unexpected breakthrough that helps him imagine what it would be like to speak with them again. A deep examination of how the romantic lives of queer people are affected by their family relationships, this film will inspire many—definitely one of this year’s greatest works. Look out for some wonderful supporting performances from Claire Foy and Jamie Bell as Adam’s parents.”

 

 

KEY

Film Independent Fellow or Member

Film Independent Presents Screening, Q&A

Microbudget

Filmmaker or Lead Characters of Color

Film Independent Spirit Award Winner or Nominee

Female Filmmaker

LGBT Filmmaker or Lead LGBT Characters

First-time Filmmaker

(Header: American Fiction)