The winners
Venice prizes are awarded by juries (led by actress/filmmakers Maggie Gyllenhaal and Valérie Donzelli in the main competition and "Orizzonti" section, respectively), while the non-juried Toronto festival leaves its award decisions up to festivalgoers. Nevertheless, history suggests that Toronto is actually the more significant honor, as the TIFF People's Choice Winner is all but guaranteed a Best Picture nomination at the Oscars. (Note that Telluride does not give out awards to individual films.)
TIFF People's Choice Award Winner
87 La bola negra
Drama | Spain/France | dir. Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo
Opens in limited release on October 16 and streams on Netflix starting December 2
Already a major awards contender heading into Toronto following a widely acclaimed debut at Cannes in May (where the film earned a share of the Best Director award), the sophomore feature of creative partners Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo, aka Los Javis, is a major change from their 2017 musical comedy Holy Camp!. The connecting spirit of the three timelines in this gay male epic is the murdered Spanish poet and writer Federico García Lorca, who appears in the film and whose unfinished play "La Bola Negra," is adapted for the film's 1932 story. The triptych is completed with an adaptation of Alberto Conejero's stage play "La Piedra Oscura," set in 1937, and an original 2017 tale about a gay historian (Carlos González) investigating what his grandfather left him in his will. Netflix acquired the film following its Cannes debut and will roll it out in theaters (yes, real movie theaters) beginning in Los Angeles and New York on October 16 and adding additional cities in the following weeks prior to a streaming debut in December.
See our ranking of all recent TIFF People's Choice Winners >
TIFF International People's Choice Award Winner
75 Elsinore
Drama | UK | dir. Simon Stone
Opens in limited release on November 20 (expands wider on December 11)
Andrew Scott stars as Scottish actor Ian Charleson (best known on the big screen as Eric Liddell in Chariots of Fire) in the latest from director Simon Stone (The Dig). Written by Stephen Beresford (Pride) and Ethan Silverman, this biopic focuses on Charleson's last role, playing Hamlet on stage while living with AIDS. Scott's widely acclaimed (and likely to be Oscar-nominated) performance is one of "raw determination, grace and an almost overwhelming depth of feeling," according to THR's David Rooney. Variety critic Owen Gleiberman echoes those sentiments, claiming Scott "gives an astonishingly layered and moving performance," making the film "an indelible journey." Writing for Screen Daily, Dave Calhoun believes the "film's ring of truth is loud, which makes it all the more poignant." And TheWrap's Steve Pond adds, "Does Elsinore get melodramatic along the way? Sure, but only in the sense that Shakespeare gets melodramatic – which is to say, gloriously so."
More TIFF Awards
Audiences at TIFF vote on two additional People's Choice honors. The People's Choice Midnight Madness Award, for the best film in that genre-heavy section of the festival, went to Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney, a very Canadian experiment presenting the former prime minister through an unusual (and comedic) assemblage of archival clips that The Playlist compared to a Tim and Eric sketch. And the People's Choice Documentary Award went to Barry Avrich's music doc Darlene Love: I Know Where I've Been.
Venice Golden Lion (1st Place) Winner
84 Woman Unknown
Drama/Thriller | Denmark | dir. May el-Toukhy
Writer-director May el-Toukhy (Queen of Hearts) won the Golden Lion for Best Film, and her lead actress, Mathilde Arcel, took home the Volpi Cup for Best Actress for this portrait of a horizontal collaborator—a woman who fraternized with occupying soldiers during World War II. Set in 1945 Copenhagen, this suspenseful drama follows Marie (Arcel), a nanny and housemaid who is preparing to marry her employer, Christian, a wealthy widower. When her past relationship with a German soldier threatens to be revealed, she does everything possible to keep her position. According to Max Borg of The Film Verdict, it's a "confident, rich work" and a "carefully composed, instantly spellbinding character study." Writing for IndieWire, Sophia Monks Kaufman sees an "angry, despairing film" that "draws tension from the specter of violence rampaging on the streets outside." Screen Daily's Jonathan Romney praises el-Toukhy's "meticulous execution" and declares it to be a film of "sombre elegance and slow-building complexity." And Vulture critic Bilge Ebiri compares this "masterful film" to an "old-fashioned arthouse movie, built as it is around silences, details, small gestures, and repeated visual patterns."
See our ranking of all recent Venice Golden Lion winners >
Venice Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize (2nd Place) Winner
93 Possible Love
Drama | South Korea | dir. Lee Chang-dong
Opens in theaters on October 23 and streams on Netflix starting November 6
It has been eight years since Lee Chang-dong's last film, the Metacritic Must-See Burning, so anticipation was high for his latest. He did not disappoint, earning the Grand Jury Prize for this tale of socioeconomic differences and hidden desires between two married couples—a documentary filmmaker and her well-off husband, and an unemployed worker and his wife. For IndieWire critic David Ehrlich, it's "another heart-stopping and novelistically layered stunner from modern cinema's most literary auteur" and a "gently shattering and astonishingly well-shaded drama." Variety's Jessica King believes this "shimmering, sonorous work, from one of our greatest living directors, moves through the peculiar landscapes of human interaction with certainty, eccentricity and grace." And Nick Schager of The Daily Beast declares Possible Love "as richly drawn and intricately crafted as any feature this year, and a surefire contender for best of 2026 honors." Vulture critic Bilge Ebiri thinks it "might be the most powerful, political, hypnotic film of [Lee's] career," and THR's David Rooney adds, "A profound meditation on trauma, loss of dignity, yearning and class envy, this is a sad but beautiful chamber piece, fleshed out by a superlative ensemble." Note that Possible Love also finished second (to Elsinore) in Toronto for the TIFF International People's Choice Award.
More Venice Awards
The Israeli documentary Naza received a reported 25-minute standing ovation—and also a Special Jury Prize. (More on that film below.) Best Director honors went to Russian filmmaker Ilya Khrzhanovsky (Dau), while Stéphane Brizé, Coralie Amédéo, and Olivier Gorce shared Best Screenplay honors for their French drama A Good Little Soldier. And Mathilde Arcel (Woman Unknown) and John Malkovich (Wild Horse Nine) coillected the festival's Best Actress and Best Actor honors, respectively.
Best of the festivals
Below are additional titles generating the most positive buzz at this year's festival. That's followed by a list of the remaining notable festival debuts, and then by a recap of this year's duds. Note that any films which previously debuted at Cannes or other festivals are excluded.
92 DAU
Drama | Germany/France/Sweden | dir. Ilya Khrzhanovskiy
Ilya Khrzhanovsky took home the Silver Lion for Best Director from the Venice Film Festival for what is the culmination of more than twenty years of work across multiple disciplines, including two films shown at the 2020 Berlin Film Festival— DAU. Natasha and DAU. Degeneration. DAU's focus is the life of Lev Landau, a brilliant physicist living in the USSR from 1928 to 1968. Forced to make a series of compromises to serve the Soviet state, he plays a part in creating their first atomic bomb. The over-three-hour film doesn't work for Siddhant Adlakha, who writes for IndieWire, "Its core aesthetic ideas are visible on the surface during its four-decade narrative, but they rarely cohere to conjure intrigue or dramatic rigor." Jack Walters of NBP admits the film is "heavy and challenging" but ultimately it's a "bold, engrossing historical epic." And many other critics are even more positive on the film. Writing for Time Out, John Bleasdale describes this "dazzling film" as a "tragedy of impossible decisions," and Ioncinema critic Nicholas Bell sees a "formidable, cohesive crystallization of a pure cinematic audacity." In his review for THR, Jordan Mintzer writes, "At once immense and intimate, political, historical and personal, it 's the kind of shoot-for-the-moon feature that rarely happens anymore, and certainly not like this."
80 Furies
Drama/Thriller | Lebanon/Brazil | dir. Rami Kodeih
Set in Beirut, Lebanon, Rami Kodeih's heist film, co-written with his wife Nora Mariana, is inspired by Lebanon's corruption-fueled economic crisis when banks denied ordinary people access to their savings. Maro (Rym Mroue), a single mother, tries to access her savings to pay for life-saving surgery for her younger sister, Dalia (Maria Nakouzi). When the bank refuses, Maro hatches a plan to steal her money back. For Screen Daily's Wendy Ide, the "off-the-scale chemistry between Nakouzi and Mroue is the glue which holds the crackling chaos together." At Time Out, Phil de Semlyen agrees that the "two leads are excellent," and Mia Pflüger of NBP finds the film "angry, funny, and incredibly tense." THR's Sheri Linden declares Kodeih a "masterful storyteller" and the film a "sharp fusion of personal desperation and political rage, as specific to Lebanon's economic crisis as it is generally, woefully recognizable."
78 Ink
Drama | UK/France/USA | dir. Danny Boyle
Opens in theaters on December 11 and streams on Netflix starting January 8
Danny Boyle (28 Years Later, Slumdog Millionaire, Trainspotting) directs James Grahams adaptation of his own play about Rupert Murdoch's 1969 acquisition of The Sun and his subsequent hiring of ruthless editor Larry Lamb. Jack O 'Connell stars as Lamb; Guy Pearce is Murdoch, and Claire Foy plays Jules Davies, a composite character and editor of the women's page. Donald Clarke of The Irish Times thinks Ink is "dirty, gripping, enraging stuff," and for NME's Matthew Turner, it's a "beautifully written and superbly directed origin story that's thought-provoking, thrilling and laugh-out-loud funny." Variety's Guy Lodge declares it "an irresistibly hooky tale of sex, murder and other very bad behavior, shot and cut with maximum flash and dazzle, set to a driving punk rhythm." And Vulture critic Bilge Ebiri believes it will "infuriate many, but it might also be a masterpiece."
77 A Long Winter
Drama | UK | dir. Andrew Haigh
The latest from writer-director Andrew Haigh (All of Us Strangers, Lean on Pete, 45 Years) is an adaptation of a 2006 story by Colm Tóibín. Haigh transports the action from 1930s Spain to 1950s Colorado, where he tells the story of family living on a remote farm. Ebon Moss-Bachrach plays Lester, the husband of Louise (Caitríona Balfe), an alcoholic, and father of two sons—Tommy (Kit Connor), who is leaving for military service, and the younger, more sensitive Mikey (Fred Hechinger). When Louise disappears and the long winter sets in, Lester hires Jimmy (D 'Pharaoh Woon-a-Tai) to help take care of his missing wife's responsibilities. The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw finds the drama "mysterious and beautiful," and THR critic David Rooney believes the film's "subdued intensity and aching sensitivity make it lingeringly affecting." At Screen Daily, Tim Grierson echoes those sentiments, "As with much of this quietly seismic film, Mike's inner transformation happens minutely, but it reverberates with unmistakable force."
77 Musk
Documentary | USA | dir. Alex Gibney
Opens in limited release on October 16 and expands wider on October 23; will also stream on HBO Max (date tbd)
The prolific, Oscar-winning documentarian Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side, Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie) directs this lengthy look at the life of the current richest man in the world. Opinions of the man vary widely, but most critics agree that this nearly four-hour film is another solid entry in Gibney's filmography. For THR's David Rooney, "Musk may not tell us a lot that's not already out there to some degree, but it collates a ton of information in a very persuasive package that will leave many audiences chilled to the bone." Vulture critic Bilge Ebiri finds it "absorbing and often infuriating," and James Mottram of Radio Times believes "the filmmaker paints a formidable portrait, showing just what it took Musk to become the wealthiest capitalist on the planet." In his review for Rolling Stone. David Fear writes, "Most portraits simply give you a sketch of the subject. This one gives you existential chills. It's designed to scare the living sh*t out of you."
77 My Undesirable Friends: Part II - Exile
Documentary | USA | dir. Julia Loktev and Anna Nemzer
Opens in theaters on October 9
Julia Loktev's follow-up to My Undesirable Friends: Part I - Last Air in Moscow, a portrait of young journalists in Moscow facing a harsh government crackdown, finds the journalists now scattered across the globe. They are struggling to survive and report from new countries as their homeland falls ever more deeply under Putin's control. Variety's Siddhant Adlakha finds it "just as riveting, if not more so" compared to the already massively acclaimed first film, claiming it's a "conversational epic that imbues each twist and turn with enormous stakes." THR critic Jordan Mintzer believes Loktev "creates an intimacy that goes beyond the international crises and political upheavals to focus on the human costs of an unending conflict." And for Savina Petkova of The Film Stage, the film "shows history in the making by documenting fragments of its peoples' lives, reflections, and struggles against the authoritarian state, but also exceeds the expectations of your regular observational documentary."
93 NAZA
Documentary | UK | dir. Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor
Will open in New York on September 30 (with more cities added on Oct. 9)
For their investigation into the brutal machinery behind Israel's attacks on Gaza, directors Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor received a Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival, while the Israeli government accused them of treason and threatened to revoke their citizenship (moves that have only served to create even more buzz for the film). The film's title comes from the acronym used by Israeli intelligence to refer to the number of citizens designated as collateral damage in an airstrike. The Israeli half of the filmmaking team behind the award-winning No Other Land, Abraham and Szor interview anonymous IDF sources who detail the systems used to target Palestinians. " NAZA is an anguishing testament to inhumanity," according to Deborah Young of The Film Verdict, "a shocker that leaves the audience speechless with dismay at the accumulation of horror and mass killing of civilians." THR's Jordan Mintzer sees a "brave and indispensable movie," and Vulture critic Bilge Ebiri believes this "starkly shot, damning documentary" is "impossible to shake." Writing for IndieWire, Siddhant Adlakha adds, "It's likely to shake you to your core — not because of what facts might be revealed (much of this information is already out there), but rather because of the stirring form in which they come to light."
82 Queer Edward II
Documentary | UK | dir. Theo Rollason
Theo Rollason's debut feature uses never-before-seen footage shot by Seamus McGarvey while Derek Jarman was making his 1991 film Edward II (for which Tilda Swinton was awarded Best Actress at the 1991 Venice Film Festival) to paint a portrait of the filmmaker and political activist. It's an "engrossing fly-on-the-wall documentary," according to The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw, and "an absorbing and affecting portrait of a dedicated artist at work." Writing for Screen Daily, Dave Calhoun believes this "entertaining and intimate documentary" offers a "privileged, fun view of the independent filmmaking process." Time Out critic Phil de Semlyen adds, "If you love a movie about the movies, this one is a gem."
85 Tender Loving Care
Comedy/Drama | UK | dir. Mike Leigh
Opens in theaters on December 4
What could be writer-director Mike Leigh's (Hard Truths, Secrets & Lies) final film is a portrait of caregiving in contemporary London. Rosie (Alice Bailey Johnson), a social worker, has offered her spare room to her best friend and fellow social worker Amy (Kate O'Flynn of Widow's Bay), who has just broken up with her boyfriend. Amy's parents (Marion Bailey and Paul Jesson) are having their own struggles, and both Rosie and Amy face their own challenges at work. For TheWrap's Steve Pond, it's a "gentle little gem, in no hurry to get anywhere – and if it does turn out to be Leigh's final film, as he has suggested, it will stand as a touching and apt sendoff to a movie-business unicorn." Nick Schager of The Daily Beast believes it's "as great as anything he's ever produced—a small-scale domestic drama that reverberates loudly, and urgently, as a celebration of everyday compassion and solidarity." And The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw feels the "decency and clarity of the film are a tonic." IndieWire critic David Ehrlich adds, "Said to be Mike Leigh's final film, the simple but profoundly affecting Tender Loving Care confronts the dominant theme of his career — the practice and value of communal support in the face of an unforgiving world — with the directness of a closing statement."
82 Too Much Sugar
Drama | USA | dir. Robert Greene
As he did in his last two films, Bisbee '17 and Procession, Robert Greene once again pushes the boundaries of documentary film with his latest, an omnibus film that is the result of his collaboration with Ryan "Holli-wood" Holliger, his best friend AccRite, and Holliger's family (he has six kids by five different women). For Variety critic Guy Lodge, it's a "scrappy, agitated, spikily entertaining study of an extended family with a whole community's worth of backstory, present-tense drama and diverging plans for the future." The Playlist's Rafa Sales Ross believes "Greene excels at conducting this fast-paced carousel of weighty questions. Even more impressively, he finely balances the gravity of his empirical study of human connection with small moments of great tenderness." Writing for IndieWire, Marshall Shaffer declares it "the director's most audacious attempt to rethink the interplay between reality and art." And Vulture critic Bilge Ebiri states, "The film slips in and out of reality, following a kind of dream logic that often disarms and disorients us. As a result, when the real emotional fireworks arrive — and they absolutely do arrive — we are left devastated."
79 Wild Horse Nine
Action/Comedy/Drama/Thriller | USA/Chile | dir. Martin McDonagh
Opens in theaters on November 6
John Malkovich took home the Volpi Cup for Best Actor from the Venice Film Festival for his role in writer-director Martin McDonagh's follow-up to The Banshees of Inisherin. Malkovich plays Chris, an aging CIA agent, who, along with his partner Lee (Sam Rockwell), spends time on Easter Island prior to the 1973 Chilean coup. Steve Buscemi plays their Santiago-stationed bureau chief, and Parker Posey, Tom Waits, Mariana di Girolamo and Ailín Salas round out the cast. For Ryan McQuade of AwardsWatch, it's "intelligent, superb filmmaking by all involved," and The Telegraph's Robbie Collin agrees, claiming WH9 is "downright wonderful, and Malkovich and Rockwell are irresistible in it." At The Film Verdict, Stephen Dalton finds this "consistently great, occasionally sublime" film "bounces along on big laughs and knockout performances, most notably from John Malkovich in a rare return to peak form." Writing for Radio Times, James Mottram praises the "fractious chemistry between the two leads" in an "untameable beast of a movie."
97 You Can See Everything
Documentary | USA | dir. Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim
Opens in theaters in October 16
The surprise Telluride premiere of Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim's nearly three-hour documentary about convicted Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes was the most talked-about event of the fall festival season. Holmes, a mother of two, and her partner, Billy Evans, heir to the Evans Hotel Group in San Diego, welcomed Fielder, Oppenheim and their crew into their lives 34 days before Holmes went to prison, but the documentary doesn't stop with her incarceration. (And if you don't want to spoil a major surprise in the film's second half, you may want to avoid reading too much about the film in advance, though it's safe to read the rest of this paragraph.) For Variety's Owen Gleiberman, " You Can See Everything is just about the furthest thing from a 'pure' documentary you've ever seen. That's part of its appeal — it's a one-of-a-kind reality-TV-as-hangout-movie psychodrama circus. Yet it's been made with a spirit of true inquiry." It's a "remarkable and at times brilliant piece of filmmaking," according to Gregory Ellwood of The Playlist, and at RogerEbert.com, Tomris Laffly declares it a "triumphant, riveting, and continually shape-shifting piece of creative non-fiction." THR's Angie Han adds, "What begins as a fascinatingly intimate portrait of a deluded or disingenuous scammer reveals as something even wilder, more ambitious and less predictable, until we're left to ponder what value a personal truth has at all."
83 Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother
Action/Drama/Thriller | USA | dir. Bassam Tariq
Opens in theaters on September 25
At one time, writer-director Bassam Tariq (Mogul Mowgli, These Birds Walk) and star Mahershala Ali were attached to Marvel's Blade reboot. While that film never left development, this story of a devoutly religious Houston hitman who struggles to protect his children after his wife dies, is now a Metacritic Must-See. For IGN's Siddhant Adlakha, it's a "lurid odyssey through modern America," and Giovanni Lago of NBP sees a "nail-biting drama that doubles as both a riveting action flick and a stirring tale of stepping up when it matters most." Vulture critic Alison Willmore finds the film "incredibly earnest about the power of religious belief while also being sly about the ways in which people can use it to rationalize what they already wanted to do." At THR, Jourdain Searles writes, "Family, religion and violence collide to create a blood-soaked portrait of America as a dying empire being overrun by grifters pretending to be men of God."
Other notable debuts (good but unexceptional)
73 All That She Wants
Rom-Com | USA/Canada | dir. Scarlett Bermingham and Andrew Rhymer
Annie Murphy and Cooper Raiff star in this romantic comedy from Schitt's Creek writer David West Read and directors Scarlett Bermingham and Andrew Rhymer (Plus One). According to IndieWire's Kate Erbland, Murphy makes "a strong play for bonafide Rom-Com Queen status" as Emma, a dancer who breaks up with her longtime boyfriend (Finn Wittrock) and finds a possible new love in Luke (Raiff). But there is a catch (there wouldn't be a film if there weren't). Tracking back and forth in time over several years and with a strong supporting cast, including Zosia Mamet as Emma's younger sister and Christine Baranski and Bill Irwin as her parents, All That She Wants is a "valentine to Murphy's comedy flair" and "animated by an ensemble spirit," writes Sheri Linden for THR. Gregory Ellwood of The Playlist believes "Murphy and Raiff have chemistry in spades," and in her review for Variety, Katie Walsh praises the script, "Read kicks this tale off with a meet-cute and an unconventional relationship, but finds authentic emotion and real social issues to power the characters' journeys forward."
74 Babies
Comedy/Drama | USA | dir. Lauren Miller Rogen
Acquired by Roadside Attractions and Vertical just prior to the start of TIFF (will open in theaters sometime in 2027)
Writer-director Lauren Miller Rogen (Like Father) pulls from personal experience for her new film starring Anna Kendrick and her husband, Seth Rogen, as Annie and Aaron, a couple debating whether to have kids or not. When Kate Berlant's Eliza divorces her husband Luke (Dan Stevens), she and her toddler daughter move in with Annie and Aaron. With another close friend couple (Issa Rae and Zach Cherry) about to have their third child, Annie and Aaron hope a crash course in parenting will help them decide what to do. In his review for The Playlist, Chase Hutchinson calls Babies a "joyously silly yet frequently moving and sincere dramedy," and IndieWire's Marya E. Gates believes "Kendrick and Rogen are a perfect fit of wry humor and witty one-liners." Similar praise comes from THR critic Michael Rechtshaffen, who believes Miller Rogen "taps into a reservoir of considerable relevance here, finding plenty of fertile comic ground in the subject matter but never at the expense of weightier questions surrounding life choices, human existence and the uncertain state of society."
68 Being Heumann
Drama | USA | dir. Sian Heder
Opens in theaters on November 6 and streams on Apple TV starting November 13
Siân Heder's follow-up to her Best Picture winner, CODA, is a portrait of disability rights activist Judy Heumann and the work she and her fellow protestors performed to demand action on Section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act. In adapting Heumann's memoir Being Heumann: The Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist, Heder and co-writer Rebekah Taussig focus on the 28-day occupation of a San Francisco federal building in 1977. Ruth Madeley stars as Heumann, and Mark Ruffalo and Dylan O'Brien have supporting roles in what The Film Maven's Kristen Lopez declares "an essential piece of disabled cinema" that is "both a vital and bittersweet example of a history that's been ignored for decades." Variety critic Owen Gleiberman believes Heder "takes pains to preserve, as emotion and drama, the radicalism of what the movie is about," and for IndieWire's Kate Erbland, "It's a film about tough choices and even tougher circumstances, but it's also about the tangible good that can come from people working together." David Rooney of THR adds, "Where it will be most illuminating is in opening the public's eyes to the basic human rights systematically denied people with disabilities before legal protections were put in place." Audiences seemed to enjoy the film, as Being Heumann finished third in voting for Toronto's People's Chocie Award.
73 Burgundy
Drama | France | dir. Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw
The new documentary from directors Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw (The Truffle Hunters, Gaucho Gaucho) takes viewers to the Bourgogne region of France where they spent two years following a young vineyard worker, the aspiring sommelière he falls for, a recently-divorced wine critic, a legendary maître d'hôtel, and a wealthy winemaker looking for an heir. Variety's Jessica Kiang admits "Dweck and Kershaw's craftsmanship is superb — they're at least as meticulous and detail-oriented as their proudly finicky subjects," but the result has "more fragrance than substance and even then, too quickly loses its bouquet." For IndieWire critic Ryan Lattanzio, it's "even more of a vibe movie than their previous efforts, an airy, featherweight but surprisingly sweet collection of moments." And THR's David Rooney believes the "doc gives the impression of being granted access to an exclusive milieu, though it's less about snobbery than artistry." Rory O'Connor of The Film Stage adds, " Burgundy is a film with characters and arcs, a love story, 8mm dream sequences, and shots so intricately blocked and composed that it can feel like an ad campaign for Burberry (complimentary)."
75 The Debut
Comedy/Drama/Musical | USA | dir. Jesse Eisenberg
Opens in limited release on December 11 (expands nationwide on December 25)
Writer-director-actor Jesse Eisenberg's follow-up to his award-winning A Real Pain stars Julianne Moore as Mona Friedman, a shy housewife who discovers the joy and pain of artistic expression in a community theater production directed by the domineering Jerry (Paul Giamatti). The superbly acted film was one of Telluride's buzziest premieres and a likely awards contender. "Lively throughout, The Debut ascends to new heights whenever Giamatti and Moore share the screen together," according to Angie Han of THR. For Vulture critic Bilge Ebiri, Moore's performance "reaches transcendent levels of hilarity" in a film that becomes a "fire-breathing encomium to the reality-altering power of acting." At AwardsWatch, Sophia Ciminello praises the "complex, titanic performance" by Moore who "frequently reminds audiences that when she doesn't have a safety net, she's one of the best actresses alive." And in the words of Gregory Ellwood at The Playlist, "The result feels completely original. A swing that actually knocks it out of the park."
63 The Echo Chamber
Drama | Italy/Belgium | dir. Andrea Pallaoro
Italian writer-director Andrea Pallaoro (Medeas, Hannah, Monica) is at the helm for this production of Bernardo Bertolucci's final script, a collaboration with Ilaria Bernardini and Ludovica Rampoldi which was in its second draft when Bertolucci died in 2018. This love story about addiction, care and dependence stars Luca Marinelli as Leo, a successful musician who begins a relationship with his physiotherapist, Anne (Alicia Vikander). Taking place solely in Leo's well-appointed apartment and moving back and forth through time as Leo returns from rehab and Anne is no longer with him, the film adds another character, Ava May, a singer played by Susan Sarandon. It's "immaculately filmed and emotionally precise," according to Time Out's Phil de Semlyen—at least until a late plot development—and Screen Daily critic Nikki Baughan agrees, " The Echo Chamber is a technically precise human drama which is almost entirely undone by its outre denouement." More positive is IndieWire's Ryan Lattanzio, who declares it a "mesmerizingly sad and sexy film," and Sheri Linden of THR, who believes the "potency and truthfulness of art permeate the drama as a kind of clarity, standing stronger than sexual passion against all the tangled webs of dependency."
62 Evil Genius
Comedy/Drama/Thriller | USA | dir. Courteney Cox
Courteney Cox returns to the director's chair (she previously helmed the poorly received 2014 dramedy Just Before I Go) for a darkly comedic retelling of the real-life "pizza bomber" incident in 2003 in which a Pennsylvania pizza delivery man participated (possibly against his will) in an overly complex bank robbery scheme and then died while wearing an explosive neck collar. Billed as a Coen brothers-esque dark comedy thriller and featuring a cast led by David Harbour, Tom McCarthy, and Patricia Arquette, Cox's film adapts a 2018 Netflix documentary series of the same name. Does it work? It depends on which critic you ask. Evil Genius is a "wildly devious, perfectly pitched black comedy," according to an appreciative Michael Rechtshaffen at THR, who adds that Cox "demonstrates a briskly assured feel for the quirky material." And NBP's J. Don Birnam thinks that it is the "outstanding cast," led by Arquette's "guttural performance," that makes the film a success. But Variety's Guy Lodge thinks that Cox assembles her film "with little formal style or finesse"; he also dismisses Arquette's performance as "offputting" and "stridently one-note." And almost every reviewer agrees that if you have already seen the miniseries, there's little reason to watch the film.
61 Faith
Drama/Fantasy/Thriller | UK | dir. Paul Andrew Williams
The new film from British writer-director Paul Andrew Williams (Dragonfly, Bull) stars Erin Doherty (Adolescence) as Gina, a single mother who meets James McAvoy's Michael at a trivia night at the local pub. As their relationship develops, Gina can't get ahold of who Michael really is. Williams' eventual reveal of Michael's true identity will not be spoiled here, but it did divide critics. For THR critic Leslie Felperin, the film "goes totally coo-coo for coco pops in the last act," and while Variety's Guy Lodge praises Doherty's "performance of bare, shattering desolation," he admits the film "demands of its audience a massive leap of, well, you know, but it will eventually find its followers." Two of those followers are Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian, who believes Doherty and McAvoy "both bring their A-game in this startling, involving movie," and Screen Daily critic Wendy Ide, who writes, "Paul Andrew Williams' wrenching, genre-fluid drama demonstrates once again that he's one of the best in the business when it comes to balancing the banal and mundane against the unsettling and uncanny."
66 A Good Little Soldier
Drama | France | dir. Stéphane Brizé
Director Stéphane Brizé and co-writers Coralie Amedeo and Olivier Gorce, were awarded Best Screenplay by the Venice jury for this look at the pressures felt by Carla (Alba Rohrwacher), a Human Resources executive under pressure from toxic employees and a demanding boss (Vincent Lindon). Following in the footsteps of his previous examinations of capitalism starring Lindon, The Measure of a Man, At War, and Another World, Brizé's latest is "tense, realistic and compellingly performed [...] but also a bit schematic and didactic," according to THR's Jordan Mintzer. Josh Parham of NBP believes "its portrait is alluring if also slight in its overall commentary," but Screen Daily critic Lee Marshall thinks the film is "anchored by Alba Rohrwacher's magnetic central performance" and "balances screw-tightening drama with a rich vein of comedy."
63 I Play Rocky
Drama | USA | dir. Peter Farrelly
Opens in theaters on November 6
With his latest, director Peter Farrelly uses his crowd-pleasing (and Oscar-winning) template for Green Book to tell the story of the making of Rocky. Written by Peter Gamble and starring Anthony Ippolito as Sylvester Stallone, the film is, in the words of THR's David Rooney, "visual karaoke, [and] anyone with a soft spot for Rocky will likely find themselves hit by a wave of warm nostalgia." Don't count The Daily Beast critic Nick Schager in the latter group; instead, he laments that I Play Rocky plays like a "corny pantomime, which reveals nothing, stumbles incessantly, and wholly pales in comparison to its iconic subject matter." Screen Daily's Robert Daniels likewise believes this "walking piece of pastiche" is "about as cheesy as a biopic can get." More positive is Therese Lacson of Collider, who declares it a "resounding success, one that captures that hopeful positivity and ingenuity that made Rocky the iconic movie it is," and Screen Rant's George Bate, who thinks it's "easily one of the year's best movies to date, and already among the best movies about movie-making of all time." The film seemed to play even better with Toronto audiences than it did with critics: I Play Rocky was the runner-up to La bola negra for the People's Choice Award.
73 The Liberation
Drama/Thriller | USA | dir. Guy Nattiv
Opens in theaters on January 8, 2027
The latest film from Guy Nattiv (Golda, Tatami) tells a story inspired by his own grandmother. Carrie Coon stars as Rita, a wife (to Coon 's real-life husband Tracy Letts) and working mother of two daughters (Odessa Young and Bella Ramsey), who is groomed into a cult by Ricki (Lily James). Set in the 1980s and bouncing between two timelines, the script by Nattiv and Noa Berman Herzberg tracks Rita's descent into Ricki's cult, as well as her daughters' later attempts to rescue her. For Kate Erbland of IndieWire, it's a "wrenching drama about grief and guilt," and THR's Angie Han believes it's a "heartbreaking and profound act of love, anchored by a trio of powerhouse performances in Coon, James, and Bella Ramsey." Writing for Variety, Tomris Laffly declares Liberation a "patient and graceful film that generously laments the pain of an unfulfilled woman." And NBP's Daniel Howat finds it "tremendously disturbing, yet endlessly compelling, largely thanks to Carrie Coon's breathtaking performance."
74 The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd
Drama/Thriller | USA | dir. Tim Blake Nelson
Actor Tim Blake Nelson (The Grey Zone) is back in the director's chair for this story of a convicted murderer (Scoot McNairy) and the woman (Amanda Seyfried) who begins to fall for him while teaching creative writing at the maximum security prison where he is an inmate. Nelson's script follows three distinct timelines (Missi Pyle, William Jackson Harper, Devyn A. Tyler and Grant Harvey also star) as it meditates on the complexity of crime and punishment. For Tim Grierson of Screen Daily, "Nelson's laudable thematic intentions are undercut by some familiar narrative trappings and questionable character motivations." But Variety critic Owen Gleiberman welcomes the film as a "gripping, wrenching, dark-as-midnight crime drama," and Rodrigo Perez of The Playlist finds it "brutal, bruising, psychologically rich, and deeply moving." Lastly, THR's David Rooney believes Shedd is a "fascinatingly dark and uncompromising film that reaffirms Nelson's standing as a vital force in American independent filmmaking for more than three decades."
76 Look Back
Drama | Japan | dir. Hirokazu Koreeda
After the disappointment of his Cannes film, Sheep in the Box, Hirokazu Kore-eda found himself back in the good graces of most critics with this live-action adaptation of Tatsuki Fujimoto 's popular one-shot manga. Already translated to an anime film in 2024 by Kiyotaka Oshiyama, it's not among Kore-eda's best work (Shoplifters, After the Storm, Still Walking, After Life, Maborosi) according to the majority of critics, but this story of two young manga artists who meet and grow together and apart "reminds us why he 's one of modern cinema's great humanists," according to Vulture's Bilge Ebiri. For THR critic David Rooney, the film's "lingering poignancy is undeniable," and IndieWire's David Ehrlich thinks "Kore-eda endows his Look Back with a temporal vertigo all its own." Finally, Rory O'Connor of The Film Stage believes it should go "immediately into the upper tier of the director's filmography."
67 Magazine
Drama | USA | dir. Alexandra Pechman
Writer-director Alexandra Pechman's debut feature stars Lily McInerny (Palm Trees and Power Lines, Bonjour Tristesse) as Nora Miller, an intern at the fictional literary magazine Platen. Set in 2011, Pechman's coming-of-age tale uses her personal experience to explore the relationships Nora has with her boss (Jake Lacy), the editing staff (Delaney Rowe and Joshuah Melnick) and the other interns (Lukita Maxwell, Daniel Zolghadri, Ruby Cruz). "For an opening feature calling card, Magazine is a pretty intriguing starting point," states Gregory Ellwood at The Playlist. A similarly positive Angie Han (THR) believes Pechman has a "subtle but razor-sharp sense of observation." And Christopher Schobert of The Film Stage says of Pechman, "She wrote what she knew; the result is a fresh, vibrant, absolutely wonderful film."
68 Misty Green
Comedy/Drama | USA | dir. Chris Rock
Opens in theaters on October 9
British actor Rosalind Eleazar, best known for her work in Slow Horses, stars in this new film from writer-director-actor Chris Rock, his first at the helm since 2014's Top Five. She plays the award-winning actress of the title, whom we find on the downside of her career, struggling to get roles, pay off her debts, and take care off her brother (Daniel Kaluuya). Anna Kendrick plays her best friend, Topher Grace is her exasperated agent, Adam Driver appears as a rich, sleazy hustler, and Rock plays a director with a part that might revive her career. For Giovanni Lago of NBP, the film is "never as insightful, scathing, or sharp as it wants to be," and at The Daily Beast, Nick Schager admits this "character study/industry satire is a sporadically scattershot venture," but it does prove to be a "breakout showcase for Rosalind Eleazar." THR's David Rooney agrees, "Eleazar keeps us firmly in Misty's corner in a bold performance that simultaneously pushes the audience away while pulling us in." And Variety critic Owen Gleiberman declares it an "explosively entertaining, savagely authentic drama about life in the Hollywood of today."
71 Onwards and Sideways
Drama/Comedy | UK | dir. John Madden
Laura Linney and Rhys Ifans star as Emma and Tony, two strangers who get to know each other after they are both diagnosed with Parkinson's and given a prognosis of "five good years." The dramedy, directed by John Madden (Shakespeare in Love) from a script by Paul Mayhew-Archer (who has been living with Parkinson 's since 2011), follows their evolving friendship as Tony tries to the deny the illness and Emma boldly attacks it. "Defying the odds, Onwards and Sideways emerges as a stirring lesson on learning to address the inevitable with grace and acceptance," according to Michael Rechtshaffen of THR. For NBP critic Dan Bayer, the film's "mixture of darkness and light feels just right." And in his positive review for Screen Daily, Robert Daniels declares it "poignant and irreverent." At TheWrap, Matthew Creith finds it "surprisingly charming, funny, heartfelt and overall tender despite its challenging premise."
67 Primetime
Drama | USA | dir. Lance Oppenheim
Opens in theaters on September 25
Director Lance Oppenheim moves from documentary (Some Kind of Heaven, Spermworld) to narrative filmmaking with this look at reality TV sensation To Catch a Predator. (He is not completely done with documentary, however; he also co-directed the previously mentioned You Can See Everything.) Last year, the TV show was the subject of David Osit's documentary Predators, a Metacritic Must-See. Oppenheim's film focuses on the show's host, Chris Hansen, played by Robert Pattinson, and his thirst to turn his show into a primetime success. The strong supporting cast includes Merritt Wever, Skyler Gisondo, Anna Faris, Phoebe Bridgers, and Bokeem Woodbine. Luke Hicks of The Film Stage believes "Robert Pattinson was born to play Chris Hansen," and the "ensemble cast is nearly flawless." IndieWire critic Ryan Lattanzio makes it clear that "this isn't a documentary trying to capture reality. It's a movie — garishly monstrous, grotesque, and compulsively entertaining. Just like a certain 'documentary' TV show." For Vulture's Bilge Eberi, the film is a "stunning demonstration of [Pattinson's] range, and watching the film you can't imagine any other performer of his generation pulling it off."
70 River
Drama/Horror | USA | dir. Joshua Giuliano
Acquired by Universal at TIFF for at least $10 million (release date tbd)
The subject of a bidding war at TIFF, where demand prompted original distributor IFC to sell it to a bigger studio, writer-director Joshua Giuliano's debut feature stars Jane Levy, Jessica Rothe, and Max Mattern as siblings who take their family motorboat out to scatter their father's ashes. When the motor dies and a masked man appears on the shoreline, the family outing turns into a struggle for survival. Writing for The Playlist, Zachary Lee declares it a "rip-roaring slasher that morphs and shifts before your eyes into something bold, original, and relentlessly engaging." For Nick Schager of The Daily Beast, River "elevates a tried-and-true formula through clever artistry," and IndieWire's Jourdain Searles believes "Giuliano delivers a classic, visceral horror experience." At TheWrap, Chase Hutchinson praises this "delightful horror gem" for letting "everything rip once all the cards are on the table."
73 The Spiral (L'estranea)
Horror/Thriller | Italy/France/Belgium | dir. Paolo Strippoli
Directed by Paolo Strippoli (The Holy Boy), this psychological horror-thriller begins on a stormy night in Rome, where Anna (Jasmine Trinca) shows up at her daughter Alice's apartment to confess that when Alice was young, she made a Faustian bargain with a mysterious stranger (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi). Over four chapters (The Daughter, The Son, The Father, and The Mother) and an epilogue, Strippoli "crafts a true popcorn flick with twists and turns that keep audiences guessing," according to Ema Sasic of NBP. For Variety critic Guy Lodge, it "doesn't add up to an awful lot, but the sum of its parts is flashily entertaining enough." And C.J. Prince of The Film Stage finds it "stylish and silly, with two excellent performances that play against each other perfectly to deliver an entertaining romp." Ioncinema's Nicholas Bell adds, "As far as elegantly stylized horror films go, Strippoli hits a home run with a rueful and devilish metaphorical homily."
65 Stuffed
Horror/Rom-Com/Musical | UK | dir. Theo Rhys
Director Theo Rhys' unusual debut feature is a musical starring Jodie Comer as Araminta, a taxidermist who dreams of stuffing a human being. Harry Melling plays Bernie, a sandwich factory worker who answers Araminta's advertisement in the local paper. Co-written with Joss Holden-Rea, Rhys' genre-blending expansion of his 2021 short didn't work for THR's Richard Lawson, who claims it's a "a discouraging slog, a mess of cheap shocks and painful lyrics." But other critics were impressed. "Stuffed creates its own world and lives in it, confidently and comfortably," according to Collider's Joe Schmidt. Screen Daily critic Nikki Baughan sees a "bold, bracing debut [...] which confidently navigates its hybrid tones – musical, romance, comedy, tragedy, horror." In Variety, critic Guy Lodge's assessment focuses on the performances: "A high-wire high-concept piece like this stands or falls by the conviction that the actors bring to it, and Comer plays it from the gut. So, for that matter, does Harry Melling."
67 A Talent For Murder
Drama/Thriller | UK/Italy | dir. Anton Corbijn
Opens in theaters on October 23
Anton Corbijn (Control, The American, A Most Wanted Man) directs this psychological thriller from a script by Joanna Murray-Smith, who expands her two-person play, Switzerland. It's 1995, and Edward (Alden Ehrenreich), a literary agent from New York, is sent to Switzerland to convince Patricia Highsmith (Helen Mirren) to write one last Ripley story. As Edward and Highsmith spar, Olivia Cooke enters the story as Edward's love interest and possible victim in a film within the film. "Helen Mirren brings a snippy panache to her portrayal of the misanthropic novelist, but the film's excessive cleverness ultimately proves tiring rather than page-turning," according to Tim Grierson of Screen Daily. For NBP's Dan Bayer, "Mirren bulldozes her way through the movie, flattening everything that comes across her path except for Ehrenreich, with whom she shares a crackling chemistry." Nick Schager of The Daily Beast also praises Mirren's performance as the "acrimonious engine that powers this clever game of cat and mouse," and THR critic Caryn James believes it "looks sumptuous and proceeds at an absorbing slow-burn pace."
64 Tenzing
Drama/Adventure/Thriller | USA/Australia | dir. Jennifer Peedom
Opens in theaters on October 9 and streams on Apple TV starting October 16
With a script written by Luke Davies (Lion), director Jennifer Peedom (Sherpa, Mountain, River) makes the jump to narrative filmmaking with this biopic of Tenzing Norgay, the sherpa, who joined Edmund Hillary (Tom Hiddleston), to become the first men to summit Chomolungma (the Tibetan word for Mount Everest). THR's Angie Han finds it "plenty likable, but also plenty forgettable," and George Bate of Screen Rant thinks it's "competently made, well-acted, and beautifully shot, yet something is certainly missing." More positive is Matt Neglia of NBP, who believes this "stirring historical corrective gives Tenzing the perspective, pride, and cinematic scale he deserves."
67 Trash Mountain
Comedy/Drama | USA | dir. Kris Rey
Caleb Hearon (who also co-wrote the screenplay) and Zooey Deschanel play siblings who reunite in thier childhood home in rural Missouri to deal with their hoarder father's many, many belongings after his death in this dramedy that also stars Jackie Weaver and Jaboukie Young-White. The latest feature from actress/director Kris Rey (I Used to Go Here) is "an indie-by-numbers not without its charms," writes Benjamin Lee in The Guardian. For Collider's Joe Schmidt, those charms include a "whip-smart script about grief, family, expectations, community, and so much more." At THR, Jourdain Searles has praise for the two leads and calls the "emotionally rather than narratively ambitious" film "a welcome return for a director whose warm, understated work has often been overlooked." The script—and its "smart, realistic, and at least giggle-inducing dialogue"—is the star for Gregory Ellwood in a mixed review at The Playlist, and he is the only critic who doesn't seem to enjoy Hearon's performance.
The disappointments
59 Alpha Gang
Sci-Fi/Comedy | USA | dir. David Zellner and Nathan Zellner
Brothers David and Nathan Zellner (Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter, Damsel, Sasquatch Sunset) are behind this sci-fi comedy about a squad of aliens who have landed on earth only to be exposed to the most human of diseases: emotions. Alphas 1 thru 6 are played by Léa Seydoux, Dave Bautista, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Lily-Rose Depp, Bae Doona, and Riley Keough. Chris Pine and Cate Blanchett join the fun as well. For THR's Angie Han the film is a "mood board in search of a story," while it's a "mixed bag" for Will Mavity of NBP. Getting on the film's wacky wavelength are IndieWire's Curtly Kelly, who sees a "sci-fi comedy that lets loose and leans into its flaws in the service of having a good time," and Rodrigo Perez of The Playlist, who finds it "loopy, outlandish, occasionally nonsensical, and completely committed to its own peculiar wavelength."
47 Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo
Drama/Thriller | USA/Japan | dir. Takashi Miike
Will be released in theaters by Neon (date tbd)
The prolific Takeshi Miike directs this third film in the unlikeliest of franchises, following Abel Ferrara's Bad Lieutenant and Werner Herzog's Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans. Reuniting with his Audition and 13 Assassins screenwriter Daisuke Tengan, Miike takes the mayhem to Tokyo, where a disgraced detective (Shun Oguri) and an FBI agent (Lily James) investigate grisly murders and try to find the missing daughter of an American politician. "More often than not Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo is a confounding and frustrating mess, a smorgasbord of good ideas (and some bad ones) at odds with each other, barely held together by Shun Oguri 's wily performance," writes Radheyan Simonpillal for The Guardian. In his review for The Playlist, Chase Hutchinson notes that "Miike brings a certain go-for-broke, gonzo style to the film that makes it hard to dismiss," but IndieWire's Katie Rife believes the result is a "cross-cultural mashup that just doesn't come together like it should." Nick Schager of The Daily Beast is the most positive, declaring it an "amusingly outrageous and gory film noir about a ne'er-do-well up to his neck in nastiness."
54 The Basics of Philosophy
Drama | USA | dir. Paul Schrader
Following in the footsteps of the tortured men in Paul Schrader's previous four films (First Reformed, The Card Counter, Master Gardener, Oh, Canada) is Jack Huston's John Jorissen, a philosophy professor at a small liberal arts college, whose past wrongs come back to haunt him. Sofia Boutella, Bill Pullman, Daniel Zovatto, and Karl Glusman lend support in a feature that "plays as a Schrader pastiche," according to Rafa Sales Ross of The Playlist. Writing for The Film Stage, Leonard Goi echoes those sentiments, "Anyone familiar with the director's motifs will find plenty of echoes here, and may relish connecting the old with the new. New, not fresh, for a kind of staleness hangs over it." IndieWire critic Ryan Lattanzio sees something "flawed, but restlessly fascinating, and a movie to which some will say, '…Welcome back?' And others, 'Get gone.'" On the positive side, The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw believes "Schrader takes us to an elegant, indirectly macabre finale; this is a very disquieting portrait."
60 Bucking Fastard
Drama | USA | dir. Werner Herzog
After being inspired by the story of identical English twins Freda and Greta Chaplin, Werner Herzog directs real-life (but not identical) sisters Kate Mara and Rooney Mara as Jean and Joan Holbrooke, sisters who speak in unison, dress identically, and love the same man, a lout played by Orlando Bloom. Like the Chaplin sisters in the 1980s, the Holbrookes have a restraining order filed against them, but that is where the similarities between the sisters ends, as Herzog takes the story into less realistic terrain. While not "among the German eccentric's best films," according to Donald Clarke of The Irish Times, "it is stuffed with diverting vignettes that reveal his imagination is as creatively offbeat as ever." For Leonard Goi of The Film Stage, it's an "unwieldy, singular oddity to behold, but also a work animated by childlike wonder for its strange subjects and the strange world around them." Variety's Jessica Kiang finds it "occasionally sublime, often ridiculous and always extravagantly weird [...] a film of multiple personalities that only rarely speak in unison." And IndieWire critic Ryan Lattanzio suspects that "Herzog's wryly funny, touchingly eccentric, and uncompromisingly batshit feature — wait, aren't they all like that? — will enchant and dismay in likely equivalent proportions."
52 Bunker
Drama/Thriller | France/Spain | dir. Florian Zeller
French playwright Florian Zeller made a splash with his debut feature, 2020's The Father, earning six Oscar nominations and winning two (Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Actor for Anthony Hopkins). His follow-up, The Son, was not as kindly received, much like his latest, a dramatic thriller starring Javier Bardem as a successful architect who is trying to build a new life in London with his wife, played by Bardem's actual wife, Penélope Cruz. When Bardem's Miguel accepts an offer to build a survivalist bunker for a tech billionaire (Paul Dano in a highly-praised cameo), his marriage begins to crumble. For Vulture critic Bilge Ebiri, it's a "crushing disappointment," a "cliché-riddled bit of tedium" and "a shallow study of class posing as a jagged domestic drama." The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw finds Zeller's first screen adaptation of someone else's play to be "shallow and unsatisfying," and Nicholas Bell of Ioncinema believes it's a "film which bungles any elegant rumination on its subtexts by both talking too much but saying too little." Writing for Radio Times, James Mottram adds, "Veering between satire and psychological thriller, Bunker doesn 't really satisfy in either arena."
46 Closing Night
Drama | Australia/Canada | dir. Cody Fern
The feature directorial debut for actor Cody Fern (American Horror Story) focuses on simmering family conflicts as a movie star (Sarah Paulson) invites her estranged family to the opening night of her new Broadway play. Naomi Watts, Toby Wallace, Dianne Wiest, and Odessa A'zion also star. But while that cast is strong, the film (which Fern also co-wrote) is less so—to the point where it is a flat-out "misfired melodrama" according to IndieWire's Kate Erbland. (Note that some critics find Closing Night to be as much a comedy as a melodrama, though some can't decide if the comedy is intentional.) Collider's Therese Lacson laments that "Fern never fully grasps onto that potential" of pairing Paulson and Watts on screen (instead "separating the two characters for a large chunk of the film"), while The Guardian critic Benjamin Lee similarly feels that the film betrays its stars, warning, "While the women all bring their A-game, the film isn't even close to their level, like inviting three Olympian sprinters to run laps around a gravel pit." Similar sentiments come from THR's David Rooney, who warns of "the filmmaker's aim exceeding his reach" and concludes, "No matter how accomplished the cast, the self-conscious movie only really starts half-working once it gets out of its own way." But Next Best Picture's Jason Gorber is among the film's fans, praising Fern's ability "to coax such genuine performances from his accomplished cast in a way that is perfectly attenuated and blended."
44 Company
Comedy/Drama/Thriller | Canada/USA | dir. Casey Affleck
Casey Affleck is back behind the camera for the first time since 2019's Light of My Life, but critics weren't quite as kind to this nesting-doll story co-written with Ron Hansen (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford). It begins in 1975, when a mysterious, uninvited woman interrupts a holiday gathering to tell a story. This leads to several more stories and a twist that won't be spoiled here. The impressive cast includes Nick Nolte, Ben Mendelsohn, Scoot McNairy, Adelaide Clemens, Caylee Cowan, Emily Lind, and Affleck's sons, Atticus and Indiana. The Guardian's Xan Brooks believes there's "much to relish [...] even if many of its elements feel like off-the-peg eccentricities; a little too laundered and self-consciously strange." At THR, Richard Lawson agrees Company is "by no means a total wash; it's nice to look at and eventually (though, it's a long wait) the plot does take on a compelling momentum." And for Variety's Guy Lodge it's a "perversely ponderous exercise in hide-the-genre that takes more than an hour to reveal what its game really is." Vulture critic Bilge Ebiri adds, "Beautiful and inert, Company may be the most frustrating film I've seen at Venice this year."
58 Everybody Wants to Fuck Me
Comedy/Thriller | UK/France | dir. Jonathan Schey
Writer-director Jonathan Schey's debut feature stars Taron Egerton as Adam, a "nice guy" who uses his practiced patter and virtue-signaling props—a poster of Cléo from 5 to 7, a MUBI tote bag, books by Ottessa Moshfegh—to help him bed the young women of London. His comeuppance arrives when he meets Sofia (Jessica Henwick). He wakes up after their rather strange date to discover that, as the title suggests, he is irresistible to every woman in his vicinity. Opinions differ on the success of the film as a whole, but not on Egerton, who is the "beating, energetic heart of this film," according to NBP reviewer Nadia Dalimonte. TheWrap's Zachary Lee agrees that Egerton delivers "if not one of his best performances, his most eclectic one," and at Screen Daily, Robert Daniels agrees that Egerton's "fully committed turn" helps "boost this London-set debut through its less successful moments." For IndieWire critic David Ehrlich, "much like its manwhore protagonist, Schey's debut feature is — for all of its postmodern fun — ultimately a lot more base and basic than it presents on the surface." Positive on the film are Christopher Schobert of The Film Stage, who finds it "compulsively watchable and tremendously well-acted" even during "its most obvious, eye-rolling moments," and Collider's Tania Hussain, who thinks it "might be one of the year 's wildest horror-comedies with delicious twists, but it 's the performances that keep it from ever feeling empty."
23 Girl Group
Comedy | UK | dir. Rebel Wilson
Rebel Wilson pulls triple duty as co-writer, director, and star of this comedy about a one-time pop star whose solo career has nosedived. Following a DUI, she must perform community service—which she does by reluctantly mentoring a group of teen girls hoping to make it big in the music world. But don't expect the second coming of Girls5Eva —in fact, TheWrap's Matthew Creith takes pains to point out that "that series is hilarious and this movie is downright underwhelming." Variety's Natalia Winkelman opts for a different comparison but a similar conclusion, calling Girl Group "a fizzy, gaudy clone of 'Pitch Perfect'" that ultimately "spirals into an interminable sequence of pop music performances." And those may have been the film's most positive reviews. The Playlist's Gregory Ellwood calls out Wilson's "haphazard approach" and a film that "feels dumbed down to the lowest common denominator." And THR critic David Rooney so dislikes the film that he begins to wonder, "Was Spice World really that bad?" He also calls the "cheap-looking movie so tacky and synthetic [...] that nothing seems genuine," while The Guardian's Benjamin Lee similarly finds the film "lit and shot like a pharmaceutical commercial." Review scores may have been even worse but for the fact that most critics found the young cast members talented and endearing.
52 Hombre al agua
Comedy/Drama | Mexico | dir. Gael García Bernal
Gael García Bernal's third directorial effort, co-written with Mariano Pensotti, tells the story of Camilo (García Bernal), a Cuban lifeguard who saves Abel, a Mexican billionaire, from drowning. Abel rewards Camilo by bringing him to Mexico, where he marries Abel's daughter (Esmeralda Pimentel). But in this new world, Camillo begins to sense how little control he has over his own life. For The Playlist's Rafa Sales Ross, this "drama slash thriller slash comedy slash satire slash social critique has far too many slashes, caught in a web of its own making and slowly withering in its entrapment." Other critics seem to agree. Tim Grierson of Screen Daily sees an "enticing but ultimately disjointed study of class and spiritual dislocation," and THR critic Jordan Mintzer believes "tighter scripting and less mayhem" would help what "feels like a rudderless midlife crisis scenario that never finds a strong throughline." On the positive side, TheWrap's Steve Pond thinks Hombre is "Garcia Bernal's most assured film" in which "he has taken the craziness and danger of modern life and whipped up some messy good fun."
58 The Housewife
Drama/Thriller | USA | dir. Benjamin Shirinian
Director Ben Shirinian's debut feature is based on the true story of Hermine Braunsteiner Ryan (Naomi Watts), a Nazi war criminal who was discovered in 1964 by Joseph Lelyveld (Tye Sheridan), a New York Times reporter, while she was living a quiet life in Queens with her American husband (Luke Evans). Scripted by Alyssa Hill and also featuring Michael Imperioli, it's a film that benefits greatly from Watts, "who fearlessly digs deep and comes up with some of the best work of her career," according to THR critic Michael Rechtshaffen. Beandrea July of IndieWire agrees that "Watts is undoubtedly the best part of the film," but warns that the "actors and filmmaking around her often seem incapable of the same subtlety." The Guardian's Benjamin Lee adds, "While some scenes flirt with the idea of something juicier, this is a stuffy and stodgy slab of self-serious, old-school Oscar bait complete with all the shouting, crying, throwing and finger-pointing one would expect. Think overcooked rather than slow simmer."
62 The Idiot(s)
Drama | Poland/Germany | dir. Malgorzata Szumowska and Michal Englert
Aimee Lou Wood and Johnny Flynn star as Anna and Fyodor Dostoevsky in this fictionalized (and far-from straightforward) adaptation of Andrew D. Kaufman's literary biography The Gambler Wife by Polish filmmakers Malgorzata Szumowska and Michal Englert. Focusing on Anna's efforts to support and motivate her gambling-addicted husband as he struggles to write his next novel, The Idiot, in the late 1860s, and filled with dream sequences and, oddly, a recurring A-ha hit song, the film is a "shrewd, playful" affair—even if it "ultimately overstays its welcome"—according to THR critic Angie Han. If that sounds like a bit of a mixed review, well, it wasn't the only one. Screen Daily's Tim Grierson sees an "ambitious, eccentric drama" whose "irreverent sense of humour and wild tonal shifts [...] cannot fully enliven what is, ultimately, a familiar tale of love and complicated genius." And The Playlist's Gregory Ellwood complains of an overstuffed film almost—but not quite—redeemed by its cast: "It's a big swing, and there's Wood, but it's simply not enough." But Variety's Carlos Aguilar has more patience for an "enjoyably off-kilter dramedy then further ingratiates itself with viewers bored of traditionalist hagiographies, because it also functions as a biting exercise in separating the art from the artist."
54 It Will Happen Tonight (Succederà questa notte)
Drama/Rom-Com | Italy/France/Spain | dir. Nanni Moretti
Nanni Moretti won the Palme d'Or in 2001 for The Son's Room. The latest from the 73-year-old director stars Louis Garrel and Jasmine Trinca in a love story that spans almost 20 years. Based on stories from Israeli writer Eshkol Nevo's collection Hungry Heart, the film is a "mostly charming romantic melodrama that, at times, plays like a TV soap with much better production values," writes Lee Marshall of Screen Daily. For Ioncinema's Nicholas Bell, "Much of this narrative plays like rosy-tinted claptrap from a bygone era." And NBP critic Josh Parham believes, "One can appreciate its willingness to see how love can manifest in strange places, but a satisfying narrative to watch is elusive here." Positive on the film is Deborah Young of The Film Verdict, who appreciates this "pleasant comedy," and that "Moretti keeps things tight and the action is full of surprises."
16 The Last Photograph
Action/Drama/Thriller | USA | dir. Zack Snyder
Zack Snyder has never received a green Metascore for a film he has directed. His debut, Dawn of the Dead, came closest with a 59, but Snyder's army stands behind him. But his newest film is only for the fully devoted—assuming that anyone ever gets a chance to see it. Written by Snyder and Kurt Johnstad, The Last Photograph follows a retired DEA agent (Stuart Martin) on a mission of rescue and revenge in South America. He is joined by drug-addicted photographer played by Fra Fee. For Ankit Jhunjhunwala of The Playlist, "Snyder's talent for image-making is on display, as is his storytelling ineptitude. The Last Photograph is dead on arrival; it just doesn't play." Even less kind are Screen Rant's Josh Bate, who thinks it's "not merely Snyder at his most self-serious – it is Snyder at his least interesting," and THR critic Michael Rechtshaffen, who labels it a "leaden misfire." NBP's Giovanni Lago adds, " The Last Photograph is a full-blown disaster, with Snyder tapping into all his worst traits as an artist and operating on a cataclysmic level that reaffirms why the film doesn't have distributors lining up to buy it."
60 Love of Your Life
Drama | USA | dir. Rachel Morrison
Opens in theaters on October 7 and streams on Prime Video starting Octboer 14
Oscar-nominated cinematographer (Mudbound) turned director (The Fire Inside) Rachel Morrison is at the helm of this romantic drama written by Julia Cox (Nyad) and starring Margaret Qualley as Maya, an ER nurse who struggles to deal with the grief of losing her husband (Gabriel Basso). Supporting players include Patrick Schwarzenegger as her best friend, Catherine Keener as her mother-in-law, and Aaron Pierre as a potential love interest. For Collider's Tania Hussain, what makes the film work "is its cast, led by a very restrained and pointed performance from Qualley." But THR critic Jourdain Searles believes the film and Qualley lose their grip as they go along, "We know Maya is running away from her problems, and the film goes right along with her, parting from reality and any emotional resonance it had before." More positive is Benjamin Lee of The Guardian, who sees a film that "soothes rather than soars," and NBP's J. Don Birnam, who admits the film is "sentimental" but also believes it to be "deeply felt and profoundly insightful, honestly performed and, in its critical moments, genuinely moving."
49 Prima Facie
Drama | Australia/UK | dir. Susanna White
Adapted from Suzie Miller's multi-award-winning one-woman play about a defense attorney who specializes in representing men charged with sexual assault who suddenly finds herself struggling with the legal system as she becomes both a victim and accusor, this drama from Susanna White (Nanny McPhee Returns) finds Cynthia Erivo taking over the role that won Tony and Olivier awards for Jodie Comer. (And, yes, there have been additional characters added to the film so Erivo isn't alone for two hours.) Erivo is great, but critics think that the story lacks dramatic power in cinematic form, at least as directed by White. Vulture's Alison Willmore cautions that the director is "not an inherently inventive filmmaker," and that White and her star "run up against the limitations of the material, which ultimately treats Tessa not as a person but as a vehicle for certain themes." Similarly, IndieWire critic Beandrea July warns, "By retaining too much of the play's rhetorical architecture, the film turns a provocative dramatic premise into something closer to an illustrated thesis." And Screen's Robert Daniels sees a "flat message picture [...] stymied by on-the-nose creative choices and writerly missteps." But at AwardsWatch, Daniel Bayer concludes, "Despite the film's generic stylings, Cynthia Erivo's shattering performance shines through, offering a vital light to survivors of assault everywhere."
60 The Stunt Driver
Drama/Comedy | Canada | dir. Michael Dowse
Writer-director Michael Dowse reunites with Goon's Jay Baruchel for this biopic about Canadian stuntman Ken Carter. Using Robert Fortier's 1981 documentary The Devil At Your Heels as a jumping off point, Dowse focuses on Carter's dream to jump a mile-wide expanse of the St. Lawrence River in a rocket-powered Lincoln Continental. Supporting Baruchel as Carter are Ed Helms as his engineer, Ben Foster as his rival Evel Knievel, and Laurence Leboeuf as his wife Gloria. Writing for Variety, Vadim Rizov finds the film "slow going, and less enjoyable than the funnier, springier documentary it takes great pains to expand on." THR's Michael Rechtshaffen declares Baruchel "admirably in the zone" and Foster "equally terrific," but believes the film as whole doesn't work. More positive is Monica Castillo of The AV Club, who thinks it's "Baruchel 's surprising performance that sells the misfit macho act," and TheWrap's Matthew Creith, who declares it a "hilarious, true-to-life story about heroics and self-importance in the face of lifelong goals."
