It’s a great time to be at the movies.
Every fall brings its crop of new movies from around the world — comedies, dramas, documentaries, and more uncategorizable films that capture what it is to live in this historical moment. Audiences around the world get to see them at festivals first, whether they’re big buzzy international fests or smaller regional events.
Many of those films start their journey in early fall at festivals in Venice, Toronto, Telluride, and New York, and they’re worth keeping tabs on as they roll out across the country. So here are the best movies we’ve seen at this year’s fall fests, and why you might want to see them, too.About Dry Grasses
In a remote village in the Eastern Anatolian steppes, Samet (Deni̇z Celi̇loğlu) teaches art to schoolchildren, pursues a girlfriend and a transfer to a better locale, and is shocked to find that he and his fellow teacher Kenan (Musab Eki̇ci̇) are the target of accusations from several girls in their classes. The story unfolds over a languid but engrossing 197 minutes, with the eminent director Nuri Bilge Ceylan exploring Samet’s misery and unlikeability with a wry and even generous eye. It’s a gorgeous film, in Ceylan’s typical naturalistic style, and one that follows the novelistic impulse, complete with a self-absorbed antihero at its center.
How to watch it: About Dry Grasses is awaiting a US release date.All of Us Strangers
Adam (Andrew Scott), a writer, lives alone in a high-rise on the outskirts of London. The building seems unoccupied except for Harry (Paul Mescal), who he sees one day from the window. Two strangers alone in a building: How could they not strike up a relationship? But Andrew Haigh’s All of Us Strangers keeps veering away into the unexpected, weaving a story that feels deeply personal. How do we live with wondering what our parents think, or would think, about us if they really knew us? What does it really mean to open up to someone else? Emotional and lyrical, All of Us Strangers is a meditation on what it means to really be a human.
How to watch it: All of Us Strangers is playing in select theaters.American Fiction
At once broadly comedic and bitingly barbed, American Fiction is the story of Thelonious “Monk” Ellison (an outstanding Jeffrey Wright), a writer and malcontent who unwillingly finds himself back in his East Coast hometown. There he is confronted with the family turmoil he tries to avoid, heightened by growing irritation with the expectations he feels from the literary establishment about what “Black literature” ought to be. It’s an extremely funny movie that lands some sharp blows, and a stellar feature debut from seasoned TV writer Cord Jefferson (Succession, The Good Place, Watchmen, Master of None).
How to watch it: American Fiction will be released by MGM in limited theaters on December 15 and wide on December 22. Anatomy of a Fall
Justine Triet’s courtroom drama (which won the Palme d’Or at its Cannes premiere in May) stars the great Sandra Huller as a writer whose son discovers his father lying on the ground outside their chalet near Grenoble with blood seeping from a head wound. What happened here? That’s the question, and the film slowly peels apart its layers, exploring how truths and facts become fictions in the retellings, whether they’re told in a courtroom or in a novel. Nothing is as objective and straightforward as our enlightened modern legal systems like to pretend, and our cultural prejudices about gender, emotion, and memory are all part of the story we tell. Anatomy of a Fall turns that fact into a scintillating, provocative thriller.
How to watch it: Anatomy of a Fall will be released by Neon on October 13.Days of Happiness
It’s unfortunate that Chloé Robichaud’s drama about a young conductor on the cusp of stardom (Sophie Desmarais) probably won’t escape the shadow of Tár, because it’s a strong and self-assured film on its own merits. Desmarais turns in a compelling performance as Emma, who’s desperate to take the next step in her career but is held back by her agent, who also happens to be her domineering father, and by her budding relationship with cellist Naëlle (Nour Belkhiria). Days of Happiness examines familiar territory — the musician battling her demons — but with a fresh, engaging touch.
How to watch it: Days of Happiness is awaiting US distribution.The Boy and the Heron
The renowned Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro) returns with The Boy and the Heron, one of his most looping, imaginative films. Set in 1943, it centers on Mahito Maki (Soma Santoki), whose mother is killed in a fire during the war. His father remarries, and Mahito goes to live in the country with his stepmother, who is also his mother’s younger sister. Lonely and unsure of how to handle his grief, Mahito drops into a dreamworld of confusion and chaos, reflecting his longing to restore the world. The Boy and the Heron revisits many of Miyazaki’s themes — loneliness, fear, sorrow — with his signature imagination and underlying reflection of Japanese history.
How to watch it: The Boy and the Heron is awaiting a US release date. Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World
How to watch it: Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World was acquired by Mubi and is awaiting a US release date.Dream Scenario
Talk about a dream of a premise: Paul Matthews (Nicholas Cage), a mild-mannered professor of evolutionary biology, discovers to his excitement, and then consternation, that he’s been appearing in the dreams of random people all over the world. He doesn’t know why. He can’t make it stop. And it’s wrecking his life. Director Kristoffer Borgli’s comedy Dream Scenario (co-produced by horror maven Ari Aster) makes joking feints toward being “about” cancel culture or internet fame, but it’s pretty clear he doesn’t have a particular ax to grind. He’s really just interested in razzing the audience a little, in the mold of his previous film Sick of Myself. People are terrible, illogical, and weird, but that doesn’t mean we can’t laugh at them.
How to watch it: Dream Scenario will be released in theaters by A24 on November 10.Evil Does Not Exist
How to watch it: Evil Does Not Exist will be released by Sideshow and Janus Films.Fallen Leaves
Ansa (Alma Pöysti) lives in Helsinki and works a dead-end job at the supermarket, making barely enough money to live on. She meets Holappa (Jussi Vatanen), a construction worker whose main amusement comes from drinking himself into oblivion every night. The pair hit it off, but their romance is full of bumps, not least because of the misery they’re both desperate to escape. Aki Kaurismäki’s deadpan dark comedy dips with style and just a hint of weird whimsy into the lives of his working-class characters, and the tableaux he crafts give off the whiff of a Finnish spin on Hopper’s alienated figures.
How to watch it: Fallen Leaves will be released by Mubi.Ferrari
Adam Driver stars in Michael Mann’s Ferrari, a look at a pivotal moment in the life of ex-racer and car mogul Enzo Ferrari. It’s the summer of 1957, and he and his wife Laura (Penelope Cruz) have essentially split up. They maintain co-ownership of the company, however, and it’s in steep financial trouble. The Mille Miglia race is approaching, and Ferrari senses that his team’s performance on the course will determine the future of his company — but at what hideous cost? The film is a peek into the life of a towering figure whose world is coming apart at the seams, and Driver and Cruz turn in riveting performances.
How to watch it: Ferrari will open in theaters on December 25.Fingernails
Funny and ultimately heartwrenching, Fingernails pries open the meaning of love by way of some light science fiction. A scientific test has been invented to determine if two people are truly in love, using fingernails from a couple and a fancy machine. Anna (Jessie Buckley) and her boyfriend Ryan (Jeremy Allen White) took the test three years ago, with positive results, but Anna still finds herself drawn to the test and what it means. She takes a job at the Institute where the tests are administered, working with Amir (Riz Ahmed) to help couples deepen their connection, and starts to find herself wondering what love even is. Director Christos Nikou turns the premise into a subtle meditation on how different every partnership’s story is — how love shifts and changes depending on who’s in the relationship — and the result is both kind and thought-provoking.
How to watch it: Fingernails will be released in theaters on October 27, then begin streaming on Apple TV+ on November 3.Gasoline Rainbow
There’s a wonderful authenticity to Gasoline Rainbow — and that’s no big surprise, coming from brothers Bill and Turner Ross, who in films like Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets mess with the meanings of fiction and reality to probe for deep truths. For this one they turn to the road movie, with its sense of adventure, camaraderie, and discovery. Five teenagers (Tony, Micah, Nichole, Nathaly, and Makai), all of whom consider themselves misfits in their small Oregon town, embark on a road trip toward the Pacific Coast, looking for something they can barely articulate. What they find there is a sense of belonging that extends across generations of outsiders just like them. Gasoline Rainbow is a joyous movie for everyone who’s ever sought community and found it waiting for them where they least expect it.
How to watch it: Gasoline Rainbow is awaiting distribution.The Green Border
The great Agnieszka Holland directs an absorbing ensemble drama about the European migrant crisis. Shot in black and white, the film follows a group of refugees from Syria and Afghanistan as they’re pushed back and forth across the Belarus-Poland border, treated as disposable pawns in the country’s governmental disputes. Meanwhile, a group of Polish activists try to help provide what asylum seekers need most without being prosecuted by their own government.
