15. “Ms. Purple”
Korean American filmmaker Justin Chon’s follow up to 2017’s “Gook, ”composites the intimately personal life experience of a selfless caretaker inside the self-imposed confines of a larger cultural existence. Juxtaposing Latinx music against Koreatown nightlife, “Ms. Purple” follows a young woman named Kasie (Tiffany Chu, in one of the year’s most underrated performances) struggling to make ends meet in Los Angeles, taking it upon herself to nurse her dying father (James Kang), while her estranged brother Carey (Teddy Lee) is busy spending his time in cyber cafes when he’s not being kicked to the curbside. Examining important themes of domestic obligation and familial expectations (in a very different but equally prevalent manner as a work like “The Farewell”), Chon’s film deals with ethnic ideology while unveiling a very different side of sex work than a celebratory feminist project like “Hustlers,” exploring the darkest corners of danger that can come about from the transactional, often abusive, interpersonal relationships women in such fields are forced to deal with. One of the freshest things about the movie is its subtle handling of a blossoming romance between Kasie and a valet named Octavio (Octavio Pizano) who holds no judgment towards her life choices and always seems willing to listen. The relationships all feel completely real, sloppy, and authentic, just like the most memorable interactions on the streets of LA often do. – AB
14. “Dogman”
Based on real-life events that took the Italian media by storm, acclaimed director Matteo Garrone’s (“Gomorrah”) realist gangster drama “Dogman.” Starring Marcello Fonte in an incredibly tender, sometimes gut-wrenchingly lonely performance as a loving father to a young daughter who has a special touch when it comes to healing canines. He also happens to be loyal to a fault, and, after falling with a former boxer with a cocaine habit (Edoardo Pesce) that he can make a few bucks off of, the innocent dog veterinarian who wouldn’t hurt a fly finds himself in over his head and in a world of trouble. Garrone’s film is bold, bleak, and can be quite distressing, his mastery over suspenseful sequences which feel raw and organic, not obviously staged, but both shake and suffocate, is as strong as ever. Dreary artistic strokes maybe his movie’s primary bread and butter, but it is Fonte’s empathetic and forlorn work that will drive the emotional stake deep into your heart. – AB
13. “Diamantino”
After having a World Cup ending penalty kick blocked by a giant, fluffy imaginary puppy, Portuguese icon Diamantino (Carloto Cotta) goes through a celebrity crisis, when memes and the media turn his athletic failure into a mockery. The aloof and innocent young soccer star’s body is soon sold by his evil twin sisters (Anabella and Margarida Moreira) to a cloning biologist who discovers that his cognitive capacity is that of an overgrown child. You’re already in, right? That’s only where the blithely clever fun begins. There’s also a side plot involving undercover lesbian lovers posing as refugee adoptees, but we won’t get into the details. It would be a crime to spoil too many of “Diamantino’s” devilishly ingenious secrets, which will have you rolling on the floor laughing on a consistent basis. It’s a wonderfully weird romanticist fantasy that celebrates gender-fluid politics through pointed satire and surrealist warmth. Filmmakers Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt have created a delightful work of hysterical escapism that may be full of nonsense, but so is the world of media sabotage and global surveillance. “Make Portugal Great Again!” – AB
12. “Luce”
Is it possible to please the world when you’re considered a perfect angel if you succeed and a stereotyped demon when you fail? Julius Onah’s “Luce” is a thought-provoking gossip riddle examining racial expectations and social performativity in a country fueled by success and paranoia. Starring Kelvin Harrison Jr. (in an even stronger performance than his troubled jock turn in “Waves”) as an adopted poster-child suspected of hiding his radical viewpoints by his English teacher (Octavia Spencer), “Luce” tackles essential questions of personal identity in a daring manner, the knots of conversational tension tightening throughout a string of what feels like high school debate competitions in the form of the world’s scariest parent/teacher conference. Fingers are continually pointed in our protagonist’s direction until the audience themselves also starts to become suspicious of Luce’s constant resistance and passive-aggressive intelligence. The script almost feels like it was written for the stage at times, Naomi Watts and Tim Roth (the “Funny Games” casting is appropriately hard to shake) turning in a pair of exceptional performances as Luce’s parents. When a boy born without white skin must be wary that expressing the wrong viewpoint may only lead to disapproval, or far worse, how is he to know what society will accept? – AB
11. “Ash Is Purest White”
A neo-gangster, road epic that moves from bus to car, to prison convoy, train, cruise ship and back again, Zhao Tao simply gives a masterclass performance in Jia Zhangke’s “Ash Is Purest White.” After taking the fall for her mob boss boyfriend, Bin (Liao Fan), Zhao’s character, Qiao, finds herself returning to a relationship that no longer seems to hold the same place for her which was once promised. Set across almost two decades, Qiao travels throughout various Chinese provinces, Jia’s picture capturing the chilling realization of time sneaking up on you, the country transforming faster than the lives of those floating about at the center of it. The leads do a tremendous job of expressing an extraordinary amount of emotional weight through several subtle exchanges conveyed mainly through body language, anchoring the unrequited romance at the center of the film with physical reminders of separation and detachment, even when the former lovers share the same space. “Ash Is Purest White,” wisely cautions that sometimes you can be so loyal to a fault, love someone so much, and remain silent about certain things for so long, that you’ll find the word reciprocity disappeared from the world somewhere along the way. – AB