“Coda”
Director: Siân Heder (“Tallulah”)
Cast: Emilia Jones, Eugenio Derbez, Troy Kotsur, Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Daniel Durant, Marlee Matlin
Synopsis: Despite her growing interest in music, a hearing girl in a deaf family is terrified to leave behind her family fishing business.
What You Need To Know: This marks Heder’s second feature after the 2016 Sundance debut “Tallulah,” about a homeless teenager who tries to steal a baby. Heder is apparently taking things in a lighter direction with “CODA,” which has already generated festival buzz as a crowd-pleaser with a breakout lead performance by Jones (“Locke & Key”). The film is also notable for its subject matter, with very few mainstream films exploring deaf culture – and even fewer doing so with the assistance of the deaf community. We are so ready to see Marlee Matlin on the big screen again after a six-year(!) hiatus.
Release Date: Debuts at Sundance at the end of January.
“Cow”
Director: Andrea Arnold (“American Honey,” “Fish Tank”)
Synopsis: This documentary tells the story of two cows.
What You Need To Know: Arnold, best known for her unconventional portraits of female adolescence, is another icon of independent cinema set to make her documentary feature debut this year. After a rocky (arguably sabotaged) turn at the helm of “Big Little Lies” in 2019, it looks like Arnold is making a quiet return to the big screen. Little is known about this feature (the IMDb description is just “A close-up portrait of the daily lives of two cows”), but it’s Andrea Arnold. We’re perfectly excited without any additional information. The film is reportedly in post-production, so keep an eye out for it on the festival circuit.
Release Date: TBD.
“Cusp”
Directors: Parker Hill and Isabel Bethencourt
Synopsis: This documentary follows three teenage girls through a Texas summer.
What You Need To Know: This verité look at girlhood is the feature debut for both Hill and Bethencourt. Hill has been one to watch since her undergraduate thesis short, “One Good Pitch,” debuted at the Tribeca Film festival. The filmmakers found their subjects when they encountered them at a gas station late at night, and embarked on a story of debauchery, friendship, and trauma. With so few big-screen accounts of teen girl life, whether narrative or documentary, “Cusp” offers a rare look at young women’s lives. The backdrop of a Texas town where guns, liquor, and drugs are as ubiquitous as parties only increase this film’s potential.
Release Date: Debuts at Sundance at the end of January.
“Don’t Worry Darling”
Director: Olivia Wilde (“Booksmart”)
Cast: Florence Pugh, Harry Styles, Chris Pine, Olivia Wilde, Gemma Chan, Nick Kroll
Synopsis: A dissatisfied 1950s housewife uncovers a disturbing secret.
What You Need To Know: We’re not sure which prospect is more exciting, a horror movie directed by Olivia Wilde or another horror movie starring Florence Pugh. Luckily, with this one, we don’t have to pick. With a cast so stacked we literally had to cut off the list of big names (sorry Kiki Layne, Kate Berlant, Dita Von Teese, et al) and a 2019 Black List script penned by Carey and Shane Van Dyke (“Chernobyl Diaries”) and Katie Silberman (“Booksmart”), this has been a hot title since 18 studios bid for it in 2019. (New Line Cinema won, and Warner Bros. will distribute.) The production has hit some stumbling blocks: Wilde fired Shia Labeouf from the lead role for bad behavior, Dakota Johnson had to drop out because of another film on this list, and a crew member tested positive for COVID-19 after just two weeks of filming. But things are back on track as of late November 2020, so fingers crossed we’ll see this one in time for awards season.
Release Date: TBD.
“Earwig”
Director: Lucile Hadžihalilović (“Evolution,” “Innocence”)
Cast: Paul Hilton, Alex Lawther, Romola Garai
Synopsis: A 50-year-old male caretaker for a 10-year-old girl receives unexpected directions over the phone.
What You Need To Know: This will be Hadžihalilović’s third feature after the stunning “Evolution” (2015), about an unsettling seaside colony, and “Innocence” (2004), which followed a class of girls in a strange boarding school. It’s difficult to describe Hadžihalilović’s work, much less describe the plots of her dreamy, surreal films, but it’s no surprise that “Earwig” once again has an uncanny child at its center. This will be the director’s English debut, co-written with her “Evolution” collaborator Geoff Cox, who also collaborated with Claire Denis for “High Life.” The film is reportedly in post-production, so keep an eye out for it on the festival circuit.
Release Date: TBD.
“El Planeta”
Director: Amalia Ulman
Cast: Amalia Ulman, Ale Ulman, Nacho Vigalondo, Zhou Chen, Saoirse Bertram
Synopsis: A mother and daughter try to keep up their lavish lifestyle despite the mother’s impending eviction.
What You Need To Know: “El Planeta” is the feature debut for Ulman, a Spanish/Argentinian filmmaker based in New York City. She plays daughter Leo in the film, with her real-life mother playing Leo’s mother. Ulman describes the film as a “comedy about eviction” and a meditation on life in the post-2009 financial crisis. Ulman is a prominent artist (the Tate Modern recently hosted one of her pieces) who regularly works in video, making “El Planeta” one of the films we’re especially excited to see at Sundance.
Release Date: Debuts at Sundance at the end of January.
“How it Ends”
Directors: Zoe Lister-Jones (“Band-Aid,” “The Craft: Legacy”) and Daryl Wein (“Lola Versus”)
Cast: Zoe Lister-Jones, Cailee Spaeny, Olivia Wilde, Fred Armisen, Helen Hunt, Lamorne Morris, Nick Kroll
Synopsis: A woman teams up with her younger self to try and reconcile with her friends and family – and make it to an epic party – before the world ends.
What You Need To Know: This is the first directorial collaboration between married filmmakers Lister-Jones and Wein, and it looks like an absolute feast. (Look at that fucking cast, for one.) We could all use a fun take on the end of the world right about now, and the fact that Lister-Jones and Wein are practically indie royalty is just a bonus. Lister-Jones’s directorial debut, “Band-Aid,” was a Sundance favorite in 2017, and she recently helmed the Blumhouse reboot of “The Craft,” “The Craft: Legacy.” This film will see her working closely with “The Craft: Legacy” and “Devs” star Cailee Spaeny, who plays her younger self.
Release Date: Debuts at Sundance at the end of January.
“Identifying Features”
Director: Fernanda Valadez
Cast: Mercedes Hernández, David Illescas, Juan Jesús Varela, Ana Laura Rodríguez
Synopsis: A mother travels across Mexico in search of her son, who authorities say died while trying to cross the border into the United States.
What You Need To Know: This wrenching drama, co-written by Valadez and Astrid Rondero, won the Audience Award in the World Cinema Dramatic category and the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Best Screenplay at last year’s Sundance Film Festival. Vulture calls it “one of several powerful films about immigration to come out of Mexico in recent years,” as well as “quite possibly the most despairing.” Inspired by the real-life epidemic of immigrants who die or go missing on their journeys, this crucial film could not be more relevant. Grab some tissues and catch it when it premieres on Kino Marquee.
Release Date: January 22, via Kino Marquee.
“In The Same Breath”
Director: Nanfu Wang (“One Child Nation,” “Hooligan Sparrow”)
Synopsis: This documentary chronicles the spread of COVID-19 from Wuhan, China to the U.S.
What You Need To Know: “In the Same Breath” was the only COVID-19 documentary to make it into Sundance 2021, which speaks to Wang’s staggering genius. (I mean genius very literally, at least as far as the MacArthur Foundation is concerned.) The Chinese-born documentarian is no stranger to pissing off the Chinese government. Her Oscar-shortlisted first feature “Hooligan Sparrow” made her a subject of government surveillance, and it looks like “In the Same Breath” will continue to boldly speak out against the country’s failings – as well as the failings of the U.S., the country Wang now calls home. By comparing Xi Jinping and Donald Trump’s parallel penchants for inaction and misinformation, “In the Same Breath” looks to shed some light on the chaos of the last year. It’s one of our most anticipated Sundance premieres for a reason.
Release Date: Debuts at Sundance at the end of January.
“Land”
Director: Robin Wright
Cast: Robin Wright, Demián Bichir, Kim Dickens
Synopsis: After a terrible tragedy, a woman retreats to the forest in the Rocky Mountains.
What You Need To Know: After working nearly 40 years in the industry and directing 10 episodes of “House of Cards,” Wright finally makes her feature directing debut with “Land.” The screenplay is co-written by Jesse Chatham and Erin Dignam, and tells a quiet tale of one woman’s complex relationship with nature. Wright is already working on her next feature project, a segment in “Together Now,” an eight-part collaboration between female filmmakers across the world. Focus Features has already purchased “Land,” and will release it shortly after Sundance.
Release Date: Premieres at Sundance, then opens in theaters February 12 via Focus Features
“The Last Letter from Your Lover”
Director: Augustine Frizzell (“Never Goin’ Back”)
Cast: Felicity Jones, Shailene Woodley, Callum Turner
Synopsis: A young woman discovers a series of letters between star-crossed lovers and becomes obsessed with learning more about them and their relationship.
What You Need To Know: Frizzell earned her indie cred with the wildly underappreciated “Never Goin’ Back,” a raunchy comedy about two high school dropouts trying to get to the beach. “Last Letter,” her sophomore feature, marks a clear change in tone. Based on the novel of the same name by Jojo Moyes, the film shifts between modern London and the 1960s. Moyes also wrote “Me Before You,” which became a romance film starring Emilia Clarke and Sam Claflin, so this one is definitely for all the softhearted moviegoers out there! Jones and Woodley are both executive producers, and Netflix has already acquired the film. It will definitely drop this year, we’re just not sure when.
Release Date: TBD, via Netflix.
“The Lost Daughter”
Director: Maggie Gyllenhaal
Cast: Olivia Colman, Dakota Johnson, Peter Sarsgaard, Paul Mescal, Oliver Jackson-Cohen
Synopsis: When a woman becomes obsessed with another woman and her daughter while on holiday, her own memories of early motherhood come rushing back.
What You Need To Know: Gyllenhaal is yet another prominent actor making her feature directing debut this year, and she’s truly going for broke. Not only has Gyllenhaal adapted an Elana Ferrante novel for her first feature, but she’s also assembled some of the best performers working today and nabbed Hélène Louvart, the cinematographer behind “Beach Rats,” “Happy as Lazzaro,” and “Never Rarely Sometimes Always. This thing is getting shot on celluloid, baby! Principal production took place last fall, and the movie is now in post-production, so it’s a shoo-in for a 2021 release. All we have left to figure out is which major distributors will battle for it, and which awards it will win.
Release Date: TBD, but I’d put money on December for awards nominations.
“Ma Belle, My Beauty”
Director: Marion Hill
Cast: Idella Johnson, Hannah Pepper, Lucien Guignard, Sivan Noam Shimon
Synopsis: A couple, formerly members of a polyamorous trio, are in for a shock when the third member of their former relationship shows up to their house in France.
What You Need To Know: This marks the first feature for New Orleans-based director Hill. Shot in France with a select group of collaborators and scored with music entirely from New Orleans musicians, “Ma Belle, Ma Beauty” is a love letter to its various locales. With its characters gliding from candlelit dinners to parties in vineyards to farmers’ markets to sunlit creeks, this film promises to deliver sensuality in every frame – and not just because of all the unresolved sexual tension.
Release Date: Debuts at Sundance at the end of January.
“The Mad Woman’s Ball”
Director: Mélanie Laurent (“Breathe,” “Galveston”)
Cast: Mélanie Laurent, Lou de Laâge, Emmanuelle Bercot, Benjamin Voisin
Synopsis: A woman who was unfairly institutionalized in a psychiatric hospital manages to escape.
What You Need To Know: Though Americans probably know Laurent best for her leading roles in “Beginners” and “Inglorious Basterds,” she is also an incredibly prolific director, taking on seven features in the last ten years. Her second feature, “Breathe” debuted at Cannes 2014 and was up for the Bronze Horse at Stockholm, and her first documentary, “Tomorrow,” won the César. “The Mad Woman’s Ball” (“Le bal de folles”), based on the French novel of the same name by Victoria Mas, will wrap filming soon, and should be her first of two releases this year. Amazon has already acquired distribution rights to the film. Note, Laurent’s Lionsgate movie “The Nightingale,” currently has a December 2021 release date, but it was COVID-delayed and she shot ‘Woman’s Ball’ in the fall of 2020 instead. ‘Nightingale’ won’t make its date and at best, she’ll be able to shoot it later this year for release next year.
Release Date: TBD, via Amazon.
“Marvelous and the Black Hole”
Director: Kate Tsang
Cast: Miya Cech, Rhea Perlman, Leonardo Nam, Kannon Omachi, Paulina Lule, Keith Powell
Synopsis: A kids’ magician teaches a teenage delinquent how to cope with her feelings by learning sleight of hand magic.
What You Need To Know: This marks the first feature for Tsang, an artist and TV writer (“Adventure Time: Distant Lands,” “Steven Universe”). Inspired by her own relationship with her grandfather, Tsang sought out to make “the movie I wish I had when I was an angry teenager.” With a lead role for beloved character actor Rhea Perlman (“Cheers”, “Lemon,” “I’ll See You in My Dreams”) and an unlikely pairing at its center, “Marvelous and the Black Hole” promises to be inventive, sweet, and, per Tsang, full of fake blood.
Release Date: Debuts at Sundance at the end of January.
“Mayday”
Director: Karen Cinorre
Cast: Grace Van Patten, Mia Goth, Havana Rose Liu, Soko, Théodore Pellerin, Juliette Lewis
Synopsis: When Ana is transported to a land of endless war, she joins a legion of female soldiers, only to realize she might not be the killer they want her to be.
What You Need To Know: What do we not need to know?! Between an absolutely stacked cast and a never-before-seen premise, this competitor in Sundance’s U.S. Dramatic section is sure to turn heads. The festival program describes “Mayday” as “both a feminist fever dream and an ambitious reimagining of a war film,” which means Karen Cinorre has maybe been reading my dream journal. (Actually, never mind, the Juliette Lewis casting confirms this.) This is yet another film that also earned a spot on our list of 2021’s most anticipated Sundance premieres.
Release Date: Debuts at Sundance at the end of January.
“Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon”
Director: Ana Lily Amirpour (“A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night,” “The Bad Batch”)
Cast: Kate Hudson, Craig Robinson, Ed Skrein, Jeon Jong-seo, Evan Whitten
Synopsis: A girl with unusual powers escapes from a mental asylum and tries to make it on her own in New Orleans.
What You Need To Know: Frankly, you should have stopped reading and written this title down after you saw the name “Ana Lily Amirpour,” but if you need more reasons to be excited, let’s go. Amirpour rocked Sundance 2014 with her feature debut, a black-and-white, Iranian vampire Western called “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night.” Her sophomore film, a Venice debut called “The Bad Batch,” followed a young woman exiled to a desert populated by delinquents. “The Bad Batch” was less beloved by critics, but it still proved Amirpour was a visionary filmmaker with endless original ideas. “Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon,” which she also wrote, centers on a superpowered Kate Hudson. We think this will be just as insane as all her other work – plus, it marks her first collaboration with Ari Aster’s cinematographer Pawel Pogorzelski. Thank you, God.
Release Date: TBD.
“Mothering Sunday”
Director: Eva Husson (“Girls of the Sun,” “Bang Gang”)
Cast: Odessa Young, Josh O’Connor, Olivia Colman, Colin Firth, Sope Dirisu
Synopsis: A maid living in post-World War I England secretly plans to meet with the man she loves before he leaves to marry another woman.
What You Need To Know: This is French director Husson’s English-language debut, and she’s cooked up quite a crew for the affair (no pun intended). Alice Birch (“Lady Macbeth,” “Normal People,”) has adapted the novel of the same name by Graham Swift for the screenplay. Helen Scott (“Wuthering Heights,” “A Very English Scandal”) is on board as production designer, with costumes by Sandy Powell (“Carol,” “The Favourite”). This also marks another leading role for Odessa Young right after her formidable performance as Rose in Josephine Decker’s “Shirley.” “Mothering Sunday” has all the makings of a wildly successful period piece, and it’s already been grabbed by U.S. and U.K. distributors. This might be one we see hit theatres closer to awards season.
Release Date: TBD via Lionsgate (U.K.) and Sony Pictures Classics (U.S.).
“Moxie”
Director: Amy Poehler
Cast: Josephine Langford, Marcia Gay Harden, Clark Gregg, Ike Barinholtz
Synopsis: A Texas teenager organizes a feminist revolution at her high school.
What You Need To Know: Inside of all of us, there are two wolves. One wants to see Lucrecia Martel’s upcoming documentary about a murdered indigenous activist, the other wants to see Amy Poehler’s new teen comedy for Netflix. Based on the novel of the same name by Jennifer Mathieu and written by Tamara Chestna, screenwriter of the modern masterpiece “After,” this has all the trappings of a hopelessly watchable Netflix original (complete with Josephine Langford casting). This is Amy Poehler’s second feature film. Her first, “Wine Country,” was also a Netflix joint.
Release Date: March 3, via Netflix.
“My Zoe”
Director: Julie Delpy (“Lolo,” “2 Days in Paris”)
Cast: Julie Delpy, Gemma Arterton, Daniel Brühl, Richard Armitage
Synopsis: After tragedy strikes, a devoted mother and geneticist seeks the help of a world-renowned fertility physician.
What You Need To Know: This TIFF 2019 premiere has already played overseas and at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival, but it will finally get a U.S. general release in February. Delpy, perhaps best known as an actor for her role in the Richard Linklater “Before” trilogy, is also an accomplished filmmaker: her sophomore feature, “2 Days in Paris” (2007), saw her nominated for countless awards, and her 2015 film “Lolo” played at Venice. “My Zoe” was up for TIFF’s coveted Platform Prize, and rightly so. As Jason Bailey said in his review for us, “My Zoe” presents “an exciting new direction” for Delpy. This tumultuous story of a mother’s love is incredibly beautiful, heart-wrenching, and accomplished.
Release Date: In theaters February 26.
“Passing”
Director: Rebecca Hall
Cast: Ruth Negga, Tessa Thompson, André Holland, Alexander Skarsgård, Bill Camp
Synopsis: Two mixed-race friends reunite in adulthood and become entangled in one another’s lives.
What You Need To Know: Another holdover from our 2020 list, “Passing” is on pretty much every “most anticipated” list out there, including our own most anticipated Sundance films and most anticipated films of 2021 lists. Everyone is ready for Hall’s adaptation of the famous Nella Larsen novel, featuring some of the most talented actors working today and shot in black and white by cinematographer Eduard Grau (“A Single Man,” “The Awakening”). Hall is a phenomenal actor, revered for her performances in films like “Christine” and “Professor Marston and the Wonder Women.” As Hall told our Deep Focus podcast last June, she wanted to explore race and identity in “Passing” as a way to reconcile with her own family history – her maternal grandfather was biracial, and she said she “never really had access” to that part of her history.
Release Date: Debuts at Sundance at the end of January.
“Petite Maman”
Director: Céline Sciamma (“Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” “Girlhood”)
Cast: Unknown
Synopsis: Plot details are unknown at this time, but the film revolves around childhood and family in Paris.
What You Need To Know: Clearly we do not know a lot about this film, but we’ve always been eager to see more from Céline Sciamma – her name alone scored “Petite Maman” the number 17 spot on our 100 most anticipated movies of 2021 list. And after her knockout drama “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” finally made her an American household name, we’re not the only ones desperate for another Sciamma feature. Based on the few plot details we know, this looks like a return to her more meditative studies on household life, as in “Tomboy” and “Girlhood.” But since she’s completed her coming-of-age trilogy, our protagonist (the titular mother, one assumes) is likely to be a bit more mature. Sciamma is currently shooting the film, so we have our fingers crossed for a premiere before the year is out.
Release Date: TBD.
“Pink Skies Ahead”
Director: Kelly Oxford
Cast: Jessica Barden, Rosa Salazar, Odeya Rush, Marcia Gay Harden, Lewis Pullman, Henry Winkler, Mary J. Blige
Synopsis: A young woman in denial about her anxiety disorder moves back in with her parents.
What You Need To Know: Kelly Oxford rose to prominence through her Twitter account in the late aughts, eventually attracting the attention of major celebrities. Her 2013 autobiography “Everything Is Perfect When You’re a Liar” was a New York Times bestseller, and she is credited with helping concoct Jimmy Kimmel’s famous “Mean Tweets” segment. Oxford brings that same air of charming self-deprecation to “Pink Skies Ahead,” anchored by a star-making lead performance by “The End of the F***king World” star Jessica Barden. This frank depiction of mental illness and arrested development won critics, including our own Robert Daniels, at AFI Fest last October. It was originally supposed to play at SXSW 2020, but luck changed for the film after it was picked up by AFI Fest and acquired by MTV Films shortly before its premiere.
Release Date: TBD via MTV Films.
“Pleasure”
Director: Ninja Thyberg
Cast: Sofia Kappel, Revika Anne Reustle, Evelyn Claire, Chris Cock, Dana DeArmond, Kendra Spade
Synopsis: A 20-year-old girl moves from her small town in Sweden to LA for a shot at a career in the adult film industry.
What You Need To Know: Based on Thyberg’s 2013 short of the same name, “Pleasure” brings a cast of adult film actors together for an uncompromising look at the industry. “Pleasure” already comes with a lot of clout, much less add such a provocative premise. The short film won Thyberg the Semaine de la Critique award at Cannes, and the feature-length adaptation was originally a selection for Cannes 2020. Newcomer Sofia Kappel has already garnered attention for her brazen lead performance, and Sundance is marketing the film as “a no-holds-barred worker’s-eye-view of the industry.” Let’s just say it also made our most anticipated films of Sundance list for a reason.
Release Date: Debuts at Sundance at the end of January.
“The Power of the Dog”
Director: Jane Campion (“Bright Star,” “The Piano”)
Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons, Thomasin McKenzie, Kodi Smit-McPhee
Synopsis: A pair of brothers who own a large ranch in Montana are pitted against each other when one of them gets married.
What You Need To Know: Jane Campion! Jane Campion! Do we really need to say more than “Jane Campion”? The legendary director is finally returning to the big screen after 12 years – she released “Bright Star” in 2009 – and we’re positively over the moon. Her script, adapted from the Thomas Savage novel of the same name, promises the same stark, female-fronted material for which she’s so beloved, and that cast is absolutely insane. (We’re especially intrigued by real-life engaged couple Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons playing husband and wife in this screwed up story.) Add in cinematography by Ari Wegner (“In Fabric,” “Zola”) and we’re absolutely sold. The film is in post-production, so keep an eye out for it at major festivals.
Release Date: TBD, but Netflix promised a 2021 release back in 2019, so let’s assume they’ll make that promise!
“Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time”
Director: Lili Horvát (“The Wednesday Child”)
Cast: Natasa Stork, Viktor Bodó, Benett Vilmányi, Zsolt Nagy, Péter Tóth, Andor Lukáts,
Synopsis: A neurosurgeon returns to Hungary to follow the man she loves, only to find him claiming to have never met her.
What You Need To Know: Director Lili Horvát is building an impressive body of work. Her first feature, 2015’s “The Wednesday Child,” was a nominee for the Bronze Horse. Now her beguiling sophomore film is Hungary’s submission to the 2021 Academy Awards after a long festival run. The film premiered at Venice 2020 and then went on to screen at Toronto, Zurich, Warsaw, and countless other fests. Now its U.S. release is just around the corner, and this mind-bending thriller with hints of noir is sure to have audiences questioning everything.
Release Date: In theaters Jan. 22 via Greenwich Entertainment.
“Fire”
Director: Claire Denis (“High Life,” “Beau Travail”)
Cast: Juliette Binoche, Vincent Lindon, Gregoire Colin
Synopsis: Up for debate (see below).
What You Need To Know: The headline is that Claire Denis will probably release another film this year. After a collaboration with A24 and star Robert Pattinson made 2018’s “High Life” her first high-profile American release, more eyes are on the director than ever as she moves onto her next project. Said next project was supposed to be “The Stars at Noon,” another collaboration with Pattinson, also starring Margaret Qualley. But after COVID-19 delayed production on that film, Denis got to work on her next film with long-time collaborator Binoche. We originally thought the film would be “Radioscopie,” a story set in the world of French radio starring Binoche and Lindon. Now we’ve gotten wind of her plans for “Fire,” an upcoming film with the same cast, but a different synopsis: “Fire” centers on a contentious love triangle. Perhaps the films are one and the same, perhaps the prolific director will give us an extra feature somewhere down the line. Either way, we’re excited to see whatever she does next. Keep an eye out for her name when this year’s Cannes lineup is announced.
Release Date: TBD.
“Red, White and Water”
Director: Lila Neugebauer
Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Samira Wiley, Brian Tyree Henry
Synopsis: A U.S. soldier suffers a traumatic brain injury while fighting in Afghanistan and struggles to adjust to life back home.
What You Need To Know: Also featured on the 2020 edition of this list, “Red, White and Water” will be entering 2021 with a lot of indie cred. It’s already been picked up by A24, and it marks the filmmaking debut of revered New York theater director Lila Neugebauer. It looks like we might be getting a return to Jennifer Lawrence’s “Winter’s Bone”-era greatness, too – it’s been a while since she led a small, human drama. Add in Samira Wiley and Brian Tyree Henry and this movie already has critics buzzing. At this point, it’s just a matter of finding out which festival this film will dominate.
Release Date: TBD.
“Reminiscence”
Director: Lisa Joy (“Westworld”)
Cast: Rebecca Ferguson, Hugh Jackman, Thandie Newton|Synopsis: The life of a rugged veteran who offers clients the ability to relive any memory they desire is irrevocably altered when he meets a mysterious woman.
What You Need To Know: “Westworld” has pretty much cornered the market on long-form explorations of human consciousness, so it’s no surprise that the show’s co-creator Lisa Joy is diving inward for her feature directing debut. Joy has limited experience behind the camera, only directing one episode of “Westworld,” but she more than proved her chops with just that episode’s 71 minutes. Season two’s “Riddle of the Sphinx” was revered by many critics as the series’ best episode to date, particularly for its contemplative exploration of the anti-hero William. Joy will no doubt bring that same incisive eye to Nick, the lead character of “Reminiscence” played by the illustrious Hugh Jackman.
Release Date: In theaters and on HBO Max April 16.
“Respect”
Director: Liesl Tommy
Cast: Jennifer Hudson, Forest Whitaker, Marlon Wayans, Audra McDonald, Marc Maron, Tituss Burgess, Tate Donovan, Mary J. Blige
Synopsis: This biographical drama chronicles the life of legendary songstress Aretha Franklin.
What You Need To Know: This massive assembly of talent is sure to be one of the hottest films of the year. Hudson has been connected to the film for some time, and Aretha Franklin herself was involved with the project until her death in 2018. This marks the first film from Liesl Tommy, a renowned theater director and the first black woman ever nominated for the Tony Award Best Director of a Play. Tommy has also been tapped to adapt Trevor Noah’s memoir “Born a Crime” for the big screen, so “Respect” offers her a chance to show off her skills before moving on to another huge project. The film has already been picked up for an August 13 release thanks to United Artists Releasing.
Release Date: In theaters Aug. 13, via United Artists Releasing.
“Run Sweetheart Run”
Director: Shana Feste (“The Greatest,” “Country Strong”)
Cast: Ella Balinska, Pilou Asbæk, Clark Gregg, Aml Ameen
Synopsis: A single mother tries to get back into dating, but when she is set up with a dangerous man, she must try to survive the after-dark streets of L.A. on foot.
What You Need To Know: This Sundance 2020 premiere from Blumhouse is based on one of the director’s own terrifying experiences. As the Blumhouse name denotes, “Run Sweetheart Run” is a low-budget genre flick with some twists and turns, an exploration of modern misogyny à la their 2019 “Black Christmas” reboot. That latter title was met with harsh criticism, so this film will likely be just as divisive. But in an era where female creators are finally getting opportunities to tell all kinds of stories about the female experience, we’re eager to see how this low-budget horror take is received. It’s also worth adding to your to-watch list if you’re the kind of person who just wants to see a horror-thriller from the woman who brought us “Country Strong.” Amazon Prime has already acquired distribution rights, so keep an eye out for it on the streaming platform sometime this year.
Release Date: TBD via Amazon Prime.
“Saint Maud”
Director: Rose Glass
Cast: Morfydd Clark, Jennifer Ehle, Lily Knight
Synopsis: A hospice worker and recent convert to Roman Catholicism becomes obsessed with one of her patients.
What You Need To Know: A24 is really holding American arthouse horror nerds over a barrel with this one. After a stunning 2019 TIFF debut, the film has already been released in theaters in Canada, the U.K., and countless European countries. Us Americans unlucky enough to have missed the film’s Sundance 2020 debut have just been twiddling our thumbs, waiting for this electrifying freakout of a film to finally hit the big screen. The film has been met with near-universal acclaim, particularly for first-time director Rose Glass and lead actress Morfydd Clark (“Crawl,” “His Dark Materials”). In our list of the best films from 2021 we’ve already seen, our own Max Roux called Clark’s turn “a fearless, gut-punch of a performance that can make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up one minute and have you in a fit of nervous laughter the next.” Now the rest of us just need to see it to believe it.
Release Date: TBD via A24.
“Shiva Baby”
Director: Emma Seligman
Cast: Rachel Sennott, Molly Gordon, Polly Draper, Dianna Agron
Synopsis: A directionless young bisexual woman attends a shiva with her family, only to run into a series of awkward encounters.
What You Need To Know: Another one of the best 2021 films we’ve already seen, “Shiva Baby” debuted as last year’s absolute darlingest festival darling. A brazen first feature from young director Emma Seligman, “Shiva Baby” expertly navigates issues of sexuality, identity, and womanhood in the form of a pitch-black comedy. This film puts the “cringe” in cringe comedy, its claustrophobic cinematography and horror-inspired musical score trapping the viewer in one of the most uncomfortable, revelatory cinematic experiences to date. Unfolding in one location over the course of one day, “Shiva Baby” is a rare slice-of-life story, a can’t-miss cinematic experience that is sure to leave viewers equally unsettled and inspired. It’s supposed to get a wide release later this year.
Release Date: TBD.
“The Souvenir: Part II”
Director: Joanna Hogg (“The Souvenir,” “Archipelago”)
Cast: Honor Swinton-Byrne, Richard Ayoade, Tilda Swinton, Joe Alwyn, Charlie Heaton, Harris Dickinson
Synopsis: A young film student in the early 80s becomes romantically involved with a complicated and untrustworthy man.
What You Need To Know: When Joanna Hogg released her austere, revelatory drama “The Souvenir” in 2019, there was already a sequel in the works. “The Souvenir: Part II” originally features Robert Pattinson in a leading role, but he had to drop out due to conflicts with “The Batman.” Hogg ended up splitting his character in two and replacing him with Dickinson and Heaton, rounding out her cast of wan white boys with the addition of Joe Alwyn. After the uncompromising debut of “The Souvenir,” we have no idea what to expect from its sequel, other than another scene-stealing turn from Richard Ayoade in furs. And that alone is more than enough to have us not-so-patiently awaiting this film’s premiere.
Release Date: TBD, via A24.
“The Story of My Wife”
Director: Ildikó Enyedi (“On Body and Soul,” “Simon, the Magician”)
Cast: Léa Seydoux, Gijs Naber, Louis Garrel, Josef Hader, Sergio Rubini, Jasmine Trinca
Synopsis: A sea captain bets his friend that he will marry the first woman who walks in.
What You Need To Know: Hungarian director Enyedi has been making features since 1989, when her first feature, “My 20th Century,” won the Golden Camera at Cannes. But her 2017 film “On Body and Soul” catapulted the director into the mainstream, earning her the coveted Golden Bear at Berlin and an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. “The Story of My Wife” brings together big names like Seydoux and Garrel for a tale of love and infidelity and also marks Enyedi’s English-language debut. This one is sure to attract a lot of critical attention when it debuts – keep an eye out for it at a big festival like Berlin or Cannes.
Release Date: TBD.
“Superior”
Director: Erin Vassilopoulos
Cast: Alessandra Mesa, Ani Mesa, Pico Alexander, Jake Hoffman, Stanley Simons
Synopsis: A woman on the run returns to her hometown to hide out with her identical twin sister, and in doing so alters the trajectory of both their lives.
What You Need To Know: When she directed “Superior,” a short film about twin sisters, in 2015, Erin Vassilopolous became close with her identical leads, Alessandra and Ani Mesa. That short went on to screen at Sundance and Berlin, garnering a nomination for the Golden Berlin Bear for Best Short Film. Now, Vassilopoulos and Alessandra Mesa have co-written a feature that takes place six years after the events of the short film. This drama-thriller set in the ’80s was shot on gauzy 16mm, allowing for impressionistic pops of color and ample period detail. It’s a contender in this year’s U.S. Dramatic Competition at Sundance.
Release Date: Debuts at Sundance at the end of January.
“Titane”
Director: Julia Ducournau (“Raw”)
Cast: Vincent Lindon, Nathalie Boyer, Myriem Akheddiou, Dominique Frot
Synopsis: A young man claiming to be a long-lost missing child is reunited with his father as a series of gruesome murders pile up nearby.
What You Need To Know: Ducournau took the arthouse horror world by storm with her first feature “Raw,” a gutsy coming-of-age tale about a young cannibal. Four years later, she’s back with a second feature that sounds similarly eerie, this time teaming up with French great Vincent Lindon (“Diary of a Chambermaid,” “The Measure of a Man”). “Titane” reunites her with much of her “Raw” crew, including cinematographer Ruben Impens, as production designer Laurie Colson and editor Jean-Christophe Bouzy. We don’t know much else about this sinister new film, but it’s in post-production and Neon has already called dibs on distribution. Expect to see it debut in the coming months, perhaps at Cannes 2021.
Release Date: TBD via Neon.
“Things Heard and Seen”
Directors: Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini (“American Splendor,” “Cinema Verite”)
Cast: Amanda Seyfried, James Norton, Natalia Dyer, Rhea Seehorn, Alex Neustaedter, F. Murray Abraham
Synopsis: An artist relocates to the Hudson Valley and begins to suspect that her marriage has a sinister darkness, one that rivals her new home’s history.
What You Need To Know: Husband and wife director duo Berman and Pulcini burst onto the scene with their first narrative feature “American Splendor” in 2003, scooping up an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. Since then their films have been relatively hit or miss, with 2011 HBO original “Cinema Verite” being the last to really dazzle critics. “Things Heard and Seen,” based on the novel “All Things Cease to Appear” by Elizabeth Brundage, signals a chance for the inventive pair to really show off their chops. It’s a horror-thriller with Netflix funding and the ever-versatile Seyfried playing lead – three truly enviable ingredients for any original film. This might just be the comeback we’ve been waiting for.
Release Date: TBD via Netflix.
“Tragic Jungle”
Director: Yulene Olaizola (“Epitafio,” “Artificial Paradises”)
Cast: Indira Rubie Andrewin, Gilberto Barraza, Mariano Tun Xool
Synopsis: In the 1920s, a young woman takes off into the mysterious Mayan rainforest in an attempt to escape her arranged marriage to a white landowner.
What You Need To Know: “Tragic Jungle” is the fifth feature from Mexican filmmaker Yulene Olaizola, and it’s poised to be her breakout hit. Olaizola turned heads with her first feature, “Artificial Paradises,” which debuted in America at the Tribeca Film Festival and won the Jury Award for Best Cinematography of a Narrative Feature. Her features have since screened at Cannes, Lima, and elsewhere. “Tragic Jungle” debuted at Venice 2020, where it won Best Film in a Foreign Language, before showing at the New York Film Festival. Our own Rodrigo Perez made sure to include it in our list of the best 2021 films we’ve already seen, and in his review for us, Carlos Aguilar called the film “an alluring adventure centered on black and indigenous characters.”
Release Date: TBD.
“The World to Come”
Director: Mona Fastvold (“The Sleepwalker”)
Cast: Vanessa Kirby, Katherine Waterston, Christopher Abbott, Casey Affleck
Synopsis: Two married women fall in love on the American east coast frontier.
What You Need To Know: Fastvold’s first feature, the wildly underappreciated “The Sleepwalker,” connected her with creative and real-life partner Brady Corbet (director of “Vox Lux,” on which Fastvold has a story credit.) “The World to Come” is the first feature she’s directed outside of that partnership. It debuted at last year’s Venice Film Festival, and will screen at Sundance this year before a Feb. 12 release by Bleecker Street Films. When a film gets the festival tour treatment followed immediately by a theatrical release, you know it’s gotten a lot of good reactions, and “The World to Come” lives up to the hype. In her review, our own Jessica Kiang called the film a “beautiful and quiet, seasons-spanning tale of poetry and pining pioneer women.” It’s another one of the best 2021 films we’ve already seen for a reason.
Release Date: Screens at Sundance and opens in theaters on February 12 via Bleecker Street Films.
“Violation”
Directors: Madeleine Sims-Fewer and Dusty Mancinelli
Cast: Madeleine Sims-Fewer, Anna Maguire, Jesse LaVercombe, Obi Abili, Jasmin Geljo, Cynthia Ashperger
Synopsis: A traumatic betrayal sets an unhappily married woman on a destructive quest for vengeance.
What You Need To Know: The rape-revenge genre isn’t going anywhere any time soon, as the ongoing reverberations of the #MeToo movement make ample room for explorations of catharsis, violence, and female peril. It is incredibly difficult to make a rape-revenge film that leans away from the genre’s characteristic exploitation, but “Violation” may have done just that. The first feature from Canadian filmmaking team Sims-Fewer and Mancinelli offers a “smart and visceral take” on rape and revenge per our own Monica Castillo, who called co-director/co-writer/star Sims-Fewer’s performance “a full gut-punch of intensity” in her glowing review after its TIFF 2020 premiere. The film will play in Sundance’s Midnight section before a wider release from Shudder, which has already secured distribution rights.
Release Date: Debuts at Sundance at the end of January, then TBD via Shudder.
“Zola”
Director: Janicza Bravo (“Lemon”)
Cast: Taylour Paige, Riley Keough, Nicholas Braun, Ari’el Stachel, Colman Domingo
Synopsis: A stripper named Zola embarks on a wild road trip to Florida.
What You Need To Know: What is there to say that hasn’t already been said (in countless other Playlist listicles and elsewhere on the internet)? “Zola” is shaping up to be the cool-kid art film of 2021, between its spot on the A24 lineup, a co-writer cred for “Slave Play” writer Jeremy O. Harris, and the fact that it is, quite literally, based on Twitter drama. We’re particularly excited for the film because of director Janicza Bravo, whose oddball oeuvre has enchanted us since her first short, “Eat,” debuted at SXSW 2011. No matter how it turns out, this one is going to set film Twitter ablaze – er, more than it already has.
Release Date: In theaters June 30 via A24.
Read all our Best of 2020 coverage and Most Anticipated 2021 coverage here and here.
