“Little Women”
Director: Greta Gerwig
What You Need to Know: Greta Gerwig solidified herself as a visionary director with 2017’s breakout hit “Lady Bird,” so it’s no surprise that her next project has been scooped up by Columbia and Sony. Gerwig’s “Little Women” adaptation, which she has both written and directed, stars “Lady Bird” alums Saoirse Ronan and Timothee Chalamet, along with Meryl Streep, Florence Pugh (“Lady Macbeth”), Eliza Scanlen (“Sharp Objects”) and Laura Dern. (So, basically a ton of exciting indie actors bolstered by Meryl Streep and Laura Dern.) The film is supposed to focus primarily on the March sisters’ young adult years, so it looks like Gerwig is returning to her wheelhouse after her tender portrayal of modern young adulthood in “Lady Bird.” This might be the eighth (yes, eighth) time “Little Women” is hitting the big screen, and Gillian Armstrong’s 1994 adaptation with Winona Ryder was already fantastic, but we simply can’t deny another Greta Gerwig-Saoirse Ronan collaboration. We would watch those two reboot the “Leprechaun” horror franchise. Actually, wait — that might be a genius idea. Don’t steal that.
Release: Christmas 2019
https://twitter.com/ThePlaylist/status/1080855323206922240
“The Lodge”
Director: Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala
What You Need to Know: If you were scared shitless by “Goodnight Mommy,” and you should’ve been, you’ll be excited to see the same Austrian duo behind it coming to Sundance with another horror flick. Veronica Franz and Severin Fiala’s “The Lodge” is another study in child-vs.-mother creepiness, as siblings Aidan and Mia become trapped with Grace (Riley Keough), their newly divorced father’s fiancée. Though the trio’s tumultuous relationship begins to better, things turn sinister once a series of unsettling events trigger Grace’s memories of her religious childhood. This is Franz and Fiala’s English-language debut, and with Riley Keough leading the cast, this is already shaping up to be amazing. Keough has been a standout in independent cinema for years, but she proved herself especially adept in horror roles with Trey Edward Shults’ “It Comes at Night.” Alicia Silverstone and Richard Armitage also feature in the cast, and if “What is Alicia Silverstone doing in a horror movie?” isn’t an intriguing enough question to get you interested in this one, well, we just don’t know how to help you.
Release: January 25
https://twitter.com/ThePlaylist/status/1086308396582817792
“The Nightingale”
Director: Jennifer Kent
What You Need to Know: Though “The Babadook” director Jennifer Kent was swimming in screenplays after the knockout success of her first feature back in 2014, she decided to make another small picture based on her own script. Thus, “The Nightingale,” an Australian period thriller, was born. “The Nightingale” centers on a young Irish convict named Clare (Aisling Franciosi, “Game of Thrones”) as she and an Aboriginal tracker, Billy (Baykali Ganambarr), pursue the British officer (Sam Claflin) who brutalized her family. Given that Kent was able to turn the horror genre upside down on just $7.5 million with “The Babadook,” we can’t wait to see what she’ll do with a 19th-century thriller. While it looks like “The Nightingale” won’t unfurl with quite the same economy as “The Babadook,” we’re excited to see where this sweeping film transports us across its whopping 136-minute runtime. After all, if anyone deserves to make a crazy-long feature set in the wilds of Tasmania, it’s Jennifer Kent.
Release: January 25
https://twitter.com/ThePlaylist/status/1081622589330604032
“Passing”
Director: Rebecca Hall
What You Need to Know: If you care about independent film, you already adore Rebecca Hall. She’s illuminated your screens as suicidal anchorwoman Christine Chubbuck (“Christine”) and bi-curious doctor Elizabeth Holloway Marston (“Professor Marston and the Wonder Women”), among a slew of other standout small-time and franchise roles. Now, Hall is set to make her directorial debut with “Passing,” based on her own adapted script and starring Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga. The film is based on Nella Larsen’s 1929 novel of the same name, in which two mixed-race high school friends reunite and fall into an obsessive relationship. Suffice to say that this is an amazing premise and cast, especially given that Thompson and Negga have both already garnered acclaim for portraying mixed-race characters in “Dear White People” and “Loving,” respectively. (Fun fact: the film is also being executive produced by Angela Robinson, who directed Hall in ‘Professor Marson.’) If Rebecca Hall is one-sixteenth as shrewd behind the camera as she is in front of it, this should be a revelatory bit of filmmaking, and it already has all the names it needs to take the indie world by storm. We can’t wait!
Release: TBA — late 2019
https://twitter.com/ThePlaylist/status/1026561572221607937
“Portrait de la jeune fille en feu (Portrait of a Lady on Fire)”
Director: Céline Sciamma
What You Need to Know: Céline Sciamma is one of the best French filmmakers working today, with her stunning debut “Water Lilies” debuting to much acclaim at Cannes back in 2007. In “Water Lilies,” Sciamma discovered the talented young actress Adèle Haenel (“House of Tolerance,” “BPM”). Now, over a decade later, the director and actor are teaming up again (on-camera at least — they’ve been dating for years) for “Portrait de la jeune fille en feu.” This marks Sciamma’s fourth film, bookending her equally lauded “Tomboy” and “Girlhood.” Unlike Sciamma’s three previous films, however, “Portrait” is not a coming of age story. The film, set in 1760 France, follows painter Marianne as she grows closer to her latest subject, an engaged ex-nun named Héloïse. Obviously, this film has our collective attention here at The Playlist, where Sciamma fans abound, but if you know anything about me, Lena Wilson, as a person, you know that I am absolutely falling apart over this. Lesbian nuns?! Lesbian nuns as depicted by Adèle freakin’ Haenel and Céline freakin’ Sciamma?!?!? Mon dieu. Slap a wimple on me and give me a rosary — I have a feeling I’ll be thanking God once this one drops.
Release: TBA — probably Venice 2019
https://twitter.com/ThePlaylist/status/1010244569324138496
