15. “The Mastermind”
Kelly Reichardt’s richly entertaining, 1970s-set drama centers on J.B., a seemingly everyday suburban dad (Josh O’Connor) and unemployed carpenter who is not as innocent as he initially seems. When J.B. decides to steal four Arthur Dove paintings from a local museum, he turns his already tenuous life upside down. As Iana Murray wrote in her review for The Playlist, the film is a showcase not only for Reichardt’s talents, but also for O’Connor’s. “Perhaps no one embodies the scruffy scoundrel you can’t help but root for better than O’Connor. While J.B. can at times be endearing, there’s also something deeply sad about him: it’s in the way he rejects community. The most tragic aspect of J.B. is that he doesn’t seem to want anything at all. He’s a shadow of a person, but in O’Connor’s hands, he never feels empty.” [read our review]
14. “Weapons”
Seventeen children from the same classroom vanish on the same night at the same time, and a town turns its grief into a weapon. Written and directed by Zach Cregger, this is “Pulp Fiction”-ish structure slammed into horror: a braided, shifting-perspective nightmare that’s bewitching, terrifying, sad, and—crucially—hilarious at times, because tragedy makes people absurd. Josh Brolin brings blunt-force rage as a father collapsing into fury; Julia Garner is astonishing as the teacher trapped at the epicenter of communal paranoia; Alden Ehrenreich, Austin Abrams, Cary Christopher, Toby Huss, Benedict Wong, and Amy Madigan fill out a chorus of denial, blame, and moral collapse. Shot by Larkin Seiple with a vicious command of tension and release, it’s bruising in its sense of loss (the children hang over everything) and haunting in how it depicts manipulation—the “witch” of it all—pushing ordinary people toward outrageously horrible acts. Then it detonates into a riotously explosive ending that leaves you howling and screaming. – RP [read our review]
13. “Bugonia”
The second film with a South Korean connection in our top 25, Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Bugonia” is an adaptation of Jang Joon-hwan’s 2003 comedy, “Save The Green Planet!” by screenwriter Will Tracy. The movie finds Michelle Fuller (Emma Stone), a runway-ready pharmaceutical executive, abducted by a pair of conspiracy theorists, Teddy Gatz (Jesse Plemons) and his cousin Don (Aidan Delbis). The kidnappers believe Michelle is actually a member of an alien race intent on controlling the human race. As events unfold, all sorts of secrets are revealed while the fate of Earth seemingly hangs in the balance. Her fourth feature collaboration with Lanthimos, Stone delivers another top-tier performance that is both hilarious and horrific. Oh, and Plemons is pretty damn good, too. – GE [read our review]
12. “No Other Choice”
South Korean filmmakers seem to have a better understanding of the madness of the global economic disparity this century than their peers in other “Western” nations. Bong Joon-ho conceived the masterwork “Parasite,” Hwang Dong-hyuk created “Squid Game,” essentially a class warfare thriller, and now, the legendary Park Chan-wook has brought forth the fantastic “No Other Choice.” While based on American author Donald Westlake’s 1997 novel “The Ax,” Chan-wook has envisioned the potent scenario in his homeland. The story follows Yoo Man-su (the incredible Lee Byung-hun), a paper industry executive unceremoniously laid off after an American company buys out his employer. Desperate for work, he finds himself forced to eliminate other qualified candidates for job openings he’s fighting to secure. Both horrific and hilarious, Chan-wook deliriously dances through a scenario that, sadly, feels more rooted in reality than it should. – GE [read our review]
11. “The Voice Of Hind Rajab”
Chronicling the fundamental interactions between Red Crescent volunteers and a six-year-old girl trapped in a car under fire, Hind Rajab, Marshall Schaffer writes, “There’s a version of this film that exists as just as an ideological project, and it could become only that to parties who look to lionize (or weaponize) it. But director Kaouther Ben Hania does more than just declare her message of humanity; she embodies it. A striking visual motif in the film concerns the characters catching their reflections in glass as their profiles merge with those of others, whether in a photo of Hind Rajab or the image of a colleague. May all who see ‘The Voice of Hind Rajab’ also see themselves reflected in the movie: both in the innocent life senselessly taken from the world too early and in those with the solemn responsibility to protect all others.” – GE [read our review]
