It’s the final month of the year, which means much of our attention will be turned to sharing various best-of-2023 rundowns throughout December. The month also brings many of the year’s most noteworthy films, which we’ve rounded up before––some of which will be opening in a more limited capacity and expanding next month.
We should also note some top November picks like The Boy and the Heron and May December are finally getting in front of wider audiences, with the former getting a wide release on December 8 and the latter arriving on Netflix this Friday. For this round-up we’re also not including films getting limited one-week-only runs this month, such as Noora Niasari’s Shayda on December 1 and Ava DuVernay’s Origin and Alice Rohrwacher’s La Chimera on December 8.
14. Memory (Michel Franco; Dec. 22)
Every year there’s at least one film that premieres at...
We should also note some top November picks like The Boy and the Heron and May December are finally getting in front of wider audiences, with the former getting a wide release on December 8 and the latter arriving on Netflix this Friday. For this round-up we’re also not including films getting limited one-week-only runs this month, such as Noora Niasari’s Shayda on December 1 and Ava DuVernay’s Origin and Alice Rohrwacher’s La Chimera on December 8.
14. Memory (Michel Franco; Dec. 22)
Every year there’s at least one film that premieres at...
- 12/1/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
The Human Surge 3.Following a run of inventive and playful short films, Argentine filmmaker Eduardo Williams won the Golden Leopard in the Filmmakers of the Present section at the 2016 Locarno Film Festival for his first feature, The Human Surge. With its formal ingenuity, playful mixing of documentary and fiction modes, and perceptive depictions of contemporary global youth cultures, the film resonated with viewers eager for new forms of cinema. This year, he returned to Locarno with a sequel of sorts, The Human Surge 3 (there is no Human Surge 2; you can choose your own explanation as to why). The Human Surge 3 revisits similar territory to its predecessor, and although this risks turning something fresh into a formula, Williams fortunately makes a number of technological and thematic alterations to his model. The original film follows groups of young people across Argentina, Mozambique, and the Philippines. Williams tracks their travels in long,...
- 10/5/2023
- MUBI
In an interview with the Metrograph Journal, Eduardo Williams remembers the first time he ventured into a jungle. Rumor had it the forest teemed with cougars, but the Argentinian director saw none; instead, all he experienced was a curious mix of wonder and terror, poised between “wanting to see the wild animal but also being afraid.” Anyone mildly acquainted with the filmmaker’s oeuvre––a handful of shorts and two features to date––will recognize that as an accurate description of what it means to dive into his cinema. There is something exhilarating about Williams’ films: experimental works in the most literal sense of the word, they combine conceptual audacity with technological virtuosity to stress-test the boundaries of what cinema can still be and mean. To watch them is to be ushered into unmapped universes pullulating with images that feel in turns familiar and perturbing. Each time out, Williams doesn...
- 9/28/2023
- by Leonardo Goi
- The Film Stage
Exhibiting a deliberately fragmentary aesthetic that sought to emulate the context-free disorientation of life mediated through laptops and phone screens, Eduardo Williams’s The Human Surge earned him the Golden Leopard at 2016’s Locarno Film Festival, as well as no small amount of bemusement and scorn from other quarters. The idea that such an obtuse experimental work could have any franchise potential inspired the jokey title of the Argentine filmmaker’s latest, The Human Surge 3. Though mostly unrelated to its predecessor, the film shares its jarring, hyperlinked structure and its focus on the leisure time and everyday routines of unmoored, underemployed youths in liminal settings around the world.
The Human Surge 3 hops with no sense of urgency or discernible goal between Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, Peru, and a variety of other spots, its action (or lack thereof) usually taking place against a backdrop of remote rural villages, natural idylls,...
The Human Surge 3 hops with no sense of urgency or discernible goal between Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, Peru, and a variety of other spots, its action (or lack thereof) usually taking place against a backdrop of remote rural villages, natural idylls,...
- 9/27/2023
- by David Robb
- Slant Magazine
Following the first three section announcements, the final film section of the 61st New York Film Festival has been unveiled with Currents. Complementing the Main Slate, tracing a more complete picture of contemporary cinema with an emphasis on new and innovative forms and voices, the section presents a diverse offering of productions by filmmakers and artists working at the vanguard of the medium.
Highlights include Currents Opening Night selection Eduardo Williams’ The Human Surge 3, Thien An Pham’s Cannes winner Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell, Joanna Arnow’s The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed, a special program featuring Jean-Luc Godard, Wang Bing, and Pedro Costa––with Trailer of a Film That Will Never Exist: Phony Wars, Man in Black, and The Daughters of Fire (As Filhas do Fogo), respectively––and much more.
“The filmmakers in this year’s Currents lineup range from well-known veterans to prodigious newcomers,...
Highlights include Currents Opening Night selection Eduardo Williams’ The Human Surge 3, Thien An Pham’s Cannes winner Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell, Joanna Arnow’s The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed, a special program featuring Jean-Luc Godard, Wang Bing, and Pedro Costa––with Trailer of a Film That Will Never Exist: Phony Wars, Man in Black, and The Daughters of Fire (As Filhas do Fogo), respectively––and much more.
“The filmmakers in this year’s Currents lineup range from well-known veterans to prodigious newcomers,...
- 8/23/2023
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit platforms. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.
The Commuter (Jaume Collet-Serra)
In the world of Hollywood where “action” is often synonymous with CGI-heavy monstrosities splattered across the screen backed by an assaultive sound design, the blissful visual coherence and immaculately-constructed thrills in the films of Jaume Collet-Serra can feel like the third coming of Alfred Hitchcock (after Brian De Palma, of course). Following a trio of films led by Liam Neeson, he shortened his scope...
The Commuter (Jaume Collet-Serra)
In the world of Hollywood where “action” is often synonymous with CGI-heavy monstrosities splattered across the screen backed by an assaultive sound design, the blissful visual coherence and immaculately-constructed thrills in the films of Jaume Collet-Serra can feel like the third coming of Alfred Hitchcock (after Brian De Palma, of course). Following a trio of films led by Liam Neeson, he shortened his scope...
- 4/6/2018
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Appropriately enough for one of the oddest years in recent memory, my favorite films from 2017 are a motley, often contradictory mix. They reflect something that can only be described a general malaise in the world cinema, which created many fine films but few standouts.
Moreso than in years past, even the films that quickened my heart usually did so in subtle, perplexing ways, and many of the most fascinating works, such as The Human Surge, By the Time It Gets Dark, and Kékzakállú, to name three magnificent whatsits that didn’t crack the upper echelon of my list, were also largely frustrating and confounding.
Perhaps this accounts for the unexpected presence of not just one, but three franchise films on the following list: the perfect balance of quality and genuine daring was often found in the oddest places this year. One exceedingly important and noteworthy exclusion: Twin Peaks: The Return,...
Moreso than in years past, even the films that quickened my heart usually did so in subtle, perplexing ways, and many of the most fascinating works, such as The Human Surge, By the Time It Gets Dark, and Kékzakállú, to name three magnificent whatsits that didn’t crack the upper echelon of my list, were also largely frustrating and confounding.
Perhaps this accounts for the unexpected presence of not just one, but three franchise films on the following list: the perfect balance of quality and genuine daring was often found in the oddest places this year. One exceedingly important and noteworthy exclusion: Twin Peaks: The Return,...
- 1/1/2018
- by Ryan Swen
- The Film Stage
2017 was a hell of a year, no? It’s hard to discuss a year in review, even as specific as one about cinema, without trying to make amends with the fact that this has been a chaotic year on a global level. However, as we as a world become more divided, cinema from around the world is slowly evolving the language with which we communicate on a global level. Films with a focus as specific as a woman dealing with the loss of her brother to one looking at the experiences of teenage girls in the Us, all reaching deep truths about the human condition that do their small part in bringing all of us together. And with that, these are the ten best motion pictures of 2017.
Oh, first, a disclaimer that will, itself divide. Twin Peaks: The Return is absolutely a movie, and is the greatest cinematic achievement of this century.
Oh, first, a disclaimer that will, itself divide. Twin Peaks: The Return is absolutely a movie, and is the greatest cinematic achievement of this century.
- 12/31/2017
- by Joshua Brunsting
- CriterionCast
While we aim to discuss a wide breadth of films each year, few things give us more pleasure than the arrival of bold, new voices. It’s why we venture to festivals and pore over a variety of different features that might bring to light some emerging talent. This year was an especially notable time for new directors making their stamp, and we’re highlighting the handful of 2017 debuts that most impressed us.
Below, one can check out a list spanning a variety of different genres and distributions, from those that barely received a theatrical release to wide bows. In years to come, take note as these helmers (hopefully) ascend.
The Blackcoat’s Daughter (Osgood Perkins)
Osgood Perkins’ debut feature, The Blackcoat’s Daughter – originally known as February at its premiere – is a stylish exercise in dread, teasing out its slow-drip horrors with precision, and building a deliriously evil presence that hovers along the fringes.
Below, one can check out a list spanning a variety of different genres and distributions, from those that barely received a theatrical release to wide bows. In years to come, take note as these helmers (hopefully) ascend.
The Blackcoat’s Daughter (Osgood Perkins)
Osgood Perkins’ debut feature, The Blackcoat’s Daughter – originally known as February at its premiere – is a stylish exercise in dread, teasing out its slow-drip horrors with precision, and building a deliriously evil presence that hovers along the fringes.
- 12/20/2017
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
“The Human Surge” screened last year at the Locarno International Film Festival, where it picked up the top prize in the “Filmmakers of the Present” sidebar. Now, Argentinian director Eduardo Williams’ first feature will open in theaters in the United States on March 3. In celebration, IndieWire is pleased to debut both the film’s official poster and trailer.
Read More: ‘The Human Surge’ Is The Most Ambitious Debut Film of the Year – Review
The film takes viewers on a trip through three different countries and continents: Argentina’s capital city of Buenos Aires, Mozambique and the Philippines. The story focuses on the three main characters’ relationship with technology and how it has caused a lack of interaction with the real world around them. Cast members include Sergio Morosini, Chai Fonacier, Domingos Marengula, Rixel Manimtim, Manuel Asucan, Irene Doliente Paña, and Shine Marx. The film contains Spanish, Portuguese and Filipino dialogue.
Read More: ‘The Human Surge’ Is The Most Ambitious Debut Film of the Year – Review
The film takes viewers on a trip through three different countries and continents: Argentina’s capital city of Buenos Aires, Mozambique and the Philippines. The story focuses on the three main characters’ relationship with technology and how it has caused a lack of interaction with the real world around them. Cast members include Sergio Morosini, Chai Fonacier, Domingos Marengula, Rixel Manimtim, Manuel Asucan, Irene Doliente Paña, and Shine Marx. The film contains Spanish, Portuguese and Filipino dialogue.
- 2/16/2017
- by Yoselin Acevedo
- Indiewire
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