Synopsis

Twelve-year-old best friends Ish and Maram spend their days cruising around on their bikes, building makeshift forts in the nearby woods, and hanging out with their mates at the pool. Ish, who has recently lost his mother, is younger, smaller, and less assertive, while Maram, who is under his father’s thumb at home, has a bit more swagger. As they lean into the end of boyhood, the pair can rely on each other—until a police stop-and-search deeply shakes their bond.

With fine nuance and a lived-in sense of place, musician and artist Imran Perretta paints a deeply felt portrait that explores young male friendship at a precarious moment. The boys’ slang-heavy conversations are affectionately peppered with teasing insults and terms of endearment. News reports of the war in Gaza and of crackdowns on protests are ever present, providing an unsettling backdrop to the daily lives of the Muslim and South Asian communities the boys call home. As an increasingly ubiquitous police presence—in the form of street patrols and the deployment of facial recognition technology—ratchets up tensions, Ish breathes empathy and understanding into its depiction of the uneasy path to manhood.

Synopsis

After accidentally hitting a dog on the road, Eghbal arrives at a garage for a damage assessment. Mechanic Vahid is shocked to recognize the man as his torturer from his time as a political prisoner. Bent on revenge, he immediately springs into action. He follows Eghbal home, kidnaps him, and stows him away in his van. The only problem now: he can’t be certain of the man’s true identity. Over the next 24 hours, he enlists the help of friends and acquaintances who had been detained at the same prison. Although Vahid is desperate for retribution, he’s wracked with doubt.

Director Jafar Panahi, previously banned from filmmaking and imprisoned for his political views, injects his intricate revenge thriller with affecting personal detail. Winner of this year’s Palme d’Or, It Was Just an Accident is a profound, brave rumination on the lasting effects of political trauma and the complex morality of recrimination.

Synopsis

Jay Kelly, the new film from Academy Award nominee Noah Baumbach, follows famous movie actor Jay Kelly (George Clooney) as he embarks on a journey of self discovery confronting both his past and present, accompanied by his devoted manager Ron (Adam Sandler). Poignant and humor filled, epic and intimate, Jay Kelly is pitched at the intersection of life’s regrets and notable glories.

Synopsis

A tender rumination on the tenuous bonds of family, the changing Icelandic landscape, and the passage of time itself, The Love That Remains chronicles a year in the life of a family of five as the parents navigate their separation. Anna, an artist who works with natural materials to create large canvases, is frustrated with her professional life and hoping to land an exhibition. Her husband, Magnus, is often away working on a fishing trawler, and his extended absences put a strain on the family. As the love between Anna and Magnus fades, the couple and their three children are forced to redefine their relationships to one another.

Infusing the narrative with surreal flourishes, a dreamy piano score, stunning landscape photography, and a winning performance from Panda the dog, director Hlynur Pálmason (2022’s Godland) offers a meditative, tragicomic portrait of a family in crisis.

Synopsis

In a sedate corner of Massachusetts circa 1970, James Blaine Mooney (Josh O’Connor) is an unemployed carpenter who has yet to live up to the expectations of his middle-class upbringing. With his eyes on easy money, Mooney plots his first big theft with a ragtag group of local buddies to steal a series of abstract paintings from a small regional museum. But things don’t go exactly as planned, and Mooney finds himself in one mishap after another, as both his personal and professional life unravel.

Like director Kelly Reichardt’s previous films Night Moves and Meek’s Cutoff, The Mastermind reinvents genre yet again, here reshaping the heist movie into a study of the unforeseen consequences of one man’s bad decisions and lack of self-awareness. Enhanced by a percussive ‘70s-inspired jazzy score, as well as O’Connor’s skillful performance as the vain and blundering so-called “mastermind,” this amusing low-key drama is also one of Reichardt’s wittiest films. Beneath its dry humor lies a biting and timely satire about class, privilege, and the denial of responsibility.