Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and there are a number of films that got lost in the shuffle of big studio releases this year, but they are films that Moviewallas' Yazdi Pithavala and I feel grateful for.
Overlooked Films of 2024
Beth's picks
"Strange Darling" (streaming on Prime Video)
"Humane" (streaming on Shudder and Google Play Movies)
"Never Look Away" (streaming on Apple TV+, Prime Video, and Fandango at Home)
Yazdi's picks
"All We Imagine As Light" (now playing at Reading Town Square and Angelika Film Center)
"Challengers" (streaming on Apple TV+ and Fandango at Home)
"My Old Ass" (streaming on Prime Video)
"Strange Darling" hit festivals last year, but was released in cinemas this year. The less you know about this film the better. I’m not even sure I want to tell you the genre, but I will say it is extremely tense, violent, weirdly funny and absolutely brilliantly crafted. It is written and directed by J.T. Mollner, only his second feature, but it is an expertly structured film that I just fell in love with it.
Actor Giovanni Ribisi served as the cinematographer, and it is stunning and stylized. This was such a surprise and absolute cinematic delight. But please, do not watch the trailer, do not watch a YouTube video explaining it. Just go in blind.
Next up, I am supremely grateful for Caitlin Cronenberg's "Humane." What I love about David Cronenberg’s kids (his son Brandon has a few films under his belt) is that while they obviously have their dad’s DNA, they also each have a unique voice. This is her first feature, and she gives us a near-future dystopian world where humanity must lose 20% of its population in order to survive an environmental collapse. We spend one night with a family in which the high profile father plans to enlist in the government's new euthanasia program. But when things don’t quite go as planned, the family dinner serves up some ugly truths about human nature. The film is savagely funny, and Caitlin is far more humorous than her dad or brother. It is a masterfully calibrated film, a slow burn but well worth the pay off.
And finally, I will tout Lucy Lawless' new documentary "Never Look Away" about New Zealand camerawoman Margaret Moth. (Check out my review.)
Pithavala's first pick is "All We Imagine as Light," which screened as part of San Diego Asian Film Festival earlier this month and is currently in cinemas. It won the Grand Prix award at Cannes this year.
"It is a patient examination of a few characters on the fringes of society in modern day Mumbai. There is a documentary-like rigor to the film, which makes it ring authentic. The film is languid, meditative and without judgment. And it just filled me up. I think the film is ultimately a plea for kindness; a plea to create a family when one’s own fails you," Pithavala said.
He also expressed gratitude for "Challengers," which used tennis as the backdrop for a zippy love triangle from Luca Guadagnino.
"I am thankful for filmmakers like him who are constantly making smart, challenging, original films," Pithavala said, "This one examines tennis as a metaphor for sex. These are three intelligent, highly driven individuals who know better, but just can’t keep their hands off each other."
And his final pick is "My Old Ass" from Megan Park.
"It is an independent film about an older teen who takes mushrooms and meets her own older self," Pithavala said. "What seems initially to be just a raunchy comedy about an older-self dispensing advice to the younger self, eventually morphs unexpectedly into something else."
So if you are looking to watch something to be thankful for that is not a holiday comedy or family drama, I hope you will turn to one of these overlooked gems.
