‘The Secret Agent’
Director: Kleber Mendonca Filho
Starring: Wagner Moura, Roberio Diogenes
The Brazilian director’s slow-burn political thriller is visually stunning and horribly tense. Set during his homeland’s turbulent 1970s — under a military dictatorship that committed extensive human rights abuses — “this ambitious, layered, and beautifully realized movie is loaded with timely reminders of what happens when political violence and moral turpitude are normalized,” our reviewer wrote. Moura is compelling as an academic on the run, having accused a government minister (correctly) of corruption. And Diogenes makes corrupt cop Euclides one of the great screen villains of recent years. The film is never didactic, though; Filho makes his points subtly and with dark humor.
‘Hamnet’
Director: Chloé Zhao
Starring: Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal, Emily Watson
Buckley deservedly picked up this year’s Best Actress Oscar for her moving portrayal of William Shakespeare’s wife Agnes (more commonly known as Anne) Hathaway in Zhao’s dramatization of the couple’s life after the death of their 11-year-old son, Hamnet, which speculates that he was the inspiration for Shakespeare’s play “Hamlet.” Mescal is equally impressive as the famed English playwright, and together he and Buckley lend Zhao’s thoughtful, heartbreaking screenplay (co-written with author Maggie O’Farrell, who wrote the book on which it is based) serious emotional weight.
‘28 Years Later: The Bone Temple’
Director: Nia DaCosta
Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Jack O’Connell, Alfie Williams
Despite a relatively weak showing at the box office, the fourth installment in the post-apocalyptic “28 Days Later” film series might just be better than the excellent 2001 original, thanks largely to O’Connell’s unhinged turn as “Sir Lord” Jimmy Crystal, leader of a satanic cult — both childlike and horrifically violent — preying on survivors of the viral outbreak that has turned most of humanity into zombie-like creatures known as the Infected. Add in Ralph Fiennes as former GP Ian Kelson, who has dedicated himself to memorializing the victims of the epidemic, and is now trying to befriend — or at least placate — the Alpha Infected known as Samson, together with plenty of action and gore, and you’ve got a terrific piece of horror.
‘No Other Choice’
Director: Park Chan-wook
Starring: Lee Byung-hun, Son Ye-jin, Park Hee-soon
This South Korean dark satirical crime-drama is based on Donald Westlake’s novel “The Ax.” It follows Man-su, a veteran employee of a paper company, who is laid off after upsetting the company’s new owners and is unable to find another job. As his family are forced to cut back on expenditure, Man-su takes drastic measures to ensure he can reenter the labor force. Chan-wook tells the tale with his customary cinematic mastery.
‘Backrooms’
Director: Kane Parsons
Starring: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve, Mark Duplass
Parsons’ feature-length debut expands on his eponymous web series, itself inspired by the fictional “Backrooms” creepypasta — arguably the most famous liminal space online. Ejiofor plays Clark, a disillusioned furniture store manager who discovers an entrance to the Backrooms, where he finds various bizarre spaces and encounters mysterious humanoid entities. Parsons demonstrates his filmmaking chops impressively — stretching out the tension, creating memorably disturbing imagery, and, despite an often-sparse script, giving the story emotional and psychological depth.
‘The Bride!’
Director: Maggie Gyllenhaal
Starring: Jessie Buckley, Christian Bale, Peter Sarsgaard
Gyllenhaal second feature divided critics (although not audiences, who largely stayed away, meaning it grossed just $24 million at the box office, despite costing around $90 million to make). Some felt her take on the “Bride of Franksenstein” story — told, for once, from the Bride’s point of view — was an incoherent mess; others enjoyed its brash creativity. Both sides have a point. What’s undeniable is that Gyllenhaal takes some big creative swings — something to be applauded in these days of Hollywood milking old IP and dumbing everything down — and that Buckley turns in another memorably breathtaking performance.
‘Obsession’
Director: Curry Barker
Starring: Michael Johnston, Inde Navarrette, Cooper Tomlinson
After the success of “Milk & Serial” — the ‘found-footage’ horror film he shot for $800 and released on YouTube for free — expectations were high for Barker’s next outing (filmed for the still-shockingly small sum of $750,000). He more than met those expectations. “Obsession” — which traces the aftermath of a young man using a magic One Wish Willow to get the object of his affection to love him “more than anything else in the world” — has so far pulled in more than $400 million worldwide thanks to its mix of humor, thrills, and OTT violence/gore, all based around that old cliché: Be careful what you wish for.
