A gorgeous and sardonic fable about a screwup who stumbles her way toward getting her life together, Frances Ha remains the most essential collaboration between Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig. In an absolutely must-watch performance, Gerwig plays New York dancer Frances as she loses connection with her best friend, Sophie (an underrated Mickey Sumner), and as her rapidly approaching 30s begin to catch up to her. The joy of Frances Ha comes from its romantic vantage on New York City living and Frances’s antics: twirling herself through the streets to David Bowie, having boy roommates, taking an ill-advised trip to France. But it also possesses a sly quotability that leaves gems hiding in plain sight.
The Green Knight (2021)
Director: David Lowery
Genre: Fantasy/Adventure
Notable cast: Dev Patel, Ralph Ineson, Alicia Vikander, Joel Edgerton, Sarita Choudhury, Sean Harris, Kate Dickie, Erin Kellyman, and Barry Keoghan
MPA rating: R
Rotten Tomatoes: 89%
Metacritic: 85
Director David Lowery has one of the boldest imaginations in modern movies and his film. The Green Knight retells the story of Gawain as only he might have the guts to do: with high theatricality, steeped in mud, and unafraid of its medieval roots. “Lowery adeptly balances the gritty, if wholly imagined, reality with the film’s supernatural swirl, somehow making manifest the very concept of myth, grounded in human experience but convinced of its connection to the otherworldly,” VF wrote in a 2021 review. The film’s release was delayed due to covid, so it had a muted theatrical life and still feels like it hasn’t gotten its due–but a cult of fans is amassing around its earthy, strange, and unstuffy approach to a historical literary text.
Happy as Lazzaro (2018)
Director: Alice Rohrwacher
Genre: Drama
Notable cast: Adriano Tardiolo, Sergi López, and Alba Rohrwacher
MPA rating: PG-13
Rotten Tomatoes: 91%
Metacritic: 87
Director Alice Rohrwacher earned a legion of new fans from 2023’s Josh O’Conner–led La Chimera—but prior to that masterpiece, she made another with this idiosyncratic fable. Another foray into symbolic magical realism, the story of frozen-in-time sweetheart farmhand Lazzaro is used by Rohwacher to weave a magical examination of class and exploitation. Around its midpoint, the film takes a daring leap that recontextualizes everything we have seen as more than meets the eye, setting the tender Lazzaro on a course for tragedy to come. It’s one of Rohrwacher’s bespoke visual wonders that seem to commune with some kind of cinematic deity, casting a spell that lingers long after viewing.
His Three Daughters (2024)
Director: Azazel Jacobs
Genre: Drama
Notable cast: Carrie Coon, Natasha Lyonne, Elizabeth Olsen, Jovan Adepo, and Jay O. Sanders
MPA rating: R
Rotten Tomatoes: 98%
Metacritic: 83
Carrie Coon, Natasha Lyonne, and Elizabeth Olsen give three revelatory performances as diametrically opposed estranged siblings—the dictator, the hippie, and the burnout, respectively. They cram together in a tiny New York City apartment as they await the death of their father. They battle over groceries, monologue about the Grateful Dead, and try (and fail) to keep their many past resentments at bay. Sure, His Three Daughters is at times a painful watch, brimming with claustrophobic tension and biting wit. But writer-director Azazel Jacobs gives this chamber piece on death and family a light touch, lifting it off into something unexpected in its emotional depth and making for one of 2024’s best films.
The Irishman (2019)
Director: Martin Scorsese
Genre: Crime
Notable cast: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Harvey Keitel, Bobby Cannavale, Ray Romano, Stephen Graham, Jesse Plemons, Jack Huston, Marin Ireland, and Anna Paquin
MPA rating: R
Rotten Tomatoes: 95%
Metacritic: 94
