As the summer comes to an end, August delivers the season’s most eclectic lineup of films. From a few studio highlights to Cannes premieres to festival favorites some years back that are finally arriving, there are many worthwhile opportunities to beat the heat.

14. Harvest (Athina Rachel Tsangari; Aug. 1 in theaters and Aug. 8 on MUBI)

One of the most beautifully shot films of the year, courtesy of Sean Price Williams, Athina Rachel Tsangari’s period piece Harvest is rolling out this month. Savina Petkova said in her Venice review, “An unnamed village, an unknown time; somewhere in Britain, sometime in the Late Middle Ages, something is about to end. Athina Rachel Tsangari’s Harvest sees the twilight of an old social order, but is not mourning a paradise lost. That would be too simplistic a comparison for a filmmaker whose work has always succeeded in weaving the allegorical with the political, such as gender constructs in Attenberg or Chevalier. Nine years after the latter, the Greek director returns to feature filmmaking with an adaptation of Jim Crace’s acclaimed book of the same name, making Harvest her third film and first period piece.”

13. A Little Prayer (Angus MacLachlan; Aug. 29)

A lovely film that’s had quite a path to distribution is finally arriving this summer. Junebug writer Angus MacLachlan’s latest feature A Little Prayer premiered back at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, where it was picked up by Sony Pictures Classics. After undisclosed reasons, the deal fell apart and now Music Box Films has come to the rescue, setting an August 29 release for the drama starring David Strathairn, Jane Levy, Will Pullen, Celia Weston, Dascha Polanco, and Anna Camp. As Jake Kring-Schreifels said in his review, “In the quiet, peaceful mornings that ease your way into writer-director Angus MacLachlan’s A Little Prayer, a woman belts out gospel songs that echo down the block. They’re a bleary-eyed nuisance to many waking in this small, North Carolina neighborhood, but Bill Brass (David Straitharn) and his daughter-in-law Tammy (Jane Levy) have a mutual fascination with them, rising early with curiosity and wonder. Why does she sing them? Where do they come from exactly? The pair eventually attempt to investigate their leafy streets to find the source, yet as the spirituals dissipate and leave them alone in bird-chirping silence, they seem to revel in their beautiful, unsolved mystery.”

12. Suspended Time (Olivier Assayas; Aug. 15)

It’s been such a long wait for Olivier Assayas’ Suspended Time, which premiered back at the 2024 Berlinale Film Festival, that the director has already shot another feature in the meantime, with The Wizard of the Kremlin gearing up for a Venice debut. Prior to that, his personal, 2020-set drama will arrive in theaters from Music Box Films beginning August 15. Rory O’Connor said in his review, “The memes won’t let you forget, but 2019 was half a decade ago. That was also the year Olivier Assayas’ Wasp Network––an odd return to the realm of his TV series Carlos, and subsequently picked up by Narcos-era Netflix––premiered at the Venice Film Festival. That was Assayas’ last feature, making the intervening period (Irma Vep for HBO aside) the longest dry patch of his 38-year career. The dexterous director returns this week to the Berlinale with the aptly titled Suspended Time, a personal essay wrapped up in an effortless comedy that shows no signs whatsoever of long gestation. Naturally, it’s all the better for it.”

11. Lurker (Alex Russell; Aug. 22)

One of the most buzzed-about titles to come out of Sundance and New Directors/New Films this year, Lurker marks the directorial debut from The Bear and Beef writer-producer Alex Russell. The cat-and-mouse thriller starring Théodore Pellerin, Archie Madekwe, Zack Fox, Havana Rose Liu, Wale Onayemi, Daniel Zolghadri, and Sunny Suljic will arrive this month. Daniel Eagan said in our ND/NF preview, “The thirst for celebrity drives Lurker, a canny, mean-spirited look at a music industry driven by viral videos. Matthew (Théodore Pellerin), a clerk in a clothing store, worms his way into the entourage of Oliver (Archie Madekwe), a ‘rising’ pop star. Director Alex Russell stages the film’s back-stabbings and betrayals as if they were intrigues in a royal court. Matthew’s claims to Oliver become more gruesome as both gain more success. Russell, who worked on The Bear and Beef, makes it clear that talent has nothing to do with fame.”

10. Souleymane’s Story (Boris Lojkine; Aug. 1)

One of our favorite discoveries from last year’s Cannes Film Festival, Boris Lojkine’s Souleymane’s Story went on to pick up the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize, the Un Certain Regard prize for Best Actor (Abou Sangare), and the FIPRESCI Prize. Rory O’Connor said in his review, “This nerve-shredder is the latest socio-political treatise from Boris Lojkine, director of Hope (which followed a young woman’s attempts to emigrate from Cameroon to Europe) and Camille (a biopic of the French photojournalist Camille Lepage, who died while covering the conflict in Central African Republic in 2014). Souleymane’s Story premiered in Un Certain Regard, where both Sangare and Lojkine were rightly rewarded for their efforts. It was, for my money, the best discovery of this year’s Cannes Film Festival and, somewhat ironically, exactly the kind of work that used to define it. Since the Dardenne brothers’ win with Rosetta in 1999, at least four Palme d’Ors have gone to titles of Rosetta‘s ilk, but that style of filmmaking has become desperately unfashionable. Souleymane suggests there may be life in it yet.”

9. Weapons (Zach Cregger; Aug. 8)

After shifting from his comedy days in The Whitest Kids U’ Know for his horror debut Barbarian, Zach Cregger’s next project has been highly anticipated and deeply secretive. Led by Josh Brolin, Julia Garner, Alden Ehrenreich, Austin Abrams, Cary Christopher, Benedict Wong, and Amy Madigan, Weapons took the summer slot previously occupied by Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another––an interesting coincidence as Magnolia comparisons are being bandied about. Here’s hoping Cregger’s feature, about a town in which all but one child mysteriously vanishes from a classroom, is another horror triumph for WB after Ryan Coogler’s Sinners.

8. The Naked Gun (Akiva Schaffer; Aug. 1)

In a downright dire summer, much less year, for studio comedies, the one that most has our attention is a new take on The Naked Gun from Akiva Schaffer, the Lonely Island member and brilliant mind behind Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping and Hot Rod. With Liam Neeson onboard as the son of Leslie Nielsen’s Frank Drebin, the cast also includes Pamela Anderson, Paul Walter Hauser, CCH Pounder, Kevin Durand, Cody Rhodes, Liza Koshy, Eddie Yu, and Danny Huston. On paper it’s a perfect pairing of director and material; here’s hoping Schaffer breathes new laughs into the dormant spoof genre, which early reviews suggest is the case.

7. Stranger Eyes (Yeo Siew Hua; Aug. 29)

After landing on our radar with his Golden Leopard-winning feature A Land Imagined, Singaporean director Yeo Siew Hua returned to the festival circuit last fall with his Venice premiere Stranger Eyes. The mysterious drama, starring Tsai Ming-liang regular Lee Kang-sheng, will now get a release at the end of the month. Leonardo Goi said in his Venice review, “In a film so concerned with our current media regime––the way we produce and consume images of each other––Lee saunters into Stranger Eyes as a kind of anomaly. There is a stark contrast between the surgical eyes of CCTV cameras and the actor’s own, the way surveillance devices capture reality and how Lee’s Wu processes it. I do not mean to downplay Wu and Panna’s turns. The former in particular channels a feverish angst, and his transformation from object of Wu’s obsession into voyeur himself largely works. But Stranger Eyes belongs to Lee. Whether or not Yeo wrote it with him in mind, I can’t think of a better performer to flesh out the chasm that powers the film: between different ways of looking, between fears as old as time itself and the state-of-the-art technology used to bring them to light.”

6. Splitsville (Michael Angelo Covino; Aug. 22)

Six years after their breakout feature The Climb, Michael Angelo Covino and Kyle Marvin have returned, with stars in tow, for Splitsville, a rom-com as unexpected as it his hilarious. After a Cannes premiere, it’ll now arrive in theaters this month. Luke Hicks said in his review, “Marvin and Covino have certainly carved a distinct path in this early phase of their careers. Apart, Covino caught the acting bug a bit more than Marvin, picking up roles in Oscar contender News of the World and starry ensemble dud Riff Raff, while Marvin won a significant supporting role in the Apple TV+ miniseries WeCrashed and launched his feature directing career with, of all things, 80 for Brady. Together they write whip-smart, Sorkin-quick buddy comedies that tee up the duo’s inimitable comedic chemistry and timing. Their relatable, down-to-earth brand of foolhardy, dipshit-driven, erratic comedy feels like the arrival of a style that could catch fire––a fresh comedic voice that harkens back to the emergence of Wes Anderson’s playfully dry indie tone in the ‘90s.”

5. Highest 2 Lowest (Spike Lee; Aug. 15)

Spike Lee’s first narrative feature in five years is Highest 2 Lowest, his reimagining of Akira Kurosawa’s High and Low that marks a reteam with Denzel Washington after Mo’ Better Blues, Malcolm X, He Got Game, and Inside Man. Also starring Jeffrey Wright, Ilfenesh Hadera, and A$AP Rocky, the film premiered at Cannes a few months ago and is now getting a summer theatrical release before dropping on Apple TV+ at the top of September. Luke Hicks said in his review, “The duo is responsible for one of cinema’s greatest cinematic achievements, Malcolm X, while the other three would have a fighting chance at most directors’ best. If Highest 2 Lowest falls on the lower end of their partnership, the sparks of brilliance they’ve found in the past will flare up multiple times.”

4. My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow (Julia Loktev; Aug. 15)

Thirteen long years since her brilliant feature The Loneliest Planet, Julia Loktev finally returned last fall with a five-hour documentary––the first of a two-part project. World-premiering at the New York Film Festival, the intimate, intricate My Undesirable Friends: Part I — Last Air in Moscow finds Loktev capturing Putin’s assault on independent journalism in Russia, which was only exacerbated by his full-on attack on Ukraine. Loktev documented a group of her friends fighting the good fight running TV Rain, Russia’s last remaining independent news channel. As Luke Hicks said in his NYFF review, “Through Loktev’s run-and-gun immersion in their world, we begin to understand how the groundwork is laid to propagandize and miseducate the masses, a huge swath of whom see straight through it.”

3. By the Stream (Hong Sangsoo; Aug. 8)

For an artist with so prolific an output as Hong Sangsoo, and particularly when each film works as a larger career statement, it’s a touch futile to note the high marks, but––speaking as someone who has seen nearly all of films––By the Stream is certainly special. As David Katz said in his review from Locarno, “By the Stream’s departures, and relatedly its virtues, are a bit more pronounced. Its running time almost grazes two hours––more typical in the pre-2010 era when he was shooting on film and corralling larger production resources––and the human observations avoid a glancing vignette form; true to the title, it’s a long soak in a certain kind of soulful, middle-class malaise, not far removed from John Cassavetes’ more restrained films.”

2. The Sparrow in the Chimney (Ramon Zürcher; Aug. 1)

Since its premiere at last year’s Locarno Film Festival, we’ve long-awaited the U.S. release of Ramon Zürcher’s The Sparrow in the Chimney, a trilogy-capper following the formally thrilling The Strange Little Cat and The Girl and the Spider. Starring Maren Eggert, Britta Hammelstein, Andreas Döhler, and Milian Zerzawy, the Zürcher brothers’ latest captures a dysfunctional family over the course of three days, and the results are just as captivating as their previous work. As Leonardo Goi said in his review, “Cat and Spider both poked at that invisible, dreamlike force, but never fully surrendered to it, which gave way to a peculiar edge-of-the-cliff feeling, as if the films were constantly threatening to venture into a different reality altogether but never fully managed. This is what, in my book, makes the Zürchers’ cinema so gripping, and why The Sparrow in the Chimney feels so exhilarating.”

1. Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass (The Quay Brothers; Aug. 29)

In a momentous cinematic event, the Quay Brothers are returning with their first feature since 2005. Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass is a stop-motion / live-action endeavor inspired by the works of Jewish-Polish author and artist Bruno Schulz. Oliver Weir said in our BFI London review, “This structural inside-outness is due in part to the film’s visual style, which, as with much of the Quays’ work, is rooted in German Expressionism. Every texture, every movement, every melody is suffused with weight and symbolism, and the characters are entirely subordinate to these elements: they have no internal state, no sense of being separate from their surroundings; everything they think or feel is externalized in the intricate sets, in the distorted shadows and monosyllabic close-ups, in the calligraphic swirls of smoke, and in the silver shimmer of their blurred faces. It is a haunting effect similar to the mood of Kafka’s The Castle in that it instills in every moment a pervasive ambiguity, an existential dislocation, which is never resolved and which never abates.”

Also Coming to Theaters

No more articles