The first post-awards-season month of the year brings quite a mountain of notable, varied releases. From top winners at last year’s Locarno and Rotterdam to deeply impressive directorial debuts to the latest from (perhaps) America’s most prolific major director, there’s much to seek out.
15. Heads or Tails (Alessio Rigo de Righi, Matteo Zoppis; April 10)
Following their transportive adventure The Tale of King Crab, directors Alessio Rigo de Righi and Matteo Zoppis have now returned, and this time with a major star in tow. Starring John C. Reilly as Buffalo Bill, Heads or Tails also brings together Nadia Tereszkiewicz, Alessandro Borghi, Peter Lanzani, Mirko Artuso, Gabrielle Silli, and Gianni Garko. Rory O’Connor said in his review, “I could name few living filmmakers better equipped for the Western than Alessio Rigo de Righi and Matteo Zoppis. The duo behind The Tale of King Crab––a film I revere like a sacred relic––have created their own niche in contemporary Italian magical realism, somewhere adjacent to Alice Rohrwacher and Pietro Marcello while very much its own thing. Their latest is called Heads or Tails and it’s another of the filmmakers’ ethereal campfire stories. If perhaps not the fullest realization of their Western potential, it will certainly do until that gets here.”
14. Erupcja (Pete Ohs; April 17)
After 2024’s Brat Summer, the last seven months or so could be considered Brat Cinema. Charli XCX has debuted a half-dozen features across festivals since September and, following the theatrical release of The Moment, next is Pete Ohs’ Erupcja. Premiering at TIFF last fall, the diverting drama follows a woman who charts her own path while on a getaway with her boyfriend in Poland.
13. Mad Bills to Pay (or Destiny, dile que no soy malo) (April 17)
An impressive directorial debut and true New York tale, Joel Alfonso Vargas’ Mad Bills to Pay (or Destiny, dile que no soy malo) was a selection at Sundance, Berlinale, New Directors/New Films, BFI London, and more film festivals last year. Starring Juan Collado, Destiny Checo, Yohanna Florentino, and Nathaly Navarro, the tale of a hustler in a tight-knit Dominican American community was picked up by Oscilloscope for a release this spring.
12. Mother Mary (David Lowery; April 17)
Reteaming with A24 after A Ghost Story and The Green Knight, writer-director David Lowery is back with Mother Mary, an epic pop melodrama that brings together Anne Hathaway, Michaela Coel, Hunter Schafer, Jessica Brown Findlay, Sian Clifford, and FKA Twigs. Despite featuring original music from Charli XCX, Jack Antonoff, and FKA Twigs, buzz thus far has been relatively low-key, so here’s hoping Lowery has cooked up something truly strange.
11. Exit 8 (Genki Kawamura; April 10)
Mario isn’t the only video game adaptation hitting theaters this month. Genki Kawamura’s Exit 8, based on the hit game, premiered at Cannes last year and went on to play Toronto, Sitges, Busan, and more. C.J. Prince said in his review, “Gameplay simplicity and use of the trendy liminal horror subgenre made The Exit 8 a viral success––currently the game has sold over 1.5 million copies––which also saw a boost in popularity from streamers whose videos have amassed millions of views. But how do you create a feature-length film out of a game that could be beaten in a matter of minutes? For director and co-writer Genki Kawamura, it’s to rely on horror’s tried-and-true method of leaning into allegory, with Exit 8’s premise becoming a representation of how routines can trap us in cycles of bad behaviors. The film’s main character is The Lost Man (Kazunari Ninomiya), who we see on his daily commute in the Tokyo subway. While navigating the labyrinthine system of pedestrian tunnels, he gets a call from his recent ex-girlfriend who tells him she’s pregnant, and he has to tell her if he wants her to keep the baby.”
10. Mile End Kicks and Roommates (Chandler Levack; April 17)
Following her acclaimed debut I Like Movies, Chandler Levack is gearing up for quite an April 17. Not only will her Adam Sandler-backed third feature Roommates arrive on Netflix, her second feature, Mile End Kicks, hits theaters. The TIFF and SXSW premiere is set within Montreal’s 2011 indie music scene and features an ensemble cast including Barbie Ferreira, Devon Bostick, Stanley Simons, Juliette Gariépy, and Jay Baruchel. Jared Mobarak said in his review, “Mile End Kicks gives Grace a chance at her dream by packing a bag and moving to Montreal without a safety net. This city is the Canadian music hub. The literal pulse of everything fresh, underground, and worth discovering––the perfect backdrop to get into Morissette’s head and, by extension, her own to write about that album’s personal impact. What Grace doesn’t anticipate, however, is that going from her parents’ home and semi-circles of bearded men quibbling over irrelevant bands to ‘the scene’ brings a steep learning curve. The distractions coming her way were made to derail the most dedicated artists amongst us.”
9. Omaha (Cole Webley; April 24)
Premiering at Sundance last year, Cole Webley’s feature debut Omaha is a heartbreaking look at a father (John Magaro) in crisis as he takes his family on an unexpected road trip. Jake Kring-Schreifels said in his Sundance review, “Quiet and heartbreaking, if not slightly conventional, Omaha unfolds like a slow-burning mystery, mostly taking Ella’s skeptical, worried perspective as she tries piecing together clues about this unexpected family road trip. Soon things come into sharper, painful focus. Escaping from their Utah home, they whiz past John McCain presidential signs, purchase Lunchables using food stamps, and enjoy a CD mix of mom’s favorite songs. It’s not long before Dad explains they’re traveling to Nebraska, but director Cole Webley, in his feature debut, doesn’t tip his hand about any more specifics. It doesn’t seem like Dad knows them either.”
8. The Christophers (Steven Soderbergh; April 10)
After two theatrical releases last year, the ever-prolific Steven Soderbergh is back this month with The Christophers, which brings together Ian McKellen, Michaela Coel, James Corden, and Jessica Gunning. Following its premiere at TIFF last fall, our own Christopher (Schobert) was a bit mixed on Soderbergh’s latest effort, but as a devotee of the director, I’m greatly looking forward to checking it out.
7. Fiume o morte! (Igor Bezinović; April 10)
Winner of the top prize at last year’s International Film Festival Rotterdam, Igor Bezinović’s comedic docudrama Fiume o morte! will finally hit theaters this month. Rory O’Connor said in his review, “Learning about Gabriele D’Annunzio’s 16-month occupation of Fiume, a tale vividly retold in Igor Bezinović’s new, Tiger Award-winning documentary Fiume o Morte!, I spared a thought for Yukio Mishima. D’Annunzio’s life didn’t end so theatrically, but the two men––celebrated writers and hyper-nationalists with hubristic military dreams and similarly contested legacies––certainly shared a taste for the quixotic and chaotic. Was D’Annunzio a fascist colonizer, as those who still remember him in Fiume (now Rijeka, Croatia) claim, or was he the admirable dreamer as romantic as his poems? A century later, the jury’s still out.”
6. The Drama (Kristoffer Borgli; April 3)
After the one-two absurdist comedy punch of Sick of Myself and Dream Scenario, Norwegian director Kristoffer Borgli returns this month with The Drama, the first of three films starring Robert Pattinson and Zendaya this year. Shot by Arseni Khachaturan (Bones and All, April, Beginning), the romantic comedy with a darker edge follows a couple whose relationship is tested just before their wedding day. The Ari Aster-produced film also features a cast that includes Alana Haim, Mamoudou Athie, and Hailey Gates.
5. The Stranger (François Ozon; April 3)
Following in the footsteps of Luchino Visconti, François Ozon has delivered an evocative new update on the classic Albert Camus novel The Stranger. Delivering one of his most acclaimed films, the cast includes Benjamin Voisin, Rebecca Marder, Pierre Lottin, Denis Lavant, and Swann Arlaud. Zhuo-Ning Su said in his Venice review, “The most crucial thing that Ozon’s film gets right are the moral, indeed philosophical considerations that build its central character. As technically impressive as Visconti’s version was, powered by Marcello Mastroianni’s empathetic, hot-blooded performance, it operated on a fundamental misunderstanding of the source. Meursault is not supposed to be empathetic or hot-blooded; every time Mastroianni pulls at your heartstrings with those earnest, teary eyes, it’s undermining Camus’ chilled, quietly shocking worldview.”
4. Two Women (Chloé Robichaud; April 24)
If, by and large, American cinema has taken a puritanical view on sex, leave it to our neighbors up north to craft a refreshingly frank, hilarious comedy of manners about seeking erotic pleasure when life has hit a dead end. Scripted by Catherine Léger from her own stage play Home Deliveries, itself inspired by Claude Fournier’s 1970 feature Two Women in Gold, Canadian director Chloé Robichaud’s Two Women is playful, raucous, and wholly heartfelt, a film not afraid to explore the dark corners of life when it comes to depression, infidelity, and the dullness that can set in during new motherhood. Its comedy-first approach comes with a comforting sense of tenderness and fleetness, shot on 35mm with a lively warmth by cinematographer Sara Mishara. Continue reading my review.
3. The Blue Trail (Gabriel Mascaro; April 3)
With The Secret Agent and I’m Still Here leading a wave of global interest in contemporary Brazilian cinema, another gem from the country will arrive this spring. Winner of the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival, The Blue Trail is the latest from director Gabriel Mascaro (Neon Bull, Divine Love). Rory O’Connor said in his review, “The Blue Trail, the lively new film from Gabriel Mascaro, takes its name from the secretions of a mythical snail. Azure and oozing, the substance, when dropped on the iris, is rumored to grant a vision of things to come. This news is welcomed with admirable disinterest by Tereza (Denise Weinberg), a woman of a certain age who has, due to recent state insistences, decided there’s no longer much use in looking ahead. The film is set in a near-future Brazil where the lives of the elderly are overseen by some cruel combination of governmental interventions and half-interested offspring. In Tereza’s world, leaving one’s locale now requires a permission slip, and those without are rounded up in so-called ‘Wrinkle Wagons.’ Anyone lucky enough to reach their 80th birthday, as Tereza soon will, are rewarded with a move to The Colonies: a place no one seems to know much about, aside from the fact that anyone who goes there doesn’t return.”
2. Blue Heron (Sophy Romvari; April 17)
Sophy Romvari’s acclaimed directorial debut Blue Heron premiered at the Locarno Film Festival where it picked up the Best First Feature Award, and will now be arriving this spring from Janus Films. Leonardo Goi said in his Locarno review, “All of Romvari’s works could be read as forensic exercises in which a young adult––often a budding cineaste––morphs into a kind of detective, exhuming secrets about her family’s past and wrestling with the aftermath of those discoveries. But in Blue Heron, the visual grammar literalizes those investigative impulses. Instead of milking cheap emotion from tight shots, Romvari and cinematographer Maya Bankovic observe the action from a respectful distance, leaving the camera to linger outside windows and door frames, only to resort to frequent zooms that push against those very barriers, as if to eavesdrop on characters. In another filmmaker’s hands, those movements might have registered as voyeuristic; in Romvari’s, they speak to the limits of Sasha’s perspective. Centered as it is on Jeremy, Blue Heron is tethered to her point of view––the things she saw and heard, the things she was shielded from––and there are moments when the camera feels like an artifact witnessing action from the future, operated by someone who isn’t concerned with simply glancing at those memories so much as bringing them back to life.”
1. Two Seasons, Two Strangers (Sho Miyake; April 24)
One of the great films of the year, Sho Miyake’s gorgeous, tranquil Two Seasons, Two Strangers picked up the Golden Leopard at Locarno last summer and will now get a U.S. release this April, following its North American premiere at New Directors/New Films. Rory O’Connor said in his review, “Two Seasons is the third in a wonderful recent run by Miyake, joining Small, Slow But Steady (2022) and All The Long Nights (2024). With each he has shown a remarkable ability for mixing porcelain-like levels of craft and detail with stories of comparatively messy human compassion––a cinematic mix that never fails to delight. Despite racking up some awards for those films, his work plays at the kind of modest register that often keeps filmmakers of his ilk relatively below-the-radar or, at the very least, just shy of name recognition. Winning the Leopard might be the push that elevates him to auteur status and perhaps (with respect to Locarno) the biggest of the big competitions, where I feel he belongs.”
More Films to See
- Living the Land (April 3)
- Bunnylovr (April 10)
- ChaO (April 10)
- Hamlet (April 10)
- Outcome (April 10)
- Steal This Story, Please! (April 10)
- Faces of Death (April 10)
- Amrum (April 17)
- Eagles of the Republic (April 17)
- Lorne (April 17)
- Normal (April 17)
- Fuze (April 24)
- Ricky (April 24)
- I Swear (April 24)
- Michael (April 24)
- Over Your Dead Body (April 24)
- Didn’t Die (April 28)
- This Is Not a Drill (April 30)