Before we get to the new releases to see in January, our highest viewing recommendation would be to catch up on the 50 best films of 2016, many of which are expanding this month, including Paterson, 20th Century Women, Silence, and Toni Erdmann. When it comes to our January preview, we’ve also included a few 2016 films that had one-week qualifying runs, but are now officially opening (and there are also a few to definitely avoid in that category). Check out the feature below and let us know what you are most looking forward to in the comments.
Matinees to See: The Ardennes (1/6), Railroad Tigers (1/6), Sleepless (1/13), Alone in Berlin (1/3), Detour (1/20), The Founder (1/2), and Ice and the Sky (1/20), and Paris 05:59 (1/27).
10. Split (M. Night Shyamalan; Jan. 20)
Synopsis: After three girls are kidnapped by a man with 24 distinct personalities they must find some of the different personalities that can help them while running away and staying alive from the others.
Why You Should See It: After a less-than-stellar big-budget tentpole streak, Shyamalan seems to have found his sweet spot working at a smaller scale with Blumhouse. We said in our review, “M. Night Shyamalan movies are almost always better when he’s having fun. Like The Visit, Split makes mischief out of the balance between horror and comedy, continually throwing up situations that are simultaneously absurd and terrifying.”
9. Trespass Against Us (Adam Smith; Jan. 20)
Synopsis: A man looks to find a way to escape the criminal ways of his outlaw family.
Why You Should See It: Jumping back from a disappointing 2016, Michael Fassbender will be featured in three of our most-anticipated films of the year (Song to Song, The Snowman, and Alien: Covenant), but first he has Trespass Against Us. While the drama didn’t receive the best of reviews following its TIFF premiere, we’ll be there for anything starring Fassbender, and doubly so if he’s not wearing a cape. We said in our review, “It’s clear within the first few minutes of first-time director Adam Smith’s Trespass Against Us — as a muddy Subaru races after a bounding rabbit in the U.K. countryside, with a young boy at the wheel — that the film to follow will be a disorienting experience.”
8. The Daughter (Simon Stone; Jan. 27)
Synopsis: The story follows a man who returns home to discover a long-buried family secret, and whose attempts to put things right threaten the lives of those he left home years before.
Why You Should See It: A highlight on the fall festival circuit two years ago, Simon Stone‘s directorial debut The Daughter, is finally getting a release this month. As a longtime theater director, Stone amassed a strong ensemble for the drama, including Geoffrey Rush, Ewen Leslie, Paul Schneider, Miranda Otto, Anna Torv, Odessa Young, and Sam Neill. We said in our review, “The acting is superb, headed by two Antipodean heavyweights in Rush and Neill, both in restrained less-is-more modes.”
7. I Am Michael (Justin Kelly; Jan. 27)
Synopsis: A gay activist and magazine founder is saved from his homosexuality after turning to God.
Why You Should See It: There was no way of seeing one of James Franco‘s best performances of the last few years, unless you caught it on its festival run back in 2015, but thanks to a recent acquisition, one will now have the chance. I said in my review, “Sure to ignite many impassioned discussions, I Am Michael tackles complex issues of sexuality and faith with a balanced view. The directorial debut of Justin Kelly, a past collaborator with Gus Vant Sant (who produces here), the drama’s formal elements aren’t as compelling as the ideas it wrestles with, but it does make for one of James Franco‘s more accomplished and complicated performances.”
6. Behemoth (Liang Zhao; Jan. 27)
Synopsis: A documentary chronicling miners and steel workers in China.
Why You Should See It: Finding a previously unexposed corner of industry and bringing to light all of its muck, fire, noise, pain, and bizarre end results, Zhao Liang‘s Behemoth mingles intimacy with intensity in a way only well-considered documentaries could even manage. Though more abstract than the standard exploration of economic and ecological devastation, its mingling of fantastical elements with some rather amazing footage of miners at work might hit a sweet spot for many viewers. – Nick N.
5. The Son of Joseph (Eugène Green; Jan. 13)
Synopsis: A discontented Parisian teenager searches for his father.
Why You Should See It: Following up his overlooked La Sapienza, director Eugène Green is back with The Son of Joseph, which after coming to Berlin, NYFF, and more, will arrive in U.S. this month. Led by Mathieu Amalric and Fabrizio Rongione (La Sapienza; Two Days, One Night), we’ve only heard great things about this Dardennes-produced film since its debut.
4. Bright Lights (Alexis Bloom and Fisher Stevens; Jan. 7)
Synopsis: An intimate portrait of Hollywood royalty featuring Debbie Reynolds, Todd Fisher, and Carrie Fisher.
Why You Should See It: What was once a documentary to look forward in 2017 is now, as of the tragic last week, one of the most essential viewings of the year. Following a premiere at Cannes — and screenings at Telluride, Toronto, and AFI Fest — HBO has astutely decided to move up their debut of the documentary about the Fisher/Reynolds family and their careers from March 2017 to this Saturday, January 7 at 8PM.
3. Staying Vertical (Alain Guiraudie; Jan. 20)
Synopsis: A film maker has to raise a child by himself whilst looking for an inspiration for his new film.
Why You Should See It: After earning a larger audience with his Cahiers du Cinéma-topping feature Stranger by the Lake, director Alain Guiraudie has followed it up with Staying Vertical. We said in our review, “Guiraudie returns to the psychoanalytic mode of the features preceding Stranger, where he gradually and stealthily eroded the boundary between reality and fantasy to probe the complexities of human desire — particularly of the sexual kind — exposing the stifling effects of social norms and conventions to thoroughly bewildering results.”
2. The Red Turtle (Michaël Dudok de Wit; Jan. 20)
Synopsis: The dialogue-less film follows the major life stages of a castaway on a deserted tropical island populated by turtles, crabs and birds.
Why You Should See It: One of the most soothing animations one will see this year, Studio Ghibli co-production won’t be for anyone who is expected the frenetic rhythms of a Hollywood toon and it’s all the better for it. With a finale that lands with an unexpecting emotional resonance, we said in our review from Cannes, “Motion, love for the Gaia, and lush orchestral music provide the backbone of Michaël Dudok de Wit’s The Red Turtle, a dialogue-free, feature-length animation about a man stranded on a desert island, co-produced by the legendary Studio Ghibli, their first-ever such production to be made off Japanese soil.”
1. The Salesman (Asghar Farhadi; Jan. 27)
Synopsis: The story of a couple whose relationship begins to turn sour during their performance of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman.
Why You Should See It: Asghar Farhadi‘s latest film, which picked up Best Actor (Shahab Hosseini) and Best Screenplay at Cannes, is another skillful rendering of human empathy. While our review from its premiere was more lukewarm, I found Farhadi’s ability to engender as much sympathy with the film’s antagonist as the leads to be more than worth the price of admission. Set for a limited release at the end of the month and expanding further in February, it’s an essential watch.
What are you most looking forward to this month?