As the summer movie season comes to a close, August brings a shockingly stacked slate of offerings, topped by a film that is sure to age like a fine classic in years to come. Elsewhere we have accomplished debuts, action spectacles, and a thriller from the man who has recently returned to perfecting the formula.
15. Blink Twice (Zoë Kravitz; Aug. 23)
While its new title doesn’t quite have the hook of its original, Pussy Island, we’re curious what’s in store for the directorial debut of Zoë Kravitz. Featuring some cast––including Naomi Ackie, Channing Tatum, Simon Rex, Adria Arjona, Haley Joel Osment, Kyle MacLachlan, Alia Shawkat, Christian Slater, and Geena Davis––the story follows a cocktail waitress who becomes infatuated with a tech mogul and travels with him to his private island, where things begin going wrong. Featuring cinematography by Adam Newport-Berra (The Last Black Man in San Francisco) and editing from Michael Almereyda’s frequent collaborator Kathryn J. Schubert, here’s hoping for an exciting new phase in Kravitz’s career.
14. The Becomers (Zach Clark; Aug. 23)
White Reindeer and Little Sister director Zach Clark returned to the festival circuit last year with The Becomers, a sci-fi tale narrated by none other than Sparks frontman Russell Mael and starring Molly Plunk, Mike Lopez, Keith Kelly, Isabel Alamin, and Frank V. Ross. Jared Mobarak said in his review, “Writer-director Zach Clark has seemingly worked backwards from the QANON chaos that is present-day American politics to reverse-engineer the worst possible scenario for a refugee alien trying to stay under the radar. As such, The Becomers proves as much the romance of its billing as a comically warped satire on the sheer lunacy of certain groups we’ve all had the displeasure of interacting with via social media.”
13. Merchant Ivory (Stephen Soucy; Aug. 30)
One of the greatest filmmaking partnerships to grace the industry is getting its deserved due in a new documentary. Directed by Stephen Soucy and featuring Dame Emma Thompson, Helena Bonham Carter, Hugh Grant, Vanessa Redgrave, Rupert Graves, and James Wilby, Merchant Ivory explores the collaboration of director James Ivory, producer Ismail Merchant, and their primary associates, writer Ruth Prawer Jhabvala and composer Richard Robbins. Dan Mecca said in his review, “The best moments of Merchant Ivory––a documentary directed by Stephen Soucy concerning the legendary production company––feel like their most-successful pictures: restrained and revealing at the same time.”
12. Kneecap (Rich Peppiatt; Aug. 2)
While Michael Fassbender’s appearance in a brief role may garner the most headlines, Kneecap is the story of an Irish rap group of the same name, with members Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, Naoise Ó Cairealláin, and JJ Ó Dochartaigh playing themselves. Exploring the politically charged time of Troubles and the identity and ownership around language, the film is a blast of infectious energy, utilizing the frenzied delivery of the group’s home-grown lyrics as an aesthetic template.
11. Red Island (Robin Campillo; Aug. 16)
Following up his Cannes Film Festival sensation in 2017, BPM (Beats per Minute), Robin Campillo recently returned with his new feature, Red Island. A semi-autobiographical work inspired by the director’s childhood in Madagascar, it’s a remarkably sensitive, piercing look at colonialism told from an intimate perspective. Alistair Ryder said in his review, “Even more than his prior work, Red Island is unshackled by burdens of narrative, operating as a loose patchwork of lived-in memories that are most engaging when filtered through the young protagonist’s perspective; adults discuss their affairs unaware they’ve got an impressionable child hanging onto their every word from under the table, or behind a closed door.”
10. The Killer (John Woo; Aug. 23 on Peacock)
In a nice summer surprise, a new action thriller directed by John Woo is arriving this month. Following up last year’s Silent Night, Woo has directed a reimagining of his own 1989 classic The Killer. Scripted by Brian Helgeland, the update of the same name (which has nothing to do with David Fincher’s film from last year) stars Nathalie Emmanuel, Sam Worthington, Omar Sy, Diana Silvers, Saïd Taghmaoui, Tchéky Karyo, Eric Cantona, and Grégory Montel. Sadly relegated to just streaming, it’ll arrive on Peacock in a few weeks.
9. Sugarcane (Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie; Aug. 9)
Winner of the 2024 Directing Award in its U.S. Documentary category at the Sundance Film Festival, Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie’s Sugarcane is one of the most gripping documentaries of the year. Dan Mecca said in his review, “It’s impossible to overstate the trauma that is explored throughout Sugarcane, Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie’s harrowing documentary on the sins of St. Joseph’s Mission in British Columbia and the Canadian Indian residential school system as a whole.”
8. Cuckoo (Tilman Singer; Aug. 9)
Hoping to capitalize off their record-breaking horror hit Longlegs, NEON Is back with another genre outing this month. Rory O’Connor said in his Berlinale review, “Hunter Schafer is a very good actress. This probably won’t be news to anyone who watched even the first episode of Euphoria, where her aching vulnerability seemed to swallow the scenery whole. Fresh from appearing in the latest Hunger Games, the actress takes her first leading role in Cuckoo, a supernatural horror that doesn’t feel pushed to explain itself, offering a fun mashup of older, less-well-heeled filmmaking tropes. There is a nicely hammy turn from Dan Stevens and one finely tuned homage, but in Schafer it holds an ace: nailing the physical comedy and stretching her emotive face to the limit, the film is all hers.”
7. Mountains (Monica Sorelle; Aug. 16)
One of our favorite Tribeca Festival premieres last year, Monica Sorelle’s feature debut Mountains went on to be selected for TIFF and AFI Fest, and secured an Indie Spirit Award win in the “Someone to Watch” category. Now set for an August 16 release in Miami and a week later in NYC, John Fink said in his review, “A low-key, poetic exploration of life’s ironies, Monica Sorelle’s feature debut Mountains frames the disappearance of Miami’s Little Haiti with a warm, compassionate gaze recalling the masters of social realism––akin to Roberto Rossellini with the touch of Ousmane Sembène’s lighter films.”
6. Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (Soi Cheang; Aug. 9)
While Furiosa may have made more headlines coming out Cannes this year, another actioner at the festival also had our attention. Soi Cheang’s Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In, which brings together the epic cast of Louis Koo, Raymond Lam, Terrance Lau, Philip Ng, Tony Wu Tsz Tung, German Cheung, Richie Jen, Wong Tak Pun Kenny, Fish Liew, Chu Pak Hong, Cecilia Choi, Lau Wai Ming, Aaron Kwok, and Sammo Hung, will now arrive in U.S. theaters on August 9. Daniel Eagan said in his review, “Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In is a more conventional outing, hemmed in by its multi-generational plot and sentimental twists. But you will not want to miss its action scenes, staged within phenomenal settings.”
5. Daughters (Natalie Rae and Angela Patton; Aug. 9 in theaters and Aug. 14 on Netflix)
Winner of both the Audience Award and in its U.S. Documentary section and the overall Festival Favorite Award at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, Natalie Rae and Angela Patton’s deeply moving documentary Daughters will arrive this month. John Fink said in his review, “A striking film that evokes a wave of emotions, Natalie Rae and Angela Patton’s Daughters is another picture––à la Rudy Valdez’s The Sentence, Garrett Bradley’s Time, and Zara Katz and Lisa Riordan Seville’s A Women on the Outside––focusing directly on the impact prison sentences have on families”
4. Trap (M. Night Shyamalan; Aug. 2)
After quite a Hitchcockian / Twilight Zone streak with the one-two punch of Old and Knock at the Cabin, expectations are high for M. Night Shyamalan to deliver once again with his upcoming thriller Trap. Featuring a much-deserved lead role for Josh Hartnett, starring alongside the filmmaker’s daughter Saleka Shyamalan, the film follows a father and daughter who realize the concert they are attending is set up as a sting operation by the police. With cinematography by Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, collaborator of Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Luca Guadagnino, it’s puzzling why WB has deprived this one of press screenings, but we’ve heard very good early word.
3. Between the Temples (Nathan Silver; Aug. 23)
In a state of arrested development after his wife unexpectedly died from a freak accident, Ben Gottlieb (Jason Schwartzman) is suicidal, pleading to a truck to just run him over and begging that he be fired from his job as cantor at the local Jewish temple in upstate New York. While this set-up may not scream comedy, Between the Temples is in fact hilarious, packed with endless jokes and adoration for physical gags while we witness Ben find new meaning in life through an unexpected acquaintance. Above all, Nathan Silver’s feature, from a script he co-wrote with C. Mason Wells,is a thrillingly alive, nimble piece of filmmaking: shot on 16mm by Sean Price Williams with faces of its ensemble guiding every movement, and edited by John Magary with a frenetic yet defined rhythm, Between the Temples is a witty, biting portrait of finding one’s footing in both faith and friendship. Continue reading my full review.
2. Good One (India Donaldson; Aug. 9)
It’s been nearly two decades since Kelly Reichardt’s Old Joy showed how the wilderness can be an open canvas to explore the breaking points of male friendship and reckoning with a midlife crisis. While those emotional quandaries are evergreen, it’s appropriate timing to bring an entirely new element to this conceit. India Donaldson’s carefully observed, refreshingly patient, beautifully rendered debut feature Good One shifts the perspective, concerning a 17-year-old girl who embarks on a camping trip in the Catskills with her father and his best friend. Through an accumulation of minute details and uneasy glances, the drama becomes a portrait of increasingly crossed boundaries leading to an ultimate breaking point. Continue reading my full review.
1. Close Your Eyes (Víctor Erice; Aug. 23)
Despite being seen exclusively on the festival circuit, Víctor Erice’s first feature in 30 years, Close Your Eyes, ended up at #20 on our best-of-2023 list. One imagines it’ll land higher when we take stock of 2024. As David Katz said in his Cannes review of the masterpiece, “Curious, self-referential, and rich, Close Your Eyes has had a difficult passageway into the world, with its Cannes world premiere dogged by reports of conflicts over its runtime, its non-competition placement, and Erice’s own in-person boycott of the screening. Its final form also is a scarcely believable one, singular and self-possessed even amidst all the latter-day auteur work that’s screened in recent days: although it’s studded with other media, such as an unfinished film of Garay’s and trashy Spanish primetime TV, the main bulk is a pokily shot mystery ‘procedural,’ told mainly in one-to-one dialogue scenes, shot in judicious singles with minimal coverage and muted lighting. But Erice is gradually able to accrete a rich character study of Garay and, yes, another meditation on the Grand Power of Cinema––not that we’re lacking in those at the moment––enriched by the fact that this theme, together with memory and longing, has long been the director’s modus operandi.”
More Films to See
- The Instigators (Aug. 2)
- Coup! (Aug. 2)
- Rob Peace (Aug. 2)
- War Game (Aug. 2)
- The Beautiful Summer (Aug. 9)
- Alien: Romulus (Aug. 16)
- Close To You (Aug. 16)
- Smoking Tigers (Aug. 16)
- The Hypnosis (Aug. 16)
- The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat (Aug. 23)
- I Like It Here (Aug. 23)
- Seeking Mavis Beacon (Aug. 30)
- Slingshot (Aug. 30)
The post 15 Films to See in August first appeared on The Film Stage.
