All of these films are rated 95% or more on Rotten Tomatoes, so you don’t just have to take my word for it.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Without doubt one of the most gorgeously shot films of all time, Portrait of a Lady on Fire is a period drama set in France in the late 18th century and tells the story of a lesbian affair between two young women: an aristocrat and a painter commissioned to paint her portrait. Noémie Merlant and Adèle Haenel are mesmerising, I genuinely cannot fault this.
Booksmart
Directed by Olivia Wilde and starring Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein, Booksmart is genuinely laugh out loud funny – and I don’t say that lightly. A fresh – feminist – take on the coming of age trope, it centres on bestfriends Molly and Amy. Academic overachievers to the highest degreee, they spent the entirety of their high school existence striving to get good grades but on the eve of their graduation, they suddenly reaslie that maybe they missed out on a few things. Determined to make up for lost time, they scramble to cram four years of fun into one night and thus begins the most chaotic evening imaginable. Hilarious and heartfelt in equal measure.
God’s Own Country
Recommended to me off the back of Challengers, which also stars Josh O’Connor, God’s Own Country is a British romantic drama about a young sheep farmer in Yorkshire whose life is transformed by a Romanian migrant worker. It’s beautifully told and wrought with sexual tension.
All About My Mother
Winner of Best Foreign Language Film at the 72nd Academy Awards, the film is directed by Pedro Almodóvar and follows Manuela, a nurse and single mother, who is devastated by the loss of her teenage son, Esteban. In her grief, she travels to Barcelona to find Esteban’s transgender father, Lola, who is unaware of ever having a son. Along the way, Manuela reconnects with old friends and meets new ones, including a pregnant nun, Rosa, played by Penélope Cruz. I first saw this when doing a Spanish language film module in college and it’s stayed with me ever since. (The song at the start of the trailer is “Tajabone” by Ismaël Lô, you’re welcome.)
All Of Us Strangers
I’ve waxed lyrical about my love for All Of Us Strangers plenty already, so it should come as no surprise to see it feature here. Adapted by English director Andrew Haigh from the Japanese novel Strangers by Taichi Yamada, the movie stars Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal as unlikely lovers, brought together by a chance encounter in their near-vacant high-rise apartment block in contemporary London. An incredible love story punctuated by an incredible soundtrack, it’s utterly devastating and yet inexplicably healing too.
Shiva Baby
Written and directed by Emma Seligman, Shiva Baby will make you sweat with second-hand embarrassment but don’t let that deter you! Rachell Sennott plays Danielle, a young bisexual woman, who attends a shiva (a Jewish mourning ritual) with her parents. Other attendees include her successful ex-girlfriend Maya (Molly Gordon)… and her sugar daddy Max (Danny Deferrari) who shows up unexpectedly with his wife Kim (Dianna Agron) and their newborn. One of my favourite films of recent years, it’s a stressful but thoroughly enjoyable watch.
Passages
A messy (and undeniably sexy) look at modern relationships, Passages features one of the most unlikable – but no less interesting – main characters of any film I’ve ever seen. A complex tale of passion and lust, Fran Rogowski stars as the central character Tomas – a self-involved narcissist auteur who throws his marriage to husband Martin (played by the illustrious Ben Whishaw) into crisis when he begins an affair with a younger woman. Dubbed an “unlikely sex symbol” by the New York Times, Rogowski is magnetic to watch… even if you don’t necessarily like his character for most of the film.
Feature image courtesy of MUBI
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