Festival season: These fall film picks bring drama, intimacy

By Arman Saxena     11/12/24 10:11pm

With the Houston Cinema Arts Festival right around the corner, we’re in the midst of fall film festival season. Many of the biggest film festivals in the world — such as Venice and New York —  have already happened, and some of their most acclaimed selections are being released in the next couple of months. Check out these movies, which are some of the best of the fall festival season.

“All We Imagine as Light”

An intimate drama from Payal Kapadia, the director of “A Night of Knowing Nothing,” “All We Imagine as Light” was the first Indian film to screen at the Cannes Film Festival in 30 years before making the rounds at the three biggest North American fall festivals — Telluride, Toronto and New York — earlier this season. This poetic film follows two young women looking for freedom, togetherness and joy in the city of Mumbai. “All We Imagine as Light” is only Kapadia’s second feature film and cements her as a filmmaker to watch for years to come.

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“Anora”

This year’s Oscar Best Picture winner? We’ll see what happens in March, but Sean Baker’s “Anora” is already a frontrunner in conversations about the best movie of 2024. With the city-spanning dramedy-romance “Anora,” Baker, the director of small-scale, location-specific films like “The Florida Project” and “Tangerine,” has made his biggest movie yet. However, “Anora” doesn’t lose the character-focused humanity of Baker’s previous work, with much credit going to Mikey Madison’s likely-Oscar-nominated starring performance as the titular character. 

“The Brutalist”

A three-hour-long epic about an immigrant architect in post-World War II America, Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist” is ambitious and monumental. With stunning long-take sequences, opulent production design and an ensemble of colorful characters, expect an awe-inspiring and audacious experience. Adrien Brody, Guy Pearce and Felicity Jones all turn in memorable performances that will have you thinking about this future Best Picture nominee even after the credits roll.

“Emilia Pérez”

A comedy-crime-thriller-musical about a Mexican cartel boss, Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Pérez” doesn’t sound like a real film. But it is — and it’s a wild ride. Starring Karla Sofía Gascón as a transgender cartel boss, Zoe Saldana as a lawyer who helps her navigate escaping her life of crime, and a soundtrack that will have you dancing in your seat, “Emilia Pérez” is a genre-defying spectacle. Audiard blends humor, suspense and musical numbers to create a film that is as entertaining as it is thought-provoking.

“Hard Truths”

Mike Leigh has been making films since 1971, and at 81 years old, he shows no signs of stopping. Like with all his best films, “Hard Truths” is a character-driven exploration of the human condition. He ruminates on relationships, triumphs, hardships, all of the things that make up the everyday. The film is brought to a different echelon by Marianne Jean-Baptiste, a British actress who previously worked with Leigh on one of his most-acclaimed films “Secrets & Lies.”

“Nickel Boys”

Adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-wining novel by Colson Whitehead, “Nickel Boys” follows the story of two young black men at an abusive reform school in Florida. Directed by Oscar-nominated documentarian RaMell Ross, “Nickel Boys” is a deeply human tale of devastation and perseverance, shot beautifully by “All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt” cinematographer Jomo Fray. The film is anchored by an ensemble of acclaimed performances, especially Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor as the teenage protagonist Elwood’s grandmother Hattie.

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