Neighboring Sounds, Kleber Mendonça Filho (2014)

Watch it for how the soundtrack edges the camera’s pace. This thriller will appeal to anyone who couldn’t look away from Gene Hackman surveilling a couple in The Conversation–not for the voyeurism but for what it does to those who watch. While the paranoid focus in this story expands to the residents of a high rise, the security firm hired to monitor it, and Brazil’s colonial legacy, the sense of place is as specific as it is in Coppola’s San Francisco.

Caught By The Tides, Jia Zhang-Ke (2024)

Would you work on a single project for nearly twenty years? This movie stretches the space-time continuum of Linklater’s Boyhood to national proportions. Our phones weave highly personal and political video clips into our daily lives as reliably as pocket trash lines a dryer’s lint trap. Jia’s story escapes that gravitational pull without losing any part of its human significance.

Honeyjoon, Lilian T. Mehrel (2025)

Grief is a necessary mix of sweet and sour best experienced while on vacation. Amble through the curves of the Azores with a mother and daughter reconnecting with themselves as much as each other. The dying of cancer genre is well-documented, but the awkward stories of how one truly starts over are delicious. I would happily re-watch it on mute to simply marvel at the landscape and facial expressions.

The Substance, Coralie Fargeat (2024)

Come for the confectionary set design, but stay for all the comedy that a relentless appetite creates. Far from a plodding portrait of aging, it captures the madness of a certain Los Angeles set with aplomb all while underscoring the farce of femininity.

Summer Hours, Olivier Assayas (2008)

Remembering a memory is never quite the same as the feral energy of childhood, but that’s where the cookies come in. Relax into the candy of high class problems, unhurried European meals, and the secret lives of beautiful objects.

Güeros, Alonso Ruizpalacios (2014)

This travelogue feels like a languid summer day with your siblings anywhere, but all the more bewitching because it’s in Mexico City. No need to understand–or even like–the French New Wave films it references because nearly every shot could stand alone as a perfect slice of longing.