New York Times Critic's Picks

New York Times Critic's Picks

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New York Times Critic's Picks
  • Synonyms

    Directed by Nadav Lapid • Comedy • 2019 • Israel, France, Germany • French, Hebrew with English subtitles
    Starring Tom Mercier, Quentin Dolmaire, Louise Chevillotte

    Winner of the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, Nadav Lapid's "Synonyms" follows a disaffected young Israeli who flees Tel A...

  • The Competition

    Directed by Claire Simon • Documentary • 2016 • France • French with English subtitles
    Featuring Alain Bergala, Emilie Deleuze, Xanae Bove

    Claire Simon, one of France’s leading documentarians, gives an enlightening all-access tour behind the scenes at France’s premiere film school, La Femis, dur...

  • The Cow Who Sang a Song into the Future

    Directed by Francisca Alegría • Arthouse • 2023 • Chile • Spanish with English subtitles
    Starring Leonor Varela, Mía Maestro, Alfredo Castro

    Singing cows, fish, and bees introduce a world of magical realism in this stunning Sundance hit. Long-dead Magdalena (Mia Maestro) surfaces in a polluted r...

  • The Messenger

    Directed by Su Rynard • Documentary • 2015 • France, Canada • English, German, Dutch, French with English subtitles
    Featuring Bill Evans, Erin Byne, Peter Marra

    For thousands of years, songbirds were regarded by mankind as messengers from the gods. Under threat from climate change, pesticides an...

  • The Pearl Button

    Directed by Patricio Guzmán • Documentary • 2014 • Chile, Spain, France • Spanish with English subtitles
    Featuring Patricio Guzmán

    Winner of the Silver Bear for Best Screenplay at the Berlin Film Festival, "The Pearl Button" explores the supernatural landscape of Chile. With its 2,670 miles of c...

  • The Raft

    Directed by Marcus Lindeen • Documentary • 2018 • Sweden • English, Swedish, French, German, Japanese, Spanish with English subtitles
    Featuring Daniel Gimenez Cacho, Fe Seymour, Maria Bjornstam

    In the summer of 1973, a young international crew of six women and five men embarked together on an un...

  • There Is No Evil

    Directed by Mohammad Rasoulof • Arthouse • 2021 • Germany, Czech Republic, Iran • Farsi with English subtitles
    Starring Ehsan Mirhosseini, Shaghayegh Shoorian, Kaveh Ahangar

    Shot in secret and smuggled out of Iran, this Berlin Film Festival Golden Bear winner by Mohammad Rasoulof is an anthology...

  • The Son of Joseph

    Directed by Eugene Green • Arthouse • 2017 • France, Belgium • French with English subtitles
    Starring Victor Ezenfis, Natacha Regnier, Fabrizio Rongione

    The American-born expatriate filmmaker Eugene Green exists in his own special artistic orbit and his film "The Son of Joseph" is perhaps his mo...

  • The Super 8 Years

    Directed by Annie Ernaux, David Ernaux-Briot • Documentary • 2022 • France • French with English subtitles
    Featuring Annie Ernaux, David Ernaux-Briot, Blanche Madeleine Dumenil Duchesne

    The French writer and 2022 Nobel Prize awardee Annie Ernaux, whose novels and memoirs have gained her a devote...

  • The War Tapes

    Directed by Deborah Scranton • Documentary • 2006 • US • English
    Featuring Zack Bazzi, Duncan Domey, Ben Flanders

    Immediate, raw, and direct, “The War Tapes” is the first film shot by the soldiers themselves, bypassing the embedded reporter filter and providing an intimate front-row look at how ...

  • The Woman Who Left

    Directed by Lav Diaz • Arthouse • 2017 • Philippines • Tagalog with English subtitles
    Starring Charo Santos-Concio, John Lloyd Cruz, Michael De Mesa

    Winner of the Golden Lion at the 2016 Venice Film Festival, Filipino filmmaker Lav Diaz’s epic story of revenge deferred functions as a tale of urb...

  • The Worst Ones

    Directed by Lise Akoka, Romane Gueret • Arthouse • 2023 • France • French with English subtitles
    Starring Mallory Wanecque, Timéo Mahaut, Johan Heldenbergh

    Winner of the top prize in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, "The Worst Ones" captures a film within a film a...

  • The Wound

    Directed by John Trengove • Drama • 2017 • South Africa, Germany, Netherlands, France • Xhosa with English subtitles
    Starring Mallory Wanecque, Timéo Mahaut, Johan Heldenbergh

    Shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, "The Wound" is an exploration of tradition and sexuali...

  • Tommaso

    Directed by Abel Ferrara • Arthouse • 2020 • Italy, US • English, Italian with English subtitles
    Starring Willem Dafoe, Anna Ferrara, Cristina Chiriac

    Abel Ferrara’s delicately surrealistic work of autofiction reteams the filmmaker and his frequent lead Willem Dafoe, who delivers a career-best p...

  • Tower

    Directed by Keith Maitland • Documentary • 2016 • US • English
    Featuring Keith Maitland, Susan Thomson, Megan Gilbride

    On August 1, 1966, a sniper from the top floor of the University of Texas Tower opened fire, holding the campus hostage for 96 minutes. Combining archival footage with rotosco...

  • Trouble the Water

    Directed by Carl Deal, Tia Lessin • Documentary • 2008 • US • English
    Featuring Brian Nobles, Wink Rivers, Kimberly Rivers Roberts

    Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, this powerful documentary is at once horrifying and exhilarating. “Trouble the Water” takes you inside ...

  • Underground

    Directed by Emir Kusturica • Arthouse • 1997 • Federal Republic of Yugosolavia • Serbian, German, French, Russian with English subtitles
    Starring Miki Manojlovic, Lazar Ristovski, Mirjana Jokovic

    Winner of the Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or, "Underground" is a visionary masterpiece where hope, ...

  • Victoria

    Directed by Sebastian Schipper • Arthouse • 2015 • Germany • English, German with English subtitles
    Starring Laia Costa, Frederick Lau, Franz Rogowski

    Winner of the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival and shot in a single, uninterrupted take, “Victoria” stars a runaway party girl from Madrid...

  • Violette

    Directed by Martin Provost • Drama • 2013 • France • French with English subtitles
    Starring Emmanuelle Devos, Sandrine Kiberlain, Olivier Gourmet

    "Violette" is a finely nuanced portrait of Violette Leduc, one of the foremost French writers of the 20th century. Superb performances by Emmanuelle D...

  • Vita Activa: The Spirit of Hannah Arendt

    Directed by Ada Ushpiz • Documentary • 2015 • Israel, Canada • English, Hebrew, German with English subtitles
    Featuring Alison Darcy, Angela Winkler

    This spirited and thought-provoking documentary about German-Jewish philosopher Hannah Arendt dives into rare, archival footage to offer a portrait...

  • What Will People Say

    Directed by Iram Haq • Drama • 2018 • Norway, Sweden, Germany • Urdu, Norwegian with English subtitles
    Starring Maria Mozhdah, Adil Hussain, Rohit Saraf

    Sixteen-year-old Nisha lives a double life. When out with her friends, she's a regular Norwegian teenager. At home with her family, she is the ...

  • Wife of a Spy

    Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa • Thriller • 2021 • Japan • English, Japanese with English subtitles
    Starring Yu Aoi, Issey Takahashi, Ryota Bando

    Master filmmaker Kiyoshi Kurosawa won the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival for this riveting, gorgeously crafted, old-school Hitchockian thriller...