The indie multiverse hits digital video stores. This week’s lineup of movies highlights the biggest independent “blockbuster” of the year: “Everything Everywhere at the Same Time,” a critically acclaimed action fantasy film. There’s also David Cronenberg’s biological quirkiness, a chilling Thai horror, two Brazilian productions, and several award-winning films, most notably “The Worst Person in the World,” which was nominated for nearly 100 awards, including two Oscars, and won 22 times.
Check out the weekly tip of the 10 best releases for programming your home cinema below.
| EVERYWHERE EVERYWHERE AT THE SAME TIME | VOD *
The biggest hit in the history of indie studio A24 (from films like “Midsommar” and “Ex Machina”), the sci-fi with 95% approval by American critics on Rotten Tomatoes tells the story of a mother who is exhausted by difficulty paying taxes, when she discovers the existence of the multiverse and many versions of herself in different realities.
Not only that: one of her otherworldly husbands reveals to her that the fate of the multiverse is in her hands. And to prevent the end of all worlds, the character played by Michelle Yeoh (“Star Trek: Discovery”) will have to embody the abilities of the entirety of her versions to face Jamie Lee Curtis (“Halloween”) and other dangerous threats that await her in the your mission.
The cast also features Ke Huy Quan (who was the Short Round boy from “Indiana at the Temple of Doom”) as Yeoh’s husband, Stephanie Hsu (“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”) as his daughter and veteran James Hong (“Adventurers from the Forbidden Neighborhood”), among others. Written and directed by Daniels, pseudonym of the duo Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (both of “A Corpse to Survive”), and the production is already considered a cult.
| CRIMES OF THE FUTURE | MUBI
The bizarre science fiction marks director David Cronenberg’s return to the biological horrors of his early career – and the effects are felt over a period, too, without any computerized treatment. Focused on biological mutations and body art performances, the film draws more attention for its subversive ideas – phrases like “surgery is the new sex” – and for its decadent setting – in a future where everything looks old, without a computer. or cell phones – that from the plot, as absurd as that of “Videodrome” (1983) and with many unsolved pending issues.
In this future where technology seems alien, people change spontaneously, with the emergence of new internal organs. The protagonist, played by Viggo Mortensen (“Green Book”), is a performer known for transforming his body into a show, extracting, with the help of his wife (Léa Seydoux, from “007 – No Time to Die”), his own mutations before an ecstatic audience.
He is also a volunteer assistant to a bureaucratic organization created to catalog the emergence of new organs – and his unique biology delights the two responsible for this process, played by Kristen Stewart (“Spencer”) and Don McKellar (“Essay Against Blindness). “). As if that weren’t enough, he’s still secretly a police informant. He infiltrates the pro-mutation revolutionaries, pretending to allow his performances to become platforms for the next stage of human evolution.
| THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD | VOD *
The most awarded work by Danish writer Joachim Trier (“Stronger Than Bombs”), winner of 19 international awards, nominated for two Oscars (Best Original Screenplay and Best International Film) and with 97% approval on Rotten Tomatoes, follows a woman approaching 30 years with an existential crisis. Many of her talents have been wasted and her boyfriend is pushing for them to settle down. One night, she breaks up at a party, she meets a charming man and embarks on a new relationship, hoping to find a different perspective on her life.
Highly regarded for her performance, Norwegian Renate Reinsve (“Oslo, August 31”) was named Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival.
| DOWNTON ABBEY: A NEW ERA | LIVE GAME, VOD *
The second film based on the British series brings most of the original cast back into a storyline that is literally cinematic, as it shows the production of a film on the Crawley family property. Upon their return to the screen, the characters also embark on a summer trip, after the Countess of Grantham (Maggie Smith) inherits a mansion on the French Riviera and leaves everyone curious to uncover the mystery behind this legacy. And in addition to filling the screen with the beautiful landscape of the French coast, the plot also features a wedding.
The screenplay is by Julian Fellowes, who directed the costume series between 2010 and 2015, and is directed by director Simon Curtis (“Seven Days with Marilyn”).
| THE MEDIUM | LIVE GAME, VOD *
Far from being a Hollywood horror, “The Medium” is a scary story based on Thai spirituality. Director Banjong Pisanthanakun is a specialist in the genre, responsible for the hit “Spirits” (2004), which became a franchise, and many other horrors made in Thailand. His approach closely follows the school of “found footage” (more “Cannibal Holocaust” than “The Blair Witch Project”), with a team of (fake) documentary makers mobilized to accompany an exorcism with rituals very different from those presented in the Catholic terrors.
In the plot, Nim, a prominent psychic living in northern Thailand, notices increasingly sinister behavior in her young niece Mink, indicating that she may be possessed by an ancient evil entity. The psychic soon discovers that the young woman is the victim of something that happened in her family many years ago. And the movement of the camera makes everything much more realistic and chilling.
| THE SUSPECT | LIVE GAME, VOD *
Glória Pires was awarded at the last Gramado Festival as Best Actress for her performance in this film, in which she plays a policewoman diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. As she comes to terms with her retirement, her investigation into her latest case uncovers a plan that could make her a suspect in murder. She soon realizes that she will have to find the real culprit in her as she fights memory lapses and rejects advice to take it easy.
Globo soap opera director Pedro Peregrino made his film debut in front of this crime thriller, written by two experienced screenwriters, Newton Cannito (“Bróder”, “Reza a Lenda”) and Thiago Dottori (“VIPs” and “Turma da Mônica: Laços “), in collaboration with the producer Fernanda De Capua (” Domingo “).
| INFLUENCE OF THE LIE | STAR +
Written and directed by actress Quinn Shephard (“Midnight Sun”), the comedy follows Danni Sanders (Zoey Deutch, “Zoeyland: Double Tap”), an aspiring writer who is virtually invisible with no romantic prospects or social media followers.
When she decides to pretend to be a digital influencer to exploit her social status, simple and innocent montages to show her in Paris turn into her worst nightmare. This is because the French capital becomes the scene of an attack, making Danni the media protagonist of the incident. Accumulating fame and followers as a feigned survivor of the deadly attack, she finds herself embroiled in a far greater fiction than she ever imagined.
The cast also features an unrecognizable Dylan O’Brien (“Love and Monsters”), very blond and tattooed, as well as Embeth Davidtz (“The Morning Show”), Sarah Yarkin (“The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”), Brennan Brown (“Chicago Med”) and Karan Soni (“Deadpool”).
| MY HOLIDAY WITH PATRICK | MUBI
The comedy won the César (French Oscar) for Best Actress for Laure Calamy. The story itself is typical of village cinema, accompanying a farce between lovers. Calamy plays the teacher mistress of the father of one of her pupils, who decides to meet him “by coincidence” on vacation with his wife and son. The tour of the bucolic location, however, involves an uncooperative donkey (the animal, not the husband).
Loosely based on a late 19th-century short story by Robert Louis Stevenson, “My Vacation with Patrick” is the second film directed by Caroline Vignal, released 20 years after the director’s debut with “Les Autres Filles” (2000).
| THE PARTY | MUBI
The British comedy pokes fun at the intellectual left with biting humor and black and white photography, but divides opinions, perhaps because the intellectual left did not like to recognize themselves in the frame of director Sally Potter (“Ginger & Rose”). Even those who disdain, give their arm to cheer for the interpretation of Patricia Clarkson (“The Bookstore”), who steals the scenes as a guest at the title party, held by the character of Kristin Scott Thomas (“The Fate of a Nation”) for commemorate his appointment to political office. Clarkson won the BIFA, the British independent film award.
| BEARD, HAIR AND MUSTACHE | NETFLIX
Former BBB Lucas Penteado plays Richardsson, a young man who finishes high school and enters the phase of figuring out what to do with his life. Although his mother (Solange Couto) has big dreams for her future, he wants to get a haircut in Saigon, a salon he runs and is facing a financial crisis in Rio’s Penha neighborhood.
Without the support of his mother, he tries to fulfill his dream on his own, getting involved in various confusions, while spreading trendy cuts throughout Rio de Janeiro.
Directed by Rodrigo França (“Como Esquecer um Grande Amor”) and Letícia Prisco (assistant director of “Minha Mãe é uma Peça 3”), and the cast also includes Juliana Alves, Rebecca, MV Bill, MC Carol, Yuri Marçal, Jeniffer Dias, Sérgio Loroza and Neuza Borges.
* VOD (video on demand) versions can be rented individually on platforms such as Apple TV, Google Play, Microsoft Store, Prime Store and YouTube, among others, without the need for a monthly subscription.
Source: Terra
Emily Jhon is a product and service reviewer at Gossipify, known for her honest evaluations and thorough analysis. With a background in marketing and consumer research, she offers valuable insights to readers. She has been writing for Gossipify for several years and has a degree in Marketing and Consumer Research from the University of Oxford.
