New York Times Critics' Picks

Share
  • Under the Sun

    Directed by Vitaly Mansky • Documentary • 2015 • 110 minutes

    After years of negotiation the Russian director Vitaly Mansky was invited by the North Korean government to make a film about one girl and her family, in the year she prepares to join the Children's Union, on the 'Day of the Shining St...

  • My Imaginary Country

    Directed by Patricio Guzmán • Documentary • 2022 • 83 minutes

    One day, without warning, a revolution exploded. It was the event that master documentarian Patricio Guzmán had been waiting for all his life: a million and a half people in the streets of Santiago, Chile, demanding justice, education...

  • Redlegs

    Directed by Brandon Harris • Drama • With Andrew Katz, Evan Louison, Nathan Ramos • 2012 • 67 minutes

    A comedic drama set amongst grieving twenty-something man-boys in the industrial Midwest whose black friend was recently murdered in a historically troubled part of Cincinnati, Ohio.

  • Red Hollywood

    Directed by Thom Andersen & Noel Burch • Documentary • With Billy Woodberry, Paul Jarrico, Alfred Lewis Levitt, Abraham Polonsky, Ayn Rand • 2014 • 118 minutes

    A fascinating documentary by Thom Andersen (director of Los Angeles Plays Itself) and Noel Burch (author of To The Distant Observer), Re...

  • Two Lottery Tickets

    Directed by Paul Negoescu • Drama • With Dorian Boguta, Dragos Bucur, Alexandru Papadopol • 2016 • 86 minutes

    Sile, an underemployed carpenter who spends most afternoons at the pub, convinces his buddy Dinel to play the lottery one hot afternoon. After borrowing a few Euro from Pompiliu, the loc...

  • The Innocents

    Directed by Anne Fontaine • Drama • With Lou de Laâge, Agata Buzek, Agata Kulesza • 2016 • 115 minutes

    Warsaw, December 1945: the second World War is finally over and French Red Cross doctor Mathilde (Lou de Laage) is treating the last of the French survivors of the German camps. When a panicked...

  • El Mar La Mar

    Directed by Joshua Bonnetta & J.P. Sniadecki • Documentary • 2017 • 94 minutes

    An immersive and enthralling journey through the Sonoran Desert on the U.S.-Mexico border, EL MAR LA MAR weaves together harrowing oral histories from the area with hand-processed 16mm images of flora, fauna and items...

  • La Moustache

    Directed by Emmanuel Carrère • Drama • With Vincent Lindon, Emmanuelle Devos, Mathieu Amalric • 2005 • 86 minutes

    Marc Thiriez (Vincent Lindon) is an architect who's worn a mustache for many years. Now approaching middle age, he decides to shave it off, naturally expecting others to notice. But ...

  • Preparations to be Together for an Unknown Period of Time

    Directed by Lili Horvát • Drama • With Natasa Stork, Viktor Bodó • 2021 • 94 minutes

    After 20 years in the United States, a Hungarian neurosurgeon returns to Budapest for a romantic rendezvous with a fellow doctor she met at a conference. When the love of her life is nowhere to be seen, she trac...

  • Embrace of the Serpent

    Directed by Ciro Guerra • Drama • With Nilbio Torres, Antonio Bolívar, Jan Bijvoet • 2015 • 125 minutes

    At once blistering and poetic, the ravages of colonialism cast a dark shadow over the South American landscape in EMBRACE OF THE SERPENT, the third feature by Ciro Guerra. Filmed in stunning b...

  • Ham on Rye

    Directed by Tyler Taormina • Drama • With Haley Bodell, Audrey Boos, Danny Tamberelli • 2020 • 85 minutes

    Ham on Rye, a coming-of-age comedy centered on the nervous excitement of youth and the strange horror of entering adulthood uses an expansive ensemble of over one hundred performers, includi...

  • Francine

    Directed by Brian M. Cassidy and Melanie Shatzky • Drama • With Melissa Leo • 2012 • 74 minutes

    After years of incarceration, a quiet, lonely woman, Francine (Academy Award® winner Melissa Leo), is released to start a new life in a small, rural town. But despite opportunities for warmth and conn...

  • The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle

    Directed by David Russo • Drama • With Marshall Allman, Jeanette Maus • 2009 • 97 minutes

    After losing his cubicle job as a data manager in Seattle, spiritually confused Dory feels like his life is going down the drain. He plummets from white collar to brown collar when he is forced to take a jo...

  • The Messenger

    Directed by Oren Moverman • Drama • With Ben Foster, Woody Harrelson, Samantha Morton, Steve Buscemi • 2009 • 113 minutes

    Co-written by Oren Moverman and Alessandro Camon, THE MESSENGER is a powerful and tender story about a returned war hero making his first steps toward a normal life. In his f...

  • Until the Light Takes Us

    Directed by Aaron Aites & Audrey Ewell • Documentary • With Gylve “Fenriz” Nagell, Varg “Count Grishnackh” Vikernes, Harmony Korine • 2010 • 93 minutes

    Until The Light Takes Us tells the story of black metal. Part music scene and part cultural uprising, black metal rose to worldwide notoriety in...

  • Sun Don't Shine

    Directed by Amy Seimetz • Drama • With Kate Lyn Sheil, Kentucker Audley • 2013 • 80 minutes

    Written and directed by Amy Seimetz, Sun Don't Shine follows Crystal and her boyfriend Leo on a tense and mysterious road trip through hauntingly beautiful landscape of central Florida. The purpose of the...

  • By the Grace of God

    Directed by François Ozon • Drama • With Melvil Poupaud, Denis Ménochet, Swann Arlaud • 2019 • 137 minutes

    BY THE GRACE OF GOD tells the story of three men—Alexandre (Melvil Poupaud), François (Denis Ménochet), and Emmanuel (Swann Arlaud)—who band together to expose the code of silence that cont...

  • Searching for Ingmar Bergman

    Directed by Margarethe von Trotta • Documentary • With Liv Ullmann, Olivier Assayas, Ruben Östlund • 2018 • 99 minutes

    On the 100th anniversary of his birth, internationally renowned director Margarethe von Trotta examines Ingmar Bergman’s life and work with a circle of his closest collaborators...

  • The Bridesmaid (Claude Chabrol)

    Directed by Claude Chabrol • Drama • With Benoit Magimal, Laura Smet, Aurore Clement, Bernard Le Coq, Selene Bouton, Anna Mihalcea • 2004 • 110 minutes

    It's love at first sight when bridesmaid Senta falls into the life of handsome young Philippe at the wedding of his younger sister. As their pa...

  • You Go to My Head

    Directed by Dimitri de Clercq • Drama • With Delfine Bafort, Svetozar Cvetkovic, Arend Pinoy, Omar Sarnane, Laurence Tremolet • 2018 • 120 minutes

    This award-winning, critically lauded thriller begins in a desolate stretch of the Sahara, where a mysterious car accident leaves a young woman lost ...

  • Sita Sings the Blues

    Directed by Nina Paley • Animation • 2008 • 82 minutes

    Sita is a goddess separated from her beloved Lord and husband Rama. Nina is an animator whose husband moves to India, then dumps her by email. Three hilarious shadow puppets narrate both ancient tragedy and modern comedy in this beautifully ...

  • Alleluia

    Directed by Fabrice Du Welz • Drama • With Laurent Lucas, Lola Dueñas • 2014 • 95 minutes

    Based on notorious real-life “lonely hearts killers” who make victims of their romantic liaisons, Alleluia is a dark and fascinating love-story-gone-wrong from Belgian horror maverick Fabrice du Welz. Miche...

  • The Woodmans

    Directed by C. Scott Willis • Documentary • With Betty Woodman, Francesca Woodman, Charles Woodman George Woodman • 2010 • 83 minutes

    The Woodmans are a family of well-known artists bonded in their belief of art-making as the highest form of expression. But for their daughter Francesca — one of ...

  • Keep the Lights On (Ira Sachs)

    Directed by Ira Sachs • Drama • With Thure Lindhardt, Zachary Booth; Julianne Nicholson • 2012 • 106 minutes

    Keep the Lights On chronicles an emotionally and sexually charged journey of two men in New York City through love, friendship, and addiction. Documentary filmmaker Erik (Thure Lindhardt)...