New & Old Movies to Watch This November
And I reveal my personal Oscar villain of the season.
We’re fully into the fall movie season now! I’ve split this list out between films I’ve already seen and what I want to watch. (As always, this is not a comprehensive release schedule, just the movies that I am interested in.)
This month I’m experimenting with adding related viewing recommendations, let me know if they’re helpful at all. At the end is my shortlist of repertory series in New York City cinemas. You’ll probably see me at some of those!
Of course, tonight I will be at a bar, watching the election results. Inshallah…
Day-after update—a flash movie-foodie pairing: Dhoom and Dhamaka.
What I’ve Seen
Links in this section go to my previously published coverage, if there is any, as well as an emoji to quickly convey my thoughts.
November 5
Put Your Soul On Your Hand and Walk 😓
Just a few minutes in, I started to hear people sniffling around me, and I don’t think it was from the bug that was going around during the festival.
November 7
Christy 😨
Whether or not Sydney Sweeney has great jeans may be a subject of controversy, but she’s got an undeniable right hook.
Related viewing
Below the Belt (1980) – Very scrappy and charming road movie about “lady wrestlers” touring the American heartland. The original songs that play over various training and fighting montages—sung by Billy Preston and Jennifer Holliday, no less—are bad enough to give the film an extra camp appeal. The lyrics are so literal and descriptive that they feel like they’re taken from a bad stage musical. (Speaking of which, how has no one made a female wrestling musical for Broadway? In the round, the stage is a wrestling ring. I know there’s “The Last Match” but apparently it’s not very good and appeals to wrestling fans more than theater geeks. Should be the other way around.)
The Fire Inside (2024) – Another true-story female boxing tale, this one about Olympian Claressa Shields. Like Christy, the first half is fairly rote athletic inspo and gets more interesting in the back half. In this case, it’s about what happens after the Olympic bubble bursts, and Claressa returns to a life not too different from what she had before. Anchored by a strong performance from Brian Tyree Henry, as her longtime mentor. Scripted by Barry Jenkins; directorial debut for cinematographer Rachel Morrison.
This 76-minute movie is a cozy conversation between friends: the titular downtown photographer (Ben Whishaw) and fellow artist Linda Rosencrantz (Rebecca Hall). A certain subset of art freaks will really dig it. For me, it felt like watching a podcast on YouTube.
Related viewing
Portrait of Jason (1967) – When I first heard of Peter Hujar’s Day my mind immediately went to Shirley Clarke’s landmark documentary. It’s purportedly an interview of Jason Holliday, a man with interesting tales and fascinating stories. By the end, it morphs into an interrogation of the hurt that he’s caused others. Clarke continues a theme she explored in her prior film The Connection: the exploitation by a documentarian of their subject and the nature of authenticity in the medium. Peter Hujar’s Day doesn’t get nearly this contentious.
If you’re on the verge of a menty b, try a bit of senti v. Those looking to get ahead of Oscars viewing should prioritize Joachim Trier’s family drama, which is currently tabbed to be a major player with a campaign built around Stellan Skarsgård.
Related viewing
The Worst Person In the World (2021) – Joachim Trier’s prior film is a great entry point for those unfamiliar with the director. It’s the breakout role for Renate Reinsve, as an early thirties woman caught between two paths in life, as represented by the two men in her life. (That’s a fancy way to say “existential love triangle.”) Like life itself, the film is messy and complex, culminating in the catharsis you get all the best personal epics. Trier’s follow-up is a fine picture but doesn’t reach the same heights as this film.
November 14
Please click above to see my controversial list of famous Jays.
Related viewing
Sentimental Value (2025) – “All my memories are movies,” remarks Jay Kelly at one point, which could have also been said by the filmmaker patriarch of Sentimental Value.
Somewhere (2010) – Fame is a prison, a boring prison; this Sofia Coppola reverie has a great soundtrack.
Sirāt 🤯
A techno journey to the end of the world. This is just a one week awards-qualifying release in NY & LA, worth attending now if you’re able. Full theatrical bookings are currently scheduled for January 26.
Related viewing
Climax (2018) – A similarly techno-fuelled dance party gone horribly from Gaspar Noé.
The Sheltering Sky (1990) – Haven’t seen this myself, but Bertolucci’s drama of a Western couple losing themselves in North Africa has been oft-cited by others.
The Wages of Fear (1953) – Oliver Laxe is probably tired of people comparing his movie to this classic suspense thriller. But it’s a banger.
November 26
Hamnet 🤮
This is one of those times where it feels like everyone else saw (and loved) a movie completely different than what I saw. To be fair, I was merely bored up until the ludicrous ending. I started to chuckle but quickly silenced myself because people around me were crying that felt rude. It’s somehow primed to rack up plenty of Oscar nominations (and wins), which makes this my awards season villain of the year.
Related viewing
Arrival (2016) – Also prominently uses Max Richter’s composition “On the Nature of Daylight” except that this film actually made me feel something other than loathing.
Shakespeare in Love (1998) – Circumspectively also about Shakespare being in love (though apparently totally made up), but the stronger comparison is that it won Oscars that should have gone to better movies. In this way, Hamnet will be just like it.
A kaleidoscopic portrait of a chaotic time and place, layered with history and context going all the way back to initial colonization by the Portuguese. But this just didn’t land for me and I haven’t really been able to articulate why. A second watch may be needed; everyone else I spoke with was really into this movie.
Related viewing
Bacurau (2019) – A recent film from director Kleber Mendonça Filho that speaks to the same political themes but in a contemporary context.
Goodfellas (1990) – I mean, Goodfellas is always recommended viewing.
November 28
Khalil Joseph’s cinematic encyclopedia of Africana is an exhilarating headrush of ideas. The result is unabashedly experimental but still approachable. Fittingly, it’s getting released in select markets on Black Friday. Make time to see it in a theater.
Related viewing
Lemonade (2016) – Joseph came up as a music video director, most famously as one of the collaborators for Beyoncé’s visual album, but his initial version was re-tooled. It’s seemingly impossible to see his original cut.
Love Is the Message, the Message Is Death (2017) – A foundational influence for BLKNWS. Built around Kanye West’s “Ultralight Beam,” Arthur Jafa weaves the story of Black American life in a collage, or assemblage, or music video, whatever you want to call it, it is brutal and devastating and powerful. You can watch the eight-minute film right here.
What I Want to See
November 7
Die, My Love
“Grace, a writer and young mother, is slowly slipping into madness. Locked away in an old house in and around Montana, we see her acting increasingly agitated and erratic, leaving her companion, Jackson, increasingly worried and helpless.”
Lynne Ramsay, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert Pattinson. That’s all I need to hear.
Little Amélie or the Character of Rain
“Amélie, a Belgian child in Japan, explores life with her companion Nishio-san. Her third birthday becomes a turning point, marking the beginning of life-altering events that shape her understanding of the world.”
I only heard about this a few days ago but it’s been getting some good word of mouth.
Nuremberg
“A WWII psychiatrist evaluates Nazi leaders before the Nuremberg trials, growing increasingly obsessed with understanding evil as he forms a disturbing bond with Hermann Göring.”
Related viewing
Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) – The definitive movie about the Nuremberg trials (not that there are many) with a murderer’s row of stars in the cast. Received 11 nominations at the Oscars, which is unlikely to happen for this new movie, based on current predictions.
Train Dreams
“Based on Denis Johnson’s beloved novella, Train Dreams is the moving portrait of Robert Grainier, a logger and railroad worker who leads a life of unexpected depth and beauty in the rapidly-changing America of the early 20th Century.”
Related viewing
Sing Sing (2024) – The most recent movie from the filmmaking team of Clint Bentley & Greg Kwedar (they both write and produce but take turns directing). A24 really bungled the release for this because it’s a deeply heartfelt crowdpleaser, anchored by a commanding performance from Colman Domingo.
Stars at Noon (2022) – Also adapted from a Denis Johnson novel. Famously, Taylor Swift was recording Midnights with Jack Antonoff while their respective partners were down in Panama to shoot this movie with Claire Denis.
November 12-30
DOC NYC, New York City’s biggest documentary festival, unspools at the IFC Center, Village East, and SVA. I’ll be seeing a few titles! Let me know if anything in the lineup piques your interest!
November 14
Arco
“In 2075, a girl witnesses a mysterious boy in a rainbow suit fall from the sky. He comes from an idyllic far future where time travel is possible. She shelters him and will do whatever it takes to help him return to his time.”
French animation seems to be having a renaissance. One week qualifying release at NYC’s Angelika and LA’s AMC Burbank 16.
Left-Handed Girl
“A single mother and her two daughters relocate to Taipei to open a night market stall, each navigating the challenges of adapting to their new environment while striving to maintain family unity.”
As a left-handed boy, I have to see this movie. Directed by Shih-Ching Tsou, a frequent collaborator with Sean Baker, who co-wrote, produced, and edited here.
Related viewing
Take Out (2004) – Tsou and Baker directed this together, about a Chinese immigrant deeply in debt scrambling to get the money over the course of one day in Manhattan.
The Running Man
“A man joins a game show in which contestants, allowed to go anywhere in the world, are pursued by “hunters” hired to kill them.”
I didn’t care for Edgar Wright’s previous movie but maybe this will be good. I suppose I should see the original 1987 actioner.
Trifole
“In this bittersweet portrait of a vanishing rural way of life, Dalia travels to Piedmont to care for her aging grandfather Igor, an expert forager. Armed with his loyal dog Birba, she hunts for a prizewinning truffle to save his home.”
Related viewing
The Truffle Hunters (2020) – Documentary about truffle-hunting dogs (and their humans) in Northern Italy.
November 19
Angel’s Egg
“In a desolate and mysterious world, a young girl devoutly guards an egg of unknown origin. On her journey, she encounters a boy carrying a cross, who begins to question the nature of his faith and his mission.” New restoration of Mamoru Oishii’s 1985 anime film.
Related viewing
Ghost in the Shell (1995) – Obviously.
Solaris (1972) – Tarkovsky-ly.
November 21
Cutting Through Rocks
“37-year-old Sara Shahverdi, a motorcycle riding, land owning, former midwife-turned-fierce citizen advocate and recent divorcée, just won a landslide local election in her remote Iranian village and everyone has an opinion about it.” Documentary.
Rental Family
“An American actor in Tokyo struggling to find purpose lands an unusual gig: working for a Japanese “rental family” agency, playing stand-in roles for strangers. He rediscovers purpose, belonging, and the beauty of human connection.”
Idk it seems cute! And I need a Brendan Fraser redemption after sitting through the putridity that was The Whale.
Related viewing
Family Romance, LLC (2019) – Werner Herzog made a (scripted) movie about the same phenomenon and I suspect it’s tonally very different.
Wicked: For Good
Famously, I am the biggest hater of the first Wicked; it was my Oscar villain last year. So I will probably hate this new one (the two were produced at the same time) but I will still watch it.
November 26
Eternity
“In an afterlife where souls have one week to decide where to spend eternity, Joan is faced with the impossible choice between the man she spent her life with and her first love, who died young and has waited decades for her to arrive.”
Related viewing
After Life (1998) and Defending Your Life (1991) – Every review I’ve come across compares this movie to these two masterworks from Hirokazu Kore-eda and Albert Brooks, respectively.
Teenage Wasteland
“A teacher inspires a group of teenagers in the early 1990s to make a student film and they uncover a conspiracy that is poisoning their community. Thirty years later they revisit this transformative experience.”
Related viewing
Boys State (2020) – A great doc, also from the filmmaking team of Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss, about a mock-government summer camp for high schoolers.
Wake Up Dead Man
A new Knives Out mystery. Probably don’t need to explain further.
Zootopia 2
I probably don’t need to explain this either. Judy Hopps thicc. Just testing if you’re reading or skimming at this point.
NYC Repertory Roundup
Take it from someone who has been almost exclusively watching new movies for the last few months: watching old movies can be such a balm! If that big list of movies up there looked exhausting, see one of these rep series instead.
Sofia Coppola: A Tribute (MoMA, through November 16)
Seen and recommend: The Virgin Suicides, Lost in Translation, Priscilla
Hoping to catch: Marie Antoinette, The Bling Ring
Corporate Thrillers (BAM, November 14–20)
Seen and recommend: The Firm, Wall Street, The International (if only for the climactic shootout at the Guggenheim)
Hoping to catch: Tomorrow Never Dies, Michael Clayton
Avant-Garde Ads: Part 1 (Anthology Film Archives, November 15 – December 16)
Hoping to catch: As much as I can! Love the concept for this series.
Carte Blanche: Arthur Jafa (MoMA, November 20–26)
Programmed as a series of double-bills, in keeping with Jafa’s practice of juxtaposing disparate artworks.
Hoping to catch: Ten Minutes to Live + In the Mood For Love, The Godfather: Part II + Mirror, Killer of Sheep + Nothing but a Man
“If you’re on the verge of a menty b, try a bit of senti v” is a top notch headline tbh
1. loving related viewings, really helpful to get a vibe check for some of these movies
2. judy hopps IS thicc