“High Life”
Director: Claire Denis
What You Need to Know: French filmmaker Claire Denis has had the kind of career where she can pretty much do whatever the hell she wants now, and right now the 72-year-old filmmaker wants to release a sci-fi horror flick starring Robert Pattinson, a baby, and a maniacal Juliette Binoche. It’s hard to go too deep into “High Life” without giving away its insane twists (rest assured there are plenty), but the basic premise is this: Monte (Pattinson) is the only adult left on a spaceship headed for a black hole. Left with an infant as his only companion, Monte must contemplate his fate and the events that led him to such an isolated existence. Spoiler alert: some fucked up shit led him to that existence, if the numerous walkouts during the film’s TIFF screenings are any indication. (Vive la France!) “High Life” had its big premiere at TIFF 2018 before hitting French cinemas last November, and it’s slated for an American release through A24 in the spring. In the meantime, it’s enough just to get excited over the trailer, which sports lots of eye-popping shots and the iconic line, “Fuck your baby mission.”
Release: April 12, via A24.
https://twitter.com/ThePlaylist/status/1038118988868284416
“Honey Boy”
Director: Alma Har’el
What You Need to Know: Shia LaBeouf is something of a millennial fascination. We grew up seeing him be weird and wacky on Disney Channel original programming, then he did the “Transformers” movies, and then he made a bonkers journey into independent film by way of “Nymphomaniac.” It seems the performance artist (slash cannibal?) is getting more serious about his film choices now — after starring in Andrea Arnold’s fantastic “American Honey,” LaBeouf will act out his own semi-autobiographical script at this year’s Sundance film festival. Celebrated documentarian Alma Har’el (“Bombay Beach,” “LoveTrue”) makes her dramatic debut with “Honey Boy,” the story of a child actor’s relationship with his abusive father. LaBeouf plays a character based on his own father in the movie, with Noah Jupe (“Wonder,” “A Quiet Place”) and Lucas Hedges as the child actor, Otis, at different ages. So far “Honey Boy” looks like it will offer some enthralling insight into LaBeouf’s psyche, and with those performers and a skilled director like Har’el behind the project, this is definitely one to keep an eye on at Sundance.
Release: January 25
https://twitter.com/ThePlaylist/status/1002571457098964993
“The Last Thing He Wanted”
Director: Dee Rees
What You Need to Know: After racking up a number of Oscar nominations with the period piece “Mudbound,” Dee Rees is returning to the big screen with “The Last Thing He Wanted,” a prestige picture based on Joan Didion’s novel of the same name. The story centers on a journalist (Anne Hathaway) who stops covering the 1984 presidential election to care for her dying father (Willem Dafoe) and become an arms dealer. This is Rees’s first feature that doesn’t explore the Black American experience — she made “Pariah” and “Bessie” before “Mudbound” — and her first thriller, so it will be fascinating to see how she does with this script, which she co-wrote with Marco Villalobos. Safe to say we’re not the only ones itching for this one, as Netflix has already shelled out $12.5 million for the film and is priming it for a robust Oscars campaign come fall. Supporting actors include Ben Affleck, Toby Jones, and Rosie Perez, so, yeah. This is Oscar bait if we’ve ever seen it, and we’re already on the edges of our seats.
Release: TBA — late 2019
https://twitter.com/ThePlaylist/status/1016767543896231936
“Late Night”
Director: Nisha Ganatra
What You Need to Know: Nisha Gantara (“Transparent”) directs this script by Mindy Kaling in which problematic late-night host Katherine (Emma Thompson) hires a female head writer (Kaling) in an attempt to make her show more relevant. Despite making a name for herself by writing on “The Office” and “The Mindy Project,” this is actually Kaling’s first screenplay, so it’ll be interesting to see her first feature-length script. And given that she’s the mind behind such classic ‘Office’ episodes as “The Dundies” and “The Injury,” “Late Night” is guaranteed to bring the funny. Emma Thompson running a late-night show in power suits should be enough to drum up excitement for any project, but the Kaling-penned script and this being Gantara’s first feature has us impatiently waiting for this Sundance debut.
Release: January 25
https://twitter.com/ThePlaylist/status/1086306187203760128
“Little Woods”
Director: Nia DaCosta
What You Need to Know: “Little Woods” director Nia DaCosta won The Nora Ephron Award at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival, and it’s finally going to get a wider release about a year after its debut. The film follows Ollie (Tessa Thompson), a former narcotics dealer in a rural Western town who’s forced to return to drug-running when her sister, Deb (Lily James), falls into financial trouble. The film is a sure-footed first feature from DaCosta that received universal critical acclaim for its performances and original story. Perhaps most importantly, “Little Woods” offers a complex female protagonist the likes of which is rarely seen on the big screen. We don’t have to tell you we’re excited to see how this one turns out — we already know it’s great! It’ll probably just get a limited release, but it’s great to see Neon take this project on, and hopefully, audiences like it as much as we did. We know one person, Jordan Peele, loved DaCosta’s work, as he’s hired her to helm the upcoming “Candyman” reboot.
Release: April 19
https://twitter.com/ThePlaylist/status/1084849266323935232
