While a trip to the movies may feel like a distant memory, cinemas across the country are slowly starting to reopen their doors and drive-in movie experiences have been popping up all over the city. Yet while some of this summer’s hottest new films will be shown on the big screen, plenty are available to watch online too, with independent film streaming services snapping up some of the year’s most talked about titles. Here we’ve rounded up this summer’s unmissable cinematic offerings.
Dubbed the first mainstream horror film in Yiddish, this supernatural flick is rooted in Jewish culture and mysticism, and marks an interesting departure for executive producer Jason Blum, the man behind the acclaimed post-race horror Get Out. Set in the Hasidic community of Boro Park, Brooklyn, it follows Yakov (played by Dave Davis), a lapsed member of the Orthodox community who is persuaded to act as a shomer and wait overnight in vigil on a corpse to protect it from evil. He soon discovers that the dead man’s home houses a sinister presence, and he’s forced to confront his own personal demons in order to survive the night.
In cinemas now
Oscar-nominated Alfre Woodard gives a spellbinding performance in this devastatingly powerful death-row drama from writer-director Chinonye Chukwu. Woodard plays Bernadette Williams, an American prison warden who has presided over 12 executions, but increasingly finds herself troubled by her role in the American judicial system. When it comes to her 13th, she finds herself drawn, both emotionally and physically, into the fate of condemned prisoner Anthony Woods (Aldis Hodge). It’s a painfully poignant watch, and distributor Bohemia Media has created a special new revenue model, which means you can support an independent cinema of your choice when you stream it.
Available on Curzon Home Cinema now
Award-winning German filmmaker Werner Herzog is back with a thought-provoking film set in Tokyo, which tells the story of a company that rents out stand-ins for absent family members and friends. Artifice and reality overlap throughout – while the film is a scripted drama, it’s shot like a documentary, using a shaky hand-held camera, and the company featured, Family Romance LLC, actually exists. Herzog even got the firm’s real-life proprietor, Ishii Yuchii, to play one of the main characters. Both laugh-out-loud funny and moving in equal parts, the surreal tragicomedy explores themes of loneliness, disconnection and the true nature of family relationships.
Available on Mubi and Curzon Home Cinema now
This tender Icelandic thriller was one of the standout hits when it was shown at the Cannes Film Festival last year. It follows grieving policeman Ingimundur (Ingvar Sigurðsson) as he discovers that his recently deceased wife had been having an affair with one of his friends and uses his compassionate leave to investigate. What follows is an arresting psychological drama fuelled by a taught, crackling energy – while at first it seems like a slow-burner, the finale cranks up to a breathless pace, with plenty of clever twists and turns that will keep you guessing long after the credits have rolled.
Available on Curzon Home Cinema now
Featuring a stellar cast including Charlize Theron, Chiwetel Ejiofor and If Beale Street Could Talk’s KiKi Layne, Netflix’s latest big-budget release is an action-packed adaptation of the graphic novel of the same name. Theron takes on the role of Andromache of Scythia (‘Andy’ to her friends), the leader of a tough crew of mercenaries with a secret: they all happen to be immortal and have been battling on behalf of the righteous for centuries. But their existence is threatened when a new member joins their ranks – officer Nile, played by Layne. Expect plenty of high-octane action and sci-fi adventure throughout.
Available on Netflix now
This film garnered a lot of buzz when it showed at SXSW last year, winning a Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Voice at the festival thanks to its taboo-busting subject matter. The comedy-drama follows struggling thirty-something Bridget (masterfully played by the film’s screenwriter, Kelly O’Sullivan), a child-phobic former waitress who somehow finds herself landing a new job nannying for precocious six-year-old Frances (Ramona Edith Williams). Tackling everything from menstruation to birth control, abortion to postnatal depression, it’s a bittersweet tale that offers a vibrant examination of female lives on screen.
In cinemas from 24 July
Caitlin Moran’s bestselling coming-of-age memoir has been turned into a gloriously cheery film, starring comedy actor of the moment Beanie Feldstein as nerdy teen Johanna Morrigan (a surrogate for Moran herself). Set in working class Wolverhampton in the Nineties, it follows Morrigan as she sets out on her path to becoming a successful music journalist, where she’s forced to fend off sexist creeps and align herself with the more cynical side of the industry. Featuring a wonderful supporting cast including Emma Thompson as magazine editor Amanda Watson and Alfie Allen as the brooding rocker love interest, it’s a riotously fun romp.
Available on Amazon Prime from 24 July
This handsomely shot true-crime gangster drama from veteran Italian director Marco Bellochio revolves around Sicilian mafia mobsters, most specifically the sensational anti-mafia Maxi trial of 1986, in which hundreds were convicted. Pierfrancesco Favino plays Tomasso Buscetta, a charismatic Cosa Nostra informant who did the unthinkable and snitched on his fellow footsoldiers. Flashing backwards and forwards from his life as a young man in Palermo starting out in the criminal underworld to an elderly figure in the witness protection scheme in America, it’s a beautifully filmed cinematic portrait that offers a glimpse into the ways of the real-life goodfellas.
In cinemas from 24 July
Eva Green’s latest film tackles the ever-thorny issue of mothers trying to pursue a career while simultaneously raising their children – only this mother will be trying to do so from outer space. Green plays Sarah, a trainee astronaut preparing for a year on the International Space Station and away from her young daughter, Stella (portrayed with effortless sensitivity by Zélie Boulant-Lemesle). Shot on location in actual training facilities in Europe, Russia and Kazakhstan, French filmmaker Alice Winocour’s superbly crafted film feels less like a space movie and more like an intimate family drama, with a moving mother-daughter relationship at its core.
In cinemas from 31 July
This feature film debut from Olivier Award-winning playwright Jessica Swale – best known for her comedic West End hit Nell Gwynn – is an impassioned story of female empowerment set against the backdrop of the Second World War. With an outstanding cast of British actors including Gemma Arterton, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Penelope Wilton and Tom Courtenay, the story revolves around Alice (Arterton), a secluded, solitary writer whose life is turned upside down when young Frank, an evacuee from the Blitz, is unexpectedly placed in her care. But while she resolves to quickly be rid of him, his innocence and wonder begin to awaken emotions in her she’d thought long buried.
In cinemas from 31 July
