Indie Film Release Guide: October 4th [An ONTD Original]

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The only major studio release this weekend comes in the form of a film about the inner toil of Batman’s archnemesis. But if this movie about (and apparently directed by) a clown doesn't appeal to you for some reason, please check out some other options below!

The films listed are from studios other than the “Big Six” - Paramount, Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox, Universal, Columbia and Disney. Note that some of the movies listed are in their first week or two of limited release in the USA, so it may take them a few more weeks (or months) to show up in your local arthouse theater or on VOD. Check out the posts from the past few weeks for more movies that may have just opened near you: September 27th, September 20th, and September 13th.

Pain and Glory

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Stars: Antonio Banderas, Penélope Cruz, Asier Etxeandia, Leonardo Sbaraglia
Writer/Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Genre: Drama
Plot: A film director reflects on the choices he's made in life as past and present come crashing down around him.
What you should know: It’s in Spanish
Opens in: NYC and LA



Lucy in the Sky

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Stars: Natalie Portman, Jon Hamm, Zazie Beetz, Dan Stevens
Writer: Brian C. Brown, Elliott DiGuiseppi, Noah Hawley
Director: Noah Hawley
Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi
Plot: Astronaut Lucy Cola returns to Earth after a transcendent experience during a mission to space, and begins to lose touch with reality in a world that now seems too small.
What you should know: The reviews at TIFF were not kind.
Opens in: Select cities

Dolemite is My Name

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Stars: Eddie Murphy, Wesley Snipes, Keegan-Michael Key, Chris Rock
Writer: Scott Alexander, Larry Karaszewski
Director: Craig Brewer
Genre: Biography, Comedy, Drama
Plot: Follows real-life legend Rudy Ray Moore, a comedy and rap pioneer who proved naysayers wrong when his hilarious, obscene, kung-fu fighting alter ego, Dolemite, became a 1970s Blaxploitation phenomenon.
What you should know: This is the first film directed by Craig Brewer that was not also written by him.
Opens in: Select cities + streams on Netflix October 25th

Wrinkles the Clown

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Director: Michael Beach Nichols
Genre: Documentary, Comedy, Horror
Storyline: A short video about a clown ostensibly hired to scare misbehaving children went viral in 2014. This film explores the subsequent responses and appeals to said clown, with his participation.
What you should know: "Documentary" seems to a be a very loosely applied descriptor.
Opens in: Select cities

Memory: The Origins of Alien

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Director: Alexandre O. Philippe
Genre: Documentary
Storyline: The untold origin story behind Ridley Scott's Alien - rooted in Greek and Egyptian mythologies, underground comics, the art of Francis Bacon, and the dark visions of Dan O'Bannon and H.R. Giger. A contemplation on the symbiotic collaborative process of movie-making, the power of myth, and our collective unconscious.
What you should know: Purchased by a fan-owned entertainment company, Legion M, at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival.
Opens in: Select cities

The Climbers

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Stars: Jing Wu, Ziyi Zhang, Boran Jing, Yi Zhang
Writer: A Lai, Ying Shang, Rengang Li
Director: Daniel Lee (as Rengang Li)
Genre: Adventure, Drama
Plot: A cinematic retelling of the first Chinese climbers to summit Mount Everest - the first ever to do so from the North Ridge. Well-known as the most challenging side of the mountain, the perilous journey takes its toll on the mountaineers, physically and mentally, forcing them to make life or death decisions at every turn.
What you should know: It’s in Mandarin, and Jackie Chan makes an appearance.
Opens in: Select cities

Roger Waters: Us + Them

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Director: Sean Evans, Roger Waters
Genre: Documentary, Music
Storyline: Filmed in Amsterdam on the European leg of his 2017 - 2018 Us + Them tour which saw Waters perform to over two million people worldwide, the film features songs from his legendary Pink Floyd albums and from his last album, Is This The Life We Really Want?
What you should know: Waters and co-director Evans have collaborated a number of times before.
Opens in: Select cities

Low Tide

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Stars: Jaeden Martell, Keean Johnson, Shea Whigham, Alex Neustaedter
Writer/Director: Kevin McMullin
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Plot: Alan, Red, and Smitty spend high summer on the Jersey Shore roving the boardwalk and getting into trouble. But the discovery of good old fashioned treasure sets the friends on an escalating course of suspicion and violence in this atmospheric thriller.
What you should know: This is the director’s first feature film.
Opens in: Select cities and available VOD

Dilili in Paris

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Stars: Prunelle Charles-Ambron, Enzo Ratsito, Natalie Dessay, Bruno Paviot
Writer/Director: Michel Ocelot
Genre: Animation, Adventure, Family
Plot: In Belle Époque Paris, accompanied by a young scooter deliveryman, little Kanak Dilili investigates mysterious kidnappings of girls.
What you should know: It’s in French.
Opens in: Select cities

The Parts You Lose

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Stars: Aaron Paul, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Scoot McNairy, Kristen Harris
Writer: Darren Lemke
Director: Christopher Cantwell
Genre: Action, Drama, Thriller
Plot: A young boy in a small North Dakota town befriends a potentially dangerous fugitive.
What you should know: Filmed in Sanford, Manitoba, Canada
Opens in: Select cities and available VOD

Also opening: Collisions (Trailer), Cuck (Trailer), The Pretenders (Trailer), Wallflower (Trailer), Nighthawks (Trailer), Game Day (Trailer)

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What have you been watching lately, ONTD? Seeing anything this weekend?