Indie Film Release Guide: March 1st [An ONTD Original]
There are zero major studio releases this week... I guess no one wants to get stomped by Captain Marvel next weekend? But there are a ton of indie releases this week, so read on for more info about those!
Feel free to share your Letterboxd info in your comments - many of the regulars for this post are avid Letterboxd users.
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: February 22nd, February 15th, and February 8th.
Greta
Click to viewStars: Isabelle Huppert, Chloë Grace Moretz, Maika Monroe, Jane Perry
Writer: Ray Wright, Neil Jordan
Director: Neil Jordan
Genre: Drama, Horror, Mystery
Plot: A young woman befriends a lonely widow who's harboring a dark and deadly agenda towards her.
What you should know: The film premiered at TIFF last year.
Opens in: Wide release
Climax
Stars: Sofia Boutella, Romain Guillermic, Souheila Yacoub, Kiddy Smile
Writer/Director: Gaspar Noé
Genre: Drama, Horror, Music
Plot: French dancers gather in a remote, empty school building to rehearse on a wintry night. The all-night celebration morphs into a hallucinatory nightmare when they learn their sangria is laced with LSD.
What you should know: The script was only five pages long, and the film was shot in 15 days.
Opens in: Select cities
Apollo 11
Director: Todd Douglas Miller
Genre: Documentary
Storyline: A look at the Apollo 11 mission to land on the moon led by commander Neil Armstrong and pilot Buzz Aldrin.
What you should know: This documentary uses video and audio that has never been seen before to give a detailed picture of our trip to the moon.
Opens in: Select cities, then everywhere next weekend
The Hole in the Ground
Stars: Seána Kerslake, James Quinn Markey, Simone Kirby, Steve Wall
Writer: Lee Cronin, Stephen Shields
Director: Lee Cronin
Genre: Horror
Plot: One night, Sarah's young son disappears into the woods behind their rural home. When he returns, he looks the same, but his behavior grows increasingly disturbing. Sarah begins to believe that the boy who returned may not be her son at all.
What you should know: This is the Irish director’s feature debut.
Opens in: Select cities
The Cannibal Club
Stars: Tavinho Teixeira, Ana Luiza Rios, Pedro Domingues, Zé Maria
Writer/Director: Guto Parente
Genre: Comedy, Horror
Plot: A wealthy Brazilian couple develop a nasty habit of eating their hapless employees, all culled from the poverty-stricken masses outside of their sprawling seaside mansion.
What you should know: It’s in Portuguese.
Opens in: Select cities
Transit
Stars: Franz Rogowski, Paula Beer, Godehard Giese, Lilien Batman
Writer: Christian Petzold, based on the novel by Anne Seghers
Director: Christian Petzold
Genre: Drama
Plot: When a man flees France after the Nazi invasion, he assumes the identity of a dead author whose papers he possesses. Stuck in Marseilles, he meets a young woman desperate to find her missing husband - the very man he's impersonating.
What you should know: It’s in German and French.
Opens in: Select cities
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
Stars: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Maxwell Simba, Felix Lemburo, Robert Agengo
Writer: Chiwetel Ejiofor, based on the book by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer
Director: Chiwetel Ejiofor
Genre: Drama
Plot: A boy in Malawi helps his village by building a wind turbine after reading about them in a library book.
What you should know: The film is based on the true story of William Kamkwamba.
Opens in: Select cities and Netflix
The Wedding Guest
Stars: Dev Patel, Radhika Apte, Jim Sarbh, Harish Khanna
Writer/Director: Michael Winterbottom
Genre: Thriller
Plot: Jay is a man with a secret who travels from Britain to Pakistan to attend a wedding. Attractions simmer, loyalties shift, and explosive secrets bubble to the surface.
What you should know: This is the first of Dev Patel’s two films coming out this month - Hotel Mumbai comes to theaters on March 22nd.
Opens in: Select cities
Giant Little Ones
Stars: Mario Bello, Kyle MacLachlan, Taylor Hickson, Peter Outerbridge
Writer: Keith Behrman
Genre: Drama
Plot: Two popular teen boys, best friends since childhood, discover their lives, families, and girlfriends dramatically upended after an unexpected incident occurs on the night of a 17th birthday party.
What you should know: This is writer/director Keith Behrman’s first feature since his 2002 debut Flower & Garnet.
Opens in: Select cities
Sharkwater Extinction
Director: Rob Stewart
Genre: Documentary
Storyline: Filmmaker Rob Stewart travels across oceans to expose the illegal and violent underworld of shark finning.
What you should know: The director, Canadian environmentalist Rob Stewart, died in a diving accident while making this film.
Opens in: Select cities, and available VOD
Also opening: Tyler Perry’s A Madea Family Funeral (Trailer), Mapplethorpe (Trailer), Level 16 (Trailer), Styx (Trailer), Women at War (Trailer), Saint Judy (Trailer), Pretty Broken (Trailer), Devil’s Path (Trailer)
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What have you been watching lately, ONTD? Planning to see anything soon?