Don’t-Miss Indies: What to Watch in February
Pro-tip: as our current leap year turns the page into February, it’s a good idea to stock up on artificial tears at the CVS. Why? Because this is an exceptionally intense month for movie-watching. In addition to your 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards screeners, there’s also an exciting collection of Don’t-Miss Indies hitting theaters and streamers, from combat-heavy martial arts action sagas to gentle culinary dramas. So put on some more tea, snuggle up with your kitty, puppy, snake or waifu body pillow of choice, and get to watchin’!
TRUE DETECTIVE: NIGHT COUNTRY
When You Can Watch: Now
Where You Can Watch: HBO, Max
Director: Issa López
Cast: Jodie Foster, Kali Reis, Fiona Shaw
Why We’re Excited: The fourth season of HBO’s anthology crime drama is the first one for which creator Nic Pizzolatto does not serve as the showrunner or writer; those responsibilities now fall to Mexican filmmaker Issa López (Tigers Are Not Afraid, Todo Mal), with the franchise returning from a five-year hiatus. Set in the fictional town of Ennis, Alaska, Chief Danvers (Foster, a 1989 Film Independent Spirit Award winner for Five Corners) leads an investigation into the disappearance of eight men from the Tsalal Arctic Research Station. With the ambitious goal of creating a “dark mirror” of the first and groundbreaking True Detective season, López has cited the 1959 Dyatlov Pass incident (very creepy!) in the Ural Mountains as part of her inspiration for the story.
HOW TO HAVE SEX
When You Can Watch: February 2
Where You Can Watch: Theaters (Limited), MUBI
Director: Molly Manning Walker
Cast: Mia McKenna-Bruce, Lara Peake, Shaun Thomas, Samuel Bottomley, Enva Lewis
Why We’re Excited: In cinematographer-turned-director Molly Manning Walker’s feature directorial debut, three British teenagers–Tara (McKenna-Bruce), Em (Lewis), and Skye (Peake)–go on the ideal summer holiday before venturing off to university in the fall. At the party resort Malia in Crete, the girls have a blast drinking, clubbing and hooking up. But everything changes when Tara meets Badger (Thomas) and his buddy Paddy (Bottomley), who gives off very unsettling vibes, to say the least… Shot on location in Crete, the MUBI release won the Un Certain Regard prize at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.
SUNCOAST
When You Can Watch: February 5 (Film Independent Theater), February 9
Where You Can Watch: Film Independent Presents, Hulu
Director: Laura Chinn
Cast: Nico Parker, Laura Linney, Woody Harrelson, Ella Anderson, Cree Kawa
Why We’re Excited: Fresh off competing in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at Sundance last week, writer-director Laura Chinn’s (Florida Girls, The Mick) semi-autobiographical coming-of-age drama is also her feature debut. Teenage Doris (Parker from The Last of Us) navigates a complex home life, with her dying brother, Max (Kawa), and emotionally volatile mother, Kristine (Spirit Awards alum, Linney). When Max is moved into hospice care, Doris strikes up an unlikely friendship with an eccentric activist, Paul Warren (Spirit Awards alum, Harrelson), who is involved in Terri Schiavo’s landmark right-to-die case. The film bears substantial Film Independent DNA, with Fellows Chris Stinson (Producing Lab, 2005) serving as Executive Producer and Bruce Francis Cole (Project Involve, 2018) as the Cinematographer.
DRIFT
When You Can Watch: February 9
Where You Can Watch: Theaters (Limited)
Director: Anthony Chen
Cast: Cynthia Erivo, Alia Shawkat, Ibrahima Ba
Why We’re Excited: Best known for producing Oscar favorites Nomadland and Call Me by Your Name, Film Independent Member and producer Peter Spears brings us an emotional refugee story in director Anthony Chen’s first English-language feature. Based on the novel A Marker To Measure Drift, the French, British and Greek co-production premiered at Sundance last year. Destitute and alone, Liberian refugee Jacqueline (Erivo from Harriet and Needle in a Timestack) tries to cope with her past after fleeing to a Greek island. Along the way, she finds encouragement in a newfound friendship with American tour guide, Callie (Shawkat).
HERE
When You Can Watch: February 9
Where You Can Watch: Theaters (Limited)
Directors: Bas Devos
Cast: Stefan Gota, Liyo Gong, Teodor Corban
Why We’re Excited: Set in Brussels, writer-director Devos’ fourth film centers around mild-mannered Romanian construction worker, Stefan (Gota), who is about to move back to Romania for good. But before that, he wanders through his adopted city to say farewell to friends and tie up loose ends, bringing with him a beautiful soup concocted from leftovers in his fridge, a farewell gift of sorts. When he meets a Belgian-Chinese doctoral candidate and bryologist who studies moss, Shuxiu (Gong), her attention to quiet beauty and vibrant stillness fascinates him.
HOUSE OF NINJAS
When You Can Watch: February 15
Where You Can Watch: Netflix
Director: Dave Boyle
Cast: Kento Kaku, Yosuke Eguchi, Tae Kimura
Why We’re Excited: Weaving high-octane spy action and colorful family drama, writer-director Dave Boyle’s (a 2014 LA Film Festival Narrative Award winner for Man from Reno) upcoming Japanese-language Netflix series posits the intriguing notion that the ancient clandestine group of legends still exists–carrying out covert missions to this day. Set in modern-day Japan, we follow the last ninja family headed up by Haru (played by Kaku, who also serves as one of the Co-EPs on the project), who has to lead the Tawara family in reclaiming its roots in order to help navigate one of the most earth-shattering crises in Japanese history.
ORDINARY ANGELS
When You Can Watch: February 22
Where You Can Watch: Theaters
Director: Jon Gunn
Cast: Alan Ritchson, Hilary Swank, Amy Acker
Why We’re Excited: Inspired by a true story, Jon Gunn’s heartwarming drama is based on Sharon Stevens Evans’ memoir of the same name. A Spirit Award winner for Boys Don’t Cry, Hilary Swank plays the real-life Stevens, a single mother and hairstylist in Louisville, KY in the early ’90s. Widower Ed Schmitt (Ritchson, from Amazon’s Reacher) has just lost his young wife due to illness and is raising two daughters under the age of five, one of whom suffers from a terminal liver condition that requires a liver transplant. When Sharon comes across his story in the local paper, she is immediately moved to action and raises money to help with his mounting medical debt. But their biggest challenge lay ahead–when Ed has to get his daughter to the hospital for a last chance at a liver transplant during the historic 1994 historic snowstorm that buries Kentucky in a blanket of ice, snow and subzero temperatures. Filmed in Winnipeg and Albany, New York, the Lionsgate drama is written by Meg Tilly and Kelly Fremon Craig.
DRIVE-AWAY DOLLS
When You Can Watch: February 23
Where You Can Watch: Theaters (Limited)
Director: Ethan Coen
Cast: Margaret Qualley, Geraldine Viswanathan, Beanie Feldstein, Colman Domingo, Pedro Pascal, Matt Damon
Why We’re Excited: Three-time Spirit Awards winner Ethan Coen’s (Fargo, Inside Llewyn Davis) debut feature as a solo director, this queer road-trip comedy is co-written and co-edited with his wife, Tricia Cooke. Fresh off yet another breakup, Jamie (Qualley, from Poor Things and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) and her best friend Marian (Viswanathan) embark on a road trip to Tallahassee, Florida. Unfortunately, they soon find themselves entangled with a bunch of criminals–led by The Chief (Rustin and The Color Purple’s Domingo, one our favorites)–after they stumble onto a mysterious package in the trunk of their rental car.
THEY SHOT THE PIANO PLAYER
When You Can Watch: February 23
Where You Can Watch: Theaters
Directors: Javier Mariscal, Fernando Trueba
Cast: Jeff Goldblum
Why We’re Excited: Structured as a part of the origin story of the Bossa Nova musical movement during the 1960s/1970s, this adult animated docudrama takes a deep dive into the 1976 real-life disappearance of Brazilian pianist, Francisco Tenório Júnior. A New York music journalist (played by 1993 Spirit Awards nominee for Deep Cover, Jeff Goldblum) embarks on a quest to uncover the truth in this quaint film, flanked by a soundtrack featuring the music of João Gilberto, Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Vinicius de Moraes and Paulo Moura. Several of these musical talents also appear in the voice cast as themselves to remark on Tenório’s influence in the genre. Directed by Javier Mariscal (Chico & Rita) and Fernando Trueba (Belle Epoque and El Baile de la Victoria), the film premiered last fall at the 2023 Telluride Film Festival.
*PROGRAMMER’S PICK* THE TASTE OF THINGS
When You Can Watch: February 9
Where You Can Watch: Theaters
Director: Trần Anh Hùng
Cast: Juliette Binoche, Benoît Magimel, Emmanuel Salinger
Why We’re Excited: From Jenn Wilson, Film Independent Senior Programmer: “Anh Hung Tran’s film The Taste of Things is one of the brightest stars of this year’s awards season. It premiered at Cannes in 2023 and stars former real-life couple Benoît Magimel (Dodin) and Juliette Binoche (Eugénie) as lovers living in the 1880s French countryside. Eugénie has been Dodin’s cook (a role she relishes) for the last 20 years. A retired chef, Dodin really wishes Eugénie would say yes to one of his many marriage proposals. But Eugénie, who fully knows what a woman of this time period gives up when she takes a man’s last name, is reluctant. Throughout, the film is a feast for the eyes as we get to watch while both cooks prepare one amazing dish after another. Much credit should go to DP, Jonathan Ricquebourg, for shooting was has to be one of the most visually arresting films of the past decade. Binoche, as always, is in fine form, and for lovers of her work, it’s such a gift to see her working again in a vehicle that showcases her amazing gifts. Toward the end of the film, when Eugénie wants to see how well Dodin really knows her, she asks Dodin, “Am I your cook first, or your wife first?” You’ll have to see the film to see what he answers and if he got it right.”
KEY
Film Independent Fellow or Member
Film Independent Presents Screening, Q&A
Microbudget
Filmmaker or Lead Characters of Color
Film Independent Spirit Award Winner or Nominee
Female Filmmaker
LGBT Filmmaker or Lead LGBT Characters
First-time Filmmaker
(Header: House of Ninjas)