Film-Forward

Two European prize winners from the recent festival.

One-third sports documentary and two-thirds exploration of Colin Kaepernick’s role in the Black Lives Matter movement and its ensuing White backlash.

Though supposedly the characters are messy and flawed, the film’s second half feels like a disguised PSA for behaving nice and having functional conversations.

As an auteur filmmaker, Penélope Cruz presumably sends up the directors that she’s surely had to contend with in her career.

Top pick: Director Ramin Bahrani’s 2nd Chance.

With one large gaping eye and two feet wearing the titular pink shoes, Marcel is a stop-motion animation/live-action hybrid that could have been dreamed up by a feverish René Magritte.

Saying that this is Peter Strickland’s most accessible film to date, which it is, in no way means that it is accessible.

A competitive Ukrainian gymnast faces a painful choice: potential gold medals or her identity as a Ukrainian.

Christos Nikou’s directorial debut, a dystopian drama of amnesia and new identities, is the latest example in the so-called Greek Weird Wave.