NYT Critic's Picks

NYT Critic's Picks

Picks by New York Times film critics.

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NYT Critic's Picks
  • Fatima

    Directed by Philippe Faucon • Drama • 2015 • France • French, Arabic with English subtitles
    Starring Soria Zeroual, Zita Hanrot, Kenza Noah Aiche

    Winner of the 2016 Cesar Award for Best Picture and Official Selection of the Cannes Film Festival, "Fatima" offers an uplifting and moving portrait o...

  • Fire at Sea

    Directed by Gianfranco Rosi • Documentary • 2016 • Italy • Italian with English subtitles
    Featuring Samuele Pucillo, Mattias Cucina, Pietro Bartolo

    An Academy Award nominee for Best Documentary Feature and winner of the top prize at the Berlin International Film Festival, "Fire at Sea" takes pla...

  • Hard to Be a God

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    Aleksei German • 2013 • Russia • A visceral portrait of early humanity.

    Based on the legendary science fiction novel by the Strugatsky brothers—who also wrote Roadside Picnic, the source novel for Tarkovsky's Stalker—Hard to Be a God doubles as an epic vision of the early stages o...

  • Hermia & Helena

    Directed by Matias Pineiro • Arthouse • 2017 • US, Argentina • English, Spanish w/ English subtitles
    Starring Agustina Munoz, Mati Diop, Duston Guy Defa, Keith Poulson, Maria Villar, Dan Sallitt

    A young Argentine theater director travels to New York for a residency to work on a new Spanish trans...

  • Import/Export

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    Ulrich Seidl • 2005 • Austria • Power and violence within the separating Eastern and Western Europe.

    Import/Export is Ulrich Seidl’s bracing study of the intersections of power, capital, and violence within the chasm separating Eastern and Western Europe.

    Olga lives in Ukraine w...

  • Indivisible

    Directed by Edoardo De Angelis • Drama • 2018 • Italy • Italian with English subtitles
    Starring Angela Fontana, Marianna Fontana, Antonia Truppo

    "Indivisible" is an award-winning Italian drama about the unbreakable bonds of sisterhood. Dasy and Viola are conjoined twin sisters living in the subu...

  • It Felt Like Love

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    Eliza Hittman • 2013 • USA • Lila decides to lose her virginity during a summer in South Brooklyn.

    A gauzy summer in South Brooklyn. Lila, an awkward adolescent girl, passes her time breaking into beach homes and tagging along on dates between her pretty friend Chiara and Chiara'...

  • Jellyfish

    Shira Geffen & Etgar Keret • Israel-France • 2006 • A magical-realist portrait of Tel Aviv today.

    It feels like Batya’s life is falling apart. Things aren’t going well with her boyfriend, and she has a dead-end job as a catering waitress that brings her no satisfaction. Working a wedding recep...

  • Khodorkovsky

    Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s life has followed a peculiar trajectory–from the top of Russian society, to a Siberian prison. His meteoric rise tracked alongside that of Putin and his sycophants amidst the cowboy capitalism characterizing post-Soviet Russia, first as the proprietor of the nation’s first...

  • Last Train Home

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    Lixin Fan • 2009 • China • Each year 130 million Chinese migrant workers make the journey back home.

    An experience of the world's largest human migration: Chinese New Year.

    Zhang Changhua and Chen Suqin rise early each day to work at a clothing factory, sewing together garments f...

  • Le Quattro Volte

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    Michelangelo Frammartino • 2010 • Italy

    A goat-herder nears the end of his life in Calabria.

    In the mountains of Calabria, a goat-herder is nearing the end of his life. He goes about his daily routines, attuned to the rhythms of nature.

    Drawn from Pythagoras' philosophical not...

  • Long Day's Journey Into Night

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    Bi Gan • China, France • 2018 • A noirish stunner and new landmark in world cinema.

    Luo Hongwu left Kaili twenty years ago. Now he has returned—his father is dead. Back in his hometown, memories rush to the surface, including of an enigmatic woman with whom Luo once pursued a stor...

  • Manuscripts Don't Burn

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    Mohammad Rasoulof • Iran • 2013 • A political thriller that strikes at the heart of Iran's regime.

    Khosrow and Morteza are hitmen for the Iranian regime. They proceed with their work with calm detachment, convinced that their actions are justified under sharia law. Their newest ...

  • Mountains May Depart

    Directed by Zhangke Jia • Drama • 2015 • China, France, Japan • English, Cantonese, Mandarin with English subtitles
    Starring Zhao Tao, Zhang Yi, Sylvia Chang

    Mainland master Jia Zhangke scales new heights with "Mountains May Depart". At once an intimate drama and a decades-spanning epic that lea...

  • Obit.

    Directed by Vanessa Gould • Documentary • 2017 • US • English
    Featuring Bruce Weber, Margalit Fox, William McDonald

    The first documentary to explore the world of obituary writers, "Obit." focuses on the legendary team at 'The New York Times', who approach their work with journalistic rigor and ...

  • Oliver Sacks: His Own Life

    Directed by Ric Burns • Documentary • 2020 • US • English
    Featuring Oliver Sacks, Temple Grandin, Atul Gawande

    A month after receiving a fatal diagnosis, esteemed neurologist Oliver Sacks sat down for a series of interviews in his apartment in New York City. For eighty hours, surrounded by famil...

  • Pasolini

    Directed by Abel Ferrara • Drama • 2019 • France, Belgium, Italy • English, Italian, French with English subtitles • Mature Content
    Starring Willem Dafoe, Ninetto Davoli , Riccardo Scamarcio

    Abel Ferrara's "Pasolini"​ stars frequent collaborator Willem Dafoe as film director Pier Paolo Pasolini...

  • Siddharth

    Richie Mehta • India-Canada • 2013 • A tale of a father's journey across India in search of his son.

    Mahendra is a chain-wallah, eking out a living fixing zippers on the bustling streets of New Delhi. Out of financial necessity, he sends his twelve-year-old son, Siddharth, to work in a distant ...

  • Silent Light

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    Carlos Reygadas • 2007 • Mexico • Filmed with nonprofessional actors among a community of Mennonites.

    Johan lives with Esther, his wife, and their seven children in rural Chihuahua state, among a community of Mennonites. For the past two years Johan has engaged in a passionate af...

  • Silent Souls

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    Aleksei Fedorchenko • 2010 • Russia • A man journeys through central Russia to lay his wife to rest.

    An evocative exploration of the mysteries of love, existence, and death, Silent Souls charts an unexpected journey into the Russian hinterlands and its nearly-forgotten people.

    Fo...

  • Sorry We Missed You

    Directed by Ken Loach • Drama • 2020 • UK • English
    Starring Kris Hitchen, Debbie Honeywood, Rhys Stone

    British master Ken Loach is one of the only directors to win the Palme d'Or award at the Cannes Film Festival not once but twice. Known for his socially conscious filmmaking, Loach updates his...

  • Sweet Bean

    Directed by Naomi Kawase • Drama • 2015 • Japan, Germany, France • Japanese with English subtitles
    Starring Kirin Kiki, Masatoshi Nagase, Etsuko Ichihara

    Shot during the height of cherry blossom season and selected to open the Un Certain Regard section at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, this touc...

  • Synonyms

    Directed by Nadav Lapid • Comedy • 2019 • Israel, France, Germany • French, Hebrew with English subtitles
    Starring Tom Mercier, Quentin Dolmaire, Louise Chevillotte

    Winner of the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, Nadav Lapid's "Synonyms" follows a disaffected young Israeli who flees Tel A...

  • The First Beautiful Thing

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    Paolo Virzì • Italy • 2010 • A gentle comedy of life, love, and family.

    Bruno, a middle-aged teacher, sits stoned out of his mind on a park bench. He’s forgotten his own birthday, much to the chagrin of his girlfriend, Sandra, who organized the party. Before he can say no, Bruno...