December can be a grueling month for theater owners (take it from me, I ran one for four years)—it’s an extremely busy time of gift cards, merchandise ordering, holiday planning, and so on. There’s also the fact that it’s typically filled with indie darlings getting ready to swoop awards shows in the coming months, as well as a few big releases to fill out the holidays. This year, those seem to be Wonka, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, Migration, and The Color Purple, but unfortunately, the early buzz around all those movies is that they will continue this year’s trend of the typical blockbuster underperforming nationwide. When this happens, a stressful but successful time becomes a game of chance when programming what you’d expect audiences to react to the most throughout the month and into the new year.
But worry not, there are still plenty of indie options and hidden gems waiting to be discovered at theaters across the Hudson Valley, both new and old, small and big. Here are five movies that you can catch just in time for the holidays and awards seasons.
The Delinquents (Los Delincuentes)
Argentinian filmmaker Rodrigo Moreno lends his original view on class struggles in the 21st century to this radically funny and expertly executed heist movie. The story follows a bank worker who devises a plan to steal—and confess to stealing—$650,000, splitting it with his friend who would hide the money while he serves an expected short jail sentence of three-and-a-half years. But plans be damned! What follows is an investigation and transformation that neither of the two could have expected. Equal parts cutting satire and despairing philosophy, it’s the type of movie that begs to be seen in a dark room surrounded by strangers, all experiencing the twists and gags of the story together.
The Delinquents starts December 1 at The Moviehouse.
Eileen
Easily one of the most long-awaited directorial follow-ups of the year, William Oldroyd’s Eileen has already created a massive wave of awards buzz for its cast and crew. The director’s previous film, 2016’s Lady Macbeth, rocketed a then-unknown Florence Pugh into superstardom, and after nearly seven years of development, Eileen is finally released this month. The film stars Thomasin McKenzie as the titular Eileen, a young woman who works in the record offices of a correctional facility, and whose newfound friendship with the prison psychologist takes deadly turn after deadly turn. This psychologist is played by Anne Hathaway, who has been receiving rave reviews since the film’s premiere at Sundance earlier this year. With these two locked-in lead performances, along with Oldroyd’s bonafides as a director to watch, the movie is a near-guarantee for an intense and rewarding viewing.
Eileen starts December 8 at Orpheum Theatre Upstate Films in Saugerties.
American Fiction
One of the bigger mysteries of this year’s awards predictions is that of who will take home Best Actor at the 96th Academy Awards. With awards favorites like Adam Driver in Ferrari and Paul Giamatti in The Holdovers, as well as the massively successful Oppenheimer, with lead Cillian Murphy, there’s no shortage of contenders with juice going into campaigning. But one of the bigger sleeper hits of the season has yet to be unleashed, and it comes in the form of Jeffrey Wright’s career-defining performance in American Fiction. Wright has been a staple of character actors for decades. Even when the movie’s bad, he’s always great. Much like Cillian Murphy, his massive body of work will play a huge role in the deciding factors of both nominations and wins. In American Fiction, Wright plays Thelonious ‘Monk’ Ellison, an exasperated novelist who fabricates an outlandish “Black book” filled with tropes and stereotypes in an effort to mock the system that fiendishly capitalizes on such works, only to be fully surprised when the book propels him into a type of fame he never knew possible. Wright’s comedic chops work hand-in-hand with his more dramatic sensibilities to present a character that is just as entertaining as they are wholly realized as an individual looking for answers.
American Fiction starts December 15 at Spotlight of Hudson.
It’s a Wonderful Life
The undisputed Christmas holiday movie, Frank Capra’s 1946 classic needs no introduction, and as someone who has personally seen the movie well over a dozen times, I can attest to its timeless charm. I was able to catch the movie at a screening a few years back and realized it was the only time in my life I had seen the film projected the way it was always intended, back in the days before TVs and streaming services, when movies just played in movie theaters for years. There’s something about the size of the image that makes it all the more funny and certainly more effective in the film’s slightly darker moments. It’s a movie for film repertory nerds like me just as it is for a family looking to have a joyful night out.
It’s a Wonderful Life screens on December 23 and 24 at 4 PM at the Crandell Theatre.
Ferrari
I’ve always been a fan of going to see a new release movie on Christmas Day when the streets are quiet and the whole world seems like it might be on pause. I don’t do it every year, but I think I might have to pencil in this one because Michael Mann’s latest biopic covering an entrepreneur who created an auto empire is just the type of present I’d ask for from Santa. Mann is a stone-cold master of his art, having made some of the best movies of the past 30 years, including The Last of the Mohicans, Collateral, and Heat. His latest teams him up with Adam Driver, who seems to be in the “outrageous Italian accent” phase of his career. Driver always goes big with his performances. Having him bring this energy to his portrayal of a man who lived larger than most is a perfect match.
Ferrari starts December 25 at Showtime Cinemas, Lyceum Cinemas, Roosevelt Cinemas, and New Paltz Cinemas.
