I finally got around to seeing The Farewell the other week. It’s a wonderful, funny, quiet movie that manages to do so much inside such a seemingly tiny story about a family trying to keep a secret from a grandmother.
One of the things that makes The Farewell so wonderful is how it flips lost in translation stories on their heads. Its main character, Billi, is dropped inside a culture she doesn’t entirely understand. But the film simultaneously offers both perspectives: her family may be strange for carrying out this elaborate lie, but it’s Billi who’s truly strange for not understanding why they all would want to.
That makes for some delightful comedy and heartfelt moments. It’s also very much something that American cinema largely couldn’t have produced in decades past due to how insular the industry is and unwelcome it’s been to unfamiliar stories.
Check out 11 trailers from this week below.
Knives Out
There’s a new trailer for Knives Out, Rian Johnson’s directorial follow-up to The Last Jedi. It’s a much smaller-scale film that seems to be designed around letting a bunch of big personalities constantly unload on one another. It comes out on November 27th.
The Secret Garden
The children’s classic The Secret Garden is getting a gorgeous new adaptation that looks like it plays up the story’s magical elements and imagery. It comes out sometime next spring.
Raising Dion
Michael B. Jordan executive produces (and briefly appears in) this new series about a young boy who begins to develop superpowers. While a lot of the story beats look familiar (“government must take away special kid”), it feels like the show could have a much more interesting emotional core behind those elements. It comes out on October 4th.
Dickinson
This show needs to stop looking so good because I really do not want to subscribe to Apple TV Plus for a single series. But I’m legitimately hyped for Dickinson right now. The show premieres on November 1st.
Living With Yourself
This really silly premise — there are two Paul Rudds — could have been the setup for a totally okay comedy, but Living With Yourself seems to take that conceit in a much weirder and darker direction that looks like it could be even more fun. It comes out on October 18th.
Daybreak
The pitch for this show seems to have been Ferris Bueller x Mad Max, and… what if that was actually a great idea? It comes out on October 24th.
The Rhythm Section
Reed Morano, who’s known for directing the first several episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale, has a new film coming out that seems to be a punk rock revenge film with Blake Lively in the lead. It comes out on January 31st.
Living Undocumented
Netflix has an upcoming documentary that speaks to a number of families living unauthorized in the United States, showing the fear and challenges they face just trying to live their lives, raise a family, or go to school. It comes out on October 2nd.
Dark Waters
The next film from Carol director Todd Haynes is a legal thriller that has Mark Ruffalo playing a lawyer who sues DuPont for poisoning the water of a small town. It’s based on a real lawsuit, which resulted in more than $670 million in payouts. The film comes out on November 22nd.
In the Tall Grass
Netflix is getting an adaptation of In the Tall Grass, the novella from Stephen King and Joe Hill about an inescapable, evil field of grass. It’s a ridiculous story to describe, but it looks like a good horror premise. It comes out on October 4th.
Countdown
This movie is about people being murdered by an app, which is also a demon. I love it.