Movies released on November 1 weekend includes a diverse lineup of titles that span genres and styles, from Cannes-winning musical to hard-hitting dramas and thrilling tales of survival. Best Actress and Jury Prize Cannes-winning Emilia Pérez is a daring musical from French auteur Jacques Audiard. Jesse Eisenberg’s comedy-drama A Real Pain explores the process of mourning. Oscar-winning director Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave) returns with a touching WWII drama, Blitz, starring Saoirse Ronan. Oscar-winning actor Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer) also returns in a small-town thriller, Small Things Like These. The Shameik Moore-starring comedy The Gutter tells the story of an unlikely bowling hero. The Sylvester Stallone-produced drama Lost on a Mountain in Maine follows the true story of a 12-year-old boy’s survival. Hannah Peterson’s Tribeca-winning The Graduates is a coming-of-age film that explores the theme of trauma. Robert Zemeckis reunites with Tom Hanks in Here, capturing human experiences with a unique twist. Finally, Clint Eastwood’s latest film, Juror #2, stars Nicholas Hoult in the leading role.
In addition to the cinematic lineup, this week offers a slate of interesting and thought-provoking documentaries. Music by John Williams honors the great film composer’s body of work. After combines poetry and film to explore the theme of genocide. Black Box Diaries follows Japanese journalist Shiori Ito as she investigates her own sexual assault case. Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat discusses post-colonial politics and jazz, while Luther: Never Too Much chronicles the life of R&B icon Luther Vandross.
Full List of Movies Opening This Weekend
Emilia Pérez
Directed by: Jacques Audiard
Starring: Karla Sofía Gascón, Adriana Paz, Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez, Mark Ivanir, and Édgar Ramírez.
From renegade auteur Jacques Audiard comes Emilia Pérez, an audacious fever dream that defies genres and expectations. Through liberating song and dance and bold visuals, this odyssey follows the journey of four remarkable women in Mexico, each pursuing their own happiness. The fearsome cartel leader Emilia (Karla Sofía Gascón) enlists Rita (Zoe Saldaña), an unappreciated lawyer stuck in a dead-end job, to help fake her death so that Emilia can finally live authentically as her true self.
Review Summary:
Rotten Tomatoes: 84%. Awards Watch: A, Next Best Picture: 7/10.
Official Trailer:
A Real Pain
Directed by: Jesse Eisenberg
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Kieran Culkin are Will Sharpe, Jennifer Grey, Kurt Egyiawan, Liza Sadovy, Daniel Oreskes, and Ellora Torchia.
Mismatched cousins David (Jesse Eisenberg) and Benji (Kieran Culkin) reunite for a tour through Poland to honor their beloved grandmother. The adventure takes a turn when the odd-couple’s old tensions resurface against the backdrop of their family history.
Review Summary:
Rotten Tomatoes: 94%. Times (UK): 5/5, Slant Magazine: 3.5/4.
Official Trailer:
Blitz
Directed by: Steve McQueen
Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Elliott Heffernan, Harris Dickinson, Benjamin Clementine, Kathy Burke, Paul Weller, Stephen Graham, Leigh Gill, Mica Ricketts, CJ Beckford, Alex Jennings, Joshua McGuire, Hayley Squires, Erin Kellyman, and Sally Messham.
Sir Steve McQueen’s “Blitz” follows the epic journey of George (Elliott Heffernan), a 9-year-old boy in World War II London whose mother Rita (Saoirse Ronan) sends him to safety in the English countryside. George, defiant and determined to return home to his mom and his grandfather Gerald (Paul Weller) in East London, embarks on an adventure, only to find himself in immense peril, while a distraught Rita searches for her missing son.
Review Summary:
Rotten Tomatoes: 76%. Next Best Picture: 6/10, Time Out: 4/5.
Official Trailer:
Small Things Like These
Directed by: Tim Mielants
Starring: Cillian Murphy, Eileen Walsh, Michelle Fairley, Clare Dunne, Helen Behan, and Emily Watson.
Oscar® winner Cillian Murphy delivers a stunning performance as devoted father Bill Furlong in this film based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Claire Keegan. While working as a coal merchant to support his family, he discovers disturbing secrets kept by the local convent — and uncovers truths of his own — forcing him to confront his past and the complicit silence of a small Irish town controlled by the Catholic Church.
Review Summary:
Rotten Tomatoes: 87%. Next Best Picture: 8/10, Guardian: 4/5.
Official Trailer:
The Gutter
Directed by: Yassir Lester and Isaiah Lester.
Starring: Shameik Moore, D’Arcy Carden, Susan Sarandon, Jay Ellis, Jackee Harry, Paul Reiser, Rell Battle, Adam Brody, Kim Fields, Adam Pally, and Paul Shceer.
Walt (Shameik Moore) is an unemployed underachiever who discovers a newfound talent for bowling. Encouraged by a barfly named Skunk (D’Arcy Carden), he launches a pro career to save the local bowling alley from foreclosure. With his powerful rolling skills and unconventional style, Walt becomes an unlikely bowling hero – much to the chagrin of legendary champion Linda “The Crusher” Curson (Susan Sarandon).
Review Summary:
Rotten Tomatoes: 62%. Collider: 7/10, MovieWeb: 2.5/5.
Official Trailer:
Lost on a Mountain in Maine
Directed by: Andrew Boodhoo Kightlinger
Starring: Luke David Blumm, Paul Sparks, Caitlin FitzGerald, Ethan Slater, and Griffin Wallace Henkel.
Lost on a Mountain in Maine tells the inspiring true story of 12-year-old Donn Fendler, who becomes separated from his family by a fast-moving storm atop a treacherous mountain. For nine days Donn fights to stay alive as he attempts to survive the unforgiving wilderness of northern Maine without food, proper clothing, or the knowledge of how bad his situation really is. His disappearance sparks a massive search effort that captures national headlines and attracts hundreds of volunteers, including his own father who fears he may never see his son again.
Review Summary:
Collider: 4/10, MovieWeb: 2.5/5
Official Trailer:
The Graduates
Directed by: Hannah Peterson
Starring: Mina Sundwall, Alex Hibbert, Yasmeen Fletcher, Ewan Manley, John Cho, Maria Dizzia, and Kelly O’Sullivan.
A powerful and sharply introspective coming-of-age drama, ‘The Graduates’ follows a young woman, Genevieve (Mina Sundwall), as she prepares to graduate high school after a tragic event. As she navigates an uncertain future alongside a community searching for ways to heal, they turn to each other to find hope and a way forward.
Review Summary:
Rotten Tomatoes: 95%. IndieWire: B+, Screen Rant: 4/5.
Official Trailer:
Here
Directed by: Robert Zemeckis
Starring: Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Paul Bettany, and Kelly Reilly.
Reuniting the director, writer and stars of Forrest Gump, Here is an original film about multiple families and a special place they inhabit. The story travels through generations, capturing the most relatable of human experiences. Zemeckis (Forrest Gump, Castaway, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Contact, Back to the Future) directs from a screenplay by Eric Roth (Forrest Gump, Killers of the Flower Moon, Dune, A Star is Born) and him. Told much in the style of the acclaimed graphic novel by Richard McGuire on which it is based, Tom Hanks and Robin Wright star in a tale of love, loss, laughter and life, all of which happen right Here.
Review Summary:
Rotten Tomatoes: 36%. IndieWire: B, IGN Movies: 5/10.
Official Trailer:
Juror #2
Directed by: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette, J. K. Simmons, and Kiefer Sutherland.
“Juror #2” follows family man Justin Kemp (Nicholas Hoult) who, while serving as a juror in a high profile murder trial, finds himself struggling with a serious moral dilemma… one he could use to sway the jury verdict and potentially convict–or free–the accused killer.
Review Summary:
Rotten Tomatoes: 96%. Time Out: 4/5, IndieWire: A-.
Official Trailer:
Music by John Williams (Documentary)
Directed by: Laurent Bouzereau
Music By John Williams, an all-new documentary on the life and career of the legendary composer.
From his early days as a jazz pianist to his 54 Oscar® nominations and five wins, the documentary takes an in-depth look at Williams’ countless contributions to film, including many iconic franchises, as well as his music for the concert stage and his impact on popular culture.
The film features interviews with artists and filmmakers whose lives have been touched by his timeless music including Steven Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, Kate Capshaw, Gustavo Dudamel, J.J. Abrams, Chris Martin, Ron Howard, Chris Columbus, George Lucas, Itzhak Perlman, Lawrence Kasdan, Yo-Yo Ma, Ke Huy Quan, James Mangold, Alan Silvestri, David Newman, Thomas Newman, Seth MacFarlane, Anne-Sophie Mutter, and Branford Marsalis.
Review Summary:
Rotten Tomatoes: 100%. Empire Magazine: 4/5, AwardsWatch: A.
Official Trailer:
After (Documentary)
Directed by: Richard Kroehling
The first of its kind, where poetry and cinema combine and transcend, ‘After’ is an exploration of poetry written about the Shoah. Contemporary poets respond to the Holocaust and talk about the importance and necessity for poetry in a world that still grapples with genocide.
Rather than seeing the devastation, ‘After’ shows how poets respond to catastrophe and write in its aftermath. The film is ultimately about human resiliency, the power and courage to forge new lives, and the value of poetry in looking to the past to help create a better future.
Weaving a narrative, each poem has its own story, main character(s), and point of view, each acting as a short island with the entire film. ‘After’ also interlaces sequences of music, archival footage, personal photographs, and documents. The power of the words, performances, commentary, cinematic interpretations, sounds, and silences bring the poems to life on screen, offering a modern chronicle of poets examining history and the current day.
Official Trailer:
Black Box Diaries (Documentary)
Directed by: Shihori Ito
‘Black Box Diaries’ follows Japanese journalist Shiori Ito’s courageous investigation of her own sexual assault in an improbable attempt to prosecute her high-profile offender. Unfolding like a thriller and combining secret investigative recordings, vérité shooting and emotional first-person video, Shiori’s quest becomes a landmark case in Japan, exposing the country’s desperately outdated judicial and societal systems.
A journalist, writer and filmmaker with a focus on gender-based human rights issues, Shiori Ito wrote the bestselling book “Black Box” based on her experience. The book went on to win the Free Press Association of Japan Award for Best Journalism in 2018 and is now available in 11 languages, including English. In 2020 Ito was listed as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by TIME magazine.
Review Summary:
Rotten Tomatoes: 98%. Slant Magazine: 3/4, RogerEbert.com: 3.5/4.
Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat (Documentary)
Directed by: Johan Grimonprez
From the Congo to Harlem and back again, Johan Grimonprez’s kinetic, urgent documentary delivers post-colonial politics in jazz form, replete with virtuosic archival riffs, historical text in the form of Blue Note album covers, and musical performances by jazz legends (Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Nina Simone) who in the ‘60s doubled as cultural ambassadors to Africa. Their roles as unknowing decoys in the CIA’s plot to assassinate Congo’s prime minister Patrice Lumumba threads through this deeply researched, densely textured tapestry – which scrambles the simplistic good guys/bad guys narrative, foregrounds powerful women behind the revolution (Simone, Abbey Lincoln, and activist/chief advisor to Lumumba, Andrée Blouin), and sounds a call to clear-eyed interrogation of Western powers’ murderous collusions in the guise of liberal values.
Review Summary:
Rotten Tomatoes: 100%. The Film Stage: B+, IndieWire: B+.
Official Trailer:
Luther: Never Too Much (Documentary)
Directed by: Dawn Porter
Luther: Never Too Much the documentary film chronicles the story of a vocal virtuoso. Using a wealth of rarely seen archives, Luther tells his own story with assistance from his closest friends and musical collaborators including Mariah Carey, Dionne Warwick, Valerie Simpson and Roberta Flack. The film relives the many stunning moments of Vandross’ Grammy® award-winning musical career, while exploring his personal life, health struggles, and a lifelong battle to earn the respect his music deserved.
Review Summary:
Rotten Tomatoes: 96%. IndieWire: B+, Film Festival Today: 3.5/5.
Official Trailer:
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