May 2024 Movie Preview

Foreign/Drama - dir. Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren
In theaters May 24

Basque filmmaker Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren's debut feature premiered at the 2023 Berlin Film Festival where lead actor Sofía Otero took home the Silver Bear for Best Lead Performance. Otero plays eight-year-old Aitor, who, born biologically male, begins to openly identify as a young girl while visiting family in a small village in the Basque Country. Her mother Ane's (Patricia López Arnaiz) already fraught relationship with her mother Lita (Itziar Lazkano) only becomes more difficult, but Aitor, who longs to be known as Lucia, finds comfort and encouragement with her great-aunt Loudres (Ane Gabarain), a gentle beekeeper and sculptor. At this year's Goya Awards (Spain's equivalent of the Oscars), Urresola Solaguren won for Best New Director and Best Original Screenplay and Gabarain took home the Best Supporting Actress trophy.

Comedy - dir. Pamela Adlon
In theaters May 17

Better Things creator and star Pamela Adlon's debut feature follows the comedic ups and downs of best friends Eden (Ilana Glazer) and Dawn (Michelle Buteau). When the story begins, Dawn is about to give birth to her second child, and not long after she does, Eden finds herself pregnant after a one-night stand with a charming stranger (Stephan James). With the help of supporting turns by Hasan Minaj as Dawn's husband and John Carroll Lynch as a patient OB-GYN, Adlon portrays the rollercoaster of motherhood in all its glorious and hilarious biological details. Written by Glazer and fellow Broad City writer Josh Rabinowitz, this endearing and raunchy comedy earned good reviews from its premiere at SXSW.

Documentary/Music - dir. Frank Marshall and Thom Zimny
Special IMAX event screening on May 21
Streams on Disney+ beginning May 24

Disney+ isn't only for comic book fans and kids: There's also something for dads (granddads?)—or at least those who are fans of 1960s rock. In fact, May brings two such somethings, including a new Disney-exclusive feature documentary about the legendary California band The Beach Boys. Directed by the duo of Frank Marshall (who recently profiled The Bee Gees for HBO) and Thom Zimny (several Bruce Springsteen collabs including Western Stars), the doc includes new interviews with Brian Wilson, Al Jardine, Mike Love, and more. Moviegoers in 12 cities will also get a chance to experience The Beach Boys on an IMAX screen the night of May 21st.

Also on tap for Disney+ subscribers this month (on May 8) is a new restoration of Michael Lindsay-Hogg's long-out-of-print 1970 Beatles documentary Let It Be. Footage shot for that movie—including many hours originally left on the editing-room floor—were given a hi-tech audio and visual restoration by Peter Jackson for Disney's 2021 miniseries The Beatles: Get Back, and now Jackson has used that same technology to remaster Lindsay-Hogg's original film, which was previously unable to stream, rent, or buy anywhere.

Foreign/Drama - dir. Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
In theaters May 3

Ryusuke Hamaguchi's follow up to his Academy Award-winning Drive My Car won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2023 Venice Film Festival. Set in the rural village of Mizubiki, not far from Tokyo, the film is a quiet thriller with a surprising and divisive ending. Hamaguchi explores humanity's relationship with nature through Takumi and his young daughter, Hana, who gather water and wild wasabi for a local restaurant. Their peaceful life is disrupted by the arrival of two representatives of a tourism company planning to build a glamping site that villagers fear will ruin their water supply. As he typically does, Hamaguchi presents every character as fully, imperfectly human.

Action/Comedy - dir. David Leitch
In theaters (and IMAX) May 3

Working from a script by Drew Pearce, stunt man turned director David Leitch (Bullet Train, Deadpool 2, Atomic Blonde) is at the helm of this very loose adaptation of the 1980s television series with which it basically shares little more than a title and the name and job of the lead character. Ryan Gosling is Colt Seavers, a stunt man who is reunited with the one that got away, Emily Blunt's Jody Moreno. She's directing a film and needs Colt to stand-in for the star, Aaron Taylor-Johnson's Tom Ryder. When Ryder disappears, Jody 's producer Gail (Hannah Waddingham) enlists Colt to help find him, but for critics, that story is secondary to the crowd-pleasing romance and chemistry between Gosling and Blunt.

Action/Sci-fi/Thriller - dir. George Miller
In theaters (and IMAX) May 24

Can George Miller top 2015's Mad Max Fury Road? It's doubtful, but the 79-year-old director sure as hell is going to try. Anya Taylor-Joy steps into the role of our heroine, Furiosa, in this prequel that fills in the backstory of the one-armed badass previously played by Charlize Theron. A nearly unrecognizable Chris Hemsworth plays Warlord Dementus, whose Biker Horde kidnaps young Furiosa (Alyla Browne) from the Green Place of Many Mothers. As Furiosa battles to survive, Dementus locks horns with Immortan Joe (portrayed by Lachy Hulme after Hugh Keays-Byrne's death), who rules over the Citadel.

Adventure - dir. Bill Ross IV and Turner Ross
In theaters May 10
Streams on MUBI beginning May 31

With their last film, Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets, Bill and Turner Ross (45365, Tchoupitoulas , Western, Contemporary Color) continued their move away from documentary when they mixed actors and non-professionals in improvised situations at a Louisiana bar to "chronicle" the closing of a Las Vegas bar called the Roaring 20s. Now comes their first full narrative film, a loosely scripted road trip led by the improvisations of five first-time actors (Tony Abuerto, Micah Bunch, Nichole Dukes, Nathaly Garcia, and Makai Garza). Leaving behind their inland Oregon high school, these five teenagers pile into a van and set out for the Pacific coast with the freewheeling, punk energy of youth, resulting in a lively, episodic portrait of a new generation.

Action/Comedy - dir. Richard Linklater
In theaters May 24
Streams on Netflix beginning June 7

Very well received at its Venice Film Festival debut in the fall of 2023, Richard Linklater's darkly comedic and sexy modern noir stars man of the moment Glen Powell (Anyone But You) as a college professor who works with the New Orleans Police Department by posing (under a number of different names and disguises) as an assassin in order to catch people ordering hits, only to find himself falling for a woman (Adria Arjona) ensnared in his trap. Powell and Linklater teamed to write the script, which is based on a wild true story (as chronicled by Texas Monthly's Skip Hollandsworth, the same writer who inspired Linklater's Bernie), and Netflix paid a festival-high $20 million to score the rights to the film at Venice. The film will play in theaters in limited release this month prior to its streaming debut in early June.

Horror/Drama - dir. Jane Schoenbrun
In theaters May 3

Jane Schoenbrun 's follow-up to 2022's We're All Going to the World's Fair follows Owen (played first by Ian Foreman, then by Justice Smith), a teenager growing up in the 1990s, as he bonds with Maddy (Brigette Lundy-Paine) over The Pink Opaque, a Buffy the Vampire Slayer-esque TV show featuring heroines Isabel (Helena Howard) and Tara (Lindsey Jordan, a.k.a. Snail Mail). It's an exploration of how media can help people discover themselves and a bold, original vision from Schoenbrun.

Drama - dir. Michael Showalter
Streams on Prime Video beginning May 2

Michael Showalter (The Big Sick) directs a May-December romance starring Anne Hathaway as a 40-year-old divorced single mother who begins a whirlwind romance with the lead singer of a popular boy band (Nicholas Galitzine) after a chance encounter with him at Coachella. Reid Scott and Annie Mumolo also star in Amazon's streaming-only adaptation of Robinne Lee's 2017 debut novel, adapted by screenwriter Jennifer Westfeldt (Friends with Kids). Critics enjoyed the rom-com when it debuted at SXSW earlier this year and highlighted Hathaway's charming performance.

Comedy/Drama/Fantasy/Family - dir. John Krasinski
In theaters May 17

Actor-director John Krasinski (A Quiet Place, A Quiet Place Part II) writes and directs this family comedy about Bea (Cailey Fleming), a young girl who discovers that she has the ability to see everyone's imaginary friends (IFs). With the help of Cal (Ryan Reynolds), Bea sets out to match forgotten IFs with new kids. The cast of voices for the IFs includes Steve Carell, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Louis Gossett Jr., Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Jon Stewart, Amy Schumer, Maya Rudolph, Sam Rockwell, Christopher Meloni, Keegan- Michael Key, Sebastian Maniscalco, Bradley Cooper, Blake Lively, George Clooney, and Awkwafina.

Foreign/Drama - dir. Hong Sang-soo
In theaters May 17 (NY) / May 24 & 31 (other cities)

Hong Sang-soo's 30th feature follows two trios of characters over one day. Well-known actress Sang-won (Kim Min-hee) is staying with her friend Jang-soo and her cat Us. They are visited by Sang-won 's cousin Ji-soo, an actress looking for advice from Sang-won. Meanwhile, poet Hong Ui-ju (Ki Joo-bong), who is trying to quit drinking and smoking, is at his home being filmed by Ki-joo, a student documentarian, when Jae-won, a fan of Ui-ju 's and also an aspiring actor, joins them. Hong, once again serving as director, writer, producer, cinematographer, editor, and composer, uses his typical long takes and insightful conversations to find echoes between these stories, implying some shared history between Sang-won and Ui-ju.

Horror/Thriller - dir. Chris Nash
In theaters May 31

Looking for a slasher film this month? Writer-director Chris Nash has you covered with his debut feature, but he does put a twist on the genre. The film is told from the perspective of the killer, Johnny, played by Ry Barrett. The audience follows him as he rises and methodically stalks his prey, accumulating weapons along the way to use as he sees fit. Those trying to avoid a gruesome death include Andrea Pavlovic's Kris, who emerges as Johnny's main protagonist. Nash's ability to build suspense and deliver gore is greatly aided by the cinematography of Pierce Derks and detailed sound work.

Drama - dir. Marco Bellocchio
In theaters May 24

Italian writer-director Marco Bellocchio (The Traitor) took inspiration from a true story for his latest film, a dramatization of the 1858 kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara, a seven-year-old Jewish boy, by the Catholic Church. Secretly baptized by his nurse as a baby, Edgardo is taken to Rome, and raised Catholic under Pope Pius IX. As the Mortaras do everything in their power to get their son back, their struggle becomes a political matter as protests against the Catholic Church accelerate. Since its premiere in Cannes last year, some critics have found Kidnapped to be a stuffy historical drama, but others have embraced it as a taut political thriller.

Action-adventure/Sci-fi - dir. Wes Ball
In theaters (and IMAX) May 10

Taking over for Matt Reeves, who directed the last two installments (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, War for the Planet of the Apes) of the rebooted franchise that began in 2011 with Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Wes Ball moves from the Maze Runner franchise to an Earth where apes rule. Picking up several generations after Caesar 's reign, this fourth film in the series follows Noa (Owen Teague), a young ape, who believes in Caesar's teachings, leading to a conflict with the ape king Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand), who has armed himself with weapons using old human technology. Aiding Noa in his quest is Mae (Freya Allan from The Witcher), a feral human and Raka (Peter Macon), a wise orangutan. The previous films are some of the best-reviewed blockbusters of the 2000s. We'll see if this one can join them.

Documentary - dir. Yance Ford
In theaters May 10
Streams on Netflix beginning May 17

Yance Ford's debut feature, Strong Island, was nominated for Best Documentary at the 2018 Academy Awards. His latest is a timely investigation of police power—where it came from, how it grew, and what can be done about it. With an essay-like format, his documentary mixes interviews and archival footage to critique American policing and how it serves and protects.

Animation/Drama - dir. Pablo Berger
In theaters May 31 (NY) / June 7 (LA)

The first animated film from Spanish director Pablo Berger (Blancanieves, Torremolinos 73) is an adaptation of Sara Varon's 2007 graphic novel about the friendship between a dog and a robot in 1980s New York City. Free of dialogue but with elaborate sound design and colorful, expressive animation, the film was nominated for five Annie Awards, taking home the award for Best Independent Feature, and at the 2023 Goya Awards it won Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Animated Film, leading to a nomination for Best Animated Feature at this year's Academy Awards.

Comedy - dir. Jerry Seinfeld
Streams on Netflix beginning May 3

"If Barbie can get her own movie, why can't Pop Tarts?" Famous words said by nobody, and yet here we are with a Pop Tarts origin story. Jerry Seinfeld (you know him from Seinfeld) makes his feature directorial debut with a comedic look back at the real-life race between rival breakfast cereal companies to create a toaster pastry in the early 1960s. Seinfeld also writes (alongside Spike Feresten and others) and stars in a loaded cast that also includes Melissa McCarthy, Hugh Grant, James Marsden, Max Greenfield, Thomas Lennon, Rachael Harris, Christian Slater, Amy Schumer, Maria Bakalova, Jim Gaffigan, Daniel Levy, Fred Armisen, Bill Burr, Sarah Cooper, and Jack McBrayer.