One of the great joys of exploring cinema is the opportunity to see films from around the world. Sometimes that includes seeing films before they receive wider distribution, which allows for the opportunity to herald a film’s arrival. What follows is a list of 15 films that I recommend checking out when they come available.
ALL YOU NEED IS KILL
Directed By: Kenichiro Akimoto
Written By: Yuichiro Kido
Official Synopsis:
Set in the year 20XX, ALL YOU NEED IS KILL follows the story of Rita, a resourceful but isolated young woman volunteering to help rebuild Japan after the mysterious appearance of a massive alien flower known as “Darol.” When Darol unexpectedly erupts in a deadly event, unleashing monstrous creatures that decimate the population, Rita is caught in the destruction—and killed. But then she wakes up again. And again. Caught in an endless time loop, Rita must navigate the trauma and repetition of death until she crosses paths with Keiji, a shy young man trapped in the same cycle. Together, they fight to break free from the loop and find meaning in the chaos around them.
Adaptations are tricky regardless of the source material and its medium of origin. Transposing one form of media onto another, like novel to cinema or feature to television, brings with it expectations that can cripple a project before it’s completed and presented. Look to the early superhero films like Steel (1997) or video game adaptations like Max Payne (2008) and you’ll find half-baked costumes and plotlines to match when the source material was far richer and more detailed. Even trying to match the source 1:1 comes with its own problems as things like narration, which gave the audience a profound understanding of a character’s struggles, can come off clunky elsewhere unless in text. Therefore, making changes is often necessary and the best ones provide justification for their changes within the text of the adaptation. Akimoto’s choice to change both the protagonist and the antagonist of the story provides a unique viewpoint to begin from, enabling the whole of All You Need Is Kill to reinvent itself within the expected narrative framework. While this might disappoint audiences hoping for a 1:1 transposition, luckily, this is not a Spawn (1997), or worse, Super Mario Bros. (1993), situation where the choices were responses to budgets but were, instead, directly influenced by the intention of the filmmakers to craft something new. Even with the framework being known, there remains enough unknown to make the effort of experiencing All You Need Is Kill more than worthwhile.
In theaters January 16th, 2026.
Blazing Fists
Directed By: Takashi Miike
Written By: Shin Kibayashi
Official Synopsis:
When Ryoma first meets Ikuto in a juvenile detention centre, he strikes up a friendship without realizing that his seemingly easygoing fellow inmate is in fact the fiercest fighter in the joint (and moreover, he’s in the joint for a crime that Ryoma in fact committed). When famous MMA fighter Mikuru Asakura drops in to deliver a motivational speech, he inspires the two boys to follow the same path he did, out of the cycle of crime and into the ring—hopefully, as competitors in Asakura’s popular Breaking Down tournament. Getting there, though, will mean training hard, contending with family entanglements, and battling their way through bloody, bare-knuckled brawls.
Blazing Fists tackles a great deal of material from start to finish and the best parts about it are the scenes with Yoshizawa and Kinoshita, though Gackt chewing the scenery is a close second. Though a little rough around the edges, ultimately, the film achieves what it seeks to accomplish, driving home that not all battles are against true villains, but ourselves. Admittedly it may seem a little simplistic to boil the film down to an idea of “to thine own self be true,” but it’s pretty accurate all the same. Even Gackt’s Mido, a proper horror show of a person, lives a life of authenticity and has garnered loyalty from his crew as a result. Those who can dial-in to both Miike and Kibayashi’s frequency will find themselves richly rewarded both in entertainment and emotional resonance.
Available from Well GO USA in 2026.
Brother Verses Brother
Directed By: Ari Gold
Official Synopsis:
A radically personal one-shot musical odyssey.
Art done well is like looking into a mirror mixed with a Rorschach test in the sense that what audiences see reflected back to them is based on what they bring to it. At first, Brother Verses Brother appears as this quirky pseudo-documentary with its false oner cinematic approach, the seams quite visible (shadows in frame of the team; general public waving at the cast and crew) giving the experience a wholesome charm in the sense that it acknowledges the risk being taken of embracing one’s art so fully. Noticing the seams enables the audience to be reminded that what we’re seeing is as much a facsimile of the truth as it is the truth itself given that all the people on screen are playing some version of themselves. But what it also does is slowly build a foundation wherein the truth and fiction no longer matter when it comes to the ideas that the film explores of family, responsibility, and the deep human desire for love and connection (familial or amorous).
Currently still traveling.
L-R: Ari Gold and Ethan Gold in BROTHER VERSES BROTHER. Photo Credit: Stefan Ciupek. Photo courtesy of Grack Films/SXSW.
ChaO
Directed By: Yasuhiro Aoki
Written By: Saku Konohana
Official Synopsis:
From acclaimed Japanese animation production house Studio 4°C comes a wild romantic comedy and true “fish out of water” story. In a futuristic world where humans and mermaids coexist, ChaO follows Stephan, a mild-mannered office worker at a shipbuilding company, whose life is upended when he is suddenly proposed to by Chao — a princess from the mermaid kingdom. With no time to make sense of what’s happening, Stephan soon finds himself living with the unpredictable, wholehearted Chao. As her sincere love begins to break down his emotional barriers, an unexpected and touching romance begins to unfold.
At its core, ChaO is a wondrous rom-com exploring the stories in our lives and the way they shape us as we do them. It’s a fantastical adventure about two people linked in ways the protagonist can’t understand until they’ve gotten out of their respective way. It’s a grounded story about the permanence of love, even in extraordinary circumstances. As expected by prior works, STUDIO4℃ feels like the only studio who could meld such disparate-seeming visual styles into a cohesive vision without sacrificing their individuality or respective power. All of this helps uplift the experience, so, while often frustrating, it is no less significant in its conclusion.
Available from GKIDS Films in 2026.
Creede U.S.A.
Directed By: Kahane Cooperman
Official Synopsis:
In Kahane Corn Cooperman’s lyrical Creede U.S.A., a remote Colorado mountain mining town becomes an unexpected model for public discourse. For generations, Creede’s residents have held tightly to their heritage and values. But when the town brought in a theater company to revitalize the economy, citizens were introduced to new ideas and perspectives, creating an ongoing tension between tradition and change.
Sixty years and countless performances later, Creede stands as a striking microcosm of America’s current national divisions. Issues like guns in classrooms and gender pronouns spark tense debates, yet the town remains bound by a shared sense of place and community. Weaving stunning cinematography, intimate portraits, charged town meetings and a rich historical lens, Creede U.S.A challenges our assumptions and explores how this evolving community continues to find common ground – both inside and outside of the mining shafts, ranches, and the Creede Repertory Theatre. Hopeful, urgent and exceedingly timely, the film offers a poignant reflection on the challenges and possibilities of coexistence in an increasingly polarized world.
So why does it matter so much in a place like Creede where the largely conservative town, again, made up of generations of residents, can co-exist with individuals that tend toward the progressive? It’s a mighty question and Cooperman deftly threads the needle by making sure to capture the town past and present, while also doing the same with the people. By doing so, Cooperman not only anchors her documentary in a place but with the humanity of its residents. Surprisingly moving and honest to a fault, Creede U.S.A. is the kind of place we all want to live, but too few want to do the work to maintain it. All towns require cultivation to grow, but they also require a populace that can see past the bullshit and remember that we’re all human and worthy of empathy.
Currently on the festival circuit.
Longtime town resident rides his horse down Main Street by Creede Repertory Theatre in CREEDE U.S.A.. Photo Credit: Graham Willoughby. Photo courtesy of SXSW.
The Forbidden City
Directed By: Gabriele Mainetti
Written By: Stefano Bises, Davide Serino, Gabriele Mainetti
Official Synopsis:
The son of an indebted restaurant owner joins a foreign girl in search of her sister. Together, they’ll have to fight side by side against the most ruthless members of the Roman criminal underworld.
Action in cinema can be great and can very well be the reason that audiences return to a film or follow an actor, but there needs to be more in order for the film to expand past its pieces, and that’s where the performances come in. Building off a script that makes it clear just how different Mei and Marcello are, not only do the characters respond to their respective situations differently (Mei with fists; Marcello with words), the performances from the leads and the supporting players support the differences. Yaxi offers a performance like a powder keg on the verge of explosion, treating Mei like a compressed coil perpetually under stress or strain. When that finally releases, Yaxi manages to bring Mei down without sacrificing the character’s integrity. Likewise, Marcello is a raw nerve of frustration, but Enrico keeps so much of this under the surface that we don’t realize he’s hit a boil until the moment he does. Perpetually exasperated by life’s indignities, Enrico manages to elevate what could be a mostly whiny and typical male protagonist into someone the audience can support as more than just the recipient of several shit sandwiches who refuses to say “no” to seconds, thirds, and fourths. Even Giallini and Shanshan bring a depth to their respective underworld leaders so that we possess some shred of empathy despite their wretchedness.
Available from Well GO USA in 2026.
Luger
Directed By: Bruno Martín
Written By: Bruno Martín, Santiago Taboada
Official Synopsis:
Rafa and Toni are two small-time thugs who work for Ángela, a morally flexible lawyer who offers her clients quick solutions outside the law. The story unfolds over a frenetic day in a labyrinthine industrial park, when they’re hired to recover a stolen car for one of those clients. In its trunk, they find a mysterious safe containing a World War II relic: a Luger P08 gun, highly desired by very dangerous people from the underworld.
Moments where Luger demonstrates itself as truly special also come through in the cinematography and stunt work. In the first stunt sequence that kicks off the action of the film, Toni takes on several people in a restaurant before moving to Rafa’s position to offer aid. With the camera moving in an extended take, not only do we get to clearly observe Toni’s capabilities (thereby amplifying tension when Toni finds himself struggling against opponents at any later time), the camera moves through the space so that we can observe the action clearly, making all the action we see in-frame versus executed with cuts. Later, in a sequence that’s primarily dialogue between three characters including Martín’s (The Last Train to Rock’n’Roll) Charly, the tension of the moment grows thicker upon realizing that Hebrero is moving the camera around the table the characters sit at, creating a sense of unpredictability that several smaller takes with cuts for coverage wouldn’t. It’s such a subtle move by Hebrero that one might not even realize that a long-take has occurred because you’re so busy holding your breath. Whether the stunts involve gun shots, blade slices, or old school fisticuffs, the violence within the world of Luger almost always comes at a steep price, an element that imbues the whole of the film with a sense of permanence that makes any dire situation worse.
Release TBA.
Metallica Saved My Life
Directed/Written By: Jonas Åkerlund
Official Synopsis:
The film documents the incredible stories of family, identity, redemption, loss, and salvation that make Metallica’s fans perhaps the most recognized example of why music matters to the world, and of why Metallica is the kind of band that can literally save lives, including their own.
Directed by Jonas Akerlund, the movie includes deeply intimate stories from the band and features an incredibly diverse and delightful cast of Metallica fans from around the world. Infused with the power of Metallica’s music and legendary live performances, this film will make us laugh, cry, rock out, and inhale music’s fundamental place in the human experience.
At the start of the documentary, its concept of “Metallica” is defined as a state of being. It’s kept nebulous, but the inference is one of warm-welcoming and inclusion and it’s supported by all the stories shared from the band and the fans. So much so that one comes to realize that the title of the doc doesn’t just apply to the fans — some stating it plainly, others metaphorically — but to the band itself. James, specifically, speaks of the darkness within him and Åkerlund utilizes footage (more from recent concerts) of the singer/guitarist to present some of the affirmations that James has shared on stage to encourage the audience to find the support they need in trying times. In this way, Åkerlund crafts a notion that it’s the fans who also save the band, for, without them, there would be no band and, perhaps, no outlet for the negative thoughts and ideations within them which serve as the creative nexus from which the music is born. “Metallica saved my life” applies to all and Åkerlund successfully captures that sensation throughout the film. Again, if you’re looking for stories about the shifting band lineup, the change of their iconic early look in the ‘90s, the Napster period, or anything else, you’re not going to find it here because, in those stories, the fans aren’t what matter. In this way, and especially with the manner Åkerlund shifts the cinematography in the final moments of the film, Metallica Saved My Life is a declarative “thank you” to the band from all the fans (within the band and out) for the impact they’ve made.
Released via MTV Films in 2026.
New Jack Fury
Directed/Written By: Lanfia Wal
Official Synopsis:
Fired undercover cop Dylan Gamble must save his kidnapped girlfriend, Tanisha, from the Styles Syndicate. With help from crook Hendrix Moon and rival Leslie Kindall, he faces the challenge of rescuing her and taking down the Syndicate.
Look, when it comes down to it, New Jack Fury is a solid time. It knows exactly what kind of film it is, its tongue firmly in its cheek, with characters riffing on musicians like Kool Moe Dee or the aforementioned Michael Jackson or wearing outfits suspiciously like a certain Detroit detective in his first trip to Beverly Hills (while using a copious amount of Soul Glow). The film is certainly reference after reference, but not without thought or intention behind it. More to the point, it’s worth acknowledging how far the Black community has come since the Jim Crow era both within media representation and out, yet is still valued with limitations today. For a real world example, look no further than the firing of Air Force General CQ Brown (four months into a four year position and only one of two people fired, neither being white men) which highlights how, still today, all it takes is one sour-puss White man to derail an entire career. Though Wal doesn’t get into that aspect specifically, with what he does focus on, it’s clear that he’d have an opinion if asked. What’s old is new again, indeed.
Specific release information coming in 2026.
One Spoon of Chocolate
Directed/Written By: RZA
Official Synopsis:
After serving his country in the Army, Unique (Shameik Moore) was falsely accused of assault and sent to prison. Now that his sentence is over, Unique sets up shop in Ohio to restart his life, linking up with his only surviving relative Ramsey (RJ Cyler). There’s something insidious happening in this town, though, via its racist sheriff and his crew of similarly bigoted acolytes, all of whom have a knack for violence and share a gruesome secret pertaining to missing young Black men. When they set their sights on Unique and turn his life upside down, the former soldier has no choice but to bring the ruckus down on the sheriff and his goons. Hell hath no fury like a veteran scorned (and armed with a sword).
There are going to be things that audiences find objectionable within One Spoon of Chocolate and, chances are, they’d be justified. If not for incorporating grindhouse elements, things that appear to exploit the pain and suffering of others, then the aspects of the narrative that come off as observing a lynching and the unflinching way that RZA captures them would shatter an audience rather than prime them for what comes next. Some audiences may find the depiction of the white characters as conniving, violent, morally corrupt, deplorable, and problematic, except, in a story centering violence perpetrated against the Black community, there’s typically one race responsible for that. And if we’re talking a Blacksploitation film, yeah, the white folks are going to be the bad guys. But the item that’s most going to bother audiences is the ending and, as someone aware of RZA’s affinity for martial arts cinema, this ending is as loaded as that of Fist of Fury (1972). A spoiler-filled review would make a meal of what it means, but, for now, just know that if how it ends it bothers you, consider why and what it means in the scope of RZA’s narrative. Consider that subtilty isn’t the point or the desire. Consider that violence just begets more violence. Consider that affecting change only requires one person to make a choice and the ripple from that choice can either uplift or devastate, but it will create change all the same.
Release TBA.
Redux Redux
Directed/Written By: Kevin McManus, Matthew McManus
Official Synopsis:
In an attempt to avenge her daughter’s death, Irene Kelly (McManus) travels through parallel universes, killing her daughter’s murderer over and over again. She grows addicted to the revenge streak, putting her own humanity in jeopardy.
There was a time when the concept of a multiverse was left to modern philosophy and creative writing as the idea of worlds on top of worlds separated by frequency, many like our own except for the tiniest of differences, just seemed too out there. But as science developed more and more theories and these concepts infiltrated popular culture, the idea of a multiverse is about as commonplace in the zeitgeist as sliced bread. For their latest project, co-writers/co-directors Kevin and Matthew McManus (The Block Island Sound) not only utilize the concept of a multiverse, they do so in a way that trusts the audience to get it, thereby enabling the narrative to focus on what matters. The resulting film, Redux Redux, having its world premiere in the Midnighter section of SXSW 2025, is a film more interested in character than science fiction, allowing it to use the set dressing of a multiverse to explore the very real way in which grief can cause individuals to devour themselves forever.
In theaters February 20th, 2026.
The Restoration of Grayson Manor
Directed By: Glenn McQuaid
Written By: Glenn McQuaid, Clay McLeod Chapman
Official Synopsis:
Boyd Grayson is an Irish playboy who delights in bringing men home to his sprawling family estate for sex, just to spite his legacy-obsessed mother, reminding her she’ll never get the grandchildren she craves. When an accident leaves him incapacitated, Boyd finds himself handless, helpless, and at the mercy of her care.
Luckily for Boyd, his mother’s familial wealth has given him the opportunity to be the first person in the history of the world to pilot an experimental technology: mechanical hands controlled entirely by his subconscious. Soon, however, the hands begin to move on their own… even when they’re not attached to Boyd’s body.
There is a brutal audaciousness that permeates The Restoration at Grayson Manor. It’s present in the way Jacqueline reacts to Boyd’s subconscious action to save her life, in the way that Jacqueline attempts to help her son, and the way that Boyd responds to that assistance. There is no measure by which either party is innocent, inflicting pain on others. “Restoration” implies a healing or repair, but there’s another meaning that speaks directly to the undercurrent of the film, continued lineage, and that’s where tension doesn’t exist because things occur as-expected. However, the final moments of the film not only address this resultant expected thing, they do so with the kind of melodramatic flourish that’ll have your jaw on the floor and your hands clapping in delight all while your eyes are staring in astonishment at Colfer and Krige’s respective performances. It not only beautifully caps off the film as a whole, but serves as a reminder that some restorations are best treated with napalm.
Release TBA.
She’s the He!
Directed/Written By: Siobhan McCarthy
Official Synopsis:
Just before graduation, Alex and Ethan pretend to be trans women to get into the girl’s lockers. It’s all a joke until Ethan realizes: she really is trans. The two must reckon with their changing friendship and the process of coming out.
Before wrapping, it’s worth noting that She’s the He doesn’t just proclaim its allyship by telling a LGBTQIA+ story, its cast is a collection of members of the community, which certainly helps quell any concerns one might have about who the target audience is. The audience is anyone who wants to laugh and who may just be wondering a little bit about why they may feel uncomfortable in their skin. Movies like Bottoms, Booksmart, and 2024’s I Saw the TV Glow each speak to the ways in which our adolescence is fraught with uncertainty as we cross the threshold into adulthood and that so many films are approaching the universal feeling from an LGBTQIA+ POV, often with members of said community, speaks to how important such a perspective is. In her feature-length debut, McCarthy may have created a generationally-viewed masterpiece that will be looked at as transformative for Gen Alpha (2010-present) and beyond. Why? For no other reason than it reminds, with one of the best jokes in the entire film, that the first Pride was a motherfucking riot. So, let’s lead with love, let’s open our hearts, and shut the panic down.
Currently on the festival circuit.
Third Act
Directed By: Tadashi Nakamura
Official Synopsis:
Generations of artists call Robert A. Nakamura “The Godfather of Asian American film,” but his son, Tad, calls him Dad. As the filmmaking son of a filmmaking legend, Tad uses the lessons his dad taught him to decipher the legacy of an aging man who was a child survivor of the WWII incarceration of Japanese Americans, a successful photographer who gave it up to tell his own story, an activist at the dawn of a social movement—and a father whose struggles have won his son freedoms that eluded Japanese Americans of his generation. As Parkinson’s Disease clouds his memory, Tad sets out to retrieve his story—and in the process discovers his own. The two have made films together, with Robert always by Tad’s side. THIRD ACT is most likely the last.
Robert A. Nakamura is many things: photographer, filmmaker, teacher, activist, father, and son. He’s the founder of non-profit Visual Communications, an organization devoted to uplifting Asian-American and Pacific Islander creatives; founder of the UCLA Center for EthnoCommunications; and the creator of the Frank H. Watase Media Arts Center at the Japanese American National Museum. His professional work sought to shift the way Americans perceive Asian-Americans via supporting artistic expressions that bring the Asian-American communities’ perspectives to the forefront. Much of his work, consciously or not, is directly tied to the governmental and public response to the Japanese acts of aggression during World War II and the internment camp in Manzanar, California, that he and his family were sent to when he was a young boy. What begins as a simple record of a filmmaker’s life in his retirement phase of existence (third act of life), slowly turns into a pronounced exploration of the scars that continue to ache and the continued reverberations across generations.
Currently on the festival circuit.
Touch Me
Directed/Written By: Addison Heimann
Official Synopsis:
Two codependent best friends become addicted to the heroin-like touch of an alien narcissist who may or may not be trying to take over the world.
Like all who suffer some kind of trauma, Touch Me overflows with humor. It’s in the brilliantly timed vocal delivery from Dudley and Gavaris (Curse of Chucky) as the besties their characters are, the bizarre music video editing that accompanies one particularly mediation, and a poignant final moment at the end. If we cannot laugh at the parts of ourselves torched by life’s cruelties, then those things threatened to consume us whole and take them for themselves. The utilization might strike some as discordant against the whole, but, given the tender subjects Heimann explores, a dash of humor invites the necessary light required to combat darkness. And combat darkness Touch Me does, from uncomfortable start to declarative finish.
Released via Yellow Veil Pictures TBA.
Olivia Taylor Dudley as Joey in Addison Heimann’s TOUCH ME. Photo courtesy of Rustic Films/Sundance Film Festival.
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Categories: Films To Watch, Recommendation
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