REEL | Tony Leung Makes A 'Silent Friend' x SIFF 2026

"I want to find out what plants sense."

1-2 Special / Films We Like

Silent Friend (aka Stille Freundin), visionary Hungarian filmmaker Ildikó Enyedi's strange but affecting historical tale follows Hong Kong superstar Tony Leung as a Chinese neuroscientist studying a beguiling gingko tree on the grounds of a medieval German university town in the year 2020. It's a uniquely engrossing two-and-a-half-hour film about a professor befriending an old tree.

SCREEN | Glaciers and Memories – 'Time and Water' x DOXA 2026

"I cannot send you a glacier."

National Geographic Documentary Films / Sandbox Films

Oscar-nominated Fire of Love director Sara Dosa explores the environmental impact of melting glaciers through renowned, award-winning Icelandic poet/author Andri Snær Magnason's comprehensive family history in their documentary, Time and Water (see also his book, On Time and Water). It's an elegiac portrait of time passing told side-by-side with the Earth's "memories" as climate change ravages the glacial natural wonders.

SCREEN | Swimming Past 'Numakage Public Pool' x DOXA 2026

"Once the pool is gone, it'll be too late."

Hydroblast

Numakage Public Pool, director Shingo Ōta's peaceful eighty-minute observational documentary chronicling the eponymous landlocked suburban Tokyo public swimming pool complex's final months of operations, details the much-loved location through its ten-thousand daily patrons, from the elderly, families, and children, as they fight to keep it open against looming urban development.

SCREEN | John Magaro Drives Across Nebraska – 'Omaha'

"I think we're moving."

Greenwich Entertainment / Vortex Media

Accomplished character actor John Magaro stars as a struggling single father in Utah filmmaker Cole Webley's Midwest family road trip indie drama, Omaha, also his directorial debut. It's a slow but patient indie drama scripted by Robert Machoian that revolves around two children (Molly Belle Wright and Wyatt Solis) and their perspectives on what might really be going on in their family unit.

REEL | Anne Hathaway Suddenly Sees 'The Devil Wears Prada 2'

"Stockholm called. It wants its syndrome back."

20th Century Studios

The fashionable duo of Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep reunite for The Devil Wears Prada 2, the fashion magazine comedy sequel to the highly rewatchable 2006 literary adaptation about bad bosses, toxic workplaces, and career sacrifices with a decidedly female focus. Twenty years later, much has changed as we explore the contemporary problems of running a once-glamorous and powerful global print brand with humour and plenty of style.

GENRE | Anne Hathaway Hails 'Mother Mary' – A Pop Nightmare

"Catch me by surprise with your sincerity."

A24 / VVS Films

Eclectic filmmaker David Lowery writes and directs the gothic pop-horror music psychodrama, Mother Mary, starring Anne Hathaway as an iconic singer (think Lady Gaga meets Taylor Swift) in search of a new stage costume from her estranged former collaborator (Michaela Coel). It's an all-female, two-hander chamber piece of ghostly confrontation that doubles for the complications of artistic and creative partnerships.

REEL | Jaafar Jackson Transforms the King of Pop – 'Michael' Goes 'Bad'

"I believe music can change the world."

Lionsgate / Cineplex Pictures

From the same producer (Graham King) and filmed in a similar vein as the wildly successful but much deservedly critically maligned Queen/Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody comes the ill-advised Michael, the estate-authorized biographical musical drama based on the life of the controversial "King of Pop," superstar Michael Jackson. He's portrayed impressively by his actual nephew, Jaafar Jackson (son of Jermaine, also an executive producer alongside Michael's other living brothers), with the adorable Juliano Krue Valdi playing the younger MJ, and directed by journeyman filmmaker Antoine Fuqua.

CABLE | 'Margo's Got Money Troubles' Makes Fans x SXSW 2026

"You ruined my life so pretty."

A24 / Lewellen Pictures

Margo's Got Money Troubles, prolific television writer/producer David E. Kelley's new family dramedy series based on author Rufi Thorpe's bestselling 2024 novel of the same name, stars Elle Fanning (also an executive producer) as the titular college dropout who turns to online sex work after getting pregnant due to an illicit affair with a married literature professor (Michael Angarano) and desperately needing funds to raise her newborn baby on her own.

CABLE | Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan Age Their 'Beef' – Netflix Season 2

"She has appalling taste in interior design."

A24 Television

Back for another melodramatic spin at tormented domestic rivalries, season two of Beef's anthology series, created by Korean-American writer/producer Lee Sung Jin, takes a turn towards the affluent country club crowd in a personal feud between members of its staff, management, and new ownership.