Here are Cinephile Corner’s 10 recommendations for movies like Adaptation:
A Different Man
Although the story sometimes feels like it’s chasing its own tail, Aaron Schimberg deserves praise for his calculated setup, precise direction, and visual flair. A Different Man is not just intellectually stimulating, but it also offers a bright, grainy color palette and shot design that recalls old school B-movies. It’s schlocky in all the best ways while maintaining a serious script and story about valuing yourself and staying confident in your abilities.
American Fiction
Cord Jefferson’s first movie, American Fiction, didn’t blow me away, and I was hoping for a more cohesive film to get me excited about his big themes and sensibilities. A few stylistic choices are pleasant on the eyes, and the performances from Jeffrey Wright and Sterling K. Brown are worthy of their acclaim, but the final product is a lackluster satire.
The Fabelmans
The Fabelmans, Steven Spielberg’s latest movie, effectively mines through his childhood to examine his love for film. A complex set of ideas mixed in a way only the master filmmaker could pull together.
Beau Is Afraid
Ari Aster puts his career and positive public perception on the line to create his most singular and divisive piece of filmmaking yet. Although easily his least accessible and structured movie, Beau Is Afraid still manages to work due to Aster‘s distinct eye for jaw-dropping images and scenes and Joaquin Phoenix‘s committed performance.
Asteroid City
Asteroid City works like a charm, each detail feeling firmly in place despite the layers and layers of artifice Wes Anderson plants around every corner. His detractors may despise it, but if you’ve ever been even a smidge interested in his work up to this point, it’s certainly worth seeing – because you won’t believe its contents otherwise.
The Actor
The Actor, the solo directorial debut of Anomalisa co-director Duke Johnson, is a moody, visually intriguing but ultimately unsatisfying dive into identity and memory that struggles to find a compelling center. Starring André Holland as a man with no memory and even less direction, the film flirts with the thematic territory of Johnson’s previous collaboration with Charlie Kaufman – who serves here as an executive producer – but lacks the poignancy or clarity of voice that made Anomalisa so staggering.
Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths
Quickly after the title card of Alejandro González Iñárritu’s latest film Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths is it clear what drove the acclaimed Mexican filmmaker and visionary to make such a sweeping and epic story about the artistic complex of an award-winning professional. After all, the director and writer of Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) and The Revenant received his fair share of awards recognition for pieces basking in ingenuity and complete originality.
Enemy
Enemy‘s true power lies in its ambiguity. Unlike conventional narratives that spoon-feed answers, Denis Villeneuve invites the audience to actively participate in unraveling the movie’s enigmatic plotlines. The recurring spider motif becomes a potent symbol, open to individual interpretation. Is it a harbinger of danger, a manifestation of repressed desires, or simply a narrative thread to guide us through the inner turmoil of Adam (Jake Gyllenhaal)? The beauty lies in the absence of definitive answers for Enemy, where Denis allows you to form your own conclusions.
Coma
Bertrand Bonello’s Coma doesn’t feel like it’s getting nearly enough attention as it deserves. Granted, it’s finally available to watch at home following a two year release strategy that made it nearly impossible to seek out for mainstream moviegoers, but this DIY COVID project has been released following the overwhelming critical success of The Beast, which offers a completely different viewing experience than Coma.
Everything Everywhere All at Once
To put into words how exhilarating Everything Everywhere All at Once is isn’t easy to do. A film unlike any other, it pushes every filmmaking possibility to the brink in 2022. Many films come and go with the wind, but Everything Everywhere All at Once will be in our culture for years – even decades. The phrase “modern classic” doesn’t apply to films very frequently, but this is one of those instances where it feels justified.
READ MORE: Adaptation (2002)
