Here are Cinephile Corner’s 10 recommendations for movies like The Great Gatsby:
Babylon
Damien Chazelle announces himself as the antichrist with Babylon – a film focused on the fake it til you make it side of the industry, and Chazelle might just be faking it after all. I’ll be tossing and turning in my head for months about whether he deserves the ending that he presents, because he’s having his cake and eating it to with that final montage, but at least along the way he also throws it up and laughs at you for thinking he’d do anything else. I love it.
Licorice Pizza
Licorice Pizza is a love letter to Paul Thomas Anderson’s childhood experience. The movie is overflowing with teenage emotional drama. One of 2021’s best films. Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman both give extraordinary first leading performances.
Elvis
Despite stylizing the hell out of his newest movie, Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis is a colossal misfire that seems off from the jump. Told through the eyes of his manager, Elvis feels more like airing out dirty laundry than it does an honest biopic.
Armageddon Time
In any profile you read or listen to with James Gray, the sincerity reigns true about his passions. As a craftsman that’s been working as a filmmaker since the 1990s, Gray is now a staple of the art world and a veteran of the profession. While his settings can range from his own personal stomping grounds to international terrain to even intergalactic expeditions, the clear and penetrating humanity that is on display with each outing grows heavier and heavier, so when it was announced that Armageddon Time would be a semi-autobiographical story about a critical point in Gray’s own childhood, it felt like both an inevitability and a slam dunk.
Nightmare Alley
Guillermo del Toro has built a career on finding beauty in darkness, crafting stories that, even in their bleakest moments, hold onto some sense of wonder, nostalgia, or hope. Movies like Pan’s Labyrinth, The Shape of Water, and his stop-motion Pinocchio remake all explore the perseverance of the human spirit, even in the face of terrible atrocities. That’s what makes Nightmare Alley such a striking outlier in his filmography—it’s a film almost entirely devoid of hope, a cynical neo-noir that suggests people are, at their core, selfish and opportunistic. Instead of offering redemption, Nightmare Alley leaves you with a sick feeling in your stomach, hammering home its central thesis: trust is a liability, and grifters will always find a way to exploit it.
Priscilla
Priscilla is a journey that, while not shattering the boundaries of Sofia Coppola‘s established repertoire, undoubtedly captivates with its remarkable performances and intimate storytelling. Cailee Spaeny and Jacob Elordi shine as the tumultuous Priscilla and Elvis Presley.
Saltburn
Emerald Fennell‘s sophomore movie, Saltburn, emerges from the rubble of her polarizing debut, Promising Young Woman, with a cast that elevates the material despite its endlessly convoluted and plainly put narrative. This comedy-drama-thriller hybrid film weaves a perplexing tale of obsession, deception, and tragedy within the confines of the aristocratic Catton family’s titular estate.
The Taste of Things
Make sure not to watch The Taste of Things on an empty stomach, because the latest film from director Tran Anh Hung depicts the art of cooking about is delectably as any movie this decade. There are long, uninterrupted sequences that simply observe the act in its purest form, with dishes that you wish would leap through the screen and onto your dinner table.
Triangle of Sadness
Although it’s visually pleasing and pretty refreshing at its peak moments, Triangle of Sadness doesn’t come together as tight as it should. For many filmmakers, winning a Palme d’Or would be a reason to stay the course for the foreseeable future, but Ruben Östlund keeps audiences guessing. He didn’t hit a home run here, but I can surely admire the effort and vision that he is trying to complete. It probably won’t compete for many awards this upcoming season, but I imagine Östlund will be back for a vengeance.
The Social Network
The Social Network might not be a “perfect” movie in a traditional sense, but it’s as close as any film has come in the 21st century. Directed by David Fincher and written by Aaron Sorkin, this 2010 masterpiece remains endlessly rewatchable, endlessly quotable, and deeply resonant in ways that continue to evolve with time. I’ve seen it more than any other movie—memorized its rhythm, its cutting dialogue, its thumping Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross score that pulses through every moment. It’s a film that never loses its edge, no matter how many times you revisit it.
READ MORE: The Great Gatsby (2013)
