Here are Cinephile Corner’s 10 recommendations for movies like Nouvelle Vague:
Saturday Night
Saturday Night, directed by Jason Reitman, takes us back to the chaotic, unpredictable hours leading up to the first-ever episode of Saturday Night Live. Reitman’s film suggests that those 90 minutes before the show’s debut were more frenzied, uncertain, and downright messy than anything that’s aired in the decades since. It paints a vivid picture of a young Lorne Michaels, played with wide-eyed determination by Gabriel LaBelle, as someone who was deeply in over his head, unprepared to helm what would become one of television’s most iconic and enduring shows.
Air
Adequately titled Air, Ben Affleck‘s newest directing effort sits in the clouds as it enjoys rummaging through the events that led to Michael Jordan’s lucrative “Air Jordan” shoe deal with Nike. Told from the perspective of blazing Sonny Vaccaro, Air enjoys living in the small details of nostalgia and sports branding.
A Complete Unknown
As a Minnesotan, I feel almost obligated to enjoy A Complete Unknown, the movie that chronicles Bob Dylan’s rise to stardom while exploring his strained relationship with music and the people who helped shape his career. Dylan is undeniably one of the most famous musicians of all time—and certainly one of the most iconic figures to emerge from the land of 10,000 lakes.
Blue Moon
Richard Linklater and Ethan Hawke reunite for Blue Moon (2025), a compact character study that plays in similar fashion to their collaboration nearly 25 years ago Tape. Set almost entirely inside Sardi’s Bar in 1943, the film follows a single night in the life of lyricist Lorenz Hart (Ethan Hawke) on the evening that his ex-creative partner Richard Rodgers’ Oklahoma! premieres to rapturous success nearby. Hawke’s Hart drinks, riffs and ricochets through memories and resentments, bending conversations to his own restless monologue whether the audience is Eddie the bartender (Bobby Cannavale), the much younger Elizabeth (Margaret Qualley), or Rodgers himself (Andrew Scott).
BlackBerry
Zipping through the years of the rise and fall of the first texting cellphone, the aptly-titled BlackBerry serves as a fantastic tale of corporate greed and those incapable of dealing with the success and fame that comes with building new technology. Incredible acting and direction contributes to one of 2023’s best movies.
Friendship
Friendship is one of the more unique comedies of 2025—a weird, squirm-inducing, unexpectedly affecting film that feels true to its title in all the worst (and best) ways. It’s another feather in A24’s cap for championing daring, off-kilter voices in comedy. If you’re in tune with Tim Robinson’s specific wavelength, it’s a must-watch.
One Battle After Another
Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another is a movie of firsts that never feels tentative. It is his first modern-set feature since Punch-Drunk Love, his first collaboration with Leonardo DiCaprio, and his first film of this scale, reportedly in the $130 to $175 million range. What is not new is the command. From the first explosion to the last chase, this is PTA in full control, turning a feverish political thriller into one of 2025’s most purely thrilling big-screen experiences.
Read our full review of One Battle After Another
Everybody Wants Some!!
I can probably count on one hand the movies I’ve rewatched more often than Everybody Wants Some!!, and that’s because Richard Linklater’s secret masterpiece is one of the most endlessly watchable films of the 2010s. Its 117 minutes fly by with the kind of effortless charm that makes you want to live inside it, following a team of college baseball players during the final weekend before classes begin at a mid-sized Texas university in 1980. Freshmen move into the house, parties blur together, baseball practice tests egos, and friendships form so naturally you wish you were dropped right into the middle of 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.
Amsterdam
There were quite a few misfires from major studios in 2022, but Amsterdam stands with some of the worst ones. To have a film as overstuffed and annoyingly uninteresting as Amsterdam with a cast like Amsterdam is impressive.
READ MORE: Nouvelle Vague (2025)
