Indie Fresh List: C’mon C’mon, tick, tick… BOOM!, and More

In The First Wave, Oscar-nominated documentarian Matthew Heineman explores the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic through the eyes of the staff working at one of New York’s hardest-hit hospitals. A tense and thrilling chronicle of the ravages of the virus a time when we knew little about it, The First Wave is an exploration of the long-standing inequities in our society and how this once-in-a-century pandemic exacerbated them. Currently Fresh at 100% on the Tomatometer, the film inspired Micheal O’Sullivan of the Washington Post to write, “The First Wave feels simultaneously hard to watch and vital, tragic and uplifting, like a backward glimpse over our shoulder at a period of conflict and struggle – in more ways than one – that we’re not quite done living through yet.”

Now Playing Select Theaters.

An extravagant dinner party in the Welsh countryside takes a horrific and unexpected turn in Feast. Annes Elwy stars as Cadi, a mysterious young woman hired by a local socialite to serve a dinner party. The constant dread of the first two acts underscores the cold and almost surgical preparation of the meal, highlighting that neither Cadi nor the guests served at the table are quite what they seem. Hints of the gore that will pervade the film’s final act are delicately foreshadowed in the first two, leaving the audience rapt with anticipation for when the bloodier parts of the affair kick-off. Certified Fresh at 81% on the Tomatometer and perfectly timed for the Thanksgiving holiday, Feast is “a new Thanksgiving tradition for horror aficionados with iron-clad stomachs and an appetite for visually striking scares that unsettle through thorny symbolism before their bloodletting begins in earnest,” according to Isaac Feldberg of Inverse.

Now Playing Select theaters.

Lin-Manuel Miranda makes his directorial debut with tick, tick… BOOM!. The Hamilton creator and star has often credited Jonathan Larson (creator of Rent and the original stage production of Tick, Tick… Boom!) as a huge musical influence and inspiration. The film, which stars Andrew Garfield, is a mix of the stage play and events from Larson’s life. Set during Larson’s time at the famed Moondance Diner, a broadway staple before its closure in 2007, tick, tick… BOOM! is a Broadway kid’s fantasy set to screen, a meditation on the messy moments of inspiration and the constant artistic struggles to “make it,” and it debuts on Netflix this week after a premiere at the AFI film festival. Amy Nicholson of The New York Times called it “a self-portrait of the artist as an angst-ridden wretch, which Miranda has reverently dusted and polished like a sacred totem for a select cult.”

Streaming now on Netflix. 

Mike Mills (20th Century Women) is back in theaters with another heartfelt exploration of love, family, and the hilarity raising young children. Joaquin Phoenix stars as Johnny, a Public Radio host enlisted to care for his precocious young nephew, played by dazzling newcomer Woody Norman. Indie darling Gaby Hoffman, comedian Jaboukie Young-White, and Scoot McNairy (Narcos) round out the cast for the black-and-white drama, which is equally poignant and hilarious. Phoenix is incredible as a clueless uncle in charge of an unpredictable child, and Frank J. Avella of Edge Media Network writes, “Phoenix taps into his sweet and loving side for Mike Mills’ C’mon C’mon, a deeply affecting, uplifting, and unconventional peek at a small family looking to reconnect.”

Now Playing Select Theaters.