Join us weekly as Rotten Tomatoes reports on what’s indie features are streaming. From promising releases by new voices to experimental efforts from storied filmmakers – or perhaps the next indie darling to go the distance for end-of-year accolades – we will break it all down for you here each week.
This week for our Indie Fresh List, we have a time capsule documentary about young Hollywood in the ’80s/’90s, a heart-wrenching drama about the Guatemalan military coup as seen through the eyes of the women who lived through it, and a Certified Fresh horror film that asks what would happen if your dreams turned on you.
Come True (2020)
84%
An inventive way to subvert the expectations of horror fans is to turn the innocuous into the terrifying; the Certifed Fresh Come True utilizes dreams as a new ignition point to ratchet up scares. When her recurring nightmares become untenable, a young woman submits to a university sleep study, only to realize those running it may have sinister intentions. Tomris Laffy for RogerEbert.com writes lead actress Julia Sarah Stone “is completely game for the wild ride, putting forth a sturdy yet manic presence with startling authority, even when the brooding aura that surrounds her begs for adequate substance.”
In select theaters and available on VOD now.
Our Mothers (2019)
77%
Attempting to provide a human perspective on the recent military coups in Central and South America, Our Mothers chronicles the Guatemalan military trials that gripped the nation in 2018 through the eyes of the women who lived through it. “An appealingly dignified, humane story of the repercussions of the little-known civil war in Guatemala in the 1980s as borne by the country’s women,” writes Fionnuala Halligan of Screen International.
Streaming now on HBO Max.
Kid 90 (2021)
76%
Soleil Moon Frye was a child star in the late ’80s and early ’90s, and during that time she chronicled her life with a video camera she carried everywhere she went. Revisiting these hours of footage that were locked away for 20 years, she has crafted an interesting doc that offers an incredible peek inside the private lives of child stars and that era’s “Young Hollywood” before the rise of social media. “More than entertainment for viewers, Kid 90 proves a cathartic reckoning for Frye and anyone watching who has gone through the same trials and tribulations on any scale,” writes Jared Mobarak for The Film Stage.
Streaming now on Hulu.
Along with…
93%
Another Round
(2020)
, starring Mads Mikkelsen in Thomas Vinterberg’s dramatic comedy about four teachers who decide to drink at work.
93%
Baby Done
(2020)
, a comedy about a couple who go on a baby bucket list after finding out they’re pregnant.
97%
Billie
(2019)
, a documentary biopic on famed jazz singer Billie Holiday.
89%
Black Bear
(2020)
, about a writer struggling to find story who heads to a remote cabin to meet married friends and make potentially inspirational mischief between the couple.
90%
The Climb
(2019)
, a comedy about a pair of best friends whose relationship is tested when one of them gets involved with a woman.
90%
The Dark and the Wicked
(2020)
, a horror film about a pair of siblings who discover something sinister when they return to their childhood home to care for their dying father.
89%
Dear Santa
(2020)
, a documentary about the long tradition of the United States Postal Service’s Dear Santa program.
77%
I Am Greta
(2020)
, a powerful documentary on climate activist Greta Thunberg.
69%
Kindred
(2020)
, a thriller about a young pregnant woman who suspects the family caring for her has nefarious intentions for her unborn child.
69%
Land
(2021)
, a drama about a woman in search of her true self as she treks across the American Midwest.
91%
Little Fish
(2020)
, a sci-fi romance centering on a new memory disease that wrecks the idyllic love story of a young couple.
78%
The Map of Tiny Perfect Things
(2021)
, a time loop comedy about two people stuck in the same day.
98%
MLK/FBI
(2020)
, a documentary about the U.S. government’s attempts to surveil and discredit Martin Luther King, Jr.
98%
One Night in Miami
(2020)
, Regina King’s directorial debut about a fictionalized evening spent together in a hotel room by Cassius Clay, Sam Cooke, Malcolm X, and Jim Brown.
77%
Pieces of a Woman
(2020)
, a drama about a woman trying to put her life back together after a tragedy.
90%
Promising Young Woman
(2020)
, starring Carey Mulligan in a darkly comic drama about a med school dropout who spends her evenings bringing a form of justice to would-be sexual predators.
97%
The Reason I Jump
(2020)
, a documentary following five young people diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.
Thumbnail image by ©IFC Midnight
