Last week, we presented to you a hefty list of the biggest movies opening this summer to give you an idea of what to expect this year, and today, we follow that up with a much shorter list of the most notable limited releases. These smaller-budgeted, mostly independent movies may not sport the bombastic special effects or super A-list celeb status of their blockbuster counterparts, but as any discerning movie fan will tell you, that doesn’t mean they’re not worth checking out. So, without further ado, here are the most intriguing movies being offered in limited release this summer!
Cast: Joel Murray, Tara Lynne Barr, Melinda Page Hamilton, Larry Miller
Director: Bobcat Goldthwait
Writer: Bobcat Goldthwait
Release Date: May 11
Remember Bobcat Goldthwait? Y’know, the guy with the really weird voice from the Police Academy movies? Well, these days he’s a director, and a pretty acclaimed one at that — his last film, World’s Greatest Dad, was Certified Fresh with the critics. Now he’s back with God Bless America, a subversive black comedy about a terminally ill man who’s fed up with contemporary culture. His solution? Go on a cross-country trek with a like-minded high school student and murder as many reality TV stars as possible. So far, God Bless America is getting good notices from critics, who call it an energetic, viciously funny satire of our current cultural landscape.
Cast: Cierra Ramirez, Eva Mendes, Matthew Modine, Patricia Arquette
Director: Patricia Riggen
Writers: Hiram Martinez
Release Date: May 11
A coming-of-age story about a girl learning the basic elements of a coming-of-age story, Girl in Progress sounds pretty meta at first. Mostly, though, it’s the lively, sweet tale of Ansiedad (Cierra Ramirez), a teenager whose single mom (Eva Mendes) is mostly preoccupied with her waitressing job and her love affair with a married man (Matthew Modine). Left to her own devices, Ansiedad learns more about the elements of rite-of-passage stories, and attempts to stake out a life independent of her mother.
Cast: Hugh Dancy, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Felicity Jones, Rupert Everett, Jonathan Pryce
Director: Tanya Wexler
Writers: Stephen Dyer, Jonah Lisa Dyer
Release Date: May 18
Those Gyllenhaals: always making romantic comedies about erotic stimulation. First, Jake starred in Love and Other Drugs (about Viagra), and now Maggie’s in Hysteria a period piece about the invention of the vibrator during the prudish Victorian era. Hugh Dancy stars as Mortimer Granville, a young doctor who labors to treat “female hysteria” with a massaging device, while Gyllenhaal and Felicity Jones play sisters who take a close interest in Granville’s work — and Granville himself. Rupert Everett and Jonathan Pryce round out Hysteria‘s distinguished cast.
Cast: Bill Murray, Ed Norton, Tilda Swinton, Bruce Willis
Director: Wes Anderson
Writer: Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola
Release Date: May 25
Opening the prestigious Cannes film festival, Wes Anderson’s return to live action after Fantastic Mr. Fox is also his first period piece. Set in 1960s New England, it follows two kids (Gilman and Hayward) who fall in love and run off together, prompting an eclectic search party (is Bill Murray, Ed Norton, Tilda Swinton and Bruce Willis eclectic enough for you?) to set out frantically after them. Inspired by the likes of Francois Truffaut and British coming-of-age films of the era, it looks to be right within Anderson’s field of specialty — which is precisely why we’re excited.
Cast: Aubrey Plaza, Mark Duplass, Jake M. Johnson, Karan Soni
Director: Colin Treverrow
Writer: Derek Connolly
Release Date: June 8
After supporting roles in a handful of films, Aubrey Plaza (NBC’s Parks and Recreation) stars in this indie dramedy, inspired by a fake classified ad-turned-internet meme. Plaza plays magazine intern Darius Britt, who, along with writer Jeff (Jake M. Johnson) and fellow intern Arnau (Karan Soni), tracks down the seemingly unhinged author (Mark Duplass) of a classified ad seeking a partner with whom to travel back in time. Both director Colin Treverrow and writer Derek Connolly are first-timers, but they’ve surrounded themselves with solid talent, and critics so far have been supportive, so this could be a sleeper.
Cast: Robert Pattinson, Christina Ricci, Uma Thurman, Kristin Scott Thomas
Directors: Declan Donnellan, Nick Ormerod
Writer: Rachel Bennette
Release Date: June 8
French writer Guy de Maupassant’s 1885 novel Bel Ami has been adapted for the screen before, but this summer audiences will be treated to another iteration, starring Robert Pattinson as journalist Georges Duroy. Utilizing his considerable charm and sharp wit, Duroy rises from rags to riches, providing evidence that politics and celebrity culture have been mingling for generations. So far, reviews have been lukewarm, but you have to give Pattinson some credit for trying to shed his Twilight pedigree.
Cast: Greta Gerwig, Zoe Lister Jones, Hamish Linklater, Joel Kinnaman, Bill Pullman
Director: Daryl Wein
Writers: Daryl Wein, Zoe Lister Jones
Release Date: June 8
Coming-of-age films traditionally used to be about teenagers; nowadays, the genre extends to a more “grown up” demographic, as with Lola Versus and its titular 29-year-old heroine. Dumped just three weeks before her wedding, Lola (Greta Gerwig) must begin the process of reexamination and discovery as she prepares to enter her thirties as a single woman. Manic pixie dream girl du jour Gerwig headlines Daryl Wein’s indie rom-com, supported by Hamish Linklater and Zoe Lister Jones (who also co-wrote the film).
Cast: Emily Blunt, Mark Duplass, Rosemarie DeWitt
Director: Lynn Shelton
Writer: Lynn Shelton
Release Date: June 15
Between Safety Not Guaranteed, this film, and a few others, Mark Duplass seems intent on claiming the title of Indie King this year. Here, he plays Jack, best friend to Iris (Emily Blunt), who suggests Jack visit her family retreat for a holiday after his brother’s untimely death. There, Jack meet’s Iris’s sister Hannah (Rosemarie DeWitt) and they hit it off immediately, but just as the fireworks fly, Iris shows up the next day to complicate the situation. Critics so far have called Your Sister’s Sister a sweet, low-key affair populated by natural performances and immensely likable characters, so assuming you’re not tired of Duplass’s face popping up in small films, this could be one to watch for.
Cast: Woody Allen, Jesse Eisenberg, Ellen Page, Alec Baldwin, Penélope Cruz, Great Gerwig, Judy Davis, Roberto Benigni
Director: Woody Allen
Writers: Woody Allen
Release Date: June 22
For the first time in a while, commercial expectations are high for a Woody Allen film. Midnight in Paris was the biggest hit of the director’s long career, so this follow up — about a cross-generational group of tourists, ex-pats and locals in various stages of life and love in Rome — will be watched with interest. Allen himself is back on screen this time, though we wonder if he’ll pass the baton of neurosis on to his obvious acting successor, Jesse Eisenberg. A fine cast of Allen alums (Baldwin, Cruz) and newcomers (Page, Gerwig) should keep the Woodster comfortably in his return to form.
Cast: Quvenzhané Wallis, Dwight Henry, Jonshel Alexander
Director: Benh Zeitlin
Writers: Lucy Alibar, Benh Zeitlin
Release Date: June 29
Speaking of coming-of-age films, here’s one that’s already racked up plenty of kudos, taking the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance this year and securing a place in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes. Newcomer Quvenzhané Wallis plays six-year-old Hushpuppy, who lives in the Southern Delta with her single father, Wink (Dwight Henry). When Wink falls ill and catastrophic natural events begin occurring, Hushpuppy sets out to find her long lost mother, triggering a fantastical journey. Based on critical response following its Sundance premiere, Beasts may be another surprise hit to keep on your radar.
Cast: Morgan Freeman, Virginia Madsen, Kenan Thompson, Fred Willard
Director: Rob Reiner
Writers: Guy Thomas, Rob Reiner
Release Date: July 6
The last hit Rob Reiner had was The Bucket List, so it makes sense he’d tap that film’s star, Morgan Freeman, to power his latest, a feelgood drama about an ornery novelist who rediscovers his passion for writing. After struggles with alcoholism, author Monte Wildhorn (Freeman) vacations on Belle Isle, where he befriends the attractive mother of three (Virginia Madsen) next door and slowly opens up to new inspiration. Expect general crotchetiness, nuggets of elderly wisdom, and oodles of warm sentimentality.
Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Emile Hirsch, Juno Temple, Gina Gershon, Thomas Haden Church
Director: William Friedkin
Writer: Tracy Letts
Release Date: July 27
Having prosecuted a killer in Bernie, Matthew McConaughey finds himself on the other side of Texan law as a hitman hired by trailer trash (Emile Hirsch) to knock off his mom (Gina Gershon) and collect her life insurance. What could be a generic Southern crime thriller is reportedly elevated into high-grade pulp by director William Friedkin, a man who knows his way around both criminal enterprise (The French Connection¸ To Live and Die in L.A.) and the nature of evil (The Exorcist). Juno Temple co-stars in her quest to appear in every other movie released this year.
Cast: Rebecca Hall, Dominic West, Imelda Staunton
Director: Nick Murphy
Writers: Stephen Volk, Nick Murphy
Release Date: August 10
The Awakening is not based on the Kate Chopin novel if that’s what you’re thinking, smarty pants. But it is set around the same era and it does star a woman, so there you go. This Awakening is of the horror story variety, featuring ghosts and orphans and big mansions with lots of atmospheric dread. Rebecca Hall plays a writer who debunks supernatural phenomenons and hoaxes. A child dies at a nearby boarding school and she is hired to find a connection between the death and sightings of a ghost on the premise.
Cast: Mathieu Amalric, Golshifteh Farahani
Directors: Vincent Paronnaud , Marjane Satrapi
Writers: Vincent Paronnaud , Marjane Satrapi
Release Date: August 17
In 2007, Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud charmed the world with Persepolis, their prescient animated film about growing up against the backdrop of the Iranian Revolution. The film won the Jury Prize at Cannes and was nominated for Best Animated Feature, losing to another French-language film (if only partially): Ratatouille. Satrapi and Paronnaud’s next film, Chicken with Plums, has similar origins: Like Perspeolis, it’s based on a Satrapi graphic novel. This time, though, it’s live-action, starring Mathieu Amalric as a violinist who falls for a woman named Irane. The rest of the film charts their separate lives in a wistful, funny, and serious fashion.
