40 Essential IFC Films

Critics Consensus: As ambitious and provocative as its subject, The Disappearance of Shere Hite is a fascinating glimpse of a remarkable life.

Synopsis: Shere Hite's 1976 bestselling book, The Hite Report, liberated the female orgasm by revealing the most private experiences of thousands of anonymous survey respondents. Her findings... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Dakota Johnson

Directed By: Nicole Newnham

Critics Consensus: A union to cherish between a writer-director and star working at peak power, Things to Come offers quietly profound observations on life, love, and the irrevocable passage of time.

Synopsis: A passionate middle-aged philosophy professor (Isabelle Huppert) rethinks her already much-examined life after an unforeseen divorce.

Starring: Isabelle Huppert, André Marcon, Roman Kolinka, Edith Scob

Directed By: Mia Hansen-Løve

Critics Consensus: A small film that elicits a huge emotional response, Ghostlight is a deeply moving and superbly acted meditation on grief.

Synopsis: When melancholic construction worker Dan (Keith Kupferer) finds himself drifting from his wife and daughter, he discovers community and purpose in a local theater's production... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Keith Kupferer, Katherine Mallen Kupferer, Tara Mallen, Dolly De Leon

Directed By: Kelly O'Sullivan, Alex Thompson

Critics Consensus: The Babadook relies on real horror rather than cheap jump scares -- and boasts a heartfelt, genuinely moving story to boot.

Synopsis: Six years after the violent death of her husband, Amelia (Essie Davis) is at a loss. She struggles to discipline her 'out of control' 6... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Essie Davis, Daniel Henshall, Noah Wiseman, Hayley McElhinney

Directed By: Jennifer Kent

Critics Consensus: Delightfully dark, Late Night with the Devil proves possession horror isn't played out -- and serves as an outstanding showcase for David Dastmalchian.

Synopsis: Johnny Carson rival Jack Delroy hosts a syndicated talk show 'Night Owls' that has long been a trusted companion to insomniacs around the country. However,... View Full Synopsis

Starring: David Dastmalchian, Laura Gordon, Fayssal Bazzi, Ian Bliss

Directed By: Colin Cairnes, Cameron Cairnes

Critics Consensus: With intelligence as sharp as its humor, BlackBerry takes a terrifically entertaining look at the rise and fall of a generation-defining gadget.

Synopsis: 'BlackBerry' tells the story of Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie, the two men that charted the course of the spectacular rise and catastrophic demise of... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Jay Baruchel, Glenn Howerton, Matt Johnson, Rich Sommer

Directed By: Matt Johnson

Critics Consensus: Another profoundly affecting work from the Dardenne brothers, Two Days, One Night delivers its timely message with honesty and clear-eyed compassion.

Synopsis: A factory worker (Marion Cotillard) has just one weekend to convince her colleagues to give up their bonuses so that she can keep her job.

Starring: Marion Cotillard, Fabrizio Rongione, Pili Groyne, Simon Caudry

Directed By: Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne

Critics Consensus: A hard-hitting horror film whose surface-level frights are just as engaging as its thematic concerns, When Evil Lurks marks a viscerally unsettling addition to the possession horror canon.

Synopsis: When brothers Pedro (Ezequiel Rodríguez) and Jimmy (Demián Salomón) discover that a demonic infection has been festering in a nearby farmhouse -- its very proximity... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Ezequiel Rodríguez, Demián Salomón, Silvina Sabater, Virginia Garófalo

Directed By: Demián Rugna

Critics Consensus: Smart, dynamic, and fast-paced, Saloum mixes tones and genres into a tart, smoothly blended treat.

Synopsis: Shot down after fleeing a coup and extracting a drug lord from Guinea-Bissau, the legendary mercenaries known as the Bangui Hyenas -- Chaka, Rafa and... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Yann Gaël, Evelyne Ily Juhen, Roger Sallah, Ba Mentor

Directed By: Jean Luc Herbulot

Critics Consensus: An elegant and spooky ghost story punctuated with clever jolts, Oddity hews to the fundamentals of fright and achieves shout-inducing results.

Synopsis: When Dani is brutally murdered at the remote country house that she and her husband Ted are renovating, everyone suspects a patient from the local... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Gwilym Lee, Carolyn Bracken, Tadhg Murphy, Caroline Menton

Directed By: Damian McCarthy

Critics Consensus: Wildlife's portrait of a family in crisis is beautifully composed by director Paul Dano -- and brought brilliantly to life by a career-best performance from Carey Mulligan.

Synopsis: Fourteen-year-old Joe is the only child of Jeanette and Jerry -- a housewife and a golf pro -- in a small town in the 1960s... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Carey Mulligan, Jake Gyllenhaal, Ed Oxenbould, Bill Camp

Directed By: Paul Dano

Critics Consensus: In the Loop is an uncommonly funny political satire that blends Dr. Strangelove with Spinal Tap for the Iraq war era.

Synopsis: During an interview, British Cabinet Minister Simon Foster (Tom Hollander) delivers an off-the-cuff remark that war in the Middle East is unforeseeable. Profane political spin... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Peter Capaldi, Tom Hollander, Gina McKee, James Gandolfini

Directed By: Armando Iannucci

Critics Consensus: A message movie in a hard horror shell, Hatching perches between beauty and revulsion -- and establishes director Hanna Bergholm as a bright new talent.

Synopsis: In HATCHING, 12-year-old gymnast, Tinja (Siiri Solalinna), is desperate to please her image-obsessed mother, whose popular blog 'Lovely Everyday Life' presents their family's idyllic existence... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Siiri Solalinna, Sophia Heikkilä, Jani Volanen, Oiva Ollila

Directed By: Hanna Bergholm

Critics Consensus: Certain Women further demonstrates writer-director Kelly Reichardt's gift for telling the stories of ordinary people with uncommon empathy and skill.

Synopsis: Three strong-willed women (Kristen Stewart, Laura Dern, Michelle Williams) strive to forge their own paths amidst the wide-open plains of the American Northwest: a lawyer... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Kristen Stewart, Laura Dern, Michelle Williams, Rene Auberjonois

Directed By: Kelly Reichardt

Critics Consensus: Audiences will need to tolerate a certain amount of narrative drift, but thanks to sensitive direction from Noah Baumbach and an endearing performance from Greta Gerwig, Frances Ha makes it easy to forgive.

Synopsis: Frances (Greta Gerwig) goes from apartment to apartment in Brooklyn as she looks for a job and a stable partner.

Starring: Greta Gerwig, Mickey Sumner, Michael Zegen, Adam Driver

Directed By: Noah Baumbach

Critics Consensus: I, Daniel Blake marks yet another well-told chapter in director Ken Loach's powerfully populist filmography.

Synopsis: Daniel Blake (Dave Johns) is a 59-year-old widowed carpenter who must rely on welfare after a recent heart attack leaves him unable to work. Despite... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Dave Johns, Hayley Squires, Dylan McKiernan, Briana Shann

Directed By: Ken Loach

Critics Consensus: Stopmotion takes the conflict between art and artist to chilling, visually thrilling extremes, distinguished by director Robert Morgan's excellent effects work.

Synopsis: A talented stop-motion animator becomes consumed by the grotesque world of her horrifying creations -- with deadly results.

Starring: Aisling Franciosi, Stella Gonet, Tom York, Caoilinn Springall

Directed By: Robert Morgan

Critics Consensus: More visually impressive than narratively engaging, Vesper rewards patient viewers with immersive world-building and intelligent ideas.

Synopsis: After the collapse of Earth's ecosystem, Vesper, a 13-year-old girl struggling to survive with her Father, must use her wits, strength and bio-hacking abilities to... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Raffiella Chapman, Eddie Marsan, Rosy McEwen, Richard Brake

Directed By: Kristina Buozyte, Bruno Samper

Critics Consensus: Beautifully filmed and powerfully acted, Walking Out effectively balances tense father-son drama against an affecting wilderness survival story.

Synopsis: When a city teen travels to Montana to go hunting with his estranged father, the trip becomes a battle for survival when they encounter a... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Matt Bomer, Josh Wiggins, Bill Pullman, Alex Neustaedter

Directed By: Alex Smith, Andrew J. Smith

Critics Consensus: Undine draws on folklore for a dark fantasy whose murky storytelling is often offset by the enchanting romance at its core.

Synopsis: Christian Petzold (PHOENIX, TRANSIT) boldly reimagines the ancient myth of Undine in this suspenseful tale of romance and betrayal in modern day Berlin. Undine (Paula... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Paula Beer, Franz Rogowski, Maryam Zaree, Jacob Matschenz

Directed By: Christian Petzold

Critics Consensus: Raw, honest, powerfully acted, and deliciously intense, Blue Is the Warmest Color offers some of modern cinema's most elegantly composed, emotionally absorbing drama.

Synopsis: A French teen (Adèle Exarchopoulos) forms a deep emotional and sexual connection with an older art student (Léa Seydoux) she met in a lesbian bar. View Full Synopsis

Starring: Léa Seydoux, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Salim Kechiouche, Mona Walravens

Directed By: Abdel Kechiche

Critics Consensus: Although its story may lack surprises, Watcher benefits from director Chloe Okuno's chilling grip on the material -- and Maika Monroe's terrific work in the leading role.

Synopsis: As a serial killer stalks the city, Julia -- a young actress who just moved to town with her boyfriend -- notices a mysterious stranger... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Maika Monroe, Karl Glusman, Burn Gorman, Tudor Petrut

Directed By: Chloe Okuno

Critics Consensus: Effective space alien horror with a Soviet-era twist, Sputnik proves there are still some scary good sci-fi thrillers left in the galaxy.

Synopsis: Summoned to a secluded research facility, a controversial young doctor examines a cosmonaut who returned to Earth with an alien parasite inside of him.

Starring: Pyotr Fyodorov, Oksana Akinshina, Fedor Bondarchuk, Anna Nazarova

Directed By: Egor Abramenko

Critics Consensus: The Truth may not stand with Hirokazu Kore-eda's best work, but it finds the writer-director revisiting familiar themes with a typically sensitive touch.

Synopsis: A stormy reunion occurs between an actress and her daughter after the actress publishes her memoirs.

Starring: Catherine Deneuve, Juliette Binoche, Ludivine Sagnier, Roger Van Hool

Directed By: Hirokazu Koreeda

Critics Consensus: Let the Sunshine In pairs a powerful performance from Juliette Binoche with a layered drama that presents director Claire Denis at her most assured.

Synopsis: Isabelle, a Parisian artist and divorced mother, is looking for love.

Starring: Juliette Binoche, Xavier Beauvois, Philippe Katerine, Josiane Balasko

Directed By: Claire Denis

Critics Consensus: Werewolves Within is the rare horror comedy that offers equal helpings of either genre -- and adds up to a whole lot of fun in the bargain.

Synopsis: After a proposed pipeline creates divisions within the small town of Beaverfield, and a snowstorm traps its residents together inside the local inn, newly arrived... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Sam Richardson, Milana Vayntrub, George Basil, Sarah Burns

Directed By: Josh Ruben

Critics Consensus: Ghost Stories offers a well-crafted, skillfully told horror anthology that cleverly toys with genre tropes while adding a few devilishly frightful twists.

Synopsis: Professor Phillip Goodman devotes his life to exposing phony psychics and fraudulent supernatural shenanigans. His skepticism soon gets put to the test when he receives... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Martin Freeman, Andy Nyman, Paul Whitehouse, Alex Lawther

Directed By: Jeremy Dyson, Andy Nyman

Critics Consensus: Precariously walking a tightrope of varying genres and tones, Benedetta provokes salient questions about sexual freedom and its relationship to faith.

Synopsis: Based on a true story, a 17th-century nun becomes entangled in a forbidden lesbian affair with a novice. But it is Benedetta's shocking religious visions... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Virginie Efira, Charlotte Rampling, Lambert Wilson, Daphne Patakia

Directed By: Paul Verhoeven

Critics Consensus: A social satire with razor-sharp teeth, Speak No Evil offers a darkly delicious treat for fans of misanthropic thrillers.

Synopsis: On a vacation in Tuscany, two families -- one Danish, one Dutch -- meet and become fast friends. Months later, the free-spirited Dutch family extends... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Morten Burian, Sidsel Siem Koch, Fedja van Huêt, Karina Smulders

Directed By: Christian Tafdrup

Critics Consensus: The Trip to Spain offers more of the same scenery, food, and conversation that filled Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon's first two Trips -- which is to say, more of a good thing.

Synopsis: Steve and Rob sample the restaurants and hotels of the Spanish coastline, trading jokes and impressions over their lunches.

Starring: Steve Coogan, Rob Brydon, Marta Barrio, Claire Keelan

Directed By: Michael Winterbottom

Critics Consensus: Greener Grass is far from the first comedy to skewer suburbia -- but it might be among the most bizarre and surreally distinctive.

Synopsis: Soccer moms Jill and Lisa compete for approval and acceptance in a bizarre suburbia while their kids battle it out on the playing field.

Starring: Jocelyn DeBoer, Dawn Luebbe, Beck Bennett, Neil Casey

Directed By: Jocelyn DeBoer, Dawn Luebbe

Critics Consensus: Personal Shopper attempts a tricky series of potentially jarring tonal shifts with varying results, bolstered by a performance from Kristen Stewart that's impossible to ignore.

Synopsis: A young American in Paris works as a personal shopper for a celebrity. She seems to have the ability to communicate with spirits, like her... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Kristen Stewart, Lars Eidinger, Sigrid Bouaziz, Anders Danielsen Lie

Directed By: Olivier Assayas

Critics Consensus: Baskin complements its gory thrills with heavy atmosphere and deliberate pacing, adding up to a horror outing that plays with the mind as enthusiastically as it ruins the appetite.

Synopsis: Policemen (Gorkem Kasal, Ergun Kuyucu) face a night of horror in a subterranean labyrinth after answering a distress call.

Starring: Gorkem Kasal, Ergun Kuyucu, Mehmet Cerrahoglu, Sabahattin Yakut

Directed By: Can Evrenol

Critics Consensus: The movie's curiously bland compared to the remarkable real-life story it dramatizes, but Sally Hawkins' performance saves The Lost King from feeling like a royal disappointment.

Synopsis: In this inspiring true story, amateur historian Philippa Langley believes she has made the archeological find of the century: the lost burial site of King... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Sally Hawkins, Steve Coogan, Harry Lloyd, Mark Addy

Directed By: Stephen Frears

Critics Consensus: Thanks to a committed, powerhouse performance by Bryan Cranston, Wakefield is a fascinating character study of a decidedly unpleasant character.

Synopsis: Howard Wakefield, a New York City lawyer, hides out in the attic of his home for weeks, coming out in the daytime when his family... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Bryan Cranston, Jennifer Garner, Jason O'Mara, Beverly D'Angelo

Directed By: Robin Swicord

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: The Urashima Tunnel can grant any wish... for a price. High school boy Kaoru, plagued by a troubled past, teams up with Anzu, a girl... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Oji Suzuka, Marie Iitoyo, Tasuku Hatanaka, Arisa Komiya

Directed By: Tomohisa Taguchi, Kanji Miyake

Critics Consensus: The Clovehitch Killer patiently dials up the tension with a story that makes up for a lack of surprises with strong performances and a chilling wit.

Synopsis: After Tyler finds a cache of disturbing images in his father's possession, he begins to suspect that the man he trusts most in the world... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Dylan McDermott, Charlie Plummer, Samantha Mathis, Madisen Beaty

Directed By: Duncan Skiles

Critics Consensus: Grimy and psychedelic, Enter the Void ushers audiences through an out-of-body experience with the eye for extremity and technical wizardry that Gaspar Noé fans have come to expect.

Synopsis: A psychedelic acid trip in which a young man takes a wild journey into the afterlife. A visceral journey set against the thumping, neon club... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Nathaniel Brown, Paz de la Huerta, Cyril Roy, Emily Alyn Lind

Directed By: Gaspar Noé

Critics Consensus: Viceroy's House brings a balanced perspective to its worthy, historically grounded story while taking care to enliven the details with absorbing drama.

Synopsis: In 1947, British statesman Lord Mountbatten serves as India's last Viceroy and is charged with handing India back to its people.

Starring: Hugh Bonneville, Gillian Anderson, Manish Dayal, Huma Qureshi

Directed By: Gurinder Chadha

Critics Consensus: The House That Jack Built presents writer-director Lars von Trier at his most proudly uncompromising: hard to ignore, and for many viewers, just as difficult to digest.

Synopsis: In five episodes, failed architect and vicious sociopath Jack recounts his elaborately orchestrated murders -- each, as he views them, a towering work of art... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Matt Dillon, Bruno Ganz, Uma Thurman, Siobhan Fallon Hogan

Directed By: Lars von Trier