A look at the best films to get excited about right now.
Assassination Nation
Drugs. Toxic masculinity. Kidnapping. Giant frogs? Just a few of the trigger warnings that crop up in the trailer for Assassination Nation. When an anonymous hacker exposes the secrets of a small town, what ensues is “the story of how [the] town Salem lost its motherfucking mind”. A pretty solid teen dream cast of Odessa Young, Suki Waterhouse, Hari Nef, Abra and Bella Thorne go on the rampage to find the culprit. Think Salem witch trials in the age of social media. Judging from the gore-splattered trailer, it’s probably not for the faint-hearted.
Assassination Nation will be released on 21 September.
Never Goin’ Back
“Y’all are dirty, dirty girls.”
“True, dat.”
As a teenager, having the perfect summer is basically your sole priority. Sod everything else. And Never Goin’ Back is the new feature from Texas-born director Augustine Frizzell, following two v. v. irresponsible teens (dazzling newcomers Maia Mitchell and Camila Morrone) as they embark in all sorts of hijinx and misadventures to raise enough money to get to Florida’s Palm Beach. Expect unbridled raucousness, a look at female friendship, and oh, all the shit jokes.
Never Goin’ Back will be released on 3 July.
Beautiful Boy
Well that went from nought-to-weeping-on-public-transport pretty quickly. After the gargantuan success of Call Me By Your Name, Timothée Chalamet once again shows off his acting chops, this time as a teenager grappling with meth addiction, with the film looking at its impact on his family. Based on the two best-selling memoirs of real-life father and son, David and Nic Sheff, Beautiful Boy stars Chalamet as Nic, with Steve Carrell playing his pleading father, David. Helming the film is Belgian director Felix Van Groeningen, describing it as a “heartbreaking, inspiring experience of survival, relapse, and recovery”. And scheduled for an end-of-year release, it’s already generating Oscar murmurs. Tissues out.
Beautiful Boy will be released in the UK on 18 January, 2019
The House That Jack Built
One where its reputation definitely precedes it, and with violent flick, The House That Jack Built, you might have heard of the furore and disgust when it premiered at Cannes earlier this year (supposedly racking up near-100 walkouts) – no doubt to the glee of director and shock-master, Lars von Trier. Matt Dillon stars as the titular Jack, a depraved serial killer maiming, hunting and mutilating his way around Washington in the 70s (Uma Thurman and Riley Keough also star). We’ll be watching behind a closed eye and trembling fingers.
The House That Jack Built will be released on 29 November.
Madeline’s Madeline
Newcomer Helena Howard (definitely one to keep an eye on) stars as titular Madeline who joins an experimental acting troupe. As she’s pushed to weave her work with experiences of her troubled relationship with her mother (Miranda July), reality and fantasy blend, and then distorts, and distorts some more. The trippy nightmare-meets-scrapbook trailer gives you a small snippet of the dizzying coming-of-age feature.
Madeline’s Madeline will be released on 10 August.