Justin Chang

In its first week, the seventy-ninth edition of the festival unveiled standout new works by James Gray, Paweł Pawlikowski, and Ryûsuke Hamaguchi.

In Ildikó Enyedi’s meditative nature epic, three lonely experimenters from three different eras seek to unlock the secrets of plants—and learn something vital about themselves.

In the Argentinean filmmaker’s new documentary, “Our Land,” and a recently restored masterpiece, “The Headless Woman,” an elusiveness of form becomes the most direct way to the truth.

The sequel, which reunites Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, and Emily Blunt, is familiar and at times preposterous—but it’s also a savvy, shiny reflection of our era.

In Fatih Akin’s coming-of-age drama, a twelve-year-old German islander witnesses the end of the Second World War from a perilous, momentous remove.

Kirk Jones’s bio-pic of the activist John Davidson, who has worked to destigmatize Tourette’s syndrome, is effective as an educational tool but mechanical as a drama.

In Genki Kawamura’s infinity-loop thriller, a labyrinthine metro station becomes a metaphor for a life lived in extreme tunnel vision.

In Steven Soderbergh’s film, Ian McKellen and Michaela Coel are superbly matched as two skilled painters who find their way from slippery deception to common ground.

In Kristoffer Borgli’s Boston romance, Robert Pattinson and Zendaya play a couple weathering more than their fair share of premarital jitters.

In Radu Jude’s blistering contemporary riff on Roberto Rossellini, a tragic death sends a bailiff spiralling into a futile campaign of self-flagellation.

Historical dramas from the directors Sergei Loznitsa and Annemarie Jacir are built around courageous acts of opposition.

With few exceptions, a ceremony that honored two of the most politically ferocious Hollywood action-thrillers in recent memory engaged only fitfully with politics.

In Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s adaptation of Andy Weir’s novel, Ryan Gosling’s star power fuels an unlikely tale of far-flung friendship.

Every awards season is one battle after another, and the ninety-eighth Academy Awards ceremony promises a more climactic showdown than most.

In Daniel Chong’s cheerfully ludicrous science-fiction comedy, robot technology enables an environmental activist to walk and talk with the animals.

Gianfranco Rosi’s “Pompei: Below the Clouds” and Werner Herzog’s “Ghost Elephants” offer thrilling but troubled visions of a world in environmental flux.