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7 The Disciple
A singer with great drive and discipline
(played, with searching openness,
by Aditya Modak) strives to make a
life for himself in the rarefied and
decidedly unlucrative world of Indian
classical music—only to be forced to
recognize he’s missing the essential
spark of genius. Director Chaitanya
Tamhane’s luminous, quietly affecting
film examines what it means to pursue
a dream of art so feverishly that living in
the real world takes a backseat.
8 C’mon C’mon
Joaquin Phoenix gives a funny, finely
wrought performance as a childless
New York City radio journalist who takes
charge of his precocious 9-year-old Los
Angeles nephew (Woody Norman)
for a few weeks. How does that even
sound like a whole movie? But in
the hands of writer-director Mike
Mills, it’s everything. No one is better
at chronicling late 20th and early
21st century family affection, in all its
thorny, shimmery beauty.
9 The Tragedy of Macbeth
You may have seen this material a
hundred times before. But Joel Coen’s
shivery black-and-white rendering—
starring Frances McDormand and
Denzel Washington as the treacherous,
scheming Scots, compelling as a
demon’s spell—pulls off that rare feat:
it puts you in the shoes of the play’s
first audience, as if this 400-year-old
play were unfolding anew. Now, as then,
it chills to the bone.
10 Drive My Car
In Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s swimmingly
gorgeous three-hour drama—adapted
from a Haruki Murakami short story—a
widowed actor and theater director from
Tokyo (Hidetoshi Nishijima) accepts a gig
in Hiroshima, mounting a production of
Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya. A young woman
from the country (Toko Miura) has been
hired to drive him; their slow-building
friendship helps illuminate how lost he
really is. Hamaguchi weaves a lustrous
story of loss and forgiveness—a gentle
nudge of encouragement suggesting
that no matter how tired you feel, you
can move on in the world.