Derek DelGaudio’s in & of Itself
NYT Critic’s Pick | Documentary | Directed by Frank Oz
A film of Derek DelGaudio’s idiosyncratic show captures its surreal vibe and unconventional approach.

The star of “Derek DelGaudio’s In & Of Itself.”
By ELISABETH VINCENTELLI

Atlantis
NYT Critic’s Pick | Drama, Sci-Fi | Directed by Valentyn Vasyanovych
Ukraine’s official Oscar entry, the movie depicts an all-too-convincing dystopia, with no fancy gadgets or cars.

Andriy Rymaruk in “Atlantis,” directed by Valentyn Vasyanovych.
By GLENN KENNY

Notturno
NYT Critic’s Pick | Documentary | Directed by Gianfranco Rosi
Gianfranco Rosi’s latest, beautifully shot documentary movingly observes people and places across Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Kurdistan in the aftermath of war.

A scene from Gianfranco Rosi’s documentary “Notturno.”
By NICOLAS RAPOLD

Identifying Features
NYT Critic’s Pick | Drama | Directed by Fernanda Valadez
In this confident drama, a mother searches for her son who went missing while trying to migrate from Mexico to the United States.

Juan Jesús Varela in “Identifying Features.”
By TEO BUGBEE

You Will Die at 20
NYT Critic’s Pick | Drama | Directed by Amjad Abu Alala
In his debut feature, Amjad Abu Alala deepens a fable-like premise into a lyrical confrontation with the certitudes of faith and the life-giving powers of doubt.

Islam Mubarak in “You Will Die at Twenty.”
By DEVIKA GIRISH

Preparations to be Together for an Unknown Period of Time
NYT Critic’s Pick | Drama, Romance | Directed by Lili Horvát
A neurosurgeon pursues the man of her dreams in this simmering portrait of obsession by the Hungarian filmmaker Lili Horvat.

Natasa Stork in “Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time.”
By BEATRICE LOAYZA

The Salt of Tears
NYT Critic’s Pick | Drama | Directed by Philippe Garrel
In Philippe Garrel’s film, a young Frenchman juggles three women, hoping to be destroyed by love. He gets his wish, but not in a way he imagined.

Souheila Yacoub and Logann Antuofermo in “The Salt of Tears.”
By GLENN KENNY

Acasa, My Home
NYT Critic’s Pick | Documentary | Directed by Radu Ciorniciuc
A family’s dispossession to make way for a nature park is the subject of this Romanian documentary.

A marshy field of dreams: A scene from Radu Ciorniciuc’s documentary, “Acasa, My Home.”
By A.O. SCOTT

MLK/FBI
NYT Critic’s Pick | Documentary | Directed by Sam Pollard
Sam Pollard’s fascinating documentary chronicles the F.B.I. director’s obsession with the private life and political affiliations of the civil rights leader.

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., as seen in Sam Pollard’s documentary “MLK/FBI.”
By A.O. SCOTT

Film About a Father Who
NYT Critic’s Pick | Documentary | Directed by Lynne Sachs
In her new documentary, Lynne Sachs assesses her relationship with her father, Ira Sachs Sr., who fathered children with multiple women.

Ira Sachs Sr., as seen in Lynne Sachs’s documentary “Film About a Father Who.”
By BEN KENIGSBERG

Some Kind of Heaven
NYT Critic’s Pick | Documentary | Directed by Lance Oppenheim
This documentary co-produced by The New York Times visits a retirement community the size of a small city.

Barbara Lochiatto, a resident of The Villages, in the documentary “Some Kind of Heaven.”
By BEN KENIGSBERG

My Little Sister
NYT Critic’s Pick | Drama | Directed by Stéphanie Chuat, Véronique Reymond
A cancer diagnosis only strengthens the bond between adult twins in this perceptive Swiss drama.

Nina Hoss in “My Little Sister.”Credit…
By JEANNETTE CATSOULIS

One Night in Miami
NYT Critic’s Pick | R | Drama | Directed by Regina King
A 1964 meeting of Malcolm X, Cassius Clay, Sam Cooke and Jim Brown is the subject of Regina King’s riveting directorial debut.

A moment in time: A scene from Regina King’s “One Night in Miami.” Kingsley Ben-Adir, left, as Malcolm X, taking a photo of Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge), Cassius Clay (Eli Goree) and Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.).
By A.O. SCOTT

— Of Possible Interest —

Bloody Hell
R | Action, Horror, Mystery, Thriller | Directed by Alister Grierson
Cannibals and comedy are mixed in this deranged ride from the director Alister Grierson.

Ben O’Toole in “Bloody Hell.”
By TEO BUGBEE

Dr. Bird’s Advice for Sad Poets
R | Drama | Directed by Yaniv Raz
This Yaniv Raz drama, about a Walt Whitman-obsessed teenager with a pigeon as an imaginary therapist, is drunk on its stylistic affectations.

Lucas Jade Zumann in “Dr. Bird’s Advice for Sad Poets.”
By GLENN KENNY

Pieces of a Woman
NYT Critic’s Pick | R | Drama | Directed by Kornél Mundruczó
Vanessa Kirby gives an intensely physical performance as a woman whose life and marriage are upended by the death of a child.

Vanessa Kirby in “Pieces of a Woman.”
By JEANNETTE CATSOULIS

Soul
NYT Critic’s Pick | PG | Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Music | Directed by Pete Docter, Kemp Powers
This inventive tale stars Jamie Foxx as a jazz musician caught in a world that human souls pass through on their way into and out of life.

Jamie Foxx voices the character Joe Gardner, right, in “Soul.”
By A.O. SCOTT

Dear Comrades
NYT Critic’s Pick | Drama, History | Directed by Andrey Konchalovskiy
With a bureaucrat as the central character, the film at times takes on a bleakly comic tone as it fills in the circumstances surrounding a massacre.

A scene from “Dear Comrades!”
By BEN KENIGSBERG

Sylvie’s Love
NYT Critic’s Pick | PG-13 | Drama, Music, Romance | Directed by Eugene Ashe
Tessa Thompson and Nnamdi Asomugha star in a swoony love story that wonderfully rethinks the classic Hollywood melodrama.

Lights, camera, romance: Tessa Thompson and Nnamdi Asomugha in “Sylvie’s Love.”
By MANOHLA DARGIS

— Of Possible Interest —

‘Wonder Woman 1984’ Review: It’s Not About What We Deserve
PG-13 | Action, Adventure, Fantasy | Directed by Patty Jenkins
The sequel to the 2017 hit finds Diana Prince, a.k.a. Wonder Woman, pining for love and saddled with a movie unworthy of her.

Truck mayhem: Gal Gadot in Patty Jenkins’s “Wonder Woman 1984.”
By Manohla Dargis

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
NYT Critic’s Pick | R | Drama, Music | Directed by George C. Wolfe
Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman star in a potent adaptation of August Wilson’s play.

Viola Davis stars in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” August Wilson’s 1984 play about a recording session in Chicago in the 1920s.
By A.O. SCOTT

To the Ends of the Earth
NYT Critic’s Pick | Drama | Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa
A Japanese TV host is lost in and out of translation in Uzbekistan.

Atsuko Maeda in “To the Ends of the Earth.”
By GLENN KENNY

Gunda
NYT Critic’s Pick | G | Documentary | Directed by Viktor Kosakovskiy
This astonishing documentary offers an intimate look at the lives of a sow, her rambunctious piglets, a one-legged chicken and a herd of cows.

Gunda with one of her piglets in Victor Kossakovsky’s documentary.
By MANOHLA DARGIS

Giving Voice
NYT Critic’s Pick | PG-13 | Documentary | Directed by James D. Stern, Fernando Villena
Netflix’s inspirational documentary follows talented theater kids who are devoting themselves to Wilson’s writing.

Cody Merridith performs an August Wilson monologue in the documentary “Giving Voice.”
By ROBERT DANIELS

— Of Possible Interest —

Let Them All Talk
R | Comedy, Drama | Directed by Steven Soderbergh
Meryl Streep plays an author trying to reconnect with college friends in Steven Soderbergh’s film.

Meryl Streep and Lucas Hedges in “Let Them All Talk.”
By MAYA PHILLIPS

Sing Me a Song
Documentary | Directed by Thomas Balmès
The French filmmaker Thomas Balmès follows a Bhutanese boy as he becomes a man and finds a life outside the monastery where he grew up.

“Sing Me a Song” a documentary film | Directed by Thomas Balmès about a boy in a Bhutanese monastery. It follows his film “Happiness,” which introduced the young boy, Peyangki
By KRISTEN YOONSOO KIM

The Prom
PG-13 | Comedy, Drama, Musical | Directed by Ryan Murphy
Ryan Murphy takes on the Broadway hit “The Prom,” with help from Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman and Keegan-Michael Key.

The bright (small) lights of Indiana meet Angie Dickinson glam: Nicole Kidman and Jo Ellen Pellman in “The Prom.”
By MANOHLA DARGIS

Funny Boy
Drama | Directed by Deepa Mehta
Deepa Mehta’s sprawling coming-of-age drama follows a boy who realizes he is gay in a country that criminalizes homosexuality.

Arush Nand in “Funny Boy.”
By BEN KENIGSBERG

Mank
NYT Critic’s Pick | RBiography, Comedy, Drama | Directed by David Fincher
Gary Oldman plays a Hollywood hack with an ax to grind in David Fincher’s reinterpretation of the legend of “Citizen Kane.”

Gary Oldman as Herman Mankiewicz and Amanda Seyfried, in background, as Marion Davies in “Mank,” | Directed by David Fincher.
By A.O. SCOTT

76 Days
NYT Critic’s Pick | Documentary, Drama | Directed by Weixi Chen, Hao Wu, Anonymous
Shot in four Wuhan hospitals during coronavirus lockdown, the film takes a grounded, humane perspective on doctors, nurses and patients.

A scene from the documentary “76 Days,” shot at hospitals in Wuhan early in the coronavirus pandemic.
By NICOLAS RAPOLD

Mayor
NYT Critic’s Pick | Documentary | Directed by David Osit
This documentary focuses on the Ramallah mayor Musa Hadid, who leads a city in the global spotlight.

Musa Hadid in the documentary “Mayor.”
By BEN KENIGSBERG

— Of Possible Interest —

Minor Premise
Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller | Directed by Eric Schultz
Experiments with consciousness go berserk in Eric Schultz’s lean neurological feature debut.

Sathya Sridharan in “Minor Premise.”
By KRISTEN YOONSOO KIM

Happiest Season
NYT Critic’s Pick | PG-13 | Comedy, Romance | Directed by Clea DuVall
Straight expectations sour a lesbian couple’s holidays in this romantic comedy.

Mackenzie Davis and Kristen Stewart in “Happiest Season.”
By TEO BUGBEE

My Psychedelic Love Story
NYT Critic’s Pick | TV-14 | Documentary | Directed by Errol Morris
This Errol Morris documentary explores the relationship between the LSD guru and Joanna Harcourt-Smith, a woman who likened herself to Mata Hari.

Timothy Leary and Joanna Harcourt-Smith in “My Psychedelic Love Story.”
By GLENN KENNY

Zappa
NYT Critic’s Pick | Not Rated | Documentary | Directed by Alex Winter
The documentary, directed by Alex Winter, portrays the musician and composer Frank Zappa as a sort of noble.

Frank Zappa, in the documentary by Alex Winter.
By GLENN KENNY

Mangrove
NYT Critic’s Pick | Drama | Directed by Steve McQueen
The first episode in Steve McQueen’s “Small Axe” anthology dramatizes protest and police brutality in 1960s London.

Shaun Parkes as Frank Crichlow and Letitia Wright as Altheia Jones-LeCointe in “Mangrove,” part of the | Director Steve McQueen’s “Small Axe” anthology of five films.
By A.O. SCOTT

Collective
NYT Critic’s Pick | Not Rated | Documentary | Directed by Alexander Nanau
The shocking Romanian documentary “Collective” revisits a 2015 fire that killed scores of people and brought down the government.

The newspaper editor Catalin Tolontan in Alexander Nanau’s documentary “Collective,” about the scandals that followed a deadly 2015 fire in Bucharest.
By MANOHLA DARGIS

Sound of Metal
NYT Critic’s Pick | R | Drama, Music | Directed by Darius Marder
Riz Ahmed is touchingly credible as a musician who loses his hearing in this unusual drama.

Riz Ahmed in “Sound of Metal.”
By JEANNETTE CATSOULIS

Born to Be
NYT Critic’s Pick | Documentary | Directed by Tania Cypriano
This documentary follows Dr. Jess Ting in his work at Mount Sinai’s Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery.

Dr. Jess Ting with Jordan, a patient, in “Born to Be.”
By GLENN KENNY

— Of Possible Interest —

Anu Mosir
Drama | ected by Takeshi Fukunaga
This quietly observed drama follows a teenager living in a community of Ainu people in Hokkaido, Japan struggling to preserve their culture.

Kanto Shimokura in “Ainu Mosir.”Credit…
By NATALIA WINKELMAN

Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds
NYT Critic’s Pick | Documentary | Directed by Werner Herzog, Clive Oppenheimer
Apocalyptic comets, complicated math, ancient rituals, eccentric scientists: Werner Herzog and Clive Oppenheimer’s new documentary has it all.

A scene from “Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds,” Directed by Werner Herzog and Clive Oppenheimer.
By GLENN KENNY

Ammonite
NYT Critic’s Pick | R | Biography, Drama, Romance | Directed by Francis Lee
Kate Winslet’s fossil hunter and Saoirse Ronan’s convalescent embark on a forbidden seaside romance.

Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan in “Ammonite.”
By JEANNETTE CATSOULIS

— Of Possible Interest —

Monsoon
Drama, Romance | Directed by Hong Khaou
Henry Golding plays a man who returns to the Vietnam of his childhood in Hong Khaou’s thoroughly personal drama “Monsoon.”

A scene from “Monsoon,” written and | Directed by Hong Khaou.
By BEN KENIGSBERG

The Dark and the Wicked
NYT Critic’s Pick | Not Rated | Horror | Directed by Bryan Bertino
A family is threatened by a diabolical entity in this frightening and emotionally fraught horror movie.

Marin Ireland in “The Dark and the Wicked.” Credit…RLJE Films/Shudder
By JEANNETTE CATSOULIS

Let Him Go
NYT Critic’s Pick | R | Crime, Drama, Thriller | Directed by Thomas Bezucha
The mature chemistry of Kevin Costner and Diane Lane goes a long way in this searing thriller.

Diane Lane and Kevin Costner in “Let Him Go.” Credit…Kimberley French/Focus Features
By GLENN KENNY

— Of Possible Interest —

Mortal
R | Action, Adventure, Fantasy | Directed by André Øvredal
André Ovredal’s new fantasy film seems more concerned with setting up a sequel than delivering answers.

Nat Wolff in “Mortal.’’ Credit…Saban Films
By BEN KENIGSBERG

‘The Informer’ Review: Lock Up or Shut Up
The film, starring Joel Kinnaman as a mole in a mob-run drug trade, makes for an absorbing time killer.

Joel Kinnaman in “The Informer.” Credit…Liam Daniel/Vertical Entertainment
By Ben Kenigsberg

‘Koko-di Koko-da’ Review: Torture, Kill, Repeat
A grieving couple is terrorized by three psychopaths in this unsettling Swedish horror movie.

Leif Edlund in “Koko-Di Koko-Da.” Credit…Dark Star Pictures
By Jeannette Catsoulis