Mill Valley Film Festival 2024: Must-Watch Films Revealed
It’s October once again. That means it’s time for the 2024 Mill Valley Film Festival (hereafter “MVFF”). From October 3-13, the 47th edition of MVFF once again holds its own programming-wise with award-winning films from renowned directors and films both timely (portraits of Orange Felon supporting activists) and fun (a film that makes you want to pet the nearest cute cat).
The big ask for some interested viewers may be making the trek up to Marin County to catch as many of MVFF’s offerings as possible. For those viewers, some of the films mentioned in this preview will also be available at the Berkeley Art Museum Pacific Film Archive via their “Mill Valley Film Festival At BAMPFA” program.
Here are some of MVFF 2024’s offerings:
Director Mike Leigh made one of his greatest films, “Secrets And Lies,” in collaboration with actress Marianne Jean-Baptiste. Nearly 30 years later, the director and actress come together again for the new Leigh drama “Hard Truths.” Pansy (Jean-Baptiste) lives in a state of constant aggrievement and anger, and tends to lash out at anybody unlucky enough to fall into her orbit. But her continual air of anger has left her family and relatives in a state of near-exhaustion.
In case you missed previous festival screenings of Titus Kaphar’s stunning drama “Exhibiting Forgiveness,” don’t sleep on catching its MVFF screening. Tarrell Rodin (Andre Holland) may now be a successful painter. But he’s still haunted by the abuse he suffered at the hands of his very hard-nosed father La’Ron. His father’s sudden reappearance in his life sends Tarrell spiraling just as he’s trying to prepare for a new exhibition. But mother Joyce and wife Aisha (Andra Day) convince the painter that confronting his buried memories is the best path to achieve personal healing.
Emotional healing is farther off in the Cannes Film Festival award-winner “On Becoming A Guinea Fowl,” director Rungano Nyoni’s follow-up to her debut “I Am Not A Witch.” While driving back from a party, Shula accidentally discovers the corpse of her Uncle Fred. Yet why does the discovery leave her only indifferent? The answer might lie in such factors as the lies which smothered Shula’s family for years, the lingering emotional scars of sexual abuse, and Zambia’s matriarchal society.
PTSD is the mental trauma afflicting US Army mechanic Merit (Sonequa Martin-Green, “Star Trek: Discovery”) after eight years in Afghanistan. But what’s the connection between Merit’s trauma and her ability to see and hear the ghost of BFF and fellow mechanic Zoe (Natalie Morales, “Language Lessons”)? Kyle Hausmann-Stokes’ debut feature “My Dead Friend Zoe” took the SXSW Audience Award and has gained an executive producer credit from some football player named Travis Kelce.
Female friendship turns out to be one of the key themes of Payal Kapadia’s “All We Imagine As Light,” a Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix Award winner A trio of Mumbai nurses mutually support each other as each of them deals with their personal dramas. Prabha’s husband lives overseas. Anu’s seeing a Muslim boy on the sly. Parvati plans to leave Mumbai once her husband dies.
Renowned director Pedro Almodovar makes his English language film debut with “The Room Next Door,” an adaptation of Sigrid Nunez’ novel What Are You Going Through. A chance encounter results in New York writer Ingrid (Julianne Moore) reconnecting with former war correspondent Martha (Tilda Swinton), a friend from Ingrid’s past. Yet as their bond grows stronger, both women will learn they have more in common with each other than they originally expected. But will questions of propriety and legality sink their growing relationship?
Bay Area filmmaker Julie Colleen Rubio introduces late-coming Americans to the remarkable female artist whose paintings visualized the modern woman of the 20th century. Her documentary “The True Story Of Tamara De Lempicka & The Art Of Survival” recounts how this feminist bisexual libertine combined cubism, surrealism, and an Art Deco sensibility to create canvases depicting high society women as boldly erotic protagonists. The Europeans have long admired de Lempicka’s work and this October the De Young Museum will give Americans the opportunity to see de Lempicka’s first ever US retrospective.
D. Damian Panetta’s documentary “Lost In Time: Druid Heights” introduces the viewer to a bohemian enclave located inside Muir Woods. Druid Heights was once a place which inspired Beats Allen Ginsburg and Jack Kerouac, philosopher Alan Watts, and musicians Neil Young and Graham Nash. But the enclave’s current state of disrepair means it’s in danger of falling victim to the National Park Service’s wrecking ball.
Michael Gracey’s follow-up to “The Greatest Showman” is “Better Man,” a biopic of rock musician Robbie Williams. The film follows the future rock artist from early days worshipping at Frank Sinatra’s altar to stardom as part of Take That to acclaim as a solo artist. Yet stalking Williams through his rising fame are addictions and a severe case of impostor syndrome.
Definitely not an impostor is Billy Preston, the titular subject of Paris Barclay’s documentary “Billy Preston: That’s The Way God Planned It.” Billy Preston was first a child musical prodigy then a Number One hitmaker. But it would be Preston’s famed collaborations during the 1960s and 1970s that would cement his place in rock history. He was unofficially referred to as “the Fifth Beatle.” He would also work with such artists as The Rolling Stones, Little Richard, and Sly Stone. But changing popular taste, financial mismanagement, and agonizing over his sexual orientation would eventually undermine his fame.
Director Luca Gudagnino takes a hard-left turn from his crowd-pleasing “Challengers” with an adaptation of one of William S. Burroughs’ semi-autobiographical novels. That adaptation is “Queer,” with Daniel Craig (“Knives Out”) playing writer William Lee (the Burroughs character). In 1950s Mexico City, Lee spends his days drinking, drugging, and cruising with buddy Joe (Jason Schwartzman channeling Allen Ginsberg). When handsome bi-curious student Eugene Allerton comes to town, Lee is shaken out of his hallucinogenic haze into trying to form a romantic connection.
Hong Sang-soo’s newest film “A Traveler’s Needs” reunites him once again with the very game actress Isabelle Huppert. Here, Huppert plays Iris, an idiosyncratic teacher of French and English who lives in Seoul. The film follows Iris over the course of a day as she has four encounters with people ranging from total strangers to the young man with whom she shares an apartment. Their conversations cover such subjects as poetry, the other person’s personal history, and even the other’s relationship to their egos.
Zoe Eisenberg’s drama “Chaperone” tells the story of Misha, a 29-year-old whose life is free of serious commitments thanks to a family inheritance. But her supposedly idyllic life begins to crack apart when she’s mistaken for a fellow teenager by a handsome 19-year-old athlete.
Director Andrea Arnold’s new film “Bird” sees her return to the hardscrabble lives of Brits living on the lower end of the socioeconomic spectrum. Bailey’s a 12-year-old girl forced to mature on her own thanks to her having parents more obsessed with their own needs than their parental duties. While indulging in her hobby of recording birds and other English countryside animals on her phone, the girl encounters Bird (Franz Rogowski), a free spirit in a skirt. A bond forms between Bailey and Bird, which leads to their having a possibly life-changing adventure together.
Todd Bieber’s documentary “American Cats: The Good, The Bad, And The Cuddly” (insert sound of cats meowing to an Ennio Morricone beat here) may make you want to reach through the screen to pet the fur babies captured by Bieber’s camera. However, footage of lovable cats give way to a critical look at declawing. American cat owners may think it’s a healthy surgery for their cats. But for the unfortunate furries, the procedure’s an amputation which leaves its fur victim in constant pain and makes them increasingly willing to bite.
Need more critters on screen? Go for Joshua Zeman’s documentary “Checkpoint Zoo.” The Feldman EcoPark provided a home in Ukraine to 5,000 different creatures. But Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine put the EcoPark behind the front lines of the war and its non-human inhabitants regularly subjected to the risk of getting blown up by shelling. To save the animals, EcoPark creator Oleksander Feldman feels the only answer is to evacuate the animals to his sprawling estate. But Feldman’s plan runs into such problems as figuring out where to relocate the park’s lions, tigers, and bears.
In Sean Baker’s Cannes Camera d’Or prize-winner “Anora,” the title character is an Uzbek-American stripper/sex worker from Brighton Beach. When she meets Ivan, the trustafarian son of a Russian oligarch, it seems like a Cinderella story has come to life. He wants to avoid deportation, she’s found the man of her dreams and marries him. Unfortunately, Ivan’s dad reacts to the news of his son’s sudden marriage by arranging an annulment via his leg-breaking goons. But Anora has little intention of meekly disappearing.
Actor Jude Law is being honored with a lifetime achievement tribute at this year’s MVFF. He can also be seen as the lead in Justin Kurzel’s 1980s-set thriller “The Order.” Law plays FBI transferee Terry Husk, who’s confronted by a string of bank robberies in the Pacific Northwest. His initial dismissal of the theory that a white supremacist group is responsible for the robberies gives way when this same group’s activities start expanding to assassination. Husk’s investigation soon leads him to an offshoot white nationalist organization led by the affable but dangerous Bob Mathews (Nicholas Hoult).
One of the more disturbing documentaries to screen at MVFF will be Michael Premo’s film “Homegrown.” It presents cinema verite portraits of three impassioned right-wing activists who are close to making the leap into domestic terrorism. The subjects include Thad, who attends Orange Felon rallies with a Black Lives Matter activist friend, and Chris, a Back The Blue supporter who sees nothing wrong with physically attacking the cops defending the U.S. Capitol on January 6. Yet that notorious day is not the end of these film subjects’ stories but rather a turning point in their lives.
Hungarian autocrat Viktor Orban may have a bromance with the Orange Rapist representing the Republican Party in the 2024 U.S. Presidential election. But in Connie Field’s absorbing documentary “Democracy Noir,” Orban is very much the bad guy as he threatens the future of democracy in Hungary. Field follows the struggles of a politician, a journalist, and a medical professional as all three women struggle to do what they can to resist the Hungarian authoritarian and his minions.
Jiri Madl’s historical drama “Waves” takes place during Czechoslovakia’s Prague Spring of 1968. Tomas is a radio technician working at a station dedicated to providing independent news free of Communist Party censorship and government propaganda. But government security forces think they can force Tomas to spy for them and betray his colleagues by threatening to harm Tomas’ younger teenage brother. This winner of the Audience Award at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival mixes fictional drama with actual historical events.
“I’m Still Here,” the new drama from director Walter Salles (“Central Station”) is based on a true story that took place during the years Brazil was ruled by a brutal military dictatorship. The idyllic life of the Pavia family gets ripped apart when dictatorship agents arrest former Congressman and family patriarch Rubens for unspecified crimes. Wife Eunice begins an odyssey through the country’s savage penal system in an effort to keep her husband from becoming yet another victim of the junta’s atrocities.
The odious legacy of the post-Roe abortion bans enacted across America gets illustrated in Maisie Crow and Abbie Perrault’s timely documentary “Zurawski v. Texas.” Texas’ reprehensible abortion ban resulted in pregnant women being denied emergency obstetric care lest the providing doctors be subjected to legal retaliation. The film’s titular lawsuit is the Center for Reproductive Rights’ legal challenge to the ban by demanding the state of Texas clarify what medical exemptions will not put health providers in legal jeopardy. But the film also recounts the stories of the three women whose journeys of loss and healing led them to take on the vile law.
If you were blown away by director Mohammad Rasolouf’s stunning “There Is No Evil,” then you need to make time to catch his new FIPRESCI-prize winning drama “The Seed Of The Sacred Fig.” It’s the story of Iman, an honorable man whose recent promotion to investigating judge brings such perks as a big raise and a larger apartment for himself and his family. But Iman’s wife and daughters are decidedly unhappy when they learn the price Iman must pay for these perks. All Iman needs to do is regularly sign off on protesters’ death warrants.
Pamela Yates’ documentary “Borderland: The Line Within” reads to filth America’s border/industrial complex and the ongoing political war against immigrants. The film’s subjects are organizer Gabriela Castaneda and activist/asylum seeker Kaxh Mura’l. Through them, the viewer learns about the human toll resulting from supporting and/or implementing aggressive anti-immigrant policies.
The Chris Marker classic “La Jetee” provided the inspiration for Asif Kapadia’s experimental mix of documentary and science fictional speculation “2073.” Samantha Morton (“Morvern Callar”) plays the silent protagonist, who lives in the titular year in a place called New San Francisco. But this City by the Bay is a futuristic tech-dominated police state hellscape where civil liberties and even notions of democracy are non-existent. What will be truly chilling is learning how current social trends lead to this grim meathook future.
David Bushell’s documentary “Cheech And Chong’s Last Movie” uses the framework of a desert drive in search of The Joint to tell the story of how Tommy Chong and Richard “Cheech” Marin went from topless bar improv to becoming the legendary stoner comedy team Cheech and Chong. But the mellow vibes generated by the duo’s pot smoking couldn’t withstand egotism, power imbalances, and the pitfalls of movie stardom.
Jesselyn Silva, the subject of Emily Sheskin’s charming documentary “JessZilla,” has charisma to burn. Since age 7, Jess has trained to become a boxer able to hold her own at the 2024 Junior Olympics. The film follows Jess over several years as she pursues her dream, supported by Pedro aka one of the world’s best dads. But what happens to Jess’ dream when she must fight an opponent she’s totally unprepared for?
Mati Diop’s follow-up to her acclaimed film “Atlantics” is “Dahomey,” a hybrid documentary that took the Berlin Film Festival’s top prize. When France was flexing its Western colonizer muscles in what is now Benin, it notoriously shipped off to a French museum 26 antiquities from the Benin region formerly known as the Kingdom of Dahomey. This documentary looks at the modern day efforts to repatriate those looted Beninese artifacts back to their home country, and the differing reactions to the repatriation.
The oddly titled program “Red Boat Crossing/The Ship That Turned Back” makes sense once the viewer learns that this is a program of mid-length films from a pair of very well-regarded Bay Area filmmakers. “Red Boat Crossing” is Jeanne C. Finley’s recounting of her mother Cecily Barker’s World War II service on a Red Cross ship. Barker provided psychiatric social work for soldiers wounded in battle. Allie Light’s “The Ship That Turned Back” recounts the flight of late husband Irving Saraf’s Jewish family from Nazi-occupied Poland. It’s a journey that would bounce to Vienna and Malta before Saraf’s family finally made it to Palestine.
Oscar-winning director Steve McQueen’s (“12 Years A Slave”) new film “Blitz” takes viewers to the streets of WW2 London during the German bombing campaign against the city. Young mother Rita (Saoirse Ronan) reluctantly decides the only way to keep her young son George from getting killed during the Blitz is to ship him off to the safety of the English countryside. However, George escapes the train taking him away and starts traveling through London’s torn streets and subway tunnels to be reunited with Rita. Yet George’s mother is also looking for him too.
Closing out MVFF 47 is “Nightbitch,” a far different tale of motherhood from director Mareille Heller. Amy Adams stars as the unnamed protagonist, a visual artist whose career is on hold thanks to her giving birth to a son. Now her child has reached the Terrible Twos and she’s bombarded by irritating commentary from people who’ve romanticized the responsibility of child rearing. So why is she dreaming about wild dogs and having unexpected changes to her senses and body?
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