30 DAYS OF CINEMA

Instincts both maternal and carnal clatter like shards of glass in a blender in this uncompromising portrait of a woman on the edge from director Lynne Ramsay. Starring Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson in a frenzied pas de deux, Die My Love inflames the exposed nerves of delirium and desire.

The first Nigerian film ever to screen in Official Selection at Cannes, this prizewinning debut feature from Akinola Davies Jr. is steeped in feeling and lyrical imagery. Bathing the father-son bond in a tender glow, this vibrant coming-of-age tale gathers up precious things amid political tumult.

Cascading through time, Mascha Schilinski’s incomparable Cannes prizewinner orchestrates echoes of past experience into transcendent poetic cinema. Surfacing evocative, gilded imagery from the shadows of femininity, Sound of Falling confirms the tremendous talents of its ambitious writer-director.

Channeling influence from the movies into her mesmerizing movements, Mitski gives live performances that find kindred spirit in cinema. Playing with speed, color, and freeze frames to electrifying effect, her first concert documentary embraces the transformative power of both film and music.

Winner of the 1993 Palme d’Or, Chen Kaige’s widescreen epic draws on the classical theater for its expansive vision. Its modern take on taboos surrounding homosexuality and gender performativity— a first in Chinese cinema—was not without controversy: a queer, epoch-spanning masterpiece for the ages.

Chapters one to three of Julia Loktev’s unmissable five-chapter documentary encapsulate the Russian government’s crackdown on perceived enemies of the state. Seeing more than paranoia, the director’s close rapport with her subjects surfaces defiant camaraderie and unwavering commitment to truth.

Love and obsession are two sides of the same coin in this daring thriller from The Bear writer-producer Alex Russell, featuring rising stars Archie Madekwe and Théodore Pellerin. In a glitzy LA ruled by social currency, Lurker luxuriates in the suspense and the dark irony of celebrity worship.

With an artful eye and jazzy unpredictability, Kelly Reichardt unravels the threads of the heist film in this standout from Cannes. As an antihero kicking about on the brink of the ‘70s, Josh O’Connor is unmissable, lending rumpled discontent to this ironic, wry vision of American individualism.