A withering indictment of American social values, written and directed by a man who has never set foot in America, Lars von Trier’s Dogville is an ambitious provocation. With an all-star cast led by Nicole Kidman, this epic Brechtian drama is a raw examination of small-town hypocrisy and prejudice.

A difficult yet rewarding film from the equally complex Danish provocateur Lars von Trier! This fiercely polemical, little-seen sequel to Dogville tackles a topic as sensitive as slavery, all the while maintaining its predecessor’s Brechtian premise, anti-American bent, and yes, its brilliance.

Things get weird in Amalia Ulman’s kaleidoscopic film, a colorful comedy of errors and an imaginative send-up of millennial media. Starring Simon Rex and Chloë Sevigny, this story of a frantic search for an internet sensation is electrified by wit, subversion, and distinctively fluorescent style.

In this comprehensive film honoring actor and luminary trans icon Candy Darling, director James Rasin gives precedence to compelling interviews with an expansive number of Darling’s contemporaries and greatest admirers. To top it off, the film is lovingly narrated by Chloë Sevigny and Patton Oswalt.

Filtering the conspiracies of Jacques Rivette and the paranoid fantasies of David Lynch’s Inland Empire through the prism of an actor’s life, this slippery wonder balances wit with bite. Shot on atmospheric 16mm, Slow Machine is a surprising, darkly comic drama of identity and performance.