Most overlooked films of 2015
As we head into 2016, we asked our film reviewers to look back at some of the underappreciated movies of 2015, as well as trends they liked to see more — or less — of in the coming year.
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'Experimenter' and 'Heart of a Dog' are among the overlooked films of 2015
"Experimenter": Social psychologist Stanley Milgram's notorious, eye-opening obedience experiments from 1961 — in which subjects were observed as they administered what they thought were harmful electric shocks to an unseen stranger — inspired a disarmingly playful, surprisingly poignant and regrettably...
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Strong animated Japanese heroines being overlooked
"The Boy and the Beast": This adventure confirmed the reputation of Mamoru Hosoda ("Summer Wars") as one of the most interesting writer-directors working in animation. He deftly blends imagery from "Moby-Dick" with an unusual twist on a Japanese martial-artist-in-training story to create a powerful...
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'Boy Meets Girl,' 'Grandma' and other films worth a second look
"Boy Meets Girl": A forthright young transgender woman's friendship with both her childhood male pal and a newer acquaintance, a pretty local debutante, gets a thorough, quite beautiful workout in writer-director Eric Schaeffer's wryly funny, profoundly sensitive dramedy. "Like Sunday, Like Rain":...
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'Blind' and 'The Boy and the World' among the underappreciated films of 2015
"Blind": Eskil Vogt's sly drama stars Ellen Dorrit Petersen as a woman who compensates for her recent loss of sight by spinning the sounds of her husband and neighbors into elaborate fantasies. Visually inventive and constantly surprising, "Blind" is a one-of-a-kind character study. "The Boy and...
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'What We Do in the Shadows,' 'It Follows' and others add a fresh bite
"What We Do in the Shadows": Working in the faux-documentary tradition of Christopher Guest, Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi crafted a droll delight — think "Big Brother: Transylvania" — that managed to give fresh bite to a genre that was admittedly feeling a little anemic around the fangs. "Far...
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2015 brought bold, feminine filmmaking and strong leading roles for women
"She's Lost Control": A vastly underrated film by Anja Marquardt, featuring knockout performances by Brooke Bloom and Marc Menchaca. This tale of a sex surrogate is a slick, engrossing tale of postmodern intimacy and urban alienation that harkens to classics of the '70s. Smart, sexy and scary. ...
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2015 saw a more confident Chinese cinema
"East Side Sushi": A crowd-pleaser about a Latina sushi chef toiling tirelessly to beat the odds doesn't gloss over the stereotyping, expectations and glass ceiling that minorities find themselves up against. Anthony Lucero, a visual-effects editor who's worked on "Iron Man" and many other tentpoles,...
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'Clouds of Sils Maria,' 'Experimenter,' 'Results' are among the most overlooked movies of 2015
"Clouds of Sils Maria": Olivier Assayas' spellbinding feature sets piercing character studies against a mysterious Alpine dreamscape. With its tantalizing interplay of artifice and angst, it's a film that transcends the sum of its considerable parts. Chief among them is Kristen Stewart's turn as...