‘Long Way North’ and ‘Closet Monster’ are critics’ picks, Oct. 7-13

Movie recommendations from critics Kenneth Turan, Justin Chang and other reviewers. Click title for full review.

The Age of Shadows Kim Jee-woon (mildly) tones down the ultra-violence of “I Saw the Devil” with this thrillingly taut and intricate 1920s spy yarn, which will represent South Korea in the Oscar race for best foreign-language film. (Justin Chang) NR.

American Honey This wild, unruly and astonishingly beautiful fourth feature from “Fish Tank” director Andrea Arnold earns its 162-minute running time as it follows a teenager (startling newcomer Sasha Lane) who embraces the thrill and adventure of the open road. (Justin Chang) R.

Battle of Algiers Gillo Pontecorvo’s masterful 1966 panorama of political insurrection and urban anxiety is not just a relentlessly gripping entertainment but also a cinematic Rorschach blot, a moral miasma that tosses our sympathies this way and that. (Justin Chang) NR.

Closet Monster Singular and dazzling, Canadian writer-director Stephen Dunn’s semi-autobiographical fever dream of a feature debut is nothing less than an emotional exorcism. (Gary Goldstein) NR.

Hell or High Water Set in the desolate sprawl of West Texas, this gripping heist drama starring Jeff Bridges, Ben Foster and Chris Pine is keenly attuned to the outsider politics of our times. (Glenn Whipp) R.

Jason Bourne The fourth film to feature Matt Damon as the unstoppable secret agent, the third to be directed by Paul Greengrass, this most propulsive motion picture is a model of what mainstream entertainment can be like when everything goes right. (Kenneth Turan) PG-13.

Kubo and the Two Strings In this 3-D wonderment steeped in ancient Japanese folklore and brought to life by the stop-motion innovators at Laika Entertainment, magic is both an eye-popping phenomenon and an everyday reality. (Justin Chang) PG.

Long Way North This story of a young girl’s journey to the Arctic in search of her grandfather at the end of the 19th century is a complete pleasure, a gorgeous piece of wide-screen animation that is as delightful as it is unexpected. (Kenneth Turan) PG.

Other People Darkly funny, enormously moving and wonderfully observed, writer-director Chris Kelly’s comedy-drama is a strong, idiosyncratic, real-life-inspired film about an adult son’s return home to be with his ill mother. (Gary Goldstein) NR.

Sand Storm Winner of six Israeli Oscars, including best picture, this urgent family drama, as tense as any thriller, is set not in familiar territory but inside that country’s insular Bedouin community. (Kenneth Turan) NR.

13th Offering a brisk, cogently argued alternative to conventionally taught American history, Ava DuVernay’s powerful, persuasive documentary systematically covers a century and a half of race relations in this country. (Kenneth Turan) NR.

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