Directed by critically acclaimed Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi whose 2011 A Separation won the Oscar for best foreign language film, The Salesman is an emotionally powerful film that masterfully uses simmering tensions between a couple during a particularly trying time to craft a superb slow burn dramatic thriller. The movie follows the married couple Emad and Rana, both professional actors performing in Arthur Miller’s play The Death of a Salesman, who are forced to evict their condemned apartment in Tehran and move to another apartment previously inhabited by a mysterious woman. While she is alone at their new home, Rana is attacked by a stranger who may have been an acquaintance of the previous tenant. Emad becomes increasingly obsessed with finding the culprit and protecting his wife, but in a way that goes too far and consequently strains their relationship. As all this domestic drama unfolds, the couple must continue to act in the famously dramatic Arthur Miller play as if nothing happened back at home. Although there is very little action in the film, the nuanced performances of the main actors, regulars in Farhadi’s other works, create a palpably tense environment in which the characters’ human emotions are riveting in and of itself. Like the filmmaker’s other cinematic masterpieces, the movie is a perfect example of a master storyteller weaving human complexities and difficult societal and cultural issues into a thought-provoking yet enthralling narrative. As it progresses, the film delves into the complicated aspects of justice, revenge, and forgiveness, and how they affect interactions with loved ones at times of crisis. Overall, I found it to be one of the more rewarding cinematic experiences this year because of its powerful storytelling and brilliantly subtle acting performances, and it is more than deserving to win the Oscar for best foreign language film.

Directed by John Madden who is best known for 1998’s Shakespeare in Love, Miss Sloane is a riveting political thriller about a high-powered Washington lobbyist who uses her sometimes dirty tactics to help pass a gun control bill. The terrific acting performance from Oscar-nominated actress Jessica Chastain is really what makes the movie shine. Chastain portrays the lead character Elizabeth Sloane whose ruthless reputation makes her a particularly well sought-after lobbyist at one of the nation’s leading lobbying firms, run by Sam Waterston’s character. Complicating the audience’s characterization of her as a spineless and greedy lobbyist, she rejects an offer from the extremely powerful gun lobby to help defeat a bill mandating universal background checks for gun purchases. Instead, she shocks everyone by joining a small lobbying group, led by Mark Strong’s activist character, whose intent is to pass that very law. The filmmaker makes the interesting decision to have the story be played out mostly through flashbacks as Sloane is being investigated at a Senate hearing whose chair is a hostile Senator played by John Lithgow. Reinforcing the notion that politics is a nasty business full of conniving characters, the film follows Chastain’s character as she commits morally questionable and borderline illegal activities for the sole purpose of winning. However, the viewer feels torn because her actions can be justified as being in the pursuit of a just cause. The final plot twist in the end really drives home the film’s central question of whether the end justifies the means. Overall, I found it to be an enjoyable political thriller that feels especially relevant in today’s toxic political environment and transcends the genre by having one of the year’s best performances from Jessica Chastain. 

Written and directed by famed fashion designer Tom Ford, Nocturnal Animals is a stylishly peculiar film noteworthy for its nuanced acting performances and cinematically stunning details. The movie stars Amy Adams as a wealthy contemporary art gallery owner living in Los Angeles who one day receives a draft for a novel written by her estranged ex-husband. As she reads the mysterious and violent manuscript late at night at her immaculate modern mansion, the viewer is transported to the novel’s actual story set in desolate West Texas. The main protagonist, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, is driving with his wife and daughter in the middle of nowhere on their way to Marfa, Texas when they are unexpectedly confronted by a group of men led by Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s vicious character. As the story progresses, the movie switches back and forth between Adams’ character who has flashbacks to her ex-husband, also played by Jake Gyllenhaal, and the written narrative as the protagonist searches for his missing family. The always terrific and creepy Michael Shannon appears as the local detective investigating the disappearance and has no qualms with seeking justice outside the law. Amy Adams’ character becomes increasingly horrified with the feeling that her ex-husband’s writings may allude to their soured relationship and the possibly violent repercussions. Therefore, the film in both of its parallel story lines is at its heart a story of love and betrayal and is full of macabre themes emphasized by the strange qualities of the film. Clearly not for everyone, especially those disturbed easily, it is very much an artsy movie concerned with the look and feel and whose plot leaves you hanging at the end. The director Tom Ford’s career in high fashion is readily apparent in the way that he creates a beautifully shot film complete with sumptuous scenery and costumes. Overall, I found it to be a highly well-crafted movie with top-notch acting and cinematography but sometimes to be too weird and dark for most moviegoers.

Written and directed by Jonás Cuarón and produced by his father Alfonso Cuarón best known for directing 2013’s Gravity, Desierto is a thriller movie with a rather unusual twist of having an indirect yet unsubtle undercurrent of immigration politics. It revolves around a group of undocumented immigrants who attempt to cross the border into the United States but encounter an unexpected sinister obstacle. After their smugglers’ truck breaks down in the Mexican desert, the fourteen migrants are forced to take the treacherous trek through the desert while avoiding the Border Patrol. Once they have just crossed into America, all of a sudden, shots ring out and several immigrants in the group are gunned down. The shooter turns out to be a psychotic racist, played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who takes matters into his own hands by systematically hunting down undocumented immigrants as if they are animals. Eventually, the survivors are led by a man, portrayed by Gael García Bernal, desperately trying to return to his family in California. The film is basically one long chase scene between Morgan’s character with his vicious hunting dog named Tracker and the random unarmed men and women he feels justified murdering in cold blood. Although extremely exaggerated, Morgan’s character represents the staunchly xenophobic anti-immigrant fringe element in American society. He does not see the migrants as humans simply striving for a better life but rather as stray animals who must be put down. However, poetic justice is served at the end when the tables are finally turned on Morgan’s character. The film is especially timely given the fact that anti-immigrant rhetoric is at a all time high during this particularly divisive election season. Overall, I found the best part of the movie was its atypical and thought-provoking premise regarding such sensitive issues as immigration and racism. It did provide an adequate amount of simple thrills to create a sense of terror for unsuspecting people on an already perilous journey.