The fall festivals have wrapped, and The Hollywood Reporter has published its critics’ picks for the best films of Venice, Telluride and Toronto. The list is heavy on documentaries and leans on big-name stars, with five of the top 13 picks coming from non-fiction. The crop is lighter on major Oscar contenders than usual, but the critics found plenty to love.
Documentaries Lead the Field
The documentary category is where the list gets political. DAU, directed by Ilya Khrzhanovsky, is a sprawling biopic of Russian physicist Lev Lendau shot inside a giant simulacrum of the Soviet era. The shoot relocated hundreds of actors and thousands of extras, with daily interactions captured by a roaming team of camera and sound technicians. The result is described as “immense and intimate, political, historical and personal.”
My Undesirable Friends: Part II — Exile, directed by Julia Loktev, covers the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The first part of Loktev’s 12-hour chronicle documented independent journalists before the war; this second part follows them as they scatter across several countries and continents to escape pursuit by Putin’s government. It is called “a gripping and essential study of persecution and resistance.”
NAZA, directed by No Other Land’s Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, focuses on the war in Gaza. The documentary features testimony from two dozen IDF intelligence officers who describe the systematic targeting of civilians there. The film is called “a brave and indispensable act of bearing witness,” though it is also described as a sober and thoroughly reported exposé of the current Israeli regime and its prime minister, Bibi Netanyahu.
Star Vehicles Carry the Narrative Picks
The narrative picks lean heavily on actors giving their best work in years. Julianne Moore stars in The Debut, the latest feature from Jesse Eisenberg about a newbie thespian named Mona. Paul Giamatti plays director Jerry, and the balance of power shifts between them as the film progresses. Angie Han writes that their scenes together are “not just entertaining but thrillingly dynamic.”
Mahershala Ali appears in Misty Green, a character study directed by Chris Rock. The film comes 12 years after Rock’s last feature as writer-director, Top Five. Rosalind Eleazar plays the title character, a Los Angeles-based actress and singer whose talent is as indisputable as her gift for self-sabotage. Adam Driver, Daniel Kaluuya, Anna Kendrick and Rock also star.
John Malkovich is in Furies, a Beirut-set first feature directed by Rami Kodeih. The film follows two sisters determined to reclaim their savings after the bank freezes their accounts. It is described as a sharp fusion of personal desperation and political rage, specific to Lebanon’s corruption-fueled economic crisis.
The Directors Who Delivered
Mike Leigh is represented by a new gem. The English filmmaker, described as “a giant of English realism,” is said to have crafted “what will likely be the swan-song culmination of a glorious career.”
Lee Chang-dong, described as “a master of contemporary Korean cinema,” delivered Possible Love. The film throws together two couples on opposite sides of the wealth divide, with all four leads superb and especially memorable work from Jeon Do-yeon.
A Lebanese director debuted with a heist film that reinvigorated the genre.
How the List Is Ranked
The top 13 picks break down like this:
- Five documentaries — DAU, My Undesirable Friends, NAZA, Furies and the Mike Leigh gem.
- Eight narrative features — The Debut, Misty Green, Furies, the Lebanese debut, and four other unnamed titles.
- Three films from major directors — Mike Leigh, Lee Chang-dong and Chris Rock.
- Two films starring Mahershala Ali — Misty Green and the unnamed Lebanese debut.
- One film starring Julianne Moore — The Debut.
Comparing the Documentaries
| Film | Subject | Key Detail |
|---|---|---|
| DAU | Soviet-era biopic of Lev Lendau | Shot inside a giant simulacrum of the Soviet era |
| My Undesirable Friends: Part II — Exile | Journalism under fire in Russia | Covers the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine |
| NAZA | War in Gaza | Features testimony from 24 IDF intelligence officers |
| Furies | Lebanon’s economic crisis | Beirut-set first feature |
Why This List Matters Now
The fall festivals are the preview for awards season. Sundance in January, Berlin in February and Cannes in May feed into the fall trifecta of Venice, Telluride and Toronto, which almost invariably yields films destined to keep percolating in the conversation from critics’ group awards in December all the way to the Oscars mid-March. This year’s crop was lighter on major contenders than usual, but the critics found plenty to love.
The list is a snapshot of what critics saw as the strongest work of the season. It is not an Oscar prediction. It is a record of what mattered to the reviewers at The Hollywood Reporter, and it captures a season where documentaries carried more weight than usual.
The five documentaries on the list — DAU, My Undesirable Friends, NAZA, Furies and the Mike Leigh gem — cover a wide range of subjects. They include a Soviet-era biopic, a chronicle of journalism under fire, an exposé of the war in Gaza, a look at Lebanon’s economic crisis and a swan-song from an English master. That variety is part of what the season offered.
The narrative picks are more straightforward. They are about actors doing their jobs, and they are the kind of performances that get remembered long after the films themselves fade from memory. Julianne Moore as a newbie thespian, Mahershala Ali in Misty Green, John Malkovich in Furies — these are the faces of the fall.
The list is a reminder that the fall festivals are still the place to see the year’s best work, and the critics found plenty to love. The season had fewer major Oscar contenders than usual, but the quality was there regardless.
Source material: “The Best Films of the Fall Festivals: THR Critics’ Picks,” The Hollywood Reporter.
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