After you've had your fill of NFL brutes bashing bodies during the opening weekend of pro football, be sure to check out one of the films recommended by Up To Date's indie, foreign and documentary film critics. They may not prominently feature physical acumen, but they do display emotional bouts with the complexity of modern life and the mind.
Cynthia Haines
Life, Animated, PG
- A frustrated father finds that dialogue from Disney films gives his autistic son a way to communicate with the wider world and the confidence to pursue an independent life.
Southside With You, PG-13
- A love story chronicling the first date between Barack Obama, played by Parker Sawyers, and Michelle Robinson, played by Tika Sumpter.
Complete Unknown, R
- Rachel Weisz plays a serial shape-shifter who runs into a lover from her past, played by Michael Shannon, who struggles with her ability to reinvent her persona.
Steve Walker
Life, Animated, PG
- Numerous clips from Disney's animation catalog inform this documentary about how the movies brought a journalist's autistic son out of his seemingly impenetrable shell of silence.
Complete Unknown, R
- A creepily effective Rachel Weisz plays a woman who changes her identity — profession, name, etc. — on whims not logical to ex-boyfriend Michael Shannon.
Hell or High Water, R
- This film noir/modern Western hybrid about brothers who rob banks as payback for their disenfranchised friends and family is one of the best films this year.
