Photo caption: Laura Galán in PIGGY. Courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.
In the fresh and darkly hilarious Spanish horror movie Piggy, Sara (Laura Galán) is an overweight teenager cruelly teased by her peers. She works in her family’s butcher shop, which supplies her tormentors with a surfeit of unkind pork-related nicknames. Her affectionate but clueless dad and her brusque martinet of a mom aren’t much comfort.
One day, at the town swimming pool, mean girls sadistically traumatize her. Sara makes a shocking decision, and Piggy becomes a kind of Carrie meets Beauty and the Beast thrill ride as Sara is bounced along to the satisfying conclusion.
Piggy is the first feature for writer-director Carlota Pereda, a veteran television director. It’s based on her award-winning 2018 short with the same Spanish title, Cerdita, and also staring Galán. Galán gets all the teen angst and impulsiveness just right and, in a piñata-like role, is a helluva good sport.
Horror films turn on whether the protagonist can survive, and, often, on whether the victims deserve their demise; Pereda has a lot of fun with both.
I screened Piggy for the Nashville Film Festival, where it was one of my Under the Radar picks. Piggy is available to stream on Amazon, kanopy and hoopla. This movie is a hoot.
Technically, the Dutch thriller Borgman is a horror film, but it’s horror for adults, without the gore and with lots of wit. The shock doesn’t come from monsters unexpectedly lurching out of nowhere. The entertainment comes from the OMG moments of the “don’t ask the weird guy into your house!” and “don’t let the sinister guys watch your kids!” variety.
The setting is the architecturally striking and well-tended home of an affluent Dutch family and their Danish nanny. The husband is an aggro corporate schemer and a real scumbag – selfish, racist and chauvinistic, with the capacity for a violent rage. His wife Marina is repressed and neurotic. But they are highly functional until a homeless guy, Camiel Borgman, happens by, and circumstances compel them to put him up. Borgman feels entitled to more and more outrageous impositions – and soon it’s apparent that he’s even more sinister than he is obnoxious.
What if Charles Manson wasn’t a drug addled hoodlum, and his deranged charisma worked on the affluent mainstream? Borgman leads a crew of normal looking but murderous henchmen, who operate with the ruthless efficiency of Navy Seals. (Watch for the scar near the younger woman’s shoulder-blade.) Vaguely gifted with mind control, he can apparently create dreams by squatting naked and gargoyle-like above Marina while she slumbers with her husband. There is violence aplenty, but it tends to come through a bonk on the head or some poison in a glass.
Dark comedy stems from the matter-of-factness of the murders and body disposal (as in tossing corpses into a lake and then diving in for a relaxing swim). Every once in a while, there’s a hilariously sinister moment, like the supremely random appearance of some whippets that seem more like hellhounds.
BORGMAN
The acting is uniformly excellent, including the kids, but Jan Bijvoet as Borgman and Hadewych Minis as Marina are stellar.
Some questions are never answered (who are those three guys at the beginning and why are they hunting the homeless guys?). Is this a cult or aliens or what? The audience needs to accept some ambiguity. But the overall story arc is clear – no good is going to come of these people once they meet Camiel Borgman and his friends.
There is a subtext here: is this family so bourgeois that it deserves its fate? Fortunately, this subtext isn’t as in-your-face as in some recent self-loathing Eurocrap like Happy Days or Finsterworld, so it’s not at all off-putting. But Borgman can be enjoyed without going there at all.
Borgman is superbly written and directed by Alex van Warmerdam, a 62-year-old Dutch actor with only a handful of writing and directing credits.
I don’t often recommend a horror movie, but I’m all in on Borgman. Take it from me – you haven’t seen this movie before, and it’s endlessly entertaining. Borgman is available to stream from Amazon, kanopy and hoopla.
Photo caption: Tom Courtenay and Juliette Binoche in QUEEN AT SEA. Courtesy of Greenwich Entertainment.
The contemporary tragedy Queen at Sea is a dark story of good intentions and a trauma-informed system leading to exactly the opposite of the intended result. Elderly Leslie (Anna Calder-Marshall) is suffering from advanced dementia, and is tenderly cared for by her longtime husband Martin (Tom Courtenay). Leslie’s daughter Amanda (Juliette Binoche) loves her stepfather Martin and depends on him to care for her mom.
But Amanda visits the old couple’s apartment and walks in on Martin having sex with Leslie. Believing that her mom is incapable of consent, Amanda is outraged and demands that Martin vow to stop, but Martin, citing some research, argues that sex can bring comfort dementia patients. Not winning the argument, and still in high dudgeon, Amanda calls the cops to tell Martin to stop.
At this point, Amanda loses all control of the situation. The cops haul Martin off to detention, and call for the police sexual assault specialists, who take the bewildered Leslie off for an intrusive hospital examination. That results, in turn, to a referral to social services.
What follows is an ironic tragedy. No one does anything wrong, except perhaps Martin, and that is debatable. The police, hospital professionals and social workers are clearly trained in trauma-informed protocols, and are prioritizing sexual assault and elder abuse. Amanda, who is trying to protect her mom, agonizes as Leslie is subjected to a succession of traumatic experiences. And what will happen to Martin?
The only indisputable villains here are Leslie’s dementia and the infirmity and mortality that we all will face,
Amanda’s teen daughter Sarah (Florence Hunt) and her boyfriend are sweet and getting serious. Sarah’s story, featuring intimacy that is not leading to heartbreak, brings hope and joy to an otherwise emotionally bleak movie.
Queen at Sea is the second feature from writer-director Lance Hammer, and every moment is authentic. Tom Courtenay is justifiably getting some award season buzz. Queen at Sea opens in theaters this weekend.
Photo caption: Dane DeHaan in WARDRIVER. Courtesy of Cinequest.
In the pulsating and highly original thriller Wardriver, Cole (Dane DeHaan) is a hacker, who drives around Salt Lake City logging on to other people’s wireless networks, locating their business payrolls and draining them into his own secret accounts. He conveniently claims to only steal from banks, not people. Cole may be a professional criminal, but he is a geeky as your company’s IT guy. If you’re not already paranoid about the security of your home router, you will be.
Alarmingly, Cole finds himself entangled with a sequence of extremely dangerous bad guys, each scarier than the last. When he meets a beautiful woman who may or may not be who she says she is, his compulsion to save her puts him at even more risk. You will recognize all the elements of neo-noir here, but with a refreshingly techie flavor.
Dane DeHaan’s performance carries this well-acted film. DeHaan is always good (Kill Your Darlings, LIFE, Oppenheimer), and here his Cole struggles, relying on his wits alone, to keep things in his control. Fittingly for a noir protagonist, Cole recognizes that he is an underdog, but doesn’t grasp just how over-matched he is.
Sasha Calle in WARDRIVER. Courtesy of The Avenue.
Sasha Calle delivers just the right mix of vulnerability, sexiness and well-masked toughness as the object of Cole’s infatuation. Calle was excellent in In the Summers, an overlooked indie that made my list of Best Movies of 2024.
Mamadou Athie and William Belleau (Killers of the Flower Moon) stand out in supporting roles.
In a complete departure from her brilliant debut film Electrick Children, this time, director Rebecca Thomas works in a conventional genre and keeps the pace sizzling. The highly original techno noir screenplay was written by Daniel Casey.
I screened Wardriver for its world premiere at Cinequest, where it made my Best of Cinequest. It’s now available to stream on Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube and Fandango.
Photo caption: John Tuturro in THE ONLY LIVING PICKPOCKET IN NEW YORK. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.
The Only Living Pickpocket in New York features a gripping, perhaps career-topping, performance by John Tuturro. Writer-director Noah Segan has created a portrait of a man who has evaded all of life’s responsibilities except one, and now finds himself desperate, not for survival, but for redemption.
Tuturro plays Harry, who glides through New York City’s streets and subways in his long cashmere coat, effortlessly lifting wallets and sundry valuables from a populace to whom he is invisible. He cashes in the watches and jewelry with his longtime fence Ben (Steve Buscemi). Harry and Ben are struggling to adjust to a modern world in which nobody’s wallet contains cash and most Rolexes are worthless knock-offs. Still, Harry makes a good enough living to support himself and to pay for care of his beloved disabled wife.
Then Harry steals the wrong item from the wrong people. He embarks on a race against time to make things right. Can he save himself? Can he save anyone?
John Tuturro, so indelible in his many supporting roles, is unforgettable as Harry, a complicated man – both an outlaw who lives by a code and a deadbeat fiercely devoted to one responsibility. Harry is a thief with nerves of steel, but he knows to be terrified of the cops and organized crime. And he has mastered a pre-high tech world that is fading away. Despite his vulnerabilities, Harry is one wily character, just wily enough to give him a fighting chance.
Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black, She-Hulk in the Marvel Universe) blazes as Harry’s long-estranged daughter. Buscemi and the rest of the cast – Giancarlo Esposito, Will Price, Jamie Lee Curtis – are excellent, too. Tuturro’s and Maslany’s performances are award-worthy.
This is only the third feature for Segan, a prolific actor and protege of Rian Johnson. His Harry character is unique and there is textured depth in all of the supporting characters. There is outstanding verisimilitude in all the NYC scenes, and the pacing is thrilling.
I screened The Only Living Pickpocket in New York for the Mill Valley Film Festival where I labeled it as the under-the-radar Must See at the festival. It’s one of the Best Movies of 2026 – So Far, and its theatrical release begins this weekend.
Photo caption: John Tuturro in THE ONLY LIVING PICKPOCKET IN NEW YORK. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.Tatiana Maslany in THE ONLY LIVING PICKPOCKET IN NEW YORK. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.
A scene from STOLEN KINGDOM. Courtesy of Slamdance.
The documentary Stolen Kingdom uncovers a series of offbeat pastimes and their bizarre convergence. Of course, we’re already aware of Disney fans and collectors. Stolen Kingdom also reveals the world of urban explorers, who trespass into closed and abandoned buildings. They’re enjoying the thrill of being where they’re not supposed to be and gawking at what the public isn’t supposed to see.
In Stolen Kingdom, we meet people who sneak into closed theme park attractions and even some daredevils who jump off the rides while operating and mosey around backstage(see photo above). Those folks can be tempted by the black market in Disneyana. As the behavior escalates from pranks to larceny, we know that somebody’s going to get in big trouble, Centering on the theft of an obsolete animatron, Stolen Kingdom takes on the guise of a true crime story, but with the very nerdiest criminals.
A scene from STOLEN KINGDOM. Courtesy of Slamdance.
Stolen Kingdom is one of those documentaries about our fellow humans that make us shake our heads.
Stolen Kingdom is the first feature for director Joshua Bailey. I screened Stolen Kingdom for Slamdance, a week after its world premiere at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival. It’s now available to stream on Amazon and AppleTV.
Photo caption: Matt Damon in THE ODYSSEY. Courtesy of Universal Pictures.
I’ve posted my Best Movies of 2026 – So Far page. Every year, I keep a running list of the best movies I’ve seen this year. By the end of the year, I usually end up with a Top Ten and another 5-15 mentions. Here are my lists of Best Movies of 2025 and Best Movies of 2024. To get on my year-end list, a movie has to be one that thrills me while I’m watching it and one that I’m still thinking about a couple of days later.
Of course, I still haven’t seen many of the most promising 2026 movies still to be released, including, Cristian Mungiu’s Fjord, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s All of a Sudden, Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Minotaur, Hirokazu Koreeda’s Look Back, Mike Leigh’s Tender Loving Care, los javis’ La Bola Negra, Luca Guadagnino’s Artificial, James Gray’s Paper Tiger, and Peter Farrelly’s I Play Rocky.
THE BEST OF 2026
Mallori Johnson and Kara Young in IS GOD IS. Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios.
The Odyssey: epic filmmaking at its best. On VOD, beginning November 17.
Is God Is: an extraordinary new storyteller. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango..
Mirrors No. 3: two enigmas explained. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
Romeria: when the dots don’t connect right away. Amazon, Fandango, AppleTV, Criterion.
The Marching Band: an emotionally powerful Feel Good. Amazon, AppleTV.
John Tuturro in THE ONLY LIVING PICKPOCKET IN NEW YORK, Courtesy of Mill Valley Film Festival.
I’ve added al separate category in the list for those films that, to this point, haven’t been available to see in a theater or online. These are films that I’ve screened at US film festivals this year and qualify as among the best films of the year. I’m reluctant to tease my readers with a list of movies that they can’t see, so I created this new Festival Films category (follow the link and scroll down). When they get theatrical distribution or a streaming platform, I’ll move them up to the regular list.
Here’s the trailer for The Only Living Pickpocket in New York, coming to theaters October 23.
Photo caption: Sarah Suco and Pierre Lottin in THE MARCHING BAND. Courtesy of Greenwich Entertainment.
This week on The Movie Gourmet – new reviews of the charming French dramedy The Marching Band, the disappointing absurdist Western Dead Souls and the entertaining Hollywood fiasco documentary John Boorman and the Devil. If you miss John Boorman and the Devil tonite on TCM, you can still stream it inexpensively. I also posted a remembrance of Oscar-winner Eva Marie Saint, star of On the Waterfront and North By Northwest, who has died at age 102.
The Mill Valley Film Festival continues through October 11 with its prerelease showcase of the year’s most prestigious movies.
Last week, I wrote about Turner Classic Movies bringing us the first two movies in Kzrysztof Kieslowski’ Three Colours trilogy, which I include on my Greatest Movies of All Time. Well, TCM is playing the third film, Red, after all, on October 12.
CURRENT MOVIES
The Marching Band: an emotionally powerful Feel Good. Amazon, AppleTV.
The Whisper Man: an unsettling thriller with three creepy villains. Netflix.
Romeria: when the dots don’t connect right away. Amazon, Fandango, AppleTV.
ON TV
Constance Towers in THE NAKED KISS
On October 11, Turner Classic Movies brings us possibly the most salacious gem from Sam Fuller, my favorite tabloid reporter turned Hollywood auteur. In The Naked Kiss, a prostitute opens the movie by beating her pimp to a pulp, and then moves to a new town, seeking a new beginning in the straight world. She gets a job as a nurse at the clinic for disabled children, and becomes engaged to the town’s leading philanthropist. She thinks that everything will be great unless someone reveals her tawdry past. But, instead, she discovers that her Mr. Perfect is molesting the disabled kids! (Only Sam Fuller could pull this off!)
Photo caption: Eva Marie Saint in NORTH BY NORTHWEST.
Eva Marie Saint, who was essential to some of the greatest movies ever, has died at age 102. She was an actress of uncommon versatility and depth, whose delicate beauty was most precisely described by the NYT as luminous.
I’ll always remember Eva Marie Saint for one of the sexiest movie scenes of all time, in North By Northwest, when she propositions Cary Grant in the dining car of a moving train. She won her Oscar for On the Waterfront, imbuing what could have been an unmemorable Good Girl role with passion and agency, and matching up with the charisma of Marlon Brando. Her talents extended to comedy, and she was wonderful in one of my personal favorites, the Cold War satire The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!
Prioritizing a balanced family life, she made many fewer movies than she could have, but, along with Brando and Grant, she co-starred with Paul Newman, Montgomery Clift, Warren Beatty, Bob Hope, Carl Reiner, and Gregory Peck in the movies and with Jack Lemmon on the stage.
Eva Marie Saint and Cary Grant in NORTH BY NORTHWEST.
