There’s nothing quite like opening your inbox and finding an email that causes your jaw to drop all the way to the floor — with good news, that is, as opposed to all of the creditors and doctors and co-workers that normally fill it all the way to the brim. We were lucky enough to have that happen to us recently, on the day IFFBoston — or the Independent Film Festival Boston, as it is otherwise known — sent out the schedule for its program this year. Read this line in your best 30 For 30 voice: “What if we told you that this is the best schedule they’ve had for a mainline festival in a while?” Well, we’re telling you: This is, without a doubt, one of the biggest and best fests that the IFFB crew has ever put together.
It’s so big that we’re going to split our usual preview into two installments, because we can’t pick just five features — no, we’ve got a whopping 12 must-see pictures to recommend this year. Per usual, IFFBoston screenings will take place at The Brattle, Somerville, and Coolidge Corner theaters, and the fest kicks off on April 22 and runs through the 29th. You can grab a pass here or buy individual tickets at the links below.
Now, let’s get to it — we’ve got boosters, piano tuners, time-traveling fishermen, haunted ex-pat authors, and some real kinky shit to get into. Stay tuned for Part 2.
I Love Boosters
If you’ve seen Boots Riley’s first feature, Sorry to Bother You, you probably already have tickets to IFFBoston’s opening night film, and this introduction is probably totally redundant. If you haven’t seen Sorry to Bother You, go watch it right the fuck now. Anyhow, I Love Boosters – a crime comedy about a team of shoplifters looking to rip off a fashion designer – is one of our most anticipated movies coming out this Spring, so we’re pumped that IFFBoston is bringing it to town early. Even better, Boots Riley himself will be on hand for an intro and a short Q&A. If you’re a real one, you’ll ask him about Berry Gordy’s The Last Dragon.
I Love Boosters :: Wednesday, April 22 at 7:30 p.m. at The Somerville Theater, 55 Davis Square in Somerville, MA :: Advance Tickets
Maddie’s Secret
We caught John Early’s feature debut at TIFF last year, and it’s a bizarre, lovely tribute to the kind of goofy-yet-earnest after-school special that he grew up watching. Early plays Maddie, an up-and-coming content creator at a Buzzfeed-like digital mag who hits it surprisingly big with a recipe she’s cooked up. She’s got a supportive partner, a good ride-or-die friend, and endless amounts of talent – what could possibly be the problem? Early’s a strong writer and director who handles the humor beautifully – it’s never making fun of its very serious subject matter, but rather the awkwardness that comes with a stilted, codified style rubbing up against the messiness of the truths it’s trying to depict. Plus, Connor O’Malley!
‘Maddie’s Secret’ :: Thursday, April 23 at 9:30 p.m. at The Brattle Theater, 40 Brattle St. in Cambridge, MA :: Advance tickets
Tuner
If you like your neo-noir clever, funny, insightful, and innovative, get to the Somerville on Friday, because Daniel Roher’s TIFF and Sundance hit will scratch an itch you don’t even know you have. Tuner follows a former piano prodigy (Leo Woodall) whose career was cut short by his super-hearing, as he falls into a life of crime by using his disability as a professional advantage. When his boss (Dustin Hoffman) gets into financial trouble, the kid starts cracking safes for a couple of gangsters, and we imagine you get the picture. If our major complaint about the movie (we saw it at Sundance) is that it’s too mean to its lovingly rendered lead characters, well, you know Roher and company have done a great job bringing them – and this scenario – to life.
‘Tuner’ :: Friday, April 24 at 7:30 p.m. at The Somerville Theater, 55 Davis Square in Somerville, MA :: Advance Tickets
I Want Your Sex
We said almost as much as we needed to in our review of Gregg Araki’s latest back in January, but trust us, if you go see this on Friday and you somehow copped a ticket to The Invite next week, you’ll probably want to ask Olivia Wilde a ton of questions… about this movie. She’s fantastically paired with Cooper Hoffman in a bizarro sex comedy about the relationship between a famous visual artist (Wilde) and one of her low-level employees (Hoffman). It’s awesome to have Araki back on the big screen, and it’s even better enjoyed with a bunch of hyped-up goofballs months before it goes wide. Trust us: We know!
‘I Want Your Sex’ :: Friday, April 24 at 8:30 p.m. at The Brattle Theater, 40 Brattle St. in Cambridge, MA :: Advance Tickets
Hokum
This here NEON horror feature is the major-label debut of Irish filmmaker Damian McCarthy, who wowed SXSW audiences back in ’24 with Oddity, which wound up taking home the Midnighter Audience Award. He still hasn’t left Ireland plot-wise, but this time he imported a movie star: Adam Scott, who was apparently not put off by getting harpooned by Osgood Perkins in The Monkey or from his dealings with Krampus to avoid the horror genre. Scott plays a writer who heads out to Eire’s sticks to mourn his recently deceased parents… only for him to discover that the room he’s staying in might be haunted. Word’s good on this one – get your tickets ASAP.
‘Hokum’ :: Friday, April 24 at 10:30 p.m. at The Brattle Theater, 40 Brattle St. in Cambridge, MA :: Advance Tickets
Rose of Nevada
Look, we’re not gonna pretend like we had a particularly good time with Mark Jenkin’s Enys Men, which was one of those “elevated horror” tone poems that just never coheres into something more meaningful than a handful of well-worn aesthetic cliches – but we are genuinely quite excited for his latest. Starring Callum Turner and George MacKay, Rose of Nevada looks like it’s taking a lighter yet meaningful approach to the supernatural as it pertains to Cornwall village life. Ever see that movie, The Final Countdown, with Kirk Douglas and Martin Sheen? It’s kind of like that – two fishermen travel back in time on a temporally messy fishing vessel, and find themselves on the Cornish coast some thirty years earlier, where the townspeople think they’re the OG crew. Great on-screen talent, a filmmaker motivated by a deep love for his homeland, and a charmingly winsome story? Check, check, and check.
‘Rose of Nevada’ :: Saturday, April 25 at 3 p.m. at The Brattle Theater, 40 Brattle St. in Cambridge, MA :: Advance Tickets