12 Films Worth Watching in October
October’s film slate ranges from a dark literary thriller to a satirical take on a billionaire industrialist, with awards contenders and genre pictures arriving in cinemas and on streaming.
Digger — Tom Cruise swaps stunt work for prosthetics and satire in Alejandro G Iñárritu’s bizarre comedy, playing oil billionaire Digger Rockwell, tasked by the US president (John Goodman) with fixing a climate disaster his own company caused, aided by his sister (Sandra Hüller) and a government scientist (Riz Ahmed). Out 1-2 October.
Sense and Sensibility — Georgia Oakley directs a new version of Jane Austen’s novel, starring Daisy Edgar-Jones and Esmé Creed-Miles as the Dashwood sisters, with George Mackay, Herbert Nordrum and Frank Dillane as their suitors, and Fiona Shaw as benefactor Mrs Jennings. Out 16 October in North America, elsewhere through the month.
Verity — The fourth Colleen Hoover adaptation in three years stars Anne Hathaway as a comatose bestselling author, with her husband (Josh Hartnett) hiring a ghost-writer (Dakota Johnson) who grows suspicious of the truth behind her condition. Hartnett calls it “sexy”, “mysterious” and “a little bit gothic”. Out 1-2 October internationally.
A Halloween chiller — Adapted from a novel by Josh Malerman (Bird Box), directed by Rob Savage (Host) and produced by James Wan, this horror release gives Jessica Chastain a dual role as a devoted mother and her daughter’s demonic doppelganger. Out 8-9 October.
The Social Reckoning — Aaron Sorkin writes and directs this spiritual follow-up to The Social Network, dramatising the story of Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen. Mikey Madison plays Haugen in her first role since winning the best actress Oscar for Anora, while Jeremy Strong takes over the Mark Zuckerberg role from Jesse Eisenberg. Out 9 October in the US, Canada, UK and Ireland.
Wicker — Olivia Colman plays a medieval fisherwoman who pays a basket-maker (Peter Dinklage) to weave her a husband out of twigs, with surprising results once the wicker man (Alexander Skarsgård) comes to life. Out 23 October in the US, 30 October elsewhere.
Fjord — Winner of this year’s Palme d’Or at Cannes, Cristian Mungiu’s drama follows a Romanian-Norwegian couple (Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve) whose intense Christianity draws suspicion from villagers in a remote Norwegian community after their child is seen with bruises. Out 9 October in the US, 16 October in Canada, 13 November in the UK.
Lee Chang-dong’s new drama — Eight years after Burning, the Korean director returns with a story of two couples, one comfortably wealthy (Cho Yeo-jeong, Zo In-sung) and one struggling since a factory job loss (Jeon Do-yeon, Sul Kyung-gu), exploring class divides after one woman starts filming a documentary about the other. Out 23 October in several territories, reaching Netflix in November.
Tenzing — Jennifer Peedom’s adventure drama puts Sherpa climber Tenzing Norgay (Genden Phuntsok) at the centre of the first Everest summit in 1953, alongside Edmund Hillary (Tom Hiddleston). A companion documentary from Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin follows climbers attempting to ski down the mountain’s treacherous north face. Out 9 October in the US and UK, 16 October on Apple TV.
A new fighting-game adaptation — Capcom’s combat franchise returns to the screen decades after its 1994 outing with Kylie Minogue and Jean-Claude Van Damme, directed by Kitao Sakurai, starring Noah Centineo, Andrew Koji and Jason Momoa. Out 15-16 October.
La Bola Negra — Directed by Los Javis, produced by Pedro Almodóvar, with a cameo from Penélope Cruz, this Spanish period drama explores erased queer history, inspired by a lost work by poet Federico García Lorca. Out 16 October in the US and Canada, 6 November in the UK.
Rounding out the month, Oscar-winning documentarian Alex Gibney releases a four-hour profile of Elon Musk, charting his path from Silicon Valley hopeful to controversial trillionaire. Musk has dismissed the film as “boring”; critics disagree. Out 16 October in the US.
Source: BBC News