While our sprawling summer movie preview will arrive by the end of the month, we’ll first take a comprehensive look at the April releases to have on your radar. Featuring festival favorites from as far back as early last year finally getting a theatrical run to at least one studio tentpole that piques our interest, dive in below.

13. Magic Farm (Amalia Ulman; April 25)

While not quite delivering on the promise she showed in her first feature El Planeta, Amalia Ulman’s Magic Farm is a zany odyssey that finds the satire in Vice News-type journalism. Kent M. Wilhelm said in his Sundance review, “I was sold on the premise of satirizing opportunistic content creators who play dress-up as journalists, but weaving that into the storylines of the ensemble cast is no easy task for a sophomore feature. The plot gets lost; when it feels like there’s too much going on, nothing gets to shine. There’s nevertheless fun to be had in Magic Farm; importantly, Ulman’s voice and perspective are what stick with you after the credits roll. It’s encouraging to see a young director experiment, venturing into new narrative and stylistic territory.”

12. Sacramento (Michael Angarano; April 11)

With a plucky, inherent likability as a performer that extends to his leisurely directorial aesthetic, Michael Angarano’s second feature Sacramento is an amiable, freewheeling road trip dramedy that rides on its central performances, courtesy of Michael Cera and the actor-writer-director as strained best friends. In exploring fatherhood, mental health, and the lies we tell ourselves (and others) to keep trucking along, Angarano and co-writer Chris Smith haven’t uncovered a wealth of revelations on tried-and-true thematic ground, yet there’s just enough smart comedic timing and dramatic perceptiveness to makethis an adventure worth taking. – Jordan R.

11. On Swift Horses (Daniel Minahan; April 25)

Sporting quite the cast of up-and-coming talent, On Swift Horses (starring Daisy Edgar-Jones, Jacob Elordi, Will Poulter, Diego Calva, and Sasha Calle) premiered at TIFF last fall and will arrive this month. Christopher Schobert said in his review, “It’s somehow fitting that the film featuring this group is a soapy slice of ’50s melodrama, one ultimately centered around same-sex desire at a time when such things were fraught with danger. Adapted by Bryce Klass from Shannon Pufahl’s 2019 novel, On Swift Horses is brought to life with panache and great care by Minahan, who’s best-known as a television director (Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace, Game of Thrones). Indeed there are times in which it feels like the rather messy, tangled plotlines of Horses seem better-suited to the series treatment.”

10. The Teacher (Farah Nabulsi; April 11)

Following No Other Land‘s major Oscar win, more films capturing the plight of the Palestinian people are getting wider distribution here in the United States. Oscar-nominated director Farah Nabulsi’s TIFF-selected drama The Teacher, starring Saleh Bakri and Imogen Poots, will now arrive this month. Jared Mobarak said in his TIFF review, “Writer-director Farah Nabulsi brilliantly showcased the abject futility of living under occupation with her Oscar-nominated short The Present a couple years ago. By taking the seemingly mundane act of going shopping for an anniversary gift and portraying how cruelly impossible it can become when people with guns take it upon themselves to make it so, she evoked the tired frustration and unavoidable rage that Palestinians must endure on a daily basis. It should come as no surprise, then, that her feature debut The Teacher would follow suit, mirroring the additional runtime with a much more robust example.”

9. Sinners (Ryan Coogler; April 18)

After spending nearly a decade of his career in the Marvel machine, Ryan Coogler is finally breaking free. The director has reteamed once again with Michael B. Jordan (times two) for the new period horror-thriller Sinners, which also stars Hailee Steinfeld, Jack O’Connell, Wunmi Mosaku, Jayme Lawson, Omar Benson Miller, and Delroy Lindo. If you’ve seen the latest trailer, one is aware of the vampire twist to the setting of 1930s in Jim Crow south, and here’s hoping Coogler delivers some big-screen thrills before the summer movie season fully kicks into gear. – Jordan R.

8. The Wedding Banquet (Andrew Ahn; April 18)

While the proposition of a remake is always a daunting task, one upcoming crowd-pleaser seems to have got it right. The latest from Driveways and Fire Island director Andrew Ahn is The Wedding Banquet, a remake of the Ang Lee classic. The film brings together Lily Gladstone, Bowen Yang, Kelly Marie Tran, Joan Chen, Han Gi-chan, and Youn Yuh-jung, with a script co-written with James Schamus, who co-wrote and produced the original 1993 rom-com. Following a Sundance premiere, it’ll open wide this month.

7. The Ugly Stepsister (Emilie Blichfeldt; April 18)

If you are looking for a bit more bite in your fairy tale adaptations, Sundance and Berlinale selection The Ugly Stepsister is here to provide quite a jolt, and Emilie Blichfeldt’s bloody, twisted new take on Cinderella will arrive this month. I said in my Sundance review, “If the disheartening lack of creativity in Disney’s live-action remakes leaves one thinking these timeless stories have, in fact, run their course, leave it to Norwegian director Emilie Blichfeldt to find new life (and blood) with the Cinderella tale. Her impressively mounted, darkly macabre first feature follows Elvira (Lea Myren, in a fantastic feature-debut performance) living in the shadow of her stepsister Agnes (Thea Sofie Loch Naess) as they vie for the attention of the Prince (Isac Calmroth). A twisted body horror take on the classic tale for how it explores the costs of beauty, The Ugly Stepsister is not afraid to dive into the unflinchingly gruesome while packing an impressive sense of empathy.“

6. Direct Action (Guillaume Cailleau and Ben Russell; April 10)

An observant, in-depth portrait of an eco-activist group, Guillaume Cailleau and Ben Russell’s Direct Action is one of the great recent documents of the intricacies of collective action. Leonard Goi said in his review, “Direct Action is that rare documentary that seems to exist in symbiosis with the people and place it captures, by which I mean it allows the ZADists’ preoccupations with horizontal understandings of power to guide its own image-making. Where so many other attempts to shed light on this 4,000-acre community have embraced a top-down approach, focusing almost exclusively on its fraught relationship with the authorities, their film works the opposite way––shooting with as opposed to at, forsaking facile sensationalizing for a far richer, eye-opening study. It’s not that violence and abuse are glossed over. This remains, after all, a film bookended by scenes of obscene police brutality, kicking off with clips of the late-2010s evictions and rounding things up with March 2023’s clashes between cops and members of the Earth Uprisings Collective. Yet Cailleau and Russell, reuniting after their short Austerity Measures––a portrait of a neighborhood in Athens made during the 2011 anti-austerity protests––are after something wildly different. The threat of eviction hangs over Direct Action like a sword of Damocles, but it’s not what keeps it together; the film’s interest, and the source of its cumulatively engrossing power, lie elsewhere.”

5. Invention (Courtney Stephens; April 18)

The latest feature from Courtney Stephens (Terra Femme, The American Sector) is an enthralling exploration of tracking down the pieces of a life that wasn’t grasped in the moment. In what would make a great double feature with Alison Tavel’s Resynator from last year, Invention stars Callie Hernandez (who co-wrote and is co-credited for the film) as a woman seeking clarification on the death of her inventor father (the actress’ own, glimpsed through archival footage) whose death spurs an investigation both clerical and conspiratorial. As Rory O’Connor said in his review, “If that juicy stuff were all Invention had to offer, it would be compelling enough. But the film succeeds as much as entertainment as it does on aesthetic and conceptual terms. Stephens’ 16mm images are a perfect match for both the archival footage and Hernandez’ fuzzy state of mind––and while you couldn’t call her appearance a choice, necessarily, her familiarity and celebrity do add a little something to Invention‘s secret sauce. As does the decision to cast directors (Joe Swanberg and Caveh Zahedi appear; Sahm McGlynn steals some scenes as a brief love interest) in supporting roles. Adding to this storytelling milieu, Stephens leaves some of her own voice and direction in the final cut, allowing it to spill over its margins. Even images of the device itself, which we see humming and glowing in a blood-red room, hold their own seductive power.”

4. The Encampments (Michael T. Workman and Kei Pritsker)

While technically released in one theater last week in a fast-tracked roll-out, The Encampments will now come to more cities this Friday. I said in my review, “An essential document of a moment in time for a story very much still unfolding, The Encampments is a thorough, engrossing portrait of the Gaza Solidarity Encampment. Beginning in April 2024, the protest was formed by Columbia University students who called for their university to divest from U.S. and Israeli weapons companies that are aiding in the deaths of thousands upon thousands of Palestinian people. With insights from those most directly involved in the protests––including many now fearing for their safety and future as America’s newly instated fascist regime continues to strip rights––the documentary becomes a sobering, infuriating look at the dismantling of free speech and nefarious, calculated ways those in power will go to any lengths to silence those that are of opposing interests. Rather than employing a bleak view of persistent struggle, directors Michael T. Workman and Kei Pritsker find the unfolding story’s hope and inspiration, crafting a powerful, clarifying portrait of collective action. As other universities and organizations drew inspiration, we witness how small acts of courage can cause ripple effects worldwide.”

3. Henry Fonda for President (Alexander Horwath; April 3)

One of the most thought-provoking, densely assembled documentaries of the year is opening this week at Anthology Film Archives. Alexander Horwath’s Henry Fonda for President, which premiered at Berlinale last year, is a three-hour journey through the career of the legendary actor. But rather than telling a standard cradle-to-grave story, performances and life events are used to chart a course of the history of America itself. Also featuring audio from Fonda’s final interview, it’s a truly fascinating approach to rethinking the biographical documentary. – Jordan R.

2. April (Dea Kulumbegashvili; April 25)

Following up her visually staggering debut Beginning, Dea Kulumbegashvili returned last year with her second feature April, which picked up the Special Jury Prize at Venice, and will now arrive in theaters, of course, this month. Writing about the film following an obstetrician who offers abortions to local women, Savina Petkova said in her Venice review, “Beginning was produced by Carlos Reygadas and April sports Luca Guadagnino’s name under his company Frenesy, but Kulumbegashvili doesn’t need any such clout: her filmmaking is so singular, it speaks for itself. It does, indeed, speak, but the director’s distaste for conventional cinematic language (or any linguistic, semantic, discursive shorthands for that matter) manifests as reinvention.“

1. The Shrouds (David Cronenberg; April 18)

David Cronenberg, who recently celebrated his 82nd birthday, has only grown sharper and more devastating in reckonings with the body. After his long-awaited return with Crimes of the Future, Cronenberg quickly followed it up with The Shrouds, a darkly funny, mournful conspiracy thriller led by Vincent Cassel, Diane Kruger, and newly minted Oscar nominee Guy Pearce. Rory O’Connor said in his Cannes review, “David Cronenberg’s films have often imagined a future where technology would find a way into our collective id. 55 years into the director’s incomparable career, might that future have finally caught up with him? In Cronenberg’s new film––the slick, scrambled The Shrouds––there are two barely speculative conceits: that an AI chatbot could be designed to look like a recently deceased love one; and primarily, that a company might have the bright idea to wrap a blanket of HD cameras around our nearest and dearest before they’re sent six-feet-under, allowing us to check in on their decaying corpse, all with the click of an app.”

More Films to See

• Eric LaRue (April 4)
• Gazer (April 4)
• Hell of a Summer (April 4)
• Freaky Tales (April 4)
• The Luckiest Man in America (April 4)
• One to One: John & Yoko (April 11)
• Warfare (April 11)
• Emergent City (April 25)
• The Account 2 (April 25)
• Havoc (April 25)
• The Legend of Ochi (April 25)