With the approach of the awards season in November, movies released in the next two months seem to be excelling at all aspects of storytelling and visuals, reaching higher standards and dealing with more interesting subjects.
The following films which are soon to be released are some of the most interesting in the upcoming months.
1. "He Named Me Malala"
A thrilling documentary by Davis Guggenheim ( "Waiting for 'Superman," "An Inconvenient Truth") on the events that lead a young school girl asking for equality in education to become the worldwide advocate for social justice and human rights. This compelling and inspirational depiction of events journeys from the Taliban attack on Malala back in 2012 to her UN speech the following year.
2. " 3000 Nights"
A gripping drama by Palestinian director Mai Masri ("Yaumiyat Beirut," "Frontiers of Dreams and Fears"), "3000 Nights," or 3000 Layla, deals with the hard truth of numerous women held in Israeli prisons. Layal, charged with working with a Palestinian "militant" group, discovers that her sentence will be harder to serve than anticipated, when she finds out that she is expecting a baby. Featured at TIFF and soon to be featured at The London Film Festival, this film brings to light the horrors faced by women in occupied Palestine.
3. "Carol"
In Todd Haynes' ("Velvet Goldmine," "Far From Heaven") new drama, a young girl finds herself desperately in love with an older woman in 1950s New York. Their romance is bound to fail due to restraints set by the society they're in and the men who rule over their lives. Based on “The Price of Salt” by Patricia Highsmith, this film deals with all aspects of the lives of these two women in that time period, showcasing the true nature of male-dominated societies that still linger on today. Nominated for three Cannes Film Festival awards and winning two, this movie is bound to be sensational.
4. "The Midnight Orchestra"
Featured in the Montréal World Film Festival, this film by Jérôme Cohen-Olivar deals with the trip a Jewish emigrant makes back home after the death of his father in order to bury him. He then begins to meet a lot of interesting characters on his journey, and his life is transformed by these characters that remind him what truly matters, and help him rediscover his past and, ultimately, himself.
5. "Crimson Peak"
Guillermo del Toro ("Pan's Labyrinth," "Pacific Rim") promises a thrilling horror story in his long awaited film "Crimson Peak." A haunted house is the setting on which horrifying incidents keep occurring, reminding Edith (Mia Wasikowska) of her violent past. With amazing visuals accompanied by gripping performances by Tom Hiddleston and Jessica Chastain, this film will be nothing short of a spectacle.
6. "Taxi" (Taxi Tehran)
Since 2010, Jafar Panahi ("The Circle," "This Is Not a Film") has been banned from making films in Iran. However, this masterpiece, shown at TIFF, The London Film Festival, and The Berlin International Film Festival, among others, proves Panahi's unyielding spirit and his insistence of showing Iran the way it truly is. This look into the lives of extremely diverse people in Tehran through their trips in a taxi shows the true complexity of Tehran and its people, reclaiming the image of Iran from Western media.