The top five films coming your way, according to this writer.

The bricks and mortar cinema experience may be in terminal decline, particularly in the USA. Only a handful of established blockbuster franchises are able to pack theatres on opening night, and with the envelope between theatrical release and streaming narrowing, consumers now have less time to wait for the cheaper, and arguably more convenient, experience of watching at home. What’s maybe more surprising is that the streamers are now increasingly willing to fund arthouse films that rarely turned a profit even in the pre-Covid days, but are perceived to add cache and ‘class’ to a streamer’s brand. Effectively, these are lower-budget films that serve as marketing tools by winning prestigious awards. The weird thing is, that to be eligible for these awards, the films do actually have to be shown in bricks and mortar cinemas, even if just for a week before showing up on TV. This change in the marketing model has impacted how film festivals are now being programmed. 

In the old days, you’d have some big-star wattage films where the red carpet was used for marketing, but the majority of films were arthouse films looking for distribution in cinemas. Nowadays, the proportion of films in the former category has increased and sadly the proportion in the latter category has decreased. But the result is that a lot of films I watched at the BFI London Film Festival this past October will be coming to your TVs in time for the holiday season, rather than waiting 9-12 months for a limited cinematic release in a handful of arthouse cinemas. And here’s my top five pick of the best: