10/10: Jack Auen and Kevin Walker

This list of ten films comes in no particular order, but represents a cross-section of films released since 2016 that we think for one reason or another are either underappreciated or are deserving of critical re-evaluation.

1. Classical Period (Ted Fendt, 2018)

There are few films made since 2016 that we discuss more frequently than this one. Its approach to dialogue and composition are endlessly fascinating in their defiance of the contemporary trends of independent cinema. Brave formal leaps of faith on modest means – the footnotes to Longfellow’s translation of the Commedia have never been more gripping.

2. Petite Maman (Celine Sciamma, 2021)

Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire is a strong candidate for best of the past decade, but this film, while compact and more intimate, has a unique sensitivity that harmonizes the everyday with notes from another world. Sciamma modulates the emotional pitch of this film with enormous control and impressive restraint. Great for Mother’s Day!

3. The Maiden (Graham Foy, 2022)

Lovely 16mm photography, an unexpected and highly original narrative structure, and boasts one of the greatest single shots of the decade, hands down.

4. The Vast of Night (Andrew Patterson, 2019)

Tragically underseen; gives life to ‘50s period slang with an Americana authenticity that no other screenplay of the last fifty years has even remotely achieved. Incredibly intelligent with bold formal choices – lengthy, static shots; meandering monologues; scenes with no characters – but somehow feels completely satisfying as a sci-fi B-movie or an episode of The Twilight Zone.

5. Challengers (Luca Guadagnino, 2024)

Luca is one of cinema’s most playful practitioners – his editing choices and camera movement are formally liberated to a degree that few other contemporary filmmakers dare to reach. In Challengers, these choices, somehow both whimsical and extremely precise, are on vibrant display. Cinema needs auteurs working in the sports-movie genre again.

6. First Cow (Kelly Reichardt, 2019)

It’s hard to paint a picture of the landscape of contemporary American cinema without reference to Kelly Reichardt. First Cow does so much with so little.

7. Turtle Sandwich (David Cardoza, 2025)

Utilizing the various and sundry tools of documentary cinema, fiction films, cartoons, and video games, Cardoza has managed to master a genre of his own invention. Turtle Sandwich somehow fully captures the exuberant joy of boyhood in ten minutes – one of the great short films of the decade

8. Rat Film (Theo Anthony, 2016)

 As Baltimoreans, we have to shout out one of the city's great working filmmakers: Theo Anthony. A one-of-one work of documentary innovation and a total must-see.

9. Memoria (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2021)

This film has the sneaky cumulative effect of lowering your resting heart rate. Everything, at first, feels understated, but time reveals that Joe’s pensive imagery will never leave your memory.

10. Silence (Martin Scorsese, 2016)