It’s gonna be/is May, which means that the Cannes Film Festival is officially in full swing. Our crew will be on the Croisette hunting down some juicy interviews and scouting out the most poppin’ premieres, so keep a close eye on our socials, and if you’re lucky enough to have made it out to the South of , look out for the Letterboxd mic!

However, if you’re feeling that Film Festival FOMO (FFF), make your own fun by programming a personalized fest with these watchlist recommendations. We’ve got a desire-drenched drama set in a Brazilian motel, a colorful teenage buddy-comedy about a lesbian animator and her himbo straight-guy bestie, a deeply personal Puerto Rican character study that artfully compares the corrosiveness of cancer with the rot of colonialism, a fashion-forward comedy-thriller and a couple of volatile horror films that toy with audience expectations.

This month’s picks come from Marya E. Gates, Zachary Lee, Leo Koziol, Dan Mecca and Rafa Sales Ross. Happy watchlisting!

Of the movie’s sensuality, Aïnouz describes “there is a real sense of life when someone is making love. Heraldo’s arrival brings light to Dayana’s life again, it makes her desire again. This is what I was looking for.” When asked about the film’s pristine sound design, a carefully curated cacophony of yearning, the director recalls how, the first time he visited a roadside motel for research, he was “surprised at how close you get to people.”

“You walk by the doors and you listen to the sounds,” he continues. ”The first time I heard it, I was embarrassed for them and for myself. Why does it make us feel uneasy? Cinematically, it’s interesting because there are things you imagine but don’t necessarily see. So we designed sound as a way to mirror this feeling.” If all of this hasn’t sold you, I don’t know what will. RSR

Egghead & Twinkie

Directed and written by Sarah Kambe Holland.
Now streaming on VOD in the US.
Tribeca Films

Crowdfunded via TikTok, writer-director Sarah Kambe Holland brings a delightfully Gen-Z video aesthetic to her feature directorial debut, the queer coming-of-age buddy-comedy Egghead & Twinkie. The film centers on teenage animator Twinkie (Sabrina Jie-A-Fa), who is on the cusp of college and has recently come out to her conservative parents. She convinces her bestie, Egghead (Louis Tomeo), to go on a summer road trip, without telling him that her main aim is to meet up with the Insta-famous DJ she has been secretly DMing. Along with its unique visual flourishes, heartfelt look at the growing pains of friendship as college looms in the near future, and the highs and lows of first love, Holland’s movie, which has just finished a two-year festival run, also features one of the year’s best roadside diner scenes.

With a banger soundtrack and a playful use of animation, more than one Letterboxd member has compared it with Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Other have praised the film’s central friendship, with Chlo writing, “I can’t lie, I eat ‘the lesbian and her straight best friend guy sidekick’ trope up so much that I’ll request it as my last meal.” Similarly, Achoo says that it made their “heart swell with high school feels and nostalgia.” Dino agrees, writing, “I wish I had had this movie as a teenager.” MEG

Letterboxd have compared it to The Talented Mr. Ripley, as well as several recent “eat the rich” features like Saltburn, Bodies Bodies Bodies, The Menu and The Triangle of Sadness. Several viewers have praised the work of Oscar-nominee Maria Bakalova, whose “magnetic” presence Shane attributes with bringing the right vibes to Matar’s "stylish and flashy thriller” which “spices up some tropes with some strong filmmaking.” Others have pointed to the costume design—which included collaborations with Valentino, Versace and Bvlgari—as the film’s biggest strength: Sofnin writes that they are “forever envious of the wardrobe.” David agrees, proclaiming, “Lord Jesus the costume designer ATE!!!” MEG

The Surrender

Written and directed by Julia Max.
Streaming on Shudder May 23.
Shudder

Written and directed by Julia Max, The Surrender is spare, gruesome and unrelenting. When the patriarch of a family es away following a painful sickness, his wife (Kate Burton) and daughter (Colby Minifie) attempt to bring him back from the dead. It’s a ghoulish, foolish errand that can only lead to further pain. The fractured mother-daughter relationship sits at the center of this brutal, mournful piece of horror. Burton is great, while Juneau praises her co-star: “Brilliant performance by Colby Minifie, cuts deep.” Minifie does superb work from beginning to end, promising a rich career long after the end of the hit television series The Boys.

At its core, The Surrender is about the process of grief in all of its ugly undeniability. Louisa writes that it “strikes the perfect tone for the kind of meaningful horror it’s going for: a mix of the supernatural and a deeply personal story about grief and family.” The setting and production design is minimal here, and Max is smart to lean on her two leads to anchor the deceptively simple narrative. For many, parental figures are just that: figures, ideas, heroes and/or villains. Only with time and understanding do they become human beings. While the gnarly, truncated third act leaves something to be desired, The Surrender never wavers from its bold mix of fantasy and realism. This kind of ambitious tone speaks well of Julia Max and what she’s got in store for us in the future. DM

For Letterboxd , Vulcanizadora’s spiky tempo and narrative shifts not only kept them enthralled but left them emotional. “[It] starts off as a goofy movie about guys being dudes and descends into a deep depiction of shame and guilt,” Coolkidcort muses, while Chef Jeff confesses he “came in expecting a horror flick… and came out crying.” have found themselves asking existential questions in light of its release. “I think we all struggle so hard with internal guilt and the need to be free of it and we are never sure of how to escape it. Will death be a release?” Mel asks, while K8 bluntly shares, “Maybe there is no hell. Maybe we’re already there. It doesn’t matter, really. We’re all forced to grow up with it someday.” For Josh, there’s a sinister comfort in the ways Vulcanizadora’s aesthetic matches its somber mood, saying that it’s a film “as pugnacious as the understandably ostracized characters” leaving you “feel[ing]the desperation and doom closing in with each ing scene.” Feel bad cinema has never been more alive. ZL

The Fishbowl has had a deep impact with viewers from Puerto Rico. “To someone else it might just be a movie about cancer and coming back home, but for those of us who are born and raised in Puerto Rico the root of the pain goes deeper,” says Jess. LK