From Saudi Arabia’s first homegrown blockbuster to some great franchise follow-ups, William Mullally presents the best movies of the last six months DUBAI: From Saudi Arabia’s first homegrown blockbuster to some great franchise follow-ups, William Mullally presents the best movies of the last six months For the latest updates, follow us on Instagram @arabnews.lifestyle ‘Beau is Afraid’ Director: Ari Aster Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Armen Nahapetian, Patti LuPone Ari Aster always knew “Beau is Afraid” would flop. He figured audiences and critics wouldn’t get it. But here’s the thing — the mere fact that failure never deterred him is why he’s perhaps the most vital young filmmaker currently working in Hollywood, a place where artistic expression is losing the battle to corporate concerns. Filmmakers with poetry in their heart are quickly selling that impulse to the highest bidder, transitioning to soulless franchises and flavorless would-be blockbusters. It’s so common that ‘selling out’ isn’t even an insult anymore. Aster, instead, made two horror films, “Hereditary” and “Midsommar,” that became commercial and critical hits, and decided to burn through that goodwill to make a movie that may take decades to be seen as the masterpiece it is. That’s bravery. And yes, this is a masterpiece. Not just of horror, as his previous two films are, but of comedy. Think of it as a mix of David Lynch’s “Eraserhead” and Martin Scorsese’s “After Hours.” It’s the absurdist and surreal journey of a man whose chronic indecisiveness and all-too-human flaws have turned him into a magnet for the world’s pain and evil. It’s “Joker” without the catharsis, unsatisfying by design. It’s both gorgeous and hideous, flawed to perfection — it may be my new favorite nightmare. Calling it ‘indulgent’ shows we’ve forgotten what art looks like. ‘Sattar’ Director: Abdullah Al-Arak Starring: Ibrahim Al Hajjaj, Ibrahim Alkhairallah, Abdulaziz Alshehri Producing art matters little if no one wants to engage with it. To have a great film industry, you first need a great film culture, and in Saudi Arabia that had been developed long before cinemas reopened a few years ago. Where, you may ask? On YouTube. Starting in the late 2000s, creators like those at Telfaz11 made viral hit after viral hit that young people couldn’t get enough of, and those same talents and characters have now graduated from that platform and into cinemas. The groundbreaking movie “Sattar” — the first true Saudi blockbuster in history — is the extraordinary result of that transition. The slapstick pro-wrestling comedy is never going to win Best Picture at the Oscars, but it has done something far more important: proven that Saudis will engage with homegrown creations on a mass scale. Now the fun can truly begin. ‘BlackBerry’ Director: Matt Johnson Starring: Jay Baruchel, Glenn Howerton, Michael Ironside We’re in the era of the product movie, and the only one worth seeing is the product no one wants. Sure, “Air” and “Flaming Hot” may work fine as junk food, but “BlackBerry” is far funnier, and won’t leave you feeling sick afterwards. Chronicling the rise and fall of the original kings of the smartphone, before Apple and Android crushed them to dust, this is not a film about why you should buy something, it’s a film about what happens when you sell your soul to the devil. With a journalistic spirit and clear-eyed moral righteousness, “BlackBerry” is a film everyone should see, tech enthusiast or not. ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ Director: James Gunn Starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista The Marvel Cinematic Universe is rarely a place that a filmmaker can truly express themselves — that’s part of the reason the movies rarely hold up to multiple viewings. With the “Guardians” trilogy, James Gunn has done what no other filmmaker has: crafting something that is both quintessentially Marvel and unmistakably his own. Gunn poured his heart and soul into a bunch of seemingly second-rate characters, imbuing them with flaws and idiosyncrasies with such skill that they feel like all of us. In this third outing, his best creation — Rocket Raccoon — takes center stage and, trust me, his journey will make you sob even more each time you return to it. ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ Director: Chad Stahelski Starring: Keanu Reeves, Donnie Yen, Scott Adkins The “John Wick” films have only gotten bigger and better with each iteration, and with this one, we’ve finally reached the highest of heights that the genre has to offer. Franchises rarely pull that off — usually by the fourth, they’re bogged down with too much backstory and worldbuilding, but here, the world itself makes less and less sense as we go, and the movies are all the better for it. This is all you need to know: A hitman works for a secret hitman organization, but after the death of his dog he goes rogue, sending every other hitman in the world after him. Beyond that, these are just great martial arts flicks, ones that use Reeves’ unrivaled physicality to full effect and pair him with the best martial arts actors alive today. ‘Goodbye Julia’ Director: Mohamed Kordofani Starring: Elman Yousif, Nazar Goma, Siran Riak The Saudi-backed “Goodbye Julia” may be the Sudanese filmmaker’s feature debut, but it’s the result of more than a decade of painful inner searching. Eleven years earlier, he was working as an aircraft engineer when his country was split into two, and as he sorted through the bigotry and hate that led to South Sudan voting to secede, he found all those flaws in himself, too, leading him to make an honest, insightful and unforgettable portrait of a country still plagued by its divides. It’s empathetic, but it pulls no punches. A great regional filmmaker has truly arrived. ‘Missing’ Directors: Nicholas D. Johnson, Will Merrick Starring: Storm Reid, Nia Long, Ken Leung A spiritual sequel to 2018’s excellent “Searching,” “Missing” is another addition to the burgeoning genre of the ‘screenlife’ mystery, in which everything you see is taking place on our everyday devices. Here, we watch the screens of a teenage girl named June as she frantically pursues her missing mother across the world, the latter having disappeared without trace while on holiday in Colombia. Full of the same tight writing and vivid characterization that writers Sev Ohanian and Aneesh Chaganty brought to “Searching,” this one ups the ante in every possible sense. Love trying to guess ‘whodunit’? Add this to your queue. ‘Creed III’ Director: Michael B. Jordan Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Jonathan Majors, Tessa Thompson Jordan made his directorial debut with the third installment in the “Creed” franchise, itself a spin-off/continuation of the long-running “Rocky” saga, and it works because he directs like he acts. With Jordan the filmmaker, just like Jordan the performer, there’s no subtext, but everything you get is effective. Pairing him with Jonathan Majors — an actor with the ability to imbue shallow writing with unexpected layers to the level of someone like Ralph Fiennes — is a stroke of genius, off-screen problems notwithstanding. Yes, this a boxing movie, but the anime spirit with which the two go from friends to foes to friends again is what makes this one of the best times you’ll have with a popcorn flick this year.