Summer is here, and for many of us that means one lazy afternoon after another at the multiplex, soaking in movies about superheroes, talking cars and mummies. But everybody already knows about those movies. Those movies that can festoon the highways with billboards, dump commercials onto all your favorite shows and dominate the talk show circuits. You already know they’re coming out and you probably already know which ones you’re going to see.
Also: Sofia Coppola is Now the Second Woman to Win Best Director at Cannes
But the summer movie season is anything but a foregone conclusion. In between all those blockbuster, record-breaking openings there are dozens and dozens of exciting, ambitious, unusual independent films that won’t just distract you for a few hours, but might actually teach you something new about life, about art, about some subject you never knew anything about before in your life.
So if you’re thinking about going to a movie this June, think about going to one these films instead. Thrillers, comedies, documentaries, dramas and cannibalism await you in those other theaters at the multiplex. Venture inside, and find something new and – hopefully – wonderful.
11 Exciting Movies You Didn’t Know Were Coming Out in June 2017:
Top Photo: Focus Features
William Bibbiani (everyone calls him ‘Bibbs’) is Crave’s film content editor and critic. You can hear him every week on The B-Movies Podcast and Canceled Too Soon, and watch him on the weekly YouTube series What the Flick. Follow his rantings on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
11 Exciting Movies You Didn't Know Were Coming Out in June 2017
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Band Aid (June 2)
Zoe Lister-Jones wrote, directed and stars in Band Aid, a comedy about an unhappily married couple who decide to turn their arguments into music.
Photo: IFC Films
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Dean (June 2)
Stand-up comedian Demetri Martin wrote, directed, stars in and provides the illustrations for a comedy about an artist coping with the death of his mother.
Photo: CBS Films
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My Cousin Rachel (June 9)
Enduring Love director Roger Michell adapts Daphne du Maurier's gothic novel, about a man who plots revenge against his cousin, played by Rachel Weisz.
Photo: Fox Searchlight
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The Book of Henry (June 16)
Colin Trevorrow took a break between filming Jurassic World and Star Wars: Episode IX to direct this coming of age drama, about a boy with a plan to rescue his neighbor from her abusive stepfather.
Photo: Focus Features
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I, Daniel Blake (June 16)
Ken Loach's latest film stars Dave Johns as a man who is denied financial support, even though he's unable to work. The acclaimed drama won the Palme d'Or at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.
Photo: IFC Films
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The Bad Batch (June 23)
Ana Lily Amirpour's follow-up to the horror hit A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is a dystopian nightmare about cannibalism, revenge and drug use.
Photo: Neon
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The Beguiled (June 23)
In the midst of the Civil War, an all-girls school takes in a wounded soldier, played by Colin Farrell, and fall prey to their fears and desires. Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst and Elle Fanning co-star, and filmmaker Sofia Coppola just won the Best Director award from Cannes, making her the second female recipient in history.
Photo: Focus Features
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The Big Sick (June 23)
A young couple is tested when, shortly after their break-up, she falls extremely ill. The acclaimed romantic comedy was co-written by Kumail Nanjiani (who also stars) and Emily V. Gordon, who based the screenplay the story of their own relationship.
Photo: Lionsgate
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The B-Side: Elsa Dorfman's Portrait Photography (June 30)
The latest documentary from celebrated filmmaker Errol Morris takes a look at Elsa Dorfman, a portrait photographer who uses a rare, gigantic Polaroid camera.
Photo: Neon
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The Little Hours (June 30)
A young, handsome man has to take refuge in a nunnery in the Middle Ages, but the nuns are not what he expected at all. Dave Franco, Alison Brie, Aubrey Plaza and John C. Reilly star.
Photo: Gunpowder & Sky
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13 Minutes (June 30)
In 1939, Johann Georg Else attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler, but the bomb went off 13 minutes too late, and killed civilians instead. His story is told by Oliver Hirschbiegel, who previously directed the acclaimed Adolf Hitler biopic Downfall.
Photo: Sony Pictures Classics
