A very unfunny family history is spun into brilliant comedy from co-directors Samy Burch and Alex Mechanik. They begin with a doozy of a premise and keep pushing. When it all comes together, it feels like a wallop, but it’s largely packaged as a deadpan farce about a group therapy session. Bev is...

Two grown men compete to be the most childish at a friend’s birthday party. Director Tynan Delong, known for his gloriously adolescent dispatches from Brooklyn apartments, has crafted his most adolescent yet, aimed directly at the stupid teenage boy in all of us. (If you don’t have that side, I w...

A goofy buddy comedy with a language of its own, uniquely disarming and oddly hilarious. As an expression of their friendship, two young roommates — Ronnie and Darnell — meet in their living room one night a week to give each other a hug. So explains Darnell via his “little radio show” recorded i...

When Nina fails to meet her goal in the final week of weight loss camp, she considers drastic alternatives. “Bye Bye Body,” directed by Charlotte Benbeniste, is a tender snapshot about body image and self-esteem delivered with wonderfully natural performances and lovely 35mm images. At a weigh-in...

Quarantining lovers are forced to face a new reality. “Beautiful!”, made by and starring Liv Layhee and Caydon LiRocchi, is an intimate snapshot of a young couple dealing with the possibility of pregnancy. Shot on VHS, the film captures the real-life couple (and filmmaking team) through an emotio...

After being abandoned at a rehab by her mother, young Bea is forced to evade authority figures and fend for herself. Kerry O’Neill directs “Bea at Rehab,” a tense drama that tracks a girl and her at-the-moment surrogate mother through a desperate whirlwind of a day. To hide her presence at the fa...

A biracial girl caught between worlds prepares for her Bat Mitzvah and adulthood. Radiating with warmth and lived-in specificity, “Broken Bird,” directed by Rachel Harrison Gordon, is a tender coming-of-age drama about a divided upbringing. Birdie has reached a vulnerable age of anxiety and self-...

The story of an asthmatic misanthropic bicycle enthusiast named Derek and his sensitive all-american sitcom-loving cousin Bruno. Directed by Sam Goetz.