This past Thursday was the final day of the 12th annual Chicago Critics Film Festival. This is the first film festival I’ve ever gotten the opportunity to attend as press. I had the opportunity to watch a lot of great movies, talk to a couple of filmmakers and ask questions, generally meet a lot of wonderful writers and artists, and watch a lot of great movies.

The Recurring Themes

Lots of Laughing: A lot of filmmakers are finding humor in places you wouldn't expect. It Ends starts as horror and ends in facing existential truths and coming of age, but there's a lot of laughter along the road despite initial expectations. Sorry, Baby is achingly funny. Eva Victor's comedy background allows her to fit in some incredible comedic moments while exploring how you heal and move forward from trauma once the rest of the world seems to have already left without you. Twinless is a dark comedy that opens with a funeral scene, toeing the line between sentimentality, grief, and hilarity across its runtime. And then of course a lot of other movies are just straight up funny. Friendship is nothing but gags and bits with a great collaboration between Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd. Baltimorons is a Christmas Eve comedy with an impeccable comedic performance from Michael Strassner.

Messy Male Friendships: Maybe it's all this talk of the "male loneliness epidemic" in the air, but it seems many of the films circling around right now seem to be exploring fraught connections between 2 people as boundaries are crossed and lines are blurred, particularly between 2 men. Lurker explores parasocial relationships between artist and fan that goes into very dark territory. Twinless once again sees two men start a bromance under unique circumstances, before giving way to a secret that creates a tumultuous relationship. Friendship also shows a man who tries way too hard to make a friend, leading his life and the lives of those around him to ruin.

Amidst the 15+ films I saw over the course of the 7 day festival, here are my favorite films that I would recommend seeing once they’re available at a theater near you:

Lurker dir. Alex Russell (2025)

Before Lurker, Alex Russell was a producer on both the television shows Beef and The Bear. This really explains why Lurker was such a stressful experience. The film tells the story of a twenty-something retail clerk named Matthew, who secretly manages to weasel his way into the inner circle of a rising pop star named Oliver. Matthew has been a fan of Oliver’s work for some time now, but he lies and hides his parasocial obsession until he’s too close for things not to get messy. The film’s central protagonist and general tone feels very reminiscent of a film like Nightcrawler, where as an audience we aren’t so much watching a cautionary tale but rather are uncomfortable voyeurs into the accepted realities that certain kinds of people live through.

As the boundaries between fan and friend dissolve, the film creates some incredibly effective unsettling moments in the later half that will make your stomach drop. Where this film ends leaves you with a lot to think and feel bad about. The only thing I knew going in was that Zack Fox and Havana Rose Liu are both in it, and they are wonderful. I left deeply impressed by this directorial debut.

Lurker is scheduled to be released August 22nd, 2025. Check this one out.

Twinless dir. James Sweeney (2025)

That's a Winston Churchill quote, but Roman (Dylan O'Brien) doesn't know that at first when he says it. He has other things to be thinking about, he just lost his identical twin brother (also played by Dylan O'Brien) and now everyone in the midst of their grief sees Roman as a ghost, including himself.

Twinless tells the story of two young men who form a bromantic connection after finding each other at a support group for twins who have lost their identical sibling. Alongside the brilliant premise, the film's plot goes into some unexpected but welcomed directions and features a career best performance from O'Brien. While he's been a relevant actor for some time now, O'Brien's performance as both twins in this film shows that he has so much more nuance and talent up his sleeve. Co-star James Sweeney does an incredible job in his performance of Dennis. He also wrote and directed the film, and knocked it out of the park while doing this trifecta. Sweeney's voice on the page and on screen is incredibly distinct, combining dark comedy and hilarious gags with a tender portrayal of grief that tugs at the heart strings when it counts.

Twinless is a film about the loss of identity that happens when you lose those you love, especially for twins but also for all of us, and the ways we look to the world for other people who might be imperfect puzzle pieces that can complete us even while they have their own jagged edges. The film has the charm and off the wall humor of those 2000s movies that everyone loves, while never losing the thoughtfulness needed to handle its subject matter.

Twinless releases September 5th, 2025.

It Ends dir. Alexander Ullom (2025)

"If you're going through hell, keep going," is also a quote that could be applied to It Ends. In the days since I’ve seen it, I’ve continued to find myself impressed by the film’s narrative turns and how it takes interesting detours that I wouldn’t expect given its initial premise of a horror movie in a car. The type of movie that shows some very interesting sensibilities from an up and coming young director, and very impressive for a debut feature.

You can read more of my thoughts about It Ends here. 

Sorry, Baby dir. Eva Victor (2025)

After the screening for this film ended, I remember thinking how much I wanted to immediately watch Sorry, Baby again, to live with these characters a little longer amidst their laughter and their aches. I still feel that way days later, and find myself tearing up as I remember certain scenes. Eva Victor has taken the experience of violence and managed to turn around and craft something beautiful with this film. “Special” doesn’t even begin to describe what a meaningful achievement this film is. I’ve only grown more fond of Sorry, Baby in the days since I’ve seen it, and will continue to in the weeks, months, and years to come. A film that stays by your side through it all like a good friend. Sorry, Baby also won the audience choice award at CCFF, a well deserved achievement and an exciting beginning to this film’s journey to audiences everywhere.

Read my full review of Sorry, Baby here. Reminder that this film releases June 27th, 2025, and you should go see this in a theater as soon as you get the chance to.

Friendship dir. Andrew DeYoung (2024)

A film about a suburban man who just can't resist Paul Rudd. Friendship is effectively a 100 minute long series of sketches from Tim Robinson's I Think You Should Leave. The film stars Paul Rudd and Tim Robinson as Austin Carmichael and Craig Waterman. Craig wants to be besties with Austin but, well, he's a Tim Robinson character. While the film is pretty narratively loose and never really goes beyond the promise of a sketch continuum, they are damn good sketches. I could not stop laughing for its entire runtime, with the film's gags and creative callbacks being nothing short of hilarious. Tim Robinson run-walking in an oversized coat that he says "fits him perfectly" is an amazing comedic image. Also, poor Jimp.

Friendship has a limited release that officially began May 9th, 2025. It is scheduled to open wide on May 23rd.

OBEX dir. Albert Birney (2025)

Albert Birney’s surreal and dreamlike film is such a unique experience that I’ve only grown more obsessed with since I’ve watched it. It very much feels like it was tailor made to my interests as someone who has been playing video games my whole life and was obsessed with internet horror stories in my early childhood. The film blends reality with fantasy and has such a distinct visual language, that even though I can place many of the film’s influences, it feels so individual in its presentation. If you’re fan of the video game Inscryption, you should watch OBEX (and vice versa).

Read more of my thoughts on OBEX here. 

Familiar Touch dir. Sarah Friedland (2024)

As we lose things in our mind, there are things that we continue to remember in our bodies. Aging can splinter and fracture our memories as if we’re seeing them through moving pool water, or create a hazy fog in our minds like looking at something through a translucent shower curtain. Familiar Touch is a coming of (old) age film about a woman named Ruth who must concede to her aging mind and transition to assisted living as a result. The film explores her conflicting desires, her identity, and her understanding of herself versus the narratives other people have of her.

This was a lovely and quiet film that uses such subtlety and formal control to effectively tell a story about what happens when every waking moment is truly one where you live in the present because your mind no longer recognizes things as past or future. Ruth is played by the legendary Kathleen Chalfant, who does a brilliant job portraying the multiple “selves” of someone whose identity has existed for so many years, and is simultaneously no age and every age while moving through a swirl of experiences.

This film reminds me of something I feel very strongly about, which is that we need more films that explore what being alive is like in the later years of the human lifespan, and Familiar Touch explores this subject matter with such grace and respect for the humanity of people on the fringes of adult age. Ageism is so ingrained in our culture that we’ve somehow forgotten that getting older is literally one of the most normal things that happens to us, and instead of recognizing and simply accepting that getting older is just the natural way things go, we see it as a sort of failure of our minds and bodies for them to begin to forget things or to develop wrinkles or whatever else. Coming of age is often relegated to youthful times, but we never stop “coming of age". We are constantly developing into new versions of ourselves. Familiar Touch tenderly shows us how experience endures, even as the mind changes.

Familiar Touch is scheduled to release June 20th, 2025. This is another special one you don’t want to miss.