Afire Is The Best Movie You Didn’t Get Around To Watching This Month
(Welcome to Under the Radar, a column where we spotlight specific movies, shows, trends, performances, or scenes that caught our eye and deserved more attention … but otherwise flew under the radar. In this edition: the pain of artistry takes centerstage in “Afire,” “Passages” breaks down all boundaries, and “They Cloned Tyrone” puts a sci-fi twist on the American dream.)
You’ve heard of Barbenheimer, the phenomenon currently sweeping the globe (and getting Warner Bros.’ social media team in trouble), but may I introduce you to Pass-afire? The one-two punch of director Ira Sach’s “Passages” and Christian Petzold’s “Afire” might not have the big-budget cachet of the two blockbuster behemoths currently duking it out in theaters, but this pair of shockingly complimentary character studies takes a much quieter, moodier, and thrillingly vibrant approach to dissecting much more relatable, everyday issues. Centered on two maddening artists who struggle mightily to articulate their wants and needs at any given moment, this double feature provides everything that certain moviegoing circles (lookin’ at you, Film Twitter!) claim they want: complicated characters, thoroughly adult ruminations over life and love with no easy answers, and, yes, a whole lot of horniness.
But that’s not all that July had to offer. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t be inclined to feature a Netflix original as an “under the radar” offering, but the famously finicky streamer doesn’t always bother to market their most exciting releases. That appears to be the case with “They Cloned Tyrone,” the John Boyega-starring genre flick that no longer even shows up on the main page. With these three movies, July went out on a high note and reaffirmed that, as WGA and SAG-AFTRA fight on for fair deals and living wages, it’s more important than ever to cherish the work of genuine, talented, and altogether human creatives.