Vertical opens Olivier Assayas’ political thriller The Wizard of the Kremlin, delving into the Byzantine politics of post-Soviet Russia and the rise to power of Vladimir Putin, on 582 screens. It stars Jude Law as Putin, a cold-blooded, ruthlessly power-hungry KGB agent. Paul Dano is spin doctor and adviser Vadim Baranov, a fictitious character loosely inspired by real-life Russian politician Vladislav Surkov.
Premiered at Venice, see Deadline review, going on to screen at TIFF, San Sebastian and BFI London. Adapted by Assayas and Emmanuel Carrère from the 2022 novel by Giuliano da Empoli.
Alicia Vikander plays Baranov’s wife Ksenia, and Tom Sturridge is a banker and oligarch based on former oil and gas baron Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who was jailed after challenging Putin’s grip on power. Also stars Will Keen as late oligarch Boris Berezovsky, who died under suspicious circumstances while in exile in London, and Jeffrey Wright as an American journalist in Moscow and the narrator.
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The film is timely given the current geopolitical state of the world. Reviewing for Deadline, Damon Wise notes the implicit warning, writing, “Fascism is an easy word to bandy about, and The Wizard of the Kremlin is not about that; it’s about the modern concept of fake democracy, which is something much more toxic and concerning.”
Cyber-heist thriller LifeHack by Ronan Corrigan is out on 274 screens via Iconic Events and Triple Media Film. Nominated for a pair of British Independent Film Awards after its SXSW 2025 premiere, it’s 97% on Rotten Tomatoes off 29 reviews, see Deadline’s here. Michael Fassbender executive produces the directorial debut of Corrigan, who penned the screenplay with Hope Elliot Kemp.
Inspired by true events, LifeHack follows Kyle and his crew of digital Robin Hoods who hack scammers and steal from people the internet loves to hate, working from the comfort of their bedrooms. But when they go after a notorious crypto billionaire, their biggest cyber heist forces them into a world where payback is no longer virtual. From production company Screenlife Liverpool, which specializes in stories that unfold entirely on digital devices, LifeHack stars Georgie Farmer (Wednesday), Yasmin Finney (Heartstopper), Roman Hayeck-Green (Sex Education), James Scholz and Jessica Reynolds (Kneecap, Outlander).
GKids debuts darkly comedic Spanish animated fantasy Decorado by Albert Vazquez, based on the director’s 2016 short film, on circa 100 screens, including the IFC Center in NYC.
Set in the city of Anywhere, where something is definitely wrong, and Arnold, an unemployed middle-aged mouse, suspects his entire world is nothing more than a set and his life a scripted performance. When his best friend Ramiro dies under mysterious circumstances, he unearths a giant corporate conspiracy. Premiered at Fantastic Fest and Sitges and won the Goya Award for Best Animated Film.
Utopia’s Circle Collective opens SXSW-premiering dark comedy Forge at L.A.’s Landmark Nuart for a weeklong run, followed by the Quad in New York starting May 22. The directorial debut of Jing Ai Ng, the Miami-set art crime caper stars Andie Ju (Beef) and Brandon Soo Hoo (Tropic Thunder) as two siblings running an art forgery ring who land a big client in disgraced millionaire Holden Beaumont (Edmund Donovan). Sensing an opportunity to make a fortune, Holden convinces the Zhangs to forge long-lost masterpieces as a front for his family’s collection. But FBI Art Crimes agent Emily Lee (Kelly Marie Tran) is on the case and, as she continues to investigate the siblings, their lives converge to devastating effect in the Zhang family dim sum restaurant.
Outsider Pictures is bringing Ferzan Ozpetek’s 2025 Italian box office hit Diamonds to three screens, the Angelika in NYC, Coral Gables in Miami and North Park in Buffalo, NY. Opens in L.A. on May 22, along with Marin and Burns Court in Sarasota, FL. A film director gathers 18 favorite and famous actresses for a reading of a film within a film set in the 1970s at a prestigious Roman atelier amid rolls of fabric, buttons, trims and lace. The Canova sisters (Luisa Ranieri and Jasmine Trinca) and head seamstress (Paola Minaccioni) hustle to fill a rush costume order for a major movie as their lives intertwine with workers, relatives, screen divas and the other women who populate the film.
Greenwich Entertainment opens Katie Aselton’s romantic drama Magic Hour at the IFC Center in New York. An exclusive L.A. run at Landmark Nuart starts May 22 with an expansion to follow. Aselton wrote the screenplay with Mark Duplass and also stars with Daveed Diggs as Erin and Charlie, a couple who escape to the desert to navigate an unexpected and challenging new phase of their relationship. Premiered at SXSW 2025.
David Usui’s Been Here Stay Here opens at the Quad with extensive Q&As. Adds Laemmle L.A. on May 27 before expanding. At the intersection of climate and faith, the documentary brings audiences inside one of the most isolated communities in America, a conservative Christian fishing town on a remote island in the Chesapeake Bay fighting to hold on as the land beneath them disappears.
Premiered at IDFA. Usui, a director and cinematographer, is the co-director of In Transit, the award-winning final film from Albert Maysles. Been Here Stay Here is in the tradition of the Maysles Brothers, D.A. Pennebaker and Frederick Wiseman, filmed with a quiet, vérité approach.