Four Films That Stayed with Me in August 2026

August was not the best moment for new releases in Germany. Some blockbusters still occupied most of the cinema screens, but I still found four movies that are worth mentioning.

This movie was my complete highlight of August. I went to the cinema after the good reactions it received at the Toronto Film Festival last year, and I am always curious about movies with animals at the centre of the film, like one of my favourite movies, EO (2022). Again, this movie has a factor that the spectator would not expect from a movie with a black hen at the centre of the poster.

It mixes topics like attraction, immigrants, motherhood and the Greek underworld. The plot is simple: a hen escapes from a poultry farm and ends up in the courtyard of a crumbling restaurant in Greece. From this beginning, the relationship between the animal and the humans around her becomes increasingly close, with funny, tragic and moving subplots developing around her.

Few times do I get an unforgettable cinematic experience, and this was one of them, with a film about the adventures of a hen. The editing and sound mix elevate many of the scenes, keeping me wondering about the animal trainers and how difficult it must have been to accomplish some of what we see on screen.

What surprised me the most is how the film uses this simple idea to talk about much more complex human situations. The hen observes a world of love, motherhood, greed and migration without understanding the human conflicts around her. Somehow, the fact that we see everything through the animal makes some of these situations even more powerful.

It was completely unexpected, but Hen became my favourite film of the month.

I read about this movie when it premiered at Venice last year. There were not many enthusiastic comments around it, but the comparisons with Call Me by Your Name caught my attention. The film follows a teenager on a family holiday around the Danube as he reflects on his feelings, love and discovering his sexuality.

I was pleasantly surprised by this coming-of-age film, especially during the first hour. The connection between nature, the movement of the branches of the trees with the air and the movement of the river when swimming in it becomes a beautiful analogy for the feelings that the teenager starts experiencing: attraction to men, desire for the male body, doubts and the confusion inside him. Not because he is attracted to men, but because he does not know what he really wants.

The creation of the atmosphere is one of the strongest parts of the movie. Nature almost becomes another character, while the main character does not speak many words, but his expressions elevate the scenes and tell us what he is unable to say.

What did not work for me is the third act and especially the relationship with his brother. I found the family dynamics more realistic than the comparison with Call Me by Your Name suggested, but the brother, as someone who observes what the older brother is feeling, was a disappointment for me towards the end.

Still, I will wait for the next movie from Jaume Claret Muxart. I hope he continues exploring internal human feelings through the relationship between people and nature, because that was what interested me the most in Strange River.

The winner of the Queer Palm at Cannes this year, which was a particularly interesting result considering the number of acclaimed queer films and directors in the official selection. Jane Schoenbrun had already shown a very particular vision with I Saw the TV Glow, and their style is unique and deeply connected to queer identity, while also finding an interesting equilibrium between self-discovery and a dark comedy that sometimes borders on absurdity.

I was surprised by how much I laughed while watching this movie. At the same time, I felt that the jokes and the horror were not there only for entertainment. They also support the ideas behind the story: self-exploration, sexuality and discovering what sex means beyond the definitions and expectations that society gives us.

This was one of the movies from Cannes that I was especially happy to see continue its journey outside the festival. I am glad that a non-binary filmmaker like Schoenbrun was part of the Un Certain Regard selection and that an important prize such as the Queer Palm went to a movie focused on discovering yourself without following the rules established by society or what you think is supposed to be right for you.

I am not a video game fan, so I did not know how this movie was going to develop or how the concept of the original game would work as a film. That added to my curiosity and tension. The fact that I did not know where the movie was going kept me at the edge of my seat.

The concept is simple: a man gets lost in the subway and cannot find the way out. He then realises that, to reach Exit 8, he needs to follow a set of rules and carefully observe everything around him. If he notices an anomaly, he has to turn back. If he misses one, he starts again.

This is not horror based on blood, killing or gore. The key for the movie is the mental game it plays with the spectator, disturbing us through repetition and attention to detail, but at the same time introducing emotions connected to parenthood and how to overcome our biggest fears in life. Those fears are more emotional than the typical ones connected to our phobias.

I enjoyed the concept of the movie, understanding its rules and slowly discovering how the system works. It was also interesting to see how something that could have been purely entertaining starts becoming more emotional as the story progresses.

I feel that the last emotional scene did not close the story completely for me. Still, I understand that the movie wants to go further than pure entertainment, even if that was what initially attracted me to it. And for the most part, it succeeds.