Film

Shark Week

Name: Shark Week
Cast: Bryce Hodgson, Enrico Colantoni, Allie Dunbar, Benjamin Blais, Claire Armstrong

Other titles called Shark Week: the 1988 series (Discovery).

Drama

A sun-baked character study following a burnt-out man on a skateboard through the city, retracing his steps to find his lost dog. It's a film about heat, aimlessness, and how the past keeps catching up with you. Quiet, contemplative, for anyone who's felt stuck and needed to move.

If you liked this

Lost River2015

Ryan Gosling's directorial debut about a woman and boy navigating decay in a dying neighbourhood. Visually hypnotic and emotionally strange, with the same sun-drunk, drifting mood as Shark Week.

But Deliberately opaque and dreamlike—if you want plot clarity or conventional narrative momentum, this will frustrate you.

Gerry2002

Gus Van Sant's masterpiece of two boys wandering through wilderness, barely speaking, until something irreversible happens. Perfect example of using location and time as character.

But Runs 110 minutes with minimal dialogue or incident. Tests patience in ways many find punishing rather than meditative.

First Reformed2018

Paul Schrader's portrait of a man in crisis, suffocating under guilt and stagnation. Builds dread through stillness and long takes. Shares Shark Week's claustrophobia in open air.

But Bleakly pessimistic and theologically dense—not a comfort watch, and some find its heaviness exhausting rather than cathartic.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Shark Week

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Scenes from a Marriage2021

Both use a single day (or day-like structure) to collapse past, present, and the possibility of change into one unbearable present moment. Both are really about men and their failures.

Bergman's six-episode masterwork excavates a relationship across years through conversation and silence. Uses time like Shark Week does—to show how people get stuck, revisit old wounds, fail to escape.

But Swedish, from 1973, and demanding—long scenes of people talking about their marriage read as slow and intimate or self-indulgent depending on your mood.

In the Mood for Love2000

Wong Kar-wai's ravishing film about two neighbours discovering their spouses are having an affair. Achingly beautiful and caught in amber, exploring how the past shapes the present.

But Deliberately slow and ornate, shot in extreme close-ups. More interested in feeling than plot, which bores many viewers.

Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles1976

Chantal Akerman's three-hour record of a woman's daily routines across three days. Uses time and repetition to excavate meaning from the ordinary and trapped.

But Three hours of someone doing housework with minimal plot. Requires active surrender; most people experience it as tedious rather than profound.

Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles poster

The Florida Project2017

Sean Baker's film set in budget motels near Disney World, following a child and struggling mother. Heartbreaking beauty found in economic collapse and precarity.

But Painful to watch in its depiction of poverty, and the ending's ambiguity may feel evasive rather than effective.

Mumford1999

Lawrence Kasdan's film about a therapist new to a small town, building relationships and confronting his own past. Warm, funny, and genuinely thoughtful about how people hurt each other.

But Moves slowly and deliberately; if you want snappy dialogue or plot twists, it feels like therapy itself—well-meaning but indulgent.

The Wrestler2008

Darren Aronofsky and Mickey Rourke on the decline of an aging performer trying to hold his life together. Physical, aching, and humanising without sentimentality.

But Repetitive and relentlessly bleak—you watch a man make the same mistakes until you can't bear it anymore.

Parable of the Sower

Both centre a protagonist in motion—physically moving through space—as a way of processing loss and seeking connection. Both ask what home means when home is gone.

The 2024 adaptation of Octavia Butler's novel follows a woman building community in a collapsing future. Visionary worldbuilding, but grounded in character and survival. That same sense of having to keep moving.

But Expensive sci-fi adaptation that demands patience; some find the slow-build pacing and non-linear storytelling frustrating.

The Burrowers2008

A man searching (literally, on horseback through the landscape) for what he's lost, only to discover the past is more complicated than he thought, and some losses can't be recovered.

J.T. Petty's prairie Western about men hunting creatures taking their families. Gorgeous, tense, morally complicated—and fundamentally about men pursuing something they may not understand or deserve to find.

But Slow Western-horror hybrid that subverts expectations in ways some find unsatisfying. Low budget and deliberately unglamorous.