Film

Sunday

A British actress mistakes a homeless man for a celebrated film director and pursues him for career guidance. What unfolds is a delicate, meandering character study about loneliness, desire, and the stories we tell ourselves to survive. It's contemplative and quietly strange, more interested in mood than plot—a film that asks what we owe each other when everything is assumed.

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy quiet, talky films where a case of mistaken identity becomes a gentle study of vanity, loneliness and the odd kindness of strangers.

Skip it if you need brisk plotting or a clear comic payoff, because this one moves at a loose, unhurried pace and its humour stays mostly wry and muted.

What it asks of you: Roughly ninety minutes with little plot pressure and long quiet stretches where conversation does the work, so settle in and let scenes breathe.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Secrets & Lies1996

Mike Leigh's ensemble drama about a Black woman meeting her white birth mother for the first time. It's achingly human, funny without being safe, and finds profound emotional truth in ordinary interactions between people.

But It's nearly three hours of difficult family conversations. If you prefer plot momentum to psychological texture, it will feel slow and repetitive.

Secrets & Lies poster

In the Mood for Love2000

Wong Kar-wai's masterpiece about two strangers who suspect their spouses are having an affair. Exquisitely composed, achingly romantic, and entirely about internal emotion rather than external action.

But It's extremely slow and stylised to the point of abstraction. If you need narrative momentum or dialogue to carry a film, the visual poetry alone may not sustain you.

In the Mood for Love poster

The Remains of the Day1993

Anthony Hopkins as a butler who realises too late what he sacrificed for duty and service. Quietly devastating, perfectly acted, a meditation on regret and the lives we don't live.

But It moves at a stately pace and its emotional climax is deliberately muted. Some find the restraint moving; others find it emotionally distant.

The Remains of the Day poster

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

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Night Listener2006

Both films are built on mistaken identity and projection—we meet someone and imagine who they might be rather than seeing who they are. Both favour interiority and mood over explanation.

A woman called repeatedly by a stranger begins to imagine who he is and what he wants. It's a chamber piece about loneliness, projection, and connection mediated through distance—structured almost like a two-hander despite taking place primarily over the phone.

But It's literally a woman on a phone for much of the film. The entire drama is internal and vocal; if you need visual variety or external action, this will feel constrictingly static.

The Night Listener poster
More like this (7)

Stalker1979

Tarkovsky's hypnotic science-fiction parable about a guide leading two men through a mysterious zone. Profound, meditative, asking fundamental questions about desire and what we truly want.

But It's 163 minutes of philosophical inquiry with minimal plot or dialogue. If you need conventional narrative satisfaction, this will test your patience severely.

Stalker poster

The Sweet Hereafter1997

Atom Egoyan's fragmented narrative about grief and loss after a school bus tragedy. Structurally ambitious, genuinely moving, and completely uninterested in easy answers or catharsis.

But The non-linear storytelling can feel deliberately opaque. It requires active attention and rewards interpretation rather than providing clear emotional beats.

The Sweet Hereafter poster

Gerry2002

Gus Van Sant's experimental portrait of two young men getting lost on a hiking trip. Beautifully shot, philosophically rich, and hypnotic in its commitment to observing rather than explaining.

But Almost nothing happens. Long static shots and minimal dialogue mean it's closer to visual art than traditional cinema. Many find it tedious rather than meditative.

Gerry poster

Safe1995

Todd Haynes' unsettling portrait of a woman experiencing mysterious environmental illness in an increasingly alienated world. Uniquely disorienting, formally accomplished, and genuinely unsettling.

But It's deliberately uncomfortable and the ambiguity about whether the illness is real or psychological will frustrate viewers seeking clear answers or resolution.

Safe poster

Upstream Color2013

Shane Carruth's hermetic mystery about two strangers linked by a parasitic conspiracy. Formally daring, genuinely strange, and rewards active interpretation and repeated viewings.

But It's cryptic to the point of opacity. If you expect a film to clearly explain its narrative and meaning, you'll likely walk away frustrated and confused.

Upstream Color poster

In a World...2013

Both centre on performers chasing validation from someone they mistake for authority. Both are interested in what hunger for recognition does to a person, and how it distorts perception.

Lake Bell's sardonic comedy about a struggling voice actress desperate for industry recognition from her famous father. It's funny, tender, and genuinely interested in minor people wanting small impossible things.

But It's a micro-budget indie with no stars and a patchwork tone. Some scenes miss; the film sometimes doesn't know if it's comedy or drama, which can feel unfocused rather than refreshingly unpredictable.

In a World... poster

Play2005

Like *Sunday*, it's fundamentally about encountering strangers and the stories we project onto them. It's a mirror to *Sunday*'s narrative—where that film asks what strangers owe each other, *Play* asks what we owe to the strangers we observe without their knowledge.

A completely wordless 90-minute film in which a stranger walks through Liverpool and is filmed by three different cameramen from three different angles simultaneously. An avant-garde meditation on surveillance, presence, and what it means to move through public space.

But There is literally no dialogue, no plot, and no conventional narrative reason to watch it. For most viewers, it will feel like a formal exercise rather than an experience designed to move or entertain.

Play poster

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