17 Favorite Films from 2015

A punk rock band's lives change forever when they witness a violent incident at a skinhead bar, forcing them to fight for their own survival.

One summer day, a boy hears bells ringing in the mountains near his home. Years later, the mushishi Ginko finds a young girl in the same mountains with branches and leaves growing from her. He discovers she is the mountain's…

A struggling director is challenged by a producer: find the most convincing, Oscar-worthy expression of pain within 48 hours, or the film won't get funding.

A Japanese girl having trouble adjusting to her new school finds an unlikely ally in a withdrawn neighbor. Together, they investigate the disappearance of an older student whose vanishing was shrouded in mystery.

For five years in Bridgend, Wales, 79 people, many of them teenagers, died by suicide with no apparent reason. This is the basis for this unsettling social drama.

In late 1980s Romania under Ceausescu's rule, a black market VHS bootlegger and a brave translator shared Western films with Romanians, helping to inspire the revolution.

Three teenagers spend their vacation together by a lake, navigating the complexities of growing up.

A group of bounty hunters seeking refuge from a severe blizzard find themselves embroiled in a scheme of betrayal and deceit.

In New York City, a young woman battling heroin addiction navigates the streets, seeking money for her next high. Her volatile boyfriend appears and disappears unpredictably throughout her life.

In the 1820s, frontiersman Hugh Glass is mauled by a bear and left for dead by his companions. He then embarks on a journey of revenge against those who abandoned him.

Seeking an escape from their ordinary lives, two teenage boys experiment with black magic and inadvertently awaken a powerful, ancient evil known as The Blind One.

Ichiko, a laid-back slacker, has a falling out with her sister and moves out to live independently, taking a late-night job at a discount store. Returning home one evening, she encounters Kano, a silent boxer who trains at a nearby…

A tunnel construction project endangers the natural balance of a remote region in Japan. An elderly man and his granddaughter Haruna, living a simple life, gradually affect the perspective of a man from Tokyo.

Driven by paranoia, petty con artist Marty goes on the run from his hometown, seeking refuge in dangerous Detroit. Armed with only counterfeit checks, his Power Glove, and a volatile temper, the horror metal enthusiast resorts to aggression.

Men & Chicken is a dark comedy about two estranged brothers who, upon discovering their hidden family, uncover a shocking truth about themselves and their relatives.

Rika Umezawa feels a growing emptiness in her daily life. She's overworked, her husband is distant, and she finds little joy. However, office rumors of infidelity and financial wrongdoing spark a dangerous idea in Rika's mind. She begins an affair…

With fewer samurai films being produced, Uzumasa studio is struggling. Veteran "kirareyaku" actor Kamiyama, who specializes in being defeated by the film's leading man, is asked to train the promising young actress Satsuki in sword fighting. Years later, after retiring,…