Ben Is Back (2018)

 

A drug addicted teenage boy shows up unexpectedly at his family's home on Christmas Eve.  

Good ensemble drama provides some original ideas to tell the story of a family dealing with drug abusing child.

Lady Bird (2017)

In 2002, an artistically inclined seventeen-year-old girl comes of age in Sacramento, California.

Excellently executed movie about a mother-daughter drama made with cinematic sense and in good taste; Ronan and Metcalf are extraordinary.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)

A mother personally challenges the local authorities to solve her daughter's murder when they fail to catch the culprit.

Unusual, Western-like smalltown drama is well-staged, magnificently photographed and, above all, offers some extraordinary and convincing performances; however, the movie presents a view of rural America in which all protagonists operate on gut-level only without much intelligence and where law seems to be an irrelevant matter.

Manchester by the Sea (2016)

A depressed uncle is asked to take care of his teenage nephew after the boy's father dies.

Meticuluosly performed and produced slice-of-life drama, at times heart-wrenching, but also a bit drab, espacially as the plot keeps piling up the blows of fate.

The Zero Theorem (2013)

A hugely talented but socially isolated computer operator is tasked by Management to prove the Zero Theorem: that the universe ends as nothing, rendering life meaningless.

Intended as a dystopian satire with a message about the meaning of life the result is  haphazard, incohesive and finally disappointing; cast and visual effects are worth the watch, though.