IONCINEMA.com’s Top 3 Critics’ Picks offers a curated approach to the usual quandary: what would you recommend I see in theaters this month? Sight unseen, this April we have the highly anticipated (and earning mixed reviews) The Drama that the A24 folks are opening wide and choose not to go the film festival route — a bold move since Kristoffer Borgli saw his first two features premiere at A list fests with calling card Sick of Myself (2022) hitting the Croisette in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section, while Dream Scenario (2023) was showcased in the Platform section at TIFF. This month we find three solid offerings. With have micro American indie with Omaha — a directorial debut by Cole Webley that premiered in Sundance in 2025. We have a return to form for Gabriel Mascaro with Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize in 2025 with The Blue Trail, and finally, we have François Ozon who never ceases to amaze us with his film per year output with an enticing film we caught at the Venice Film Festival last year. The Stranger just picked up a César award last week for Best Supporting actor for Pierre Lottin (it was nominated for Best Film, Best Cinematography and Best Actor (Benjamin Voisin).
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The Blue Trail (O Último Azul) – Gabriel Mascaro
April 3rd – Limited Release
Distributor: Dekanalog
Fests: 2025 Berlin International Film Festival, 2025 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, 2025 Toronto International Film Festival.
“What’s remarkable about The Blue Trail and makes it such a delight is that despite all the oppression in the air, it’s a movie filled with hope and faith in human resilience at any age. The closing image will make your heart soar. And no, it’s not the one you were expecting.” – David Rooney for The Hollywood Reporter
“The Blue Trail successfully avoids the traps of winsome impishness that so often affect stories about fights for late-life independence, which can easily play out as condescending despite best intentions.” – Jonathan Romney for Screen Daily
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The Stranger (L’Étranger) – François Ozon
April 3rd – Limited Release
Distributor: Music Box Films (official site)
Fests: 2025 Venice Film Festival, 2025 San Sebastián International Film Festival, 2026 International Film Festival Rotterdam
“…stunningly high-contrast black-and-white images (lensed by Belgian cinematographer Manu Dacosse, Evolution) that convey the author’s eye for immersive detail, plunging us into a Mediterranean world of sea, sex and sun that’s enchanting until it becomes unbearable, like an open-air prison that eventually turns into a real one.” – Jordan Mintzer for The Hollywood Reporter
“The major achievement of Ozon’s film is to adapt literature without literalizing (there are just two snatches of narration that are directly lifted from source), and to honor the novel’s mystery without trying to solve it. ” – Jessica Kiang for Variety
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Omaha – Cole Webley
April 24th – Limited Release
Distributor: Greenwich (official site)
Fests: 2025 Sundance Film Festival, 2025 Newport Beach International Film Festival, 2025 Deauville American Film Festival
“…is powerful and ultimately depressing as all hell, there is a faint, faint, faint glimmer of hope. If not for the world around us, at least for the people in it.” – William Bibbiani for TheWrap
“Gentle to a fault, the drama for much of its running time has a weightlessness familiar from many Sundance movies, an impression amplified in the delicate score by Christopher Bear, formerly of the indie rock band Grizzly Bear, and in a sprinkling of hushed vocal tracks.” – David Rooney for The Hollywood Reporter