Annual Top Films Lists

Top 100 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2018: #68. Jessica Hausner’s Little Joe

Published on January 2, 2018

Little Joe

Austrian director Jessica Hausner is busy working on her fifth feature, Little Joe, which details the story of a mother and son who fall under the spell of a mutated plant that’s able to influence the behavior and perception of humans and animals. What sounds a little bit like the classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers should see Hausner return to the psychological genre roots which graced her underrated 2004 feature Hotel. It’s already been four years since Hausner’s last film, the exquisite dark comedy period piece Amour Fou (read review). Hopefully casting announcements will be made in the first quarter.

Release Date/Prediction: Hausner broke into Un Certain Regard at Cannes with her 2001 debut Lovely Rita. She’s since returned to the sidebar twice more, with 2004’s Hotel and 2014’s Amour Fou. Her excellent third feature, 2009’s Lourdes competed in Venice, where it won several awards, including the FIPRESCI Prize. Little Joe has been slated to film in Spring 2018, so the earliest we can expect to see it would be Venice 2018.

Related Topics:2018 Most Anticipated Foreign Films List, Jessica Hausner, Little Joe, top-stories

Nicholas Bell

Los Angeles based Nicholas Bell is IONCINEMA.com's Chief Film Critic and covers film festivals such as Sundance, Berlin, Cannes and TIFF. He is part of the critic groups on Rotten Tomatoes, The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and GALECA. His top 3 for 2021: France (Bruno Dumont), Passing (Rebecca Hall) and Nightmare Alley (Guillermo Del Toro). He was a jury member at the 2019 Cleveland International Film Festival.