10 Movies to Watch in March

      The lengthy awards season has finally concluded, but that's not the sole reason to celebrate this month. With my current top pick for the best film of 2026 leading the charge, there are numerous new releases on the horizon, including an audacious formal experiment, a contentious festival debut, a space odyssey, and much more.

      10. undertone (Ian Tuason; March 13)

      After generating excitement at its premieres in Fantasia Festival and Sundance, A24 is anticipating a horror hit with Ian Tuason’s *undertone*. In his review, Caleb Hammond states, “Whether it’s a shot of an empty hallway at night or a door frame with a wooden cross, *undertone* captures visual dread through its deep understanding of what a liminal space entails. Identifying exactly what makes these shots unsettling can be tricky—they just invoke unease. Much like Ti West’s *House of the Devil* drew from ’80s satanic panic to deliver scares, the religious symbolism in *undertone* primarily serves mood-building, though it feels somewhat superficial. Yet, its strong atmosphere and the presence of scares might be sufficient. With its inventive use of budget constraints and a genuine talent for eerie visuals, *undertone* emerges as an exciting debut for Tuason and his team. It also highlights that a distribution pipeline exists where festival-discovered films, despite limited exposure, receive additional funding and wider platforms.”

      9. A Magnificent Life (Sylvain Chomet; March 27)

      Having reached audiences globally through the animated opening of *Joker: Folie à Deux*, Sylvain Chomet makes his official return, 16 years after his last feature, *The Illusionist*. Savina Petkova noted in her review, “As is typical with biopics, *A Magnificent Life* honors its subject, but this film particularly frames Pagnol as a man in step with his era, embracing the film medium when his theater peers were hesitant. The second half focuses on cinema and Pagnol’s love for it—his collaborations with Hollywood and Paramount Studios presented in a grounded, likely accurate fashion. At this stage, the more fairy-tale-like elements give way to serious business discussions, highlighting both the delights and pressures of filmmaking. As a bonus, some films Pagnol directed appear in the animated world as a live-action clip on a television.”

      8. Project Hail Mary (Phil Lord and Chris Miller; March 20)

      Though the studio releases thus far have been pleasantly surprising, with titles like *28 Years Later: The Bone Temple* and *Send Help*, early buzz suggests that the most celebrated major release of 2026 will be the first formal directorial collaboration between Phil Lord and Chris Miller since 2014’s *22 Jump Street*. Featuring Ryan Gosling, Sandra Hüller, Lionel Boyce, Ken Leung, and Milana Vayntrub, this adaptation of Andy Weir’s entertaining novel will arrive in just a few weeks.

      7. John Lilly and the Earth Coincidence Control Office (Michael Almereyda and Courtney Stephens; March 27)

      Michael Almereyda and Courtney Stephens present a captivating new documentary delving into the unusual life and career of utopian neuroscientist John C. Lilly. Leonardo Goi discussed in his review, “The first time I encountered John C. Lilly’s name, I was—rather fittingly, for reasons that will soon become evident—not fully sober. Late one night, returning from a housewarming party, my YouTube feed suggested a video about an American scientist who dedicated his life to communicating with dolphins, a lifelong obsession that led him to some unbelievable acts, including flooding his beachfront home and inviting dolphins as roommates, one of whom developed a fixation on his research associate. While there may be other portrayals of Lilly lurking in obscure corners of the internet, Michael Almereyda and Courtney Stephens’ *John Lilly and the Earth Coincidence Control Office* stands out because Lilly isn’t the sole focal point of the documentary. His experiments with interspecies communication take a backseat to the larger discourses they pertain to, making *Earth Coincidence* more a study of tumultuous decades in US history and the permeation of even the most absurd ideas into culture.”

      6. Two Prosecutors (Sergei Loznitsa; March 20)

      Sergei Loznitsa returned to the festival circuit last year with some of his most acclaimed work to date, and the Cannes premiere *Two Prosecutors* will now be released in the U.S. this month. Leonardo Goi noted in his review, “When *Donbass* debuted in 2018, positioned between the onset of the 2014 Russian-backed conflict in that eastern Ukrainian region and the full-scale invasion that followed four years later, Loznitsa’s camera captured a surreal, decaying wasteland. The film wasn't exactly prophetic about the subsequent atrocities across