When Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) is tasked with leading one of the world's most secretive and ancient events, selecting a new Pope, he finds himself at the center of a conspiracy that could shake the very foundation of The Church.

Adapted from Robert Harris’s 2016 novel, Conclave solemnly depicts the ornate rituals around the death of the Pope, with only a slight nod to the sheer pointlessness of it all. It means something to these men, and that’s enough. Director Edward Berger (All Quiet on the Western Front) has crafted a film with brisk, page-turning allure, juicy intrigue and mystery.

In Mexico, a lawyer (Zoe Saldana) receives an unexpected offer to help a feared cartel boss (Karla Sofía Gascón) retire from his business and disappear forever by becoming the woman he's always dreamed of being.

Emilia Pérez is a story of trans identity and embracing oneself. It is also a parable of forgiveness, an opera, a redemption narrative, and a cartel thriller. Writer/director Jacques Audiard (The Sisters Brothers) has created visually dazzling, ambitious, provocative, big swing of a picture.

Anora (Mikey Madison) a young sex worker from Brooklyn, meets and impulsively marries the son of an oligarch (Paul Weissman). Once the news reaches Russia, her fairytale is threatened as the parents set out for New York to get the marriage annulled.

With movies like The Florida Project andTangerine, writer/director Sean Baker has shown an acute understanding of what it means to be down and out. Baker’s movies are attuned to class and privilege, existing on the edges of an America rarely captured on film. In Anora, he pushes the comedy, but the injustice of it all is plain as day. You won’t root harder for another character this year.

Two young missionaries (Sophie Thatcher, Chloe East) become ensnared in a deadly game of cat and mouse when they knock on the door of the diabolical Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant). Trapped in his home, they must turn to their faith if they want to make it out alive.

Set almost entirely in a series of rooms in a Very Bad House, Heretic is dark and nasty and cerebral, but it also never forgets to be a good time at the movies. Writer/directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods (A Quiet Place, 65) make use of their limited locations to strangle the audience, bringing their cameras into suffocating extreme close-ups to emphasize the impossibility of escape.