January kicks off the year with a surprisingly rich mix of cinema — intimate indie dramas, ambitious literary adaptations, star-driven musical stories, and bold genre filmmaking. Whether you’re craving something emotionally resonant, quietly experimental, or unapologetically brutal, this month’s releases prove that the post-holiday lull is anything but dull.
Here are the standout films to have on your radar.
No Time For Goodbye
Two young Hongkongers seeking asylum in Britain find solace in each other as they confront loss, fear, and an uncertain future. Directed by Don Ng in his debut feature, No Time For Goodbye is a tender, socially urgent drama that explores displacement, resilience, and the fragile hope that emerges in exile. Told with intimacy and restraint, the film focuses on the human cost of migration rather than political spectacle, offering a quietly powerful portrait of survival and connection.
Song Sung Blue
Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson star as Mike and Claire Sardina, the real-life couple behind Lightning & Thunder, a Neil Diamond tribute band that found unexpected success. Directed by Craig Brewer, Song Sung Blue charts their journey from struggling musicians to beloved performers, blending romance, heartbreak, and the redemptive power of music. Anchored by warm performances and crowd-pleasing musical numbers, it’s a feel-good biographical drama with emotional depth beneath the shine.
Hamnet
Chloé Zhao adapts Maggie O’Farrell’s acclaimed novel into an emotionally devastating meditation on grief, love, and legacy. Centered on the death of Shakespeare’s young son Hamnet, the film follows Agnes as she navigates unbearable loss while her husband channels his sorrow into creative immortality. Refusing easy catharsis, Hamnet treats grief not as something to overcome, but as a force that reshapes memory, marriage, and art itself.
Rental Family
Set in modern-day Tokyo, Rental Family stars Brendan Fraser as an American actor adrift in life who takes a job working for a Japanese “rental family” agency, playing stand-in roles for strangers. As performance begins to blur into reality, he forms genuine connections that force him to reconsider identity, purpose, and belonging. Gentle, humane, and quietly affecting, the film finds beauty in chosen family and unexpected intimacy.
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
Directed by Nia DaCosta, this continuation of the 28 franchise expands the post-apocalyptic world in unsettling new directions. As survivors grapple with shifting power dynamics, Dr. Kelson and Spike find themselves entangled in relationships and conflicts more disturbing than the infected themselves. The Bone Temple reframes the series’ horror, suggesting that the true danger lies not in the virus — but in what people become after surviving it.
Mercy
Chris Pratt stars in this high-concept sci-fi thriller set in the near future, where crime is virtually eliminated thanks to a controversial justice system that predicts guilt before it happens. When a detective finds himself accused of a murder he insists he hasn’t committed, he has just hours to prove his innocence in a world that no longer believes in due process.
Directed by Timur Bekmambetov, Mercy blends relentless pacing with provocative questions about surveillance, free will, and the cost of absolute security. Slick, tense, and morally thorny, it positions Pratt in a darker, more desperate role while tapping into anxieties about technology, justice, and who gets to decide the truth.
Primate
A tropical vacation turns into a brutal fight for survival when something ancient and savage emerges from the jungle. Primate strips survival horror down to its rawest elements, pitting humans against nature — and their own instincts — in a relentless descent into fear. Lean, vicious, and primal, it’s a reminder that civilization is a fragile illusion.
Shelter
Set on a remote Scottish island, Shelter follows a reclusive man whose isolation is shattered after he rescues a girl from the sea. When violence soon follows, he’s forced to confront both external threats and the ghosts of his past. Tense and atmospheric, the film uses its stark coastal setting to explore trauma, survival, and the cost of self-imposed solitude.