Latest / Indie Film Weekly / 5 Indie Movies This Week: Rose of Nevada, Road to Everywhere, Old Joy & More

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5 Indie Movies This Week: Rose of Nevada, Road to Everywhere, Old Joy & More · Indie Film Weekly

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to Indie Film Weekly for the week of June 19th, 2026.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Glenn Reynolds.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: This week in theaters, we've got a Cornish time slip mystery about a fishing boat that returns 30 years after vanishing.
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  SPEAKER_00: We've got an LA cab driver taking the fare of a lifetime to the Navajo Nation.
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  SPEAKER_00: And we've got a sapphic coming of age romance about first love, summer heat, and the particular agony of realizing your feelings are not going away.
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  SPEAKER_00: Quick ask before we move on if you can see one of these films in a theater this weekend.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: Indie films do not get unlimited chances.
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  SPEAKER_00: And every opening week ticket is a little note to theaters saying, yes, keep showing this kind of thing.
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  SPEAKER_00: On demand, I'm revisiting a baseball hangout movie I covered earlier in theaters because it's now easy to rent and still a perfect little summer pig.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: And for our classic, we're celebrating a 20th anniversary Pacific Northwest Road movie about two old friends who no longer quite know how to talk to each other.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: Want the written version of these picks each week?
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: I also publish the Indie Film Weekly Newsletter.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's the same five films in a quick read.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: Sign up at newsletter.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: Let's dive in.
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  SPEAKER_00: Our first indie film in theaters this week is Rose of Nevada, directed by Mark Jenkin, this is a Cornish mystery, about a fishing vessel that disappeared at sea 30 years ago, then suddenly returns to harbor like it just missed a tide.
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  SPEAKER_00: The village is struggling, so the boat's reappearance feels less like a warning than a miracle.
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  SPEAKER_00: People want to believe it means luck is back.
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  SPEAKER_00: Maybe money, maybe a way forward.
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  SPEAKER_00: Two men join the new crew, Nick, who needs to provide for his young family, and Liam, a drifter, looking for a clean break from whatever he is carrying.
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  SPEAKER_00: George McKay and Callum Turner play them, and both fit this world of damp clothes, hard labor, and people making risky choices because the alternatives are worse.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: Once the boat goes back out, the film slides into something stranger.
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  SPEAKER_00: Time stops behaving.
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  SPEAKER_00: The village becomes familiar and wrong at once.
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  SPEAKER_00: The men are mistaken for the original missing crew, and the question becomes whether the past is a trap, a gift, or a debt coming due.
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  SPEAKER_00: Jenkin has a distinct handmade style with texture you can almost feel.
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  SPEAKER_00: The sea is not just scenery here.
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  SPEAKER_00: It's memory, threat, and promise all at once.
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  SPEAKER_00: If you like mysteries that leave some salt on your skin, this is your pick.
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  SPEAKER_00: Our second indie film in theaters this week is Road to Everywhere.
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  SPEAKER_00: Directed by Michael Paradise Schub, this is a 30 years later follow-up to the film driven, with Whip Hubbley returning as Los Angeles cab driver Jason Schuyler.
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  SPEAKER_00: The setup is beautifully simple.
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  SPEAKER_00: Jason gets offered a long-distance fare by Jake, a casino dealer and gambler played by Robert Mirabel.
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  SPEAKER_00: Jake wants to go back to the Navajo Nation in Arizona, the home he left three decades earlier, so he can see his grandson compete in a Native American rodeo.
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  SPEAKER_00: That is the trip.
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  SPEAKER_00: But the real story is what happens when two men who have spent a lot of time avoiding parts of themselves end up sharing a car for hundreds of miles.
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  SPEAKER_00: A cab is a funny place for a confession.
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  SPEAKER_00: You are close enough to talk, but you can still pretend you are just passing time.
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  SPEAKER_00: Jake's reasons for leaving home and his reasons for going back start to come into focus through small exchanges, roadside stops, and the steady pressure of distance closing behind them.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: Jason is not just a driver here.
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  SPEAKER_00: He becomes a witness, a sparring partner, and maybe the one person Jake can talk to because he has no stake in the family history.
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  SPEAKER_00: It's a road movie with dry humor, regret, and a real sense of place.
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  SPEAKER_00: If you like character stories where the mileage matters, this one has a lot of heart.
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  SPEAKER_00: Our last indie film in theaters this week is Girls Like Girls.
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  SPEAKER_00: Directed by Haley Kyoko, this expands the world of her music video and novel into a feature-length coming of age romance.
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  SPEAKER_00: The story centers on Coley and Sonia, two girls caught in that dangerous summer zone where friendship starts feeling like something else and pretending not to notice becomes impossible.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: Coley is dealing with loss and instability, and Sonia becomes the person who makes the world feel suddenly brighter, which is lovely until it gets terrifying.
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  SPEAKER_00: The film understands that first love is not polite, it's obsessive, embarrassing, thrilling, and usually timed as badly as possible.
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  SPEAKER_00: There's also a boyfriend in the mix, family pressure, and the social reality of being young and queer when everyone around you thinks they get a vote.
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  SPEAKER_00: Kyoko knows this material from the inside out, and that matters.
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  SPEAKER_00: The emotions are not treated like a lesson plan.
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  SPEAKER_00: They feel lived in, sweaty, anxious, and occasionally ridiculous, because teenagers are not known for making clean decisions under emotional stress.
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  SPEAKER_00: What makes the film appealing is the combination of sweetness and panic.
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  SPEAKER_00: You get the rush of being seen and the fear that being seen might cost you something.
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  SPEAKER_00: If you want a summer romance with real stakes and a built-in fan heartbeat, this is the one.
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  SPEAKER_00: So in theaters this week, that's Rosa Nevada, Road to Everywhere, and Girls Like Girls.
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  SPEAKER_00: Our spotlight indie film on demand this week is Ephesus, directed by Carson Lund, and yes, I covered this earlier when it was in theaters, but now it's available to rent and is exactly the kind of small gym that deserves a second push.
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  SPEAKER_00: The film follows two New England rec league baseball teams playing one final game on a beloved local field before it is torn down for a school.
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  SPEAKER_00: That is the whole frame, but the pleasure is in the details.
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  SPEAKER_00: The bad throws, the bench chatter, the guy who takes a Sunday leak at bat like the fate of civilization depends on it.
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  SPEAKER_00: The jokes that only land because these men have been playing together for years.
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  SPEAKER_00: It's funny, but the sadness sneaks up on you.
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  SPEAKER_00: The field is not just a field.
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  SPEAKER_00: It's a routine, friendship, memory, and a place where adulthood gets pause for a few innings.
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  SPEAKER_00: Lunge shoots the game with patience and affection, letting the rhythms of baseball do the work.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: If you've ever cared too much about something that technically did not matter, you will get it.
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  SPEAKER_00: You can rinse it on Apple TV, Amazon Video, or Vendango at home.
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  SPEAKER_00: Our indie film classic this week is Old Joy celebrating its 20th anniversary.
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  SPEAKER_00: Directed by Kelly Reichhart, it follows Mark and Kurt, two old friends who reunite for an overnight trip to a hot spring in the Oregon Woods.
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  SPEAKER_00: Mark is settled in Portland, married, and about to become a father.
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  SPEAKER_00: Kurt is more drifting, more mystical, and more likely to turn a simple plan into a little ordeal.
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  SPEAKER_00: They head into the Cascades with Mark's dog Lucy, and the movie becomes a quiet study of what happens when friendship outlives the version of you that created it.
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  SPEAKER_00: Nothing huge happens, which is exactly why it hurts.
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  SPEAKER_00: They drive, they get a little lost, they camp, they talk around the things they cannot quite say.
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  SPEAKER_00: Will Oldham plays Kurt with a loose searching sadness like a guy who still believes the right conversation could fix everything.
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  SPEAKER_00: Daniel London plays Mark as someone who wants to be kind, but also wants the weekend to end.
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  SPEAKER_00: Reichart is brilliant at filming emotional distance without underlining it.
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  SPEAKER_00: A pause can say everything.
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  SPEAKER_00: A hot spring can feel like a confession booth.
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  SPEAKER_00: The YOLO Tingo score gives the film a gentle ache without pushing it.
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  SPEAKER_00: This is short, quiet, and devastating if you meet it halfway.
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  SPEAKER_00: You can watch it on the Criterion Channel or rent it on Apple TV or Amazon Video.
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  SPEAKER_00: And that wraps it for the June 19, 2026 edition of Indie Film Weekly.
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  SPEAKER_00: Until next week, keep it open hearted, keep it road ready, and keep it indie.