André Is an Idiot (2026), Heel (2026), The Worst Person in the World (2021)

Indie Film Weekly
Episode 64: André Is an Idiot (2026), Heel (2026), The Worst Person in the World (2021)

Glen Reynolds spotlights several new and engaging independent films playing in theaters, available for purchase or rental, or on a streaming platform. He also shares a classic movie from his favorites which you'll want to revisit or see for the first time.

Additional movies mentioned in this episode include:
Protector (2026)
The Big Johnson (2026)

Recorded: 02-20-26
Studio: Just Curious Media
Companies: Circus Road Films & Indie Igniter

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Apple Podcasts
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Host:
Glen Reynolds

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Companies:
Circus Road Films - https://www.CircusRoadFilms.com/
Just Curious Media - https://www.JustCuriousMedia.com/

Listen:
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#indiefilmweekly #independentfilm #indiemovies #filmreviews #movierecommendations #circusroadfilms #justcuriousmedia #glenreynolds

Transcript

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Welcome back to Indyfilm Weekly for the week of March 6, 2026. I'm your host, Glenn Reynolds. This week's theater lineup has range. We have a documentary that turns a terrifying diagnosis into a blunt, funny, and oddly useful conversation about how we avoid the doctor. We have a psychological thriller that starts with an abduction and gets more unsettling the longer it stays inside one house. And we have a hard-charging action story built around a mother doing one thing, getting her kid back. For T Vod, we've got a documentary about a downtown New York legend whose life was huge and whose death still raises questions. And for our classic, we're going back five years to a modern relationship movie that feels like a whole life squeezed into one chapter. If you want these movies to keep existing, show up early in their theatrical run. Indie films do not get a long leash. The box office is the receipt. This episode of Indie Film Weekly is brought to you by Circus Road Films, helping independent filmmakers find their audience since 2006. Learn more at CircusRodefilms.com. Let's dive in. Our first film in theaters this week is Andre is an Idiot. Directed by Tony Benna, this is a documentary about Andre Ricciardi, a brilliant, stubborn ad guy who delayed a colonoscopy and then got hit with the news you never want. Stage four colon cancer. Andre calls himself an idiot, loudly, often, and the film keeps that same energy. He's not interested in becoming a saint. He's interested in looking straight at what is happening, with jokes, swearing, curiosity, a kind of creative problem solving that feels like a coping mechanism and a superpower at the same time. Instead of disappearing into private suffering, he teams up with Benna to document the whole ride. That includes the medical reality, the fear, the anger, and the awkward moments where friends do not know what to say. The movie also leans into Andre's imagination with animated and stylized sections that match how his brain works when he's trying to process the unprocessable. The heart of it is simple. This is a person trying to stay himself while time gets shorter. It is funny in a way that never denies the truth. It is also weirdly motivating because it keeps circling one idea. Avoiding the doctor does not make you safer. Our second indie film in theaters this week is Heal, is directed by Jan Camassa and it stars Stephen Graham as Chris, a husband and father who abducts a 19-year-old hooligan named Tommy. Tommy wakes up chained in the basement of Chris's isolated suburban home, and the movie makes you sit in that reality without relief. Chris's wife Catherine, played by Andrea Riseboro, is not a bystander either. Their young son is in the house too, which adds a layer of dread because every scene has the question, what is this kid learning by watching this? Chris frames what he is doing as reform. He wants to fix Tommy, punish him, reprogram him, whatever word makes it sound less like violence. Tommy is forced into a grim routine of control and psychological pressure, with the family setting the terms and the clock always running. The tension's not just whether Tommy can escape. It's the way the couple's dynamic keeps shifting, like they are performing a marriage while running an experiment. Kamasa keeps the focus tight so the house becomes a pressure cooker. You can feel the movie asking what happens when people decide they have the right to correct someone. It's a thriller, but it's also a story about power and self-justification. Our last indie film in theaters this week is Protector, directed by Adrian Grunberg. This is an action thriller built around Nikki, a former war hero, who tried to leave violence behind to raise her daughter Chloe in peace. Then everything collapses at once. Nikki wakes up bound in an abandoned factory and realizes Chloe's been kidnapped. From there, the film turns into a race. Nikki breaks free and she throws herself into the synodies' criminal underworld with one goal find her daughter before time runs out. Mila Jovovovich plays Nikki with that locked-in forward motion that action movies need. Nikki is not solving puzzles from a safe distance. She's pushing through rooms, shaking down leads, and forcing answers out of people who do not want to give them. As she tears into a ruthless crime network, she also becomes a target, drawing heat from law enforcement and the military, who start hunting her like she is the threat. The story keeps the pressure on by stacking obstacles, limited time, limited trust, and a widening circle of enemies. If you want a tight, momentum-driven movie that stays focused on a mother's mission, this is your pick. So in theaters this week, that's Andre is an idiot, heel, and protector. Our spotlight indie film on TVOD this week is The Big Johnson. Directed by Lola Rock'n'Rolla, this documentary tracks the life and death of Dean Johnson, a towering figure in downtown New York nightlife who is many things at once: drag queen, rock singer, party promoter, activist, and a person who lived with a level of visibility that could be both armor and exposure. The film sketches Dean as someone who craved spaces when safe spaces were not a given, and who pushed against shame with performance, community, and a sheer force of personality. It also follows the darker side, addiction, risk, and the hard math of what it costs to live at full volume for years. The mystery hanging over this story is his death. Dean ended up dead in Washington, D.C., and for all his notoriety in New York, he was discovered as a John Doe. The documentary does not pretend it can tie everything up. It lays out the facts, the contradictions, and the questions people still carry. What makes it work is that it does not reduce Dean to a cautionary tale. It treats him as a complicated artist and a complicated human being, someone who changed the people around him, even when he was spiraling. If you like music docks, queer history, and New York stories with real bite, this one is worth your time. You can rent it on Apple TV. Our indie film classic this week is The Worst Person in the World, celebrating its fifth anniversary. Directed by Joaquim Trier, this is an Oslo set character story that follows Julie as she moves through her late twenties with talent, restlessness, and a scary number of options. She changes direction more than once in school, in work, in relationships. And the movie treats that not as a moral failure, but as a real portrait of someone trying to figure out what kind of life will fit. The structure is part of the fun, with clear chapters that make the fun feel like a novel you cannot put down. Julie's love life anchors it, especially her relationship with Axel, an older established cultural figure who wants commitment and time and a clear plan. Julie wants honesty too, but she also wants room to breathe. And that tension keeps tightening. Renate Reinsva is the center of gravity here. She makes Julie smart and messy and specific, the kind of person you will recognize even if you have never met her. The movie has humor, but it also has real ache, especially when choices start becoming irreversible. If you've ever looked at your own life and thought I should be happier than I am, this one lands. You can rent it on Amazon and Apple TV. And that wraps it up for the March 6, 2026 edition of Indie Film Weekly. If you're listening and you want to help the show, do the simple stuff that actually matters. Subscribe so it shows up automatically. Share it with one friend who watches movies alone and needs company. And if you have 30 seconds, rate and review it because that tells the apps this is worth surfacing. Until next week, keep it bold, keep it curious, and keep it indie.