Ricky (2026), Two Prosecutors (2026), The Road Warrior (1981)

Indie Film Weekly
Episode 66: Ricky (2026), Two Prosecutors (2026), The Road Warrior (1981)

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:
Miroirs No. 3 (2026)
All We Imagine as Light (2024)

Recorded: 03-06-26
Studio: Just Curious Media
Companies: Circus Road Films & Indie Igniter

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Host:
Glen Reynolds

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Transcript

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Welcome back to Indie Film Weekly for the week of March 20, 2026. I'm your host, Glenn Reynolds. This week in theaters, we have a re-entry drama about a man trying to stay out after doing time. We have a Soviet-era thriller where a young prosecutor picks a fight with a system designed to crush him. And we have a modern German fable about a piano student who survives a crash and ends up inside a family's grief. On T Vod, I'm spotlighting a luminous Mumbai set drama about friendship, love, and the weight of unfinished lives. And for our classic, we're celebrating a landmark post-apocalyptic action film turning 45. If you love indie film, do not wait for some day. Go this weekend. Theaters book what people actually show up for. This episode of Indie Film Weekly is brought to you by Circus Road Films, helping indie filmmakers find their audience since 2006. Learn more at CircusRodefilms.com. Let's dive in. Our first indie film in theaters this week is Ricky. Directed by Rashad Fret. This drama follows Ricardo Ricky Smith, newly out after being imprisoned as a teenager and now trying to build a life that does not pull him back under. The movie stays close to the day-to-day reality of re-entry. Ricky needs work, money, and a place to land. He also needs to rebuild trust with the people he hurt and the people who feel like they lost him to the system. Stephon James plays Ricky with a mix of pride and raw nerves, like a guy who wants to move forward but keeps hearing old doors slam. The story is not about one big speech. It's about pressure, temptation, and the small choices that decide whether you make it through a week. The film also shows the social side of re-entry. Friends pull you towards old patterns. New relationships can feel like tests. Family love can come with rules and resentment. Fred expanded this from his earlier short, and you can feel how personal and specific the world is. There's also a Sundance Screenwriter's Lab connection, which tracks with how focused the writing is on behavior instead of plot tricks. If you want a grounded film about what freedom actually costs, this is a strong pick. Our second indie film in theaters this week is Two Prosecutors. Written and directed by Sergei Lutznica, it drops you into the Soviet Union during Stalin's purges and follows Korniev, a young state prosecutor who believes the system can be pushed to do the right thing. A letter from a political prisoner reaches his desk, and Korniev decides to investigate what is happening behind prison walls. That choice sounds small on paper, but in this world it is a life-ending risk. The film becomes a procedural with a pulse. Korniev travels, asks questions, files requests, and keeps running into closed doors that are polite on the surface and lethal underneath. His search pulls him up the chain toward offices where language is careful and fear is policy. Alexander Kurtnetsiov plays Korniev with a calm, stubborn decency, which makes the surrounding cruelty feel colder. Lutznitsu stages scenes with long takes and tight blocking, so you watch power operate in real time. Offices, corridors, waiting rooms, and bureaucratic rituals become part of the trap. There's no action movie release valve here. The tension comes from watching one person try to stay honest while the rules keep shifting to protect the machine. They premiered in canned competition and played major festivals after that. If you like historical films that focus on moral choices and process, this one lands hard. Our last city film in theaters this week is Miroir's number three. Directed by Christian Petzold, it follows Laura, a young piano student who survives a car crash during a weekend trip. She is shaken and disoriented, and she is taken in by Betty, a woman in the German countryside who witnessed the accident. Betty offers food, a bed, and a kind of care that feels almost too ready. The reason becomes clear. Laura resembles Betty's daughter, who died years ago, and that resemblance starts shaping the way the household relates to her. Laura stays, rests, and slowly begins to move through the home like she belongs there. But the comfort comes with an undertow because everyone is reacting to more than the person in front of them. Paula Beer plays Laura as someone trying to understand what just happened on the road and what is happening now in this house. Petzl keeps the story lean at 86 minutes, and he builds mood through daily details, meals, chores, music, and the way grief can reorganize a family. The title points to Ravel's piano suite, and the film treats music as part of the drama. It is a small film with a lingering aftertaste. This film premiered at Can in Director's Fortnite. If you like Petzold's mix of the everyday and the uncanny, this one will stick with you. So in theaters this week, that's Ricky, Two Prosecutors, and Miroir's number three. Our spotlight indie film on Tivod this week is All We Imagine as Light. Directed by Payal Kapadia. It follows Praba and Anu, two Mayalali nurses, sharing an apartment in Mumbai. Praba is steady and reserved, living in the shadow of an arranged marriage to a husband who left for Germany and has largely disappeared from her life. Anu is younger and more defiant, trying to protect a secret romance that does not fit her family's expectations. The film also tracks Parvati, a cook at their hospital who is suddenly threatened with eviction and discovers she cannot prove legal tendency. That housing fight and the daily grind of hospital work sit right next to the private battles these women carry around. One small object ties the emotional threads together. A modern rice cooker that arrives from an unknown cinder, made in Germany and loaded with meaning. When Parvati decides to leave the city and return to her coastal village near Ratnagiri, Prabha and Anu travel with her. The shift in location opens the story up, and you can feel the characters breathe differently outside the crush of Mumbai. This is a film about companionship as survival, and about the ways people keep going when answers do not arrive on time. You can rent the film on Apple TV and Prime Video. Our indie film classic this week is The Road Warrior, celebrating its 45th anniversary. Directed by George Miller, this is the film that turned the wasteland into a full language, dust, engines, armor, and desperation, all moving at highway speed. Max is a lone drifter, still carrying the damage of what he lost, and surviving by staying unattached. He stumbles onto a small community guarding a vital fuel refinery, and they are under siege by marauders who want the gas and will burn everything to get it. The gang's leader, the Lord Homungus, sells himself as order, but his world is pure intimidation. Max First tries to make a deal for fuel and get out. The problem is the road is not neutral anymore, and once you are in someone's crosshairs, you are in it. Mel Gibson is the recognizable face here, but the real star is the staging. Miller shoots chases like geometry, with clear positions, real weight, and practical mayhem that still looked dangerous because it was. One fun production note the film was made in Australia on a tight budget and it still created an entire sub-genre of post-collapse cinema. If you want a classic that plays like a masterclass in momentum, this is it. You can watch it on the Criterion Channel or rent it on Apple TV or Amazon Video. And that wraps it for the March 20, 2026 edition of Indie Film Weekly. If you enjoyed this episode, help me keep it rolling. Subscribe so you can catch the next drop. Share it with your most opinionated movie friend. Rate it and leave a quick review. Even a few words helps more than you think. Until next week, keep it hungry, keep it honest, and keep it indie.