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

This week on Indie Film Weekly, Glen Reynolds highlights five indie films worth knowing about: three in theaters, one on demand, and one classic.

🎥 Indie Film Reviews:
Rose of Nevada (2026)
Road to Everywhere (2026)
Girls Like Girls (2026)
Eephus (2025)
Old Joy (2006)

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Welcome back to Indie Film Weekly for the week of June 19th, 2026. I'm your host, Glenn Reynolds. This week in theaters, we've got a Cornish time slip mystery about a fishing boat that returns 30 years after vanishing. We've got an LA cab driver taking the fare of a lifetime to the Navajo Nation. 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. Quick ask before we move on if you can see one of these films in a theater this weekend. Indie films do not get unlimited chances. And every opening week ticket is a little note to theaters saying, yes, keep showing this kind of thing. 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. 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. Want the written version of these picks each week? I also publish the Indie Film Weekly Newsletter. It's the same five films in a quick read. Sign up at newsletter. Let's dive in. 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. The village is struggling, so the boat's reappearance feels less like a warning than a miracle. People want to believe it means luck is back. Maybe money, maybe a way forward. 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. 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. Once the boat goes back out, the film slides into something stranger. Time stops behaving. The village becomes familiar and wrong at once. 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. Jenkin has a distinct handmade style with texture you can almost feel. The sea is not just scenery here. It's memory, threat, and promise all at once. If you like mysteries that leave some salt on your skin, this is your pick. Our second indie film in theaters this week is Road to Everywhere. 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. The setup is beautifully simple. Jason gets offered a long-distance fare by Jake, a casino dealer and gambler played by Robert Mirabel. 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. That is the trip. 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. A cab is a funny place for a confession. You are close enough to talk, but you can still pretend you are just passing time. 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. Jason is not just a driver here. 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. It's a road movie with dry humor, regret, and a real sense of place. If you like character stories where the mileage matters, this one has a lot of heart. Our last indie film in theaters this week is Girls Like Girls. Directed by Haley Kyoko, this expands the world of her music video and novel into a feature-length coming of age romance. 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. 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. The film understands that first love is not polite, it's obsessive, embarrassing, thrilling, and usually timed as badly as possible. 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. Kyoko knows this material from the inside out, and that matters. The emotions are not treated like a lesson plan. They feel lived in, sweaty, anxious, and occasionally ridiculous, because teenagers are not known for making clean decisions under emotional stress. What makes the film appealing is the combination of sweetness and panic. You get the rush of being seen and the fear that being seen might cost you something. If you want a summer romance with real stakes and a built-in fan heartbeat, this is the one. So in theaters this week, that's Rosa Nevada, Road to Everywhere, and Girls Like Girls. 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. 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. That is the whole frame, but the pleasure is in the details. The bad throws, the bench chatter, the guy who takes a Sunday leak at bat like the fate of civilization depends on it. The jokes that only land because these men have been playing together for years. It's funny, but the sadness sneaks up on you. The field is not just a field. It's a routine, friendship, memory, and a place where adulthood gets pause for a few innings. Lunge shoots the game with patience and affection, letting the rhythms of baseball do the work. If you've ever cared too much about something that technically did not matter, you will get it. You can rinse it on Apple TV, Amazon Video, or Vendango at home. Our indie film classic this week is Old Joy celebrating its 20th anniversary. 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. Mark is settled in Portland, married, and about to become a father. Kurt is more drifting, more mystical, and more likely to turn a simple plan into a little ordeal. 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. Nothing huge happens, which is exactly why it hurts. They drive, they get a little lost, they camp, they talk around the things they cannot quite say. Will Oldham plays Kurt with a loose searching sadness like a guy who still believes the right conversation could fix everything. Daniel London plays Mark as someone who wants to be kind, but also wants the weekend to end. Reichart is brilliant at filming emotional distance without underlining it. A pause can say everything. A hot spring can feel like a confession booth. The YOLO Tingo score gives the film a gentle ache without pushing it. This is short, quiet, and devastating if you meet it halfway. You can watch it on the Criterion Channel or rent it on Apple TV or Amazon Video. And that wraps it for the June 19, 2026 edition of Indie Film Weekly. If you want to support the show, do the simple stuff. Subscribe so you don't miss next week. Share it with one friend who likes being early. Rate it because it helps the apps take the show seriously. Then leave a quick review, even one sentence helps. Until next week, keep it open hearted, keep it road ready, and keep it indie.