Riptides
Director(s): Alex Karpovsky
Film description: A daughter’s diabolical plan to preserve her father’s legacy is torpedoed by a demented boogie boarder on a self-help bender. 'Riptides' is a dark tropical comedy about dreams, delusions, and how our search for meaning can sometimes pull us far far far out to sea.
Preceded by “Gran Blanco”
ERIC SAYS How the hell did we land the world premiere of this one? Multi-hyphenate Alex Karpovsky (who has an excellent and varied filmography as director in addition to co-starring in HBO’s Girls and more than one Coen Brothers joint) gives New/Next the gift of world-premiering his new dark comedy with us—and gives the entire world the gift of another feature film starring Steve Little, one of the most irrepressibly hilarious presences in contemporary film and tv.
But let’s not stop there. Dylan Baker, as a cynical self-help author with a dark secret, gives us his best performance since Happiness (1998)—and he’s never been less than great. The writing here is whip-smart and delirious, the setting gorgeously evoked in both sight and sound, and the characters live and breathe with a depth truly unusual for a contemporary comedy. And Steve Little? He’s in top form, of course, as hilarious as in Eastbound and Down and The Catechism Cataclysm. If you love The White Lotus, Rotting in the Sun, or any of the other titles mentioned above: welcome to your new favorite movie.
Writer(s): Alex Karpovsky
Producer(s): Miranda Bailey, Niki Bhattacharya, Santiago Cendejas, David Gordon Green, Brandon James, Alex Karpovsky, Kyle Martin, Danny McBride, Jorge Pineda, Adrian "Blackpaw" Rodriguez, Natalie Whelan
Editor(s): Dusting Waldman, Max Allman
Country of origin: USA & Mexico
Principal cast: Steve Little, Bojana Novakovic, Dylan Baker, John Reynolds, Francisco Barreiro, Adrian "Blackpaw" Rodriguez
Language: English & Spanish
Year: 2026
Duration: 93 min
Premiere status: World Premiere
