12 Best Hidden Gem Movies Of 2016

9. Sleeping Giant

Adapted from his 2014 short film of the same name, Canadian director Andrew Cividino’s feature length debut is a coming of age tale focusing on the ugly side of male adolescence. Though that premise isn’t exactly breaking any new ground, where Sleeping Giant manages to stand out in a glut of similarly themed films from Richard Linklater’s Boyhood to Rob Reiner’s Stand By Me is in its simplicity and rawness.

Set in Northern Ontario over the course of a summer, the movie centres on three teenage boys – Adam, a sheltered kid from a wealthy family vacationing at their summer house, and rough-around-the-edges cousins Nate and Riley – as they form an unlikely friendship based on one-upmanship and faux adolescent bravado.

Keenly observed, beautifully shot and honest throughout from its start to its explosive climax it’s a stunning debut that’s bound to put Cividino on the map as a director to watch out for.