Edward is a British factotum in colonial Burma, who is on the run–not from the authorities, but from his fiancée, Molly! Terrified at the thought of marriage, he flees around the globe, with Molly in hot pursuit. Portuguese auteur Miguel Gomes’ delightful Grand Tour is a dissection of character, colonialism and untenable personal pursuits.

From Burma, Edward, sweating the thought of being trapped in matrimony, flees to Mandalay, then Bangkok, Saigon, Manila and Osaka, where he’s expelled. Then he goes to Shanghai, Chongqing and Tibet, all the while trying to convince authorities he’s doing nothing suspicious, though he’s accused of being a spy. With the relentless Molly on his trail, Edward not only learns a lot about himself, but about England’s atrocities in colonizing the world. Shot in color, shot in black-and-white, part documentary, part feature, Miguel Gomes’ wonderful tale is a cinematic tapestry, which won the Best Director prize at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.