Director Sebastián Lelio’s new film Gloria Bell is a sublime one-woman show starring Julianne Moore at her very best.

One of my favorite movie sub-genres does not, as far as I’m aware, have an official or definitive name. I can, however, tell you its ingredients: Start with an independent woman over the age of 50, add in a few healthy doses of heartwarming romance and family drama, include a few men that are definitely not good enough for her and maybe one that is, combine with a subtle yet totally relatable identity crisis, and throw it in the oven at 400 degrees for 45 minutes. Volià!

If that recipe sounds good to you, then I have the perfect movie. While the rest of the world loses their minds over the release of Captain Marvel, you could be celebrating a far humbler superhero that made her way into theaters this weekend: Gloria Bell.

Starring Julianne Moore in the titular role, Gloria Bell follows a 50-something woman in Los Angeles looking for love and adventure even in the face of the disappointments and frustrations that journey brings.

Okay, so maybe Gloria Bell isn’t exactly a superhero movie — genre fans certainly won’t think so. After all, Gloria can’t fly, lift cars or shoot bolts of energy from her hands. She doesn’t rescue a single Avenger or face off against any aliens. However, there is such a real world courage and fearlessness that exists at the heart of her character that is just as empowering as anything Captain Marvel does.

Gloria Bell begins by establishing the landscape of Gloria’s life; she is single and independent, growing apart from her adult children and unfulfilled by her career. She is dissatisfied and in search of more. What “more” looks like to Gloria becomes a focal point for the rest of the movie. She takes it upon herself to bring more love and joy into her life. Where does she go? Dancing, of course.

Gloria joins the dating pool, frequenting singles bars and clubs where she attempts to find a man that can keep up with her — both on the dance floor and in real life. Her attempts are unsuccessful until Arnold (John Turturro) appears one night at the bar. Gloria brings him home after a night of dancing, finding herself unexpectedly taken with Arnold, a recent divorcee.

Arnold brings into Gloria’s life exactly what she wanted: affection, excitement, companionship, and adventure. Arnold, however, is not the solution to Gloria’s woes, but rather an introduction to a new set of complications. His baggage — primarily a needy and frequently disruptive family — threatens his commitment to Gloria.

This is the genius of Gloria Bell. This is no Nicholas Sparks adaptation with a perfect relationship sent into ruin by some violent or unexpected trauma. There are no false pretenses that challenge the authenticity of the story. Everything in Gloria’s life, from Arnold to her children to her relationship with her ex-husband to her career, contain a familiar balance of good and bad. The movie is honest about the fact that relationships change even when we don’t want them to, that no job is without its frustrations, that no person is is without their own shortcomings.

Gloria Bell is a movie that understands and seeks to represent the complicated beauty of real life. The stakes feel familiar and, as such, that much more powerful. Gloria wants more for herself, but she is forced to reconcile what she wants with her reality. In this way, the film is inherently about compromises — both the ones we make with others and the ones we make for ourselves.

Julianne Moore’s performance effortlessly brings this familiar microcosm to life. She fills every second of the film with a sense of authenticity, perfectly telegraphing the narrative shifts and emotional beats of the story across her face. There’s enough strength in the screenplay that Julianne needn’t carry the film, but she certainly elevates it, which gives the whole thing the feeling of a one-woman show. There’s such a distinct gravitational pull around her character — one so full of warmth, moxie, and courage — that she will leave you in awe scene after scene.

Of course, Gloria Bell would be nothing without its director. If you’re not already familiar with the name Sebastián Lelio, now is officially the time to commit his name to memory. The Chilean director, whose previous film A Fantastic Woman took home the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 2018, returned this year with an English language remake of his 2013 film Gloria.

Lelio, whose credits also include the Rachel Weisz-Rachel McAdams romance drama Disobedience, infuses every moment of his films with a distinctive energy that mirrors his characters’ desire and desperation for more. This is a narrative thread that stretches through his recent work and feels particularly well-suited to Gloria Bell.

So, if watching Brie Larson kick ass and take names in Captain Marvel leaves you on a high and in the mood for empowering female-led films, then don’t miss your chance to see and support Gloria Bell. It’s a special little movie that celebrates the courage, strength, and joy that comes from within.