With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options—not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves–each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit platforms. Check out this week’s selections below and an archive of past round-ups here.
A Burning Hot Summer (Philippe Garrel)
What makes Philippe Garrel’s films so distinct is their blend of autobiographical pain and silent-film mise-en-scène–a failed relationship or revolution rendered not so much through the increasingly dialogue-heavy scripts of his films, but the placement of bodies, gestures, and, furthermore, the dreams that contain and emerge from them. Yet while A Burning Hot Summer may be the only film he’s made in the 21st century not shot in black-and-white, once the senior Maurice Garrel (in his final role) appears as an apparition in his grandson’s hospital bed-bound vision, the personal and the fantastical have formed their most natural relationship. – Ethan V.
Where to Stream: MUBI (free for 30 days)
Apocalpyse Now: Final Cut (Francis Ford Coppola)
Odds say you’d mostly like to know what’s changed. With the caveat that I have not seen any iteration of Apocalypse Now in several years–his caveat itself qualified by an assertion that Apocalypse Now, seen at least a few times, sticks in the brain more than most things last viewed around that time–it’s safe enough to say this is, at close to three hours (new end credits included!), the beloved 1979 film with a retention of Redux‘s infamous French-plantation segment and an occasional splash of the other edit’s colors: the bit with Kilgore’s surfboard, perhaps some more Kurtz at his camp, several atmospheric shots. – Nick N. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes
British Hitchcock
The Master of Suspense’s early career gets the spotlight on The Criterion Channel starting this week, featuring the epic, binge-worthy collection of Downhill (1927), The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927), Champagne (1928), Blackmail (1929), Murder! (1930), The Skin Game (1931), Rich and Strange (1931), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), The 39 Steps (1935), Sabotage (1936), Young and Innocent (1937), The Lady Vanishes (1938), and Jamaica Inn (1939).
Where to Stream: The Criterion Channel
The Films of Jonas Mekas
This year kicked off on a sad note with the death of avant-garde luminary Jonas Mekas. Thankfully, some of his most notable films are now easier to see than ever with a collection on The Criterion Channel. Along with a tribute by filmmaker Jem Cohen, they are now streaming Walden (1969), Lost Lost Lost (1976), Cassis (1966), Hare Krishna (1966), Notes on the Circus (1966), Report from Millbrook (1966), Travel Songs (1981), Time & Fortune Vietnam Newsreel (1968), Williamsburg, Brooklyn (2003), as well as Ken Jacobs’ Jonas Mekas in Kodachrome Days.
Where to Stream: The Criterion Channel
Our House (Yui Kiyohara)
Yui Kiyohara’s sophomore feature and Tokyo University of the Arts thesis film Our House begins with an almost transgressive scene that contrasts the ambiance of the rest of the film. Bodies, dressed all in white, dance in a nearly pitch-black room to an upbeat pop track. Seri, a young girl who lives with her mother, suddenly turns on the light, and the scene pauses: “Did you hear that… the sound of the door opening… I thought someone came back.” The film progresses from here on out entirely devoid of the sense of liberation that possessed that spiritual celebration, adopting a very methodical austerity that fits snugly into the demeanor of contemporary Japanese filmmaking. – Jason O. (full review)
Where to Stream: MUBI (free for 30 days)
The Triplets of Belleville (Sylvain Chomet)
In an era when the bulk of CG-heavy output can carry an unfortunate dose of bland sameness, Sylvain Chomet crafts a strange, beautiful world with his masterfully clever debut The Triplets of Belleville. Mostly absent of dialogue, it is in his opulently grotesque character designs where Chomet opens up the gateway to a much more eccentric story than your standard rescue mission. From one of cinema’s most iconic dogs to the Oscar-nominated song “Belleville Rendez-vous,” The Triplets of Belleville is brimming with memorable elements. While some may refer to it as a work of minimalism, I can’t name many more richly detailed creations in animation. – Jordan R.
Where to Stream: The Criterion Channel
Also New to Streaming
Amazon
The Criterion Channel
HBO Go
MUBI (free for 30 days)
Is the Man Who is Tall Happy?
The Boss of it All
Frontier of Dawn
Grizzly Man
Time Regained