Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
Directed by David Lynch
On the occasion of the home video and streaming release of the newly remastered INLAND EMPIRE (for which we were lucky enough to chat with the man himself), Criterion has put together a fine tribute to David Lynch, also featuring Eraserhead (1977), Dune (1984), Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992), Lost Highway (1997), and Mulholland Dr. (2001). Don’t sleep on the bonus features, including a new conversation between Laura Dern and Kyle Maclachlan. Also, set to arrive on April 1 is The Elephant Man (1980).
Where to Stream: The Criterion Channel
Eric Rohmer’s Tales of the Four Seasons
French New Wave master Eric Rohmer’s 1990s project was Tales of the Four Seasons, all of which have now received new restorations. Following a theatrical run back in 2021, we’ve been awaiting a wider release and while no box set has been announced yet, their streaming premiere has commenced.
Where to Stream: The Criterion Channel
Erotic Thrillers
Despite what the current Hollywood overlords may think, sex is hot again. The Criterion Channel have programmed a scintillating new series of erotic thrillers, featuring Dressed to Kill (1980), Body Heat (1981), Crimes of Passion (1984), Body Double (1984), The Bedroom Window (1987), Sister, Sister (1987), Call Me (1988), The Comfort of Strangers (1990), Poison Ivy (1992), Dream Lover (1993), Color of Night (1994), Criminal Passion (1994), Fleshtone (1994), The Last Seduction (1994), Jade (1995), and Bound (1996), with Single White Female (1992) and Basic Instinct (1992) arriving soon. Also, don’t miss out on our recent chat with Karina Longworth on a few titles above.
Where to Stream: The Criterion Channel
Holy Spider (Ali Abbasi)
Ali Abbasi’s Border, an adaptation of a short story by Let the Right One In author John Ajvide Lindqvist, put its director on the map as one fluent in a dark genre idiom, and possessing transnational potential capable of enticing festivals and more commercially oriented fields (indeed, he is one of the directors on Craig Mazin’s upcoming HBO series The Last of Us). But Holy Spider returns him to the country of his birth with an even more direct statement on prejudice and repulsion than Border, and also, maybe, as much of a determination to upset and freak people out. – David K. (full review)
Where to Stream: Netflix
Inside (Vasilis Katsoupis)
In terms of the sheer range of directors he has worked with, there may be no more impressive a career than Willem Dafoe’s. In-between his recent collaborations with Abel Ferrara, Wes Anderson, Robert Eggers, Walter Hill, Lars von Trier, Yorgos Lanthimos, and Guillermo del Toro, he’s found time to elevate new voices in cinema. The latest is Vasilis Katsoupis, whose debut feature Inside premiered in theaters last month Scripted by Ben Hopkins, it tells the story of Nemo (Dafoe), an art thief trapped in a New York penthouse after his heist doesn’t go as planned. Locked inside with nothing but priceless works of art, he must use all his cunning and invention to survive.
Where to Stream: VOD
Juniper (Matthew J. Saville)
Following the forced bond between a rebellious, troubled teen (George Ferrier) and his alcoholic, standoff-ish grandma (Charlotte Rampling), Juniper is a fairly rote coming-of-age film that may not find much new to say about the themes it explores. However, Matthew J. Saville’s directorial debut, which premiered in its native New Zealand in the summer of 2021 and finally arrives in the U.S. now, is worth seeking out for the dual acting showcase as bitterness evolves into tenderness, eloquently conveyed by all involved.
Where to Stream: VOD
Making of the Virgin Suicides (Eleanor Coppola)
A rare portrait of the first steps of Sofia Coppola working on her feature debut that would become a classic, turning her into an iconic filmmaker in her own right. Documented by her mother Eleanor (who also directed the famous Apocalypse Now making-of Hearts of Darkness), the film features James Wood, a young Kirsten Dunst and Josh Hartnett, the author of the book Jeffrey Eugenides and shows a family coming together to support Sofia’s passion and gift for filmmaking. The book The Virgin Suicides was published 30 years ago this month.
Where to Stream: Le Cinéma Club
One Way Passage (Tay Garnett)
A delightful pre-Code marvel, Tay Garnett’s One Way Passage has received an HD remaster from Martin Scorsese’s The Film Foundation and has premiered on TCM as part of their celebration of 100 years of Warner Bros. Starring William Powell and Kay Francis as characters who develop a romantic bond on a cruise while the former is hiding the secret he’ll be locked up when they reach their destination, the 68-minute is replete with idyllic moments of romance and laughs. With expert use of close-up inserts, from discarded cigarettes to smashed glasses, to accentuate their love, this 1932 gem is just about perfect.
Where to Stream: TCM
Permeable Boundaries: The Films of Ursula Meier
Oft-overlooked French-Swiss director and screenwriter Ursula Meier gets her due with new Metrograph series, recently in theater and now at home, featuring her Isabelle Huppert-led 2008 debut feature Home, along with 2012 drama Sister and a pair of shorts: Kacey Mottet Klein, Birth of an Actor and Quiet Mujo.
Where to Stream: Metrograph at Home
The Quiet Girl (Colm Bairéad)
A thoroughly dull if not totally unpleasant work of nicecore cinema, The Quiet Girl is the case of a film being easy to dismiss but hard to hate. Are the intentions “good”? If hedging your bets around such a self-congratulatory gentle tone and story is, then yes. Yet it’s hard to deny how the story might touch anyone who’s moving past the pains of a difficult childhood with emotionally distant parents. – Ethan V. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
Also New to Streaming
The Criterion Channel
Faya Dayi
Harold Lloyd
Short Films by Fanta Régina Nacro
Hulu
Brooke Shields: Pretty Baby
MUBI (free for 30 days)
Henry Fool
Waltz with Bashir
The All-Round Reduced Personality – Redupers
Saint-Narcisse
Jaime Francisco
Hester Street
The Triplets of Belleville
Netflix
The Birds
Marnie
Prime Video
Bros
Exiled
Game Night
Heaven’s Gate
Terrifier 2
The Way Back
Titanic
To the Wonder
Whiplash
Tubi
The Big Red One