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.
Beats (Brian Welsh)
What exactly are Johnno and Spanner? There are moments when the two Scottish teens hate each other’s guts with bilious fervor, others when they’re the “dream team and that,” inseparable and co-dependent best friends à la Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal in Y Tu Mamá También, others still when their bromance veers into an uncharted, emotionally complex terrain. Brian Welsh’s rollicking Beats thrives on these ambiguities, on a greater-than-life friendship between an introvert and his volcanic and beguilingly ruffian neighbor as they brace for a night out that’s likely to be their last–or at any rate, the last rave their central Scotland turf may ever host. – Leonardo G. (full review)
Where to Stream: Virtual Cinemas
Columbus (kogonada)
The path to becoming a director is one generally accompanied by a profound knowledge of film history, but that passion is rarely more public then when it comes to kogonada. After years of working on visually detailed video essays for The Criterion Collection, Sight & Sound, and more, he’s now made his directorial debut with Columbus, an impeccably composed drama of quiet humanity and curiosity. If his nickname wasn’t enough of a hint, traces of Yasujirō Ozu’s influence can be found, but this first-time director has created something distinctly his own. – Jordan R. (full review)
Where to Stream: The Criterion Channel
Directed by Mike Leigh
While his latest film, Peterloo, deserved much more acclaim, if you have yet to dive into the treasures of Mike Leigh’s earlier filmography, now is the chance. The Criterion Channel are showcasing many of his greatest films, including Meantime (1984), High Hopes (1988), The Short and Curlies (1987), Life Is Sweet (1990), Naked (1993), Secrets & Lies (1996), Career Girls (1997), All or Nothing (2002), Vera Drake (2004), Happy-Go-Lucky (2008), and Another Year (2010).
Where to Stream: The Criterion Channel
Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee)
His Vietnam War epic Da 5 Bloods recently arrived on Netflix, but it’s not the only reason Spike Lee is leading cultural conversations. In a decades-long career of artfully examining injustice, specifically in America, no film of his is a better example of this than Do the Right Thing. Unfortunately as relevant today as it was when it was released in 1989, Universal has made the film available for free to rent on digital platforms through June 29 only.
Where to Stream: For Free on Digital Platforms
Ford v Ferrari (James Mangold)
James Mangold’s Ford v Ferrari is, in a word, sturdy. It’s the kind of airtight drama that could never be called groundbreaking or even original. But it offers ample pleasures in performance—from stars Matt Damon and Christian Bale—and design. While it could be a bit nastier, this is unquestionably intense grade-A Hollywood entertainment. The racing sequences are genuinely thrilling, and even the boardroom and back-office battles are compelling. – Chris S. (full review)
Where to Stream: HBO
The Ghost of Peter Sellers (Peter Medak)
In 1973, Peter Medak enlisted Peter Sellers to star in his pirate comedy movie Ghost in the Noonday Sun, where the two had a disastrous working experience that Medak is still reeling from to this day. In a new documentary from Medak, witness emotional over the experience, detailing Sellers using drugs and faking a heart attack during the filming. The final product stayed locked away until over a decade after the shoot concluded, when it was unceremoniously dumped on home video. – Stephen H.
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google
Martin Scorsese Shorts
One can get a glimpse of the early brilliance of Martin Scorsese thanks to a new recently box set of shorts from The Criterion Collection. They’ve now made the films streamable on their channel, featuring his family portrait Italianamerican, as well as American Boy: A Profile of Steven Prince, The Big Shave, It’s Not Just You, Murray!, What’s a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This?. There are also some great special features, including Farran Smith Nehme in conversation with the director, along with a chat between the Safdies and Ari Aster. – Jordan R.
Where to Stream: The Criterion Channel
Out 1 (Jacques Rivette)
If there’s any truth to the old chestnut that great works of art teach you how to experience them, few films exemplify it quite so fully as Jacques Rivette’s Out 1… No matter its status as an item that contains multitudes, Out 1 retrospectively feels most like an experience that’s about duration and longevity, not merely of. The sense that we’ve come to know more about these characters than any normal-length — or, for that matter, most any extra-sized — picture could afford is delineated through, and perhaps collapsed into, individual moments of emotional realization. The narrative directions are not necessarily new in and of themselves; what matters is the high-wire act Rivette plays by creating meaningful visual and aural echoes (or contradictions) through the long, long line stories are running across. – Nick N. (full review)
Where to Stream: MUBI (free for 30 days)
Restored Shorts by Sergei Parajanov
Best known for films like The Color of Pomegranates and Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, much of Armenian-Georgian director Sergei Parajanov’s other work has gone underseen and overlooked. Three of his short films have now been restored and are playing digitally: Kiev Frescoes (1966), consisting of the remaining footage of a confiscated project about post–WWII Kiev; Hakob Hovnatanyan (1967), a tribute to the art of nineteenth-century Armenian painter; and Arabesques on the Pirosmani Theme (1986), bringing to life the playful work of Georgian outsider artist Niko Pirosmani,
Where to Stream: Film at Lincoln Center’s Virtual Cinema
Also New to Streaming
Amazon
The Criterion Channel
Death in Venice
Jazz Shorts 1929–1939
Olivia
Tarnation
MUBI (free for 30 days)
Hyenas
1 Dimension
The Dead and the Others
Tell No One
Netflix
Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga
Straight Up (review)
Woodshock
Virtual Cinemas