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.
Armageddon Time (James Gray)
Armageddon Time is the sort of film usually invoked as a “portrait of the nation” or “state of the union address,” something taking the temperature of a country—most likely the United States—at a particular time in history. But it’s also a work that makes self-consciousness a virtue: its wonderful writer-director, James Gray, is informed up to his eyes about the virtues and pitfalls of films like these, and here makes something so idiosyncratically his own but that audiences and critics might still mislabel with one of those aforementioned ideas. – David K. (full review)
Where to Stream: Peacock
The Civil Dead (Clay Tatum)
For Clay, the man at the center of The Civil Dead, there isn’t much happening in life. Portrayed by director and co-writer Clay Tatum, he’s an unemployed LA photographer whose only friend appears to be his wife Whitney (Whitney Weir). When she leaves for several days on a work trip, she asks him to be productive and not just drink beer in the living room. Of course Clay does just that, and in a desperate attempt to get quick cash he pretends to put their apartment up for rent so he can collect application fees from hopeful renters. At first glance he’s a schlubby jerk (with a terrible haircut to boot), but his self-awareness and dry wit makes him affable, even if he’s content to do whatever it takes to avoid doing anything. – C.J. P. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
Fe 26 (Kevin Jerome Everson)
Fe 26 follows Isaac “I-Pleeza” Chester and Jonathan “Streets” Lee, two copper hustlers trying to make a living in Cleveland, Ohio’s East Side. Complicating the relationship between fact and fiction, Everson’s film stages and challenges the way documentaries traditionally depict areas of high unemployment.
Where to Stream: Le Cinéma Club
Huesera (Michelle Garza Cervera)
According to Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés in Women who Run with the Wolves, the “Bone Woman,” or La Huesera, “collects and preserves that which is in danger of being lost to the world.” A Mexican myth sees her scouring the mountains and riverbeds for the remains of wolves, assembling what she finds to recreate the animal as though an ivory sculpture that will eventually become reanimated, ultimately reborn as a human woman freely laughing towards the horizon. They say she provides a glimpse of the soul when all seems to have been lost, less a monster to fear in the shadows than a necessary entity reminding us of what we still have. Thus we’re not wrong to question her place in Michelle Garza Cervera’s Huesera. – Jared M. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
Infinity Pool (Brandon Cronenberg)
By now the Cronenberg surname has become synonymous with bodily obsession. Like his father David’s wealthy oeuvre of anatomical grotesquerie, Brandon Cronenberg has taken the torch and developed his own small, corporeal-minded canon, blending a gory imagination with sharp socio-economic fables. More than his chilling, futuristic narrative concepts, it’s his sensory details that overwhelm and entrance, grounding science fiction in the earthly vulgarities and excretions that deliver genuine shocks instead of cheap thrills. That he can keep twisting the knife and warrant an appreciation for his detail and dexterity is a rare gift. – Jake K-S. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
The Integrity of Joseph Chambers (Robert Machoian)
If the apocalypse comes, we’re all screwed. Fancying himself a survivor with a desire to provide for his family should “things go south,” Joe (Clayne Crawford) gets up before the crack of dawn, leaving wife Tess (Jordana Brewster), swapping his BMW for neighbor Doug’s (Carl Kenedy) truck, and heading into a private wooded area. His adventures (and boredom) have their charms. He imagines he’s a baseball pitcher stepping up to the plate, he struggles to reach an overlook with all his gear on, and fantasizes about bagging a buck to take home, stick in the freezer, and feed his family in the event we’re blasted back to the Stone Age. – John F. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
James Baldwin On-Screen
As part of their Black History Month offerings, The Criterion Channel is spotlighting one of the greatest minds to grace humanity: James Baldwin. The collection features the documentaries James Baldwin: The Price of the Ticket and I Am Not Your Negro as well as the television film Go Tell It on the Mountain, adapted from his debut novel. There’s also a trio of shorts: Baldwin’s Nigger, Meeting the Man: James Baldwin in Paris, and James Baldwin: From Another Place.
Where to Stream: The Criterion Channel
Mutzenbacher (Ruth Beckermann)
That the Viennese author Felix Salten wrote the book Bambi was based on while also being an avid hunter—so much so that he’s said to have killed over 100 deer—is a fine paradox for a life’s work; but then Salten had another. In 1906 a book was released anonymously, titled Josefine Mutzenbacher; or, The Story of a Viennese Whore, as Told by Herself. Aside from a smattering of bans over the last century, the novel has stayed in print ever since, selling around three million copies. It has always been controversial, and it has always been attributed to him. – Rory O. (full review)
Where to Stream: MUBI (free for 30 days)
Orchestrator of Storms: The Fantastique World of Jean Rollin (Dima Ballin & Kat Ellinger)
See an exclusive clip above.
Working outside the French New Wave and carving his own path with a distinctly boundary-pushing, genre-melding voice, Jean Rollin’s body of work often goes underlooked. With his anarchist blend of the titillating and horrifying, his contributions to the art form of cinema receive a welcome new appreciation with Orchestrator of Storms: The Fantastique World of Jean Rollin. While the documentary takes a conventional, cradle-to-grave route, it’s fascinating to hear from collaborators and fans alike about what excited the director and how he precisely enacted his creative vision by any means necessary.
Where to Stream: ARROW
The Outwaters (Robbie Banfitch)
We’re less than a quarter into 2023 and independent horror appears to be having a moment. Technically it started several months ago when Kyle Edward Ball’s “liminal horror” Skinamarink gained word-of-mouth buzz after leaking online, but its official release in January spawned an inexplicable indie hit. A slow, dread-inducing experimental work made on a micro-budget, Skinamarink received comparisons to avant-garde filmmakers like the late Michael Snow and somehow earned millions in a semi-wide release. One month later we have Robbie Banfitch’s The Outwaters, a found-footage horror movie with an experimental edge. Given both films’ willingness to buck convention, earn raves from terrified viewers, and receive theatrical runs so close together, lumping both Skinamarink and The Outwaters together feels inevitable (even the New York Times had the directors interview each other when reporting on them). – C.J. P. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
Le pupille (Alice Rohrwacher)
In between feature-length projects, Happy as Lazzaro director Alice Rohrwacher has crafted the holiday movie of the past season with her Oscar-nominated Le Pupille. Set inside a Catholic boarding school during a time of war, the Italian director playfully explores the weight of sin, rebellion, and childhood camaraderie in this story about what happens when a lavish red cake arrives in their meager surroundings. Produced by Alfonso Cuarón, just make sure to switch off the default English dub and put on Italian with subtitles.
Where to Stream: Hulu
Remember My Name (Alan Rudolph)
One of the great films from its time was, of course, long reduced to bad rips and exceedingly rare repertory showings. Thus making the Amazon Prime debut of Alan Rudolph’s Remember My Name––in what my scan-through confirms is a strong master––more notable than most streaming debuts I can recall. (The same transfer is on TUBI, if you don’t have a subscription or mind commercials.) Watch this and try not thinking Anthony Perkins was one of the greatest actors in American history, that Geraldine Chaplin should’ve had Meryl Streep’s career and reputation, that few movies since vivify the spaces between tension and mourning so vividly. – Nick N.
Where to Stream: Amazon and TUBI
Sharper (Benjamin Caron)
The trick to Sharper––a new con picture from director Benjamin Caron––is that it’s deceivingly simple. Featuring multiple lead characters, many points of view, and more twists than a Twizzler, this construct may feel convoluted in spots. Yet it is a concise, well-told piece of entertainment that’s smart enough to know being too clever can be a crutch. – Dan M. (full review)
Where to Stream: Apple TV+
Also New to Streaming
MUBI (free for 30 days)
Away from Her
Portrait of Jason
The World After Us
Modern Romance
Cane River
The Host
Prime Video
Remember My Name
Netflix
The Woman King
VOD
Jethica
Swallowed