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.
The Assistant (Kitty Green)
The silences last a lifetime in The Assistant, written and directed by Kitty Green. Starring Julia Garner as the titular character, the film plays out over one long day at an unnamed independent film studio. Light on dialogue with no real score to speak of, we follow our new assistant as she makes the coffee, cleans the dishes, prints the screenplays, and takes the phone calls for an unrelenting man in the office behind her. – Dan M. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google
Bad Education (Cory Finley)
I don’t know if the man at the top truly inspired this teenager to cement his own demise like director Cory Finley and screenwriter Mike Makowsky posit via their film Bad Education, but it’s a wonderful bit of narrative kismet to shine a light on the underlying issues that fostered an environment where this could happen. How much did our country not paying its education employees a commensurate salary factor in? Would superintendent Dr. Frank Tassone (Hugh Jackman) have insulated his assistant superintendent Pamela Gluckin (Allison Janney) once her fraud of taxpayers’ money was found out if her salary was better? You might be surprised. – Jared M. (full review)
Where to Stream: HBO
Bull (Annie Silverstein)
There’s not much to do around Kristyl’s (Amber Havard) hard luck subdivision besides getting into trouble at her age. With parents too busy or in jail (as is the case with her mother) to have the financial security necessary to keep a close eye out, these teens end up spending their days searching for new spots to get drunk and/or high without an imminent threat of incarceration. So maybe Kris punches a classmate in the face. Maybe she takes her little sister (Keira Bennett’s Chance) to the river—the exact spot their grandmother (Keeli Wheeler’s Marjorie) implores them not to go due to the water being unclean. Or maybe she breaks into the home of an absent-on-the-weekends neighbor (Rob Morgan’s Abe) so her friends can trash the place. – Jared M. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google
Dead Souls (Wang Bing)
Often when one is reviewing a film, there can be a need to ascribe some kind of motivation to a director. While yes, we have to admit that a film is often the collected works of many different artists, it’s hard not to think of the medium as wholly more interesting when the mad pursuits of one single creator’s vision are on screen. That’s why it’s so intriguing in the case of Wang Bing’s eight-hour, twelve-years-in-the-making epic Dead Souls, to come away with the feeling of what’s being projected onscreen is nothing other than humility. Naturally, one would have this thought when the majority of a behemoth running time is spent dedicated to elderly citizens recounting their harrowing experiences back in the 1950s and 60s. – Ethan V. (full review)
Where to Stream: MUBI (free for 30 days)
Deerskin (Quentin Dupieux)
Quentin Dupieux’s Deerskin can essentially be summarized as Divorced Guy Energy: The Movie. A ribbing of masculinity that alternates between bone-dry and morbid humor to great effect, it may come across as an easily discernible film ideologically. Yet its placement in the Special Presentations section of the Toronto Film Festival rather than the more apt Midnight Madness programme perhaps speaks to it as a truly confusing object on at least the basis of overall comedic effect. – Ethan V. (full review)
Where to Stream: Virtual Cinemas
Ema (Pablo Larraín)
Movies have been named after far less interesting forces than the protagonist of Ema. Played with unblinking gravitas by the Chilean television actress Mariana Di Girólamo (a remarkable find), Ema is a contemporary dancer who stalks the neon lit streets of the Chilean port city of Valparaíso in track bottoms, cropped leopard-print tops, and slicked back peroxide blonde hair. She also has a propensity for arson. In the film she leaves her partner Gaston–who is the choreographer of her dance troupe (and also maybe gay)–in order to dance to Reggaeton hits on a rundown tarmac football pitch. The film is utterly infatuated with her. – Rory O. (full review)
Where to Stream: MUBI (available for free today, May 1, only!)
I Wish I Knew (Jia Zhangke)
I Wish I Knew is immediately reminiscent of 24 City, Jia’s 2008 documentary-narrative hybrid which examined the impact that changing economic factors had on working-class Chinese people. An essential watch for anyone interested in politics, art or people themselves, 24 City had a very specific focus: how the changes towards factories and the economy affect the workers who are constantly undermined in these processes. Taking on a broader scope, I Wish I Knew is simply about the stories of people: the tales of their own experiences, their histories with the city of Shanghai, and discussions of their deceased relatives. The film is about the way we remember, from individuals looking back on the stories of life that their grandparents told them to the camera itself acting reflective of a time that’s destined to be finite. – Logan K. (full review)
Where to Stream: iTunes
Liberté (Albert Serra)
Finally, evil in cinema is back! That was the impression running through the mind of this writer during all 132 minutes of Albert Serra’s Liberté, a film so thoroughly dedicated to bad, evil vibes–and yes, the beauty inherent in them–that it feels like something approaching a howl in the wind against the notions of good taste. – Ethan V. (full review)
Where to Stream: Film at Lincoln Center’s Virtual Cinema
SXSW 2020 Films
A selection of films that were set to world premiere at this year’s SXSW are now streaming for free for a limited time on Amazon. Selections include the features Cat in the Wall, Gunpowder Heart, Le Choc du Futur, Selfie, I’m Gonna Make You Love Me, My Darling Vivian, TFW NO GF, as well as a number of shorts.
Where to Stream: Amazon Video (through May 6)
The Wretched (Brett and Drew T. Pierce)
The latest from the Pierce Brothers follows a 17-year-old visiting his dad in the midst of an imminent divorce. Soon, familial unrest and teen drama are the least of his concerns as he starts to suspect his neighbor is possessed by an ancient evil. This nu-witch take on Rear Window (read: Disturbia) tries to blend summer angst and Evil Dead splatter with frightful but inconsistent results. However, with a couple clever visual conceits and an unnerving central ghoul, The Wretched might have just enough for genre diehards only. – Michael M.
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google
Also New to Streaming
Amazon
Tammy’s Always Dying (review)
Until the Birds Return
Amazon Prime
Air Force One
Birdy
Bull Durham
The Cable Guy
Duck, You Sucker!
God’s Own Country
Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Thelma & Louise
Anthology Film Archives
The Criterion Channel
Starring Jean Arthur
Wadjda
Three by Jafar Panahi
HBO
MUBI (free for 30 days)
A Russian Youth
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
Laurence Anyways
La Chinoise
Netflix
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Den of Thieves
Django Unchained
The Half of It
No Direction Home
She Hate Me
Song of the Sea
Shudder