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.
Banel & Adama (Ramata-Toulaye Sy)
A directorial debut programmed into the main Cannes competition is typically viewed with suspicion, if not overlooked altogether. Very rare is that lightning-in-a-bottle moment like the arrival of Son of Saul some years back. Typically, the only conversation these debuts generate is the critical debate as to why they’ve been elevated to the top of the pile when there are far more striking debuts buried deeper within the festival. This often means that accomplished films are overlooked and underappreciated by those on the ground, who may be subconsciously comparing a striking feature to the work of more established names it’s competing against for the Palme d’Or, approaching each debut with a “show me” attitude it wouldn’t be treated with if selected for placement in, say, Un Certain Regard. – Alistair R. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
The Bikeriders (Jeff Nichols)
Using photographer Danny Lyon’s iconic The Bikeriders’ imagery as a jumping-off point, Jeff Nichols’ latest feature imagines a fictionalized Chicago motorcycle club, the Vandals. Motorcycle club culture might be a distinctly American phenomenon, but Nichols casts two Brits in the lead, with varying returns: Jodie Comer as Kathy narrates the story in a clear Goodfellas conceit, adopting a Midwest accent flashy (and divisive) enough to ensure sustained awards-season chatter; Tom Hardy is Johnny, a truck driver who gets the idea to start a motorcycle club while watching Marlon Brando’s The Wild One. This low-stakes “why not?” starting point for founding the club works early in the film, until, following the Goodfellas trajectory, it all comes crashing down. Without Thelma Schoonmaker’s editing prowess, The Bikeriders’ rise-and-fall narrative ultimately plays too conventional. – Caleb H. (full review)
Where to Stream: Peacock
Divinity (Eddie Alcazar)
One of two projects on this list that exists due to Steven Soderbergh’s relentless pursuit to bring visionary independent filmmakers’ imaginations to the screen, Divinity is, with the utmost guarantee, unlike anything you’ve seen before. And I mean that for the better. Eddie Alcazar’s abrasive, densely grainy, black-and-white experimental sci-fi horror is a cosmic mindfuck of the highest order: digital video-game aesthetics meet a sinister psychedelia nestled away in a desert landscape from which a monster begs to emerge at the will of near-alien brothers. Here’s hoping Soderbergh opened the door for whoever wants to next back the selfless filmmaker, who wears a mask in interviews to shirk identity as much as importance. – Luke H.
Where to Stream: Shudder
La Chimera (Alice Rohrwacher)
While Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny perhaps garnered more press out of Cannes, another selection involving archaeologists and tomb raiders will have a longer shelf life. Alice Rohrwacher’s latest feature La Chimera (starring Josh O’Connor, Isabella Rossellini, and Alba Rohrwacher) ranked quite highly on our top 50 films of 2023 list for good reason. It’s a dreamy, magical odyssey in which the Italian director whisks viewers away with the kind of transportive vision she’s exuded in all her features thus far.
Where to Stream: Hulu
Immaculate (Michael Mohan)
Convent-set movies occupy a storied place in cinema history—one too vast to attempt summarization in this review. But it’s no matter: Immaculate stands to be a minor entry in both the crowded genre and in Sydney Sweeney’s present ascension to movie stardom. Sweeney produces and recruited Michael Mohan to direct Immaculate after their previous collaborations on TV series Everything Sucks! and erotic-thriller throwback The Voyeurs. Narratively, Immaculate owes more to Dario Argento’s Suspiria than any nunsploitation picture. The setups are essentially identical: wide-eyed American girl (Sweeney as Sister Cecilia in this case) heads to an all-girls dormitory in Italy. Nefarious plotting by shadowy leaders is unveiled over the course of the narrative. – Caleb H. (full review)
Where to Stream: Hulu
The Instigators (Doug Liman)
It’s quite the year for Ocean’s reunions. Ahead of Wolfs, with George Clooney and Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Casey Affleck are also back together (also marking an Oppenheimer, Gerry, Interstellar, and Chasing Amy reunion, of course). Directed by Doug Liman just a few months after his Road House remake, The Instigators finds everyone involved working in perhaps too-comfortable territory, crafting a slack heist drama with spurts of welcome dry humor amidst a million cliches.
Where to Stream: Apple TV+
P.P. Rider and Typhoon Club (Shinji Sōmai)
P.P. Rider is Somai’s first full exploration of the power of the long take: it’s mostly driven by the technique, from the opening scene that starts on an alleyway, moves into a school pool, then to the school’s backyard, the exit, and finally the street––six minutes after it started––showing us both how “Fatty” bullies Jojo, Jisho and Bruce, and then how he gets kidnapped. From chase sequences to fights with the police and the yakuza, it’s exhilarating and entertaining all the way through, while also fulfilling its “seishun” ethos of providing pathos and growth to its youthful characters. Continue reading Jaime Grijalba’s feature.
Where to Stream: Metrograph at Home
Open Range (Kevin Costner)
If all was right in the world, we’d be getting Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 2 in just a week, but with WB shifting plans to premiere at Venice Film Festival instead, hopefully it’ll arrive by the end of the year. As we await Kevin Costner’s next chapter, his prior directorial outing, 2003’s Open Range, has now arrived on Tubi. Not unlike Horizon, the mythic, gorgeous Western hits all the right notes of the genre, crafting a story of revenge on an epic canvas that never loses its heart.
Where to Stream: Tubi
Widow Clicquot (Thomas Napper)
The first thing we learn at the start of Thomas Napper’s Widow Clicquot is that Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin Clicquot (Haley Bennett) loved her husband François (Tom Sturridge). The second thing we learn is that the vineyard that held his name was synonymous with himself. Not just in death––as the film begins with Barbe dressing for his funeral––but in life too. It is where he spent all his time. Where he welcomed his new wife into every breath he took. And where he will live on in her memory as she preserves the vines to ensure he’s never forgotten. – Jared M. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
Also New to Streaming
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VOD
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