With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit the interwebs. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.
Every Thing Will Be Fine (Wim Wenders)
A three-hankie weepie that harks back in its melodramatic rhythms and constantly moves forward (or so it at least thinks) with its use of digital 3D, Every Thing Will Be Fine, Wim Wenders‘ first narrative feature since Palermo Shooting, is always flirting with being a white elephant. It would only require, say, two more bad scenes — more bizarre choices with regard to the performances, more bits of dialogue that get to the heart of a character’s grief with the grace of a drunk lumberjack, or at least fewer pretty images — to teeter into chaos. And this is what ultimately makes the picture most worthwhile: even those moments that raise the eyebrows sky-high still have a weird integrity and determination skating under the surface. – Nick N. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google
The Forbidden Room (Guy Maddin and Evan Johnson)
Dense and lacking the playful quality of his more straightforward work, this represents a new multi-narrative direction for Maddin, and a kind of rabbit hole. Working within the art world verses the film world, Maddin’s work, style and influences have a tremendous amount of power applicable to cinema within the space of a gallery installation. Night Mayor, his first collaboration with the NFB, fictionalized the tension between the NFB’s mission and government controls, capturing the inherently cinematic story of an immigrant inventor who dreams of transmitting images made by Canadians to Canadians. The Forbidden Room, while often brilliant upon first viewing, seems to overstay its welcome. A challenging feature representing a new ambition for Maddin, it’s a step forward, a reinvention, and a difficult film to describe and process. I imagine my admiration for it may grow upon future viewings, but I also fear it lacks substance beyond the disjoined narrative. – John F. (full review)
Where to Stream: Fandor
The Kindergarten Teacher (Nadav Lapid)
We’ve been paying attention to Nadav Lapid‘s The Kindergarten Teacher since its debut at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, even naming it one of this summer’s best theatrical offerings. After its run, the acclaimed drama is now streaming on Netflix. Going off the (largely) effusive reactions that have been hitting for more than a year, it’s well worth checking out now. – Nick N.
Where to Stream: Netflix
One & Two (Andrew Droz Palmero)
Low budgets don’t have to constrain a film, and a great example is the serene One & Two, which uses a small amount of locations and characters to bolster the low-key charm. Set in a secluded farm with a giant wall of earth separating them from the outside world, writer/director Andrew Droz Palermo’s feature debut follows a small family where two young siblings have a power that threatens the god-fearing father. Much turmoil is made over their abilities and it becomes a unique hybrid of the traditional superhero origin story. However, it never fully commits to this idea and wants to instead tell a story of two children that have to make their way in life under the shadow of their domineering father Daniel (Grant Bowler). This is why it works as a heart-felt sendup of what it means to have a sibling and be able to fight for each other. – Bill G. (full review)
Where to Stream: Netflix
On War (Bertrand Bonello)
The English language makes very few appearances in Bertrand Bonello’s On War, and it’s to the film’s credit that their possible connections and distribution feel like no accident. There’s an opening quote (“If I wasn’t Bob Dylan, I’d probably think that Bob Dylan has a lot of answers myself”); there’s the musician’s Manchester Free Trade Hall performance of “She Belongs to Me” at film’s end; and, somewhere in the middle, Elina Löwensohn’s Rachel offers a strong opinion (“Fuck Freud”) that goes unnoticed during a party. Do the things placed after, before, and in-between these — the story of a frustrated artist clumsily seeking his identity, the doings of a forest cult devoted to the war-like process of grasping your sexual being, and the significant changes that each party brings to the other — align to create a clear psychological portrait? – Nick N. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon, Google
Pawn Sacrifice (Edward Zwick)
I’ve always been fascinated by Bobby Fischer due to his vanishing rather than anything he accomplished at a chessboard. I’ve never been good at the game, yet I respect its complexity. The greats literally memorize past matches and maneuvers, so in-tune with the playing field that they can play out loud with nothing more than words. Fischer was a great—the youngest Grandmaster in history and the first American-born World Champion. Like most geniuses, however, the strain of intellect, pressure, and success brought with it a hefty price. For Bobby it was the deterioration of his mental health. And as it’s told in Edward Zwick‘s Pawn Sacrifice, he may have known this from the beginning. If he were to rise to the top, the time was now. – Jared M. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google
Phoenix (Christian Petzold)
Following the Second World War, European auteurs probed its lingering national psychological fallout resulting in films such as Night and Fog, Hiroshima Mon Amour, and Germany Year Zero. Phoenix sits well within that style, its historical perspective strangely 60 years out of date but not unwelcome for it. Themes of identity, guilt, and misrecognition play out when a Holocaust survivor returns to Berlin. Nelly (Nina Hoss), who’s had reconstructive surgery on her face, seeks out her husband Johnny (Ronald Zehrfeld) in the ruins of the city even as her friend Lene (Nina Kunzendorf) warns her that Johnny betrayed her to the Nazis. – Martin J. (full review)
Where to Stream: Netflix, Amazon, iTunes, Google
Song of the Sea (Tomm Moore)
Song of the Sea, the latest animated feature from The Secret of Kells director Tomm Moore, opens with a dreamlike sequence that quickly lays the foundation for most of what is to follow, both thematically and narratively. The traditional, handcrafted animation that Moore is again working with gives the movie a distinct, yet classically appealing aesthetic that visually distinguishes it from the variety of other animated offerings we’ve seen of late. The depth of the environments is truly remarkable, a layering of complex details and visual flourishes juxtaposed against the simpler design of the central characters. The nighttime sequences are somehow even more impressive as the images glow with such clarity as to almost create a 3D effect. – Brian P. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon Prime
Also New to Streaming
Amazon
Bleeding Heart (review)
Dixieland
Don Verdean (review)
Racing Extinction (review)
Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse (review)
Netflix