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.
Crimson Gold (Jafar Panahi)
Following his early days of being an assistant for Abbas Kiarostami, Jafar Panahi’s career soon blossomed, leading to a few collaborations between the two monumental figures of Iranian cinemas––one of which, Crimson Gold, is now available on The Criterion Channel. The masterful 2003 character study, scripted by Kiarostami after he told the tenets of the story to Panahi while sitting in traffic, stars unprofessional actor Hossain Emadeddin in his sole performance. Following a pizza delivery driver who witnesses the sharp class divide and political terror playing out in his society, Kiarostami and Panahi brilliantly preview the brutal ending from the start as the pieces then cogently and subtly fall into place as to why a man would be pushed to such utter desperation. – Jordan R.
Where to Stream: The Criterion Channel
Dark Skull (Kiro Russo)
As his new feature El Gran Movimiento—something I’ve seen and will personally recommend—debuts in NYFF’s Currents section, Kiro Russo’s 2016 feature Dark Skull begins a week-long, typically free run on Le Cinéma Club. A haunting hybrid narrative set in the mines of rural Bolivia, Dark Skull—winner of a special mention at the 2016 Locarno Film Festival—mixes visceral visuals and sound design to turn miners’ daily routine into a dreamlike horror thriller: the tunnels are places of blinding headlamps, churning machinery, and unforgiving darkness. – Nick N.
Where to Stream: Le Cinéma Club
Dementia 13 (Francis Ford Coppola)
After reworking some of his most notable films it is a surprise, still, that Francis Ford Coppola would return to his (more or less) debut feature Dementia 13, a Roger Corman haunted-house picture that doesn’t quite portend a master but has style and atmosphere to spare—a good night at the movies. Odds say you’ve never seen it, making opportune the arrival of Dementia 13: Director’s Cut, running 69 minutes contra the original film’s 75 or 80 (depending on what version you watch). To quote Coppola, “Dementia 13 obviously occupies a place in my heart as my first film and I’m very proud that it can now exist as I intended it.”
Where to Stream: VOD
East of the Mountains (S.J. Chiro)
For the last sixty years, few actors have been as reliable an onscreen presence as Tom Skerritt. Bearded-yet-buttoned-up, handsome-yet-approachable, the 88-year-old has built an accomplished career playing sturdy, steadfast leaders. For decades, Skerritt has been the ideal supporting actor—highlights including M*A*S*H, Alien, Top Gun, and A River Runs Through It. His new film, East of the Mountains, provides a plum leading role of which he makes the most. – Dan M. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
Genesis (Philippe Lesage)
Considering the sheer number of coming-of-age films premiering each year, many getting lost in the undistributed ether after small festival runs, so it’s small miracle when one manages to show us burgeoning adolescence in a new light when it comes to both style and structure. In only his third narrative feature Genesis, Canadian director Philippe Lesage expands on his prior film The Demons with the confidence of a helmer that has dozens of movies under their belt. Led by striking, star-making performances by Théodore Pellerin and Noée Abita, the film keys on the pangs of heartache and the euphoria of the million paths that lie ahead like few before it. You’ll also have this song stuck in your head for weeks.
Where to Stream: MUBI (free for 30 days)
I Carry You With Me (Heidi Ewing)
After directing documentaries for the last two decades, Heidi Ewing makes her narrative debut with this graceful look into the real lives of Iván García (Armando Espitia) and Gerardo ZaVe (Christian Vasquez), one which earned her Sundance’s NEXT Audience Award and Innovator Award. It’s a fitting honor from the festival because the film was born in Park City over drinks in 2012. Iván and Gerardo joined Ewing at the festival to support her project Detropia. There the couple told Heidi the story of their childhood, how they fell in love, and immigrated to New York City. She developed a fictionalized version of their story with actors depicting them as children and young adults, along with the real Iván and Gerardo appearing as themselves. – Josh E. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
No Ordinary Man (Aisling Chin-Yee and Chase Joynt)
In 1998, Dianne Middlebrook published Suits Me: The Double Life of Billy Tipton, and the narrative around Billy Tipton’s life was warped. The truth was that Tipton, a successful jazz musician who lived from 1914 to 1989, was a transgender man who lived most of his life pretending to be a cisgender man. When he died, medical examinations revealed that Tipton had been assigned female at birth, which was news to Tipton’s ex-partner Kitty Kelly and their three adopted children. A media circus ensued that presented Tipton as a woman who posed as a man to get ahead in a sexist music industry. Middlebrook’s biography perpetuated that false narrative. Aisling Chin-Yee and Chase Joynt’s new documentary, No Ordinary Man, is a sorely needed corrective on the life and identity of Billy Tipton. Orla S. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
Also New to Streaming
The Criterion Channel
MUBI (free for 30 days)
Tremors
Scenes with Beans
The Guardians
Editing
Truth or Consequences
Gregory’s Girl