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.
2nd Chance (Ramin Bahrani)
It’s an eerie image. Richard Davis stands out in a field, wearing a kevlar vest, and points a pistol into his belly. Then he pulls the trigger, skips back a bit, and checks his red-burned skin. Over the course of his life, he would do this—shoot himself—192 times, proving the efficacy of his life-saving device in the most visceral and operatic way possible. “A lot of people think I’m stupid for doing this,” he tells the camera before one of these high-wire demonstrations, and for just a moment, an air of unpredictability hangs over this bullet-proof vest magnate’s next move. – Jake K. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
Devotion (J.D. Dillard)
Devotion adheres to the true story of Jesse Brown, the first Black Naval aviator. It’s a name many will be hearing for the first time. Adapted from a 2014 novel, director J.D. Dillard’s film doesn’t bear the trappings of that other aviation blockbuster from 2022. It doesn’t have a storybook structure. The built narrative struggles against the facts of its plot, unable to find rhythm in a fictionalized version of events. But none of it matters—Brown remains a remarkable figure, a complicated character to study, and impossible not to root for. – Michael F. (full review)
Where to Stream: Paramount+
The Exiles (Violet Columbus and Ben Klein)
What first appears to be an energetic, biographical sketch of NYU Professor and filmmaker Christine Choy becomes a film about her lost project, one that seemingly has yet to be completed and, by the conclusion of The Exiles, feels incomplete. Choy, who describes herself as “philosophically homeless,” is a half-Chinese, half-Korean 100% New Yorker, finding herself most at home in lower Manhattan—below 23rd St, distinctly. Yet she’s also proud of her Chinese heritage and had been a founding faculty member of NYU’s Shanghai program, where she stumbles across the suppression of the student movement in the late 1980s that culminated in the Tiananmen Square protests. For her, completing a film she started years ago—as many in the movement were traveling to the US—is a challenge to reckon with. – John F. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
Fire of Love (Sara Dosa)
In a bond forged over mutual fascination (or obsession) with the mysteries of volcanoes, Katia and Maurice Krafft dedicated their lives to discovering everything they could about these natural phenomena. Forces of both awe-inspiring wonder and tragic disaster, Sara Dosa’s archival documentary Fire of Love gracefully captures this extreme dichotomy while also getting to the heart of what drove this couple to abandon a routine, domesticated lifestyle and literally sacrifice their lives in the mission to save others. In telling their devotion to one of the natural world’s most dangerous forces, Dosa crafts a documentary that would make Herzog proud—and an ideal double feature with Into the Inferno, his collaboration with volcanologist Clive Oppenheimer, which also features the Kraffts. – Jordan R. (full review)
Where to Stream: Hulu
Lady Macbeth (William Oldroyd)
One of the most accomplished directorial debuts of 2017 was Lady Macbeth, hailing from stage director William Oldroyd, who also previously won a Sundance award for his short film Best. Based on the Nikolai Leskov novel, the story finds a woman (Florence Pugh, in a star-making turn) who yearns for freedom from her dead marriage and begins an affair, one that brings horrific consequences. Ahead of his new film Eileen premiering at Sundance, his debut is now streaming on MUBI and catch up with my interview with the director here.
Where to Stream: MUBI (free for 30 days)
Maya (Mia Hansen-Løve)
At long last, ahead of her stellar new drama One Fine Morning opening later this month, her 2018 feature Maya is finally getting a U.S. release. Courtesy Under The Milky Way, the film following a French war reporter who journies to India after spending months in captivity, is now available digitally. Catch up with Josh Lewis’s review from TIFF here and Nick Newman’s interview with the director here.
Where to Stream: VOD
Maya Deren Collection
With Meshes of the Afternoon at #16 on the new Sight and Sound list, Filmatique have uploaded several of Maya Deren’s films—almost all lesser-seen, each of remarkable note. (Feline lovers should prioritize The Private Life of a Cat.) Each film has been restored.
Where to Stream: Filmatique
Riotsville, USA (Sierra Pettengill)
Riotsville isn’t just a place. It’s an idea; a fiction written by the enforcers of order to “demonstrate the presence of a superior force.” Riotsville is portable and meant to be transplanted no matter the material conditions of what it may disturb. Riotsville is violence done to civilians in the name of maintaining their own civilized society. To put it bluntly: Riotsville is federally funded fascism, and as director Sierra Pettengill’s urgent, meticulously collaged documentary outlines, it laid the foundation for the tactics and overwhelming funding of police brutality we see today. – Shayna W. (full review)
Where to Stream: Hulu
Sick (John Hyams)
Horror movies, like documentaries, have a knack for rolling the cameras whenever tragedy strikes. It didn’t come as much of a surprise when, mere months after COVID-19 locked most of the world down, we had one conceived and shot entirely over Zoom. It also wasn’t too much of a shock when cheap horror movies seizing on lockdowns and fears over a deadly virus started to pop up on VOD services. But it was only a matter of time before someone would make the first good entry about the pandemic, one that would find the perfect blend of executing genre thrills while seizing upon the moment to portray some of the insanity we’ve all dealt with for the past two years. That film has finally arrived with John Hyams’ Sick. – C.J. P. (full review)
Where to Stream: Peacock
The Territory (Alex Pritz)
There are about 180 Uru-eu-wau-wau people left in the Brazilian Amazon. This community lives off the land, protecting the Amazon from deforestation, constant threats of violence, and an expanding base of anti-Indigenous sentiment, streaming from the far-right emboldened by President Jair Bolsonaro. Over three years, filmmaker Alex Pritz spent time with these native Brazilians for The Territory, a collaborative, vérité documentary that’s both engaging and terrifying. Pritz even hands over the camera to the Uru-eu-wau-wau at one point, as the group closes their borders and prepares for an ongoing fight to preserve their land. – Michael F. (full review)
Where to Stream: Hulu
Zero Fucks Given (Emmanuel Marre and Julie Lecoustre)
After breaking out in Blue is the Warmest Color nearly a decade ago, Adèle Exarchopoulos has recently had a string of notable performances with Sibyl, Mandibules, and now last year’s Cannes Critics’ Week selection Zero Fucks Given. In the MUBI release, the actress plays a flight attendant for a lower-tier airline that contends with the soul-sucking monotony of entry-level work. Making for an ideal double feature with Jordan Tetewsky and Joshua Pikovsky’s recent Slamdance winner Hannah Ha Ha, Zero Fucks Given also eloquently explores millennial aimlessness in a capitalistic society that has no room for personal ambitions. – Jordan R.
Where to Stream: Film Movement+
Also New to Streaming
Hulu
The Drop
House of Darkness
MUBI (free for 30 days)
The Man Who Fell to Earth
The Case of Hana & Alice
Madame Bovary
The Flower of Evil
Martin Margiela: In His Own Words
Hold Me Tight
VOD
The Gang of Four
Peaceful
The Seven Faces of Jane