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.
Air Doll (Hirokazu Kore-eda)
Despite coming from one of international cinema’s foremost working filmmakers, Hirokazu Kore-eda’s 2009 film Air Doll had never seen a release in the U.S. Adapted by Kore-eda from Yoshiie Gōda’s manga series Kuuki Ningyo, it’s a modern retelling of the Galatea myth—in which the king Pygmalion fell in love with his ivory statue and the goddess Aphrodite brought the statue to life. For a 21st-century spin on the tale, Kore-eda naturally updated the statue to a blow-up sex doll, played by Bae Doona (Cloud Atlas, Sense8). – Mitchell B. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes (Junta Yamaguchi)
The logistics behind Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes are mind-boggling to fathom; time-travel stories are often confusing enough when they aren’t filmed as a one-shot. The Europe Kikaku theatrical troupe embracing that extra challenge is, accordingly, wild. Group director Makoto Ueda admits he wouldn’t have written the script that way if he didn’t already trust his actors and know they could handle the experiment. Not that having them at his disposal necessarily made his and director Junta Yamaguchi’s jobs any easier. To be able to craft this particular adventure through time and space into a seamless seventy-minute progression, they would still need to break everything into two-minute increments to ensure it all happened as it already had. – Jared M. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
Hive (Blerta Basholli)
Hive has a similar based-on-a-true-story inspirational narrative as many English-language crowdpleasers: through sheer force of will, a resilient woman triumphs against great personal and systemic obstacles. These sorts of films are cranked out by studios, particularly in the UK, all the time (just last year we had Misbehaviour), usually in glossy packaging and with a comedic bent. Hive, however, trades that gloss for a handheld camera and a washed-out colour palette. It removes the laughs, because this is post-war Kosovo, and life is tough and grey for beekeeper Fahrije (Yllka Gashi). – Orla S. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
House of Gucci (Ridley Scott)
Upon sitting down to write about House of Gucci, I thought I’d open with a quote. There had to have been some line, however peripheral, that stuck. That wasn’t the case. How about a moment that encapsulates its 157 minutes? It has the components necessary to dive into its artifice, at least in theory. There’s the grandeur, and there are the more hyperbolic aspects that match whatever people loosely toss the term “camp” at. Alas, nothing on that front dug its heels into me either. Instead all I asked was why this thing is so hard to latch onto. – Matt C. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
I Was a Simple Man (Christopher Makoto Yogi)
With his sublime sophomore effort, I Was a Simple Man, director Christopher Makoto Yogi sees Hawai’i not purely as tropical paradise, but a tranquil, sacred place with a spiritual identity constantly being threatened by cultural erasure and American imperialism. Oscillating between eerily pristine widescreen shots of Honolulu’s skyline and ghostly portraits of rural life, the film’s haunting cinematography echoes this tension through competing textures and hues. Still, Yogi’s quietly radical aesthetic manages to capture the soulful humanity of a tormented individual feverishly slipping from one world to the next. – Glenn H.
Where to Stream: VOD
Madalena (Madiano Marcheti)
Madalena is never just a name in Madalena, Madiano Marcheti’s haunting debut film about the murder of a trans woman set in rural Brazil. For some she’s a source of income and friendship, and for others panic and loss. The film follows a trio of characters whose disparate lives all somehow overlapped with the lifeless person now lying in a vast field of green soy crops. In doing so, Marcheti’s film presents varying reactions to trauma that ripple outward, revealing the subtle nuances of societal intolerance and personal grief. – Glenn H. (full review)
Where to Stream: MUBI (free for 30 days)
Minor Premise (Eric Schultz)
The most important memory for audiences to remember is the one Ethan (Sathya Sridharan) specifically tried to forget. His father (Nikolas Kontomanolis) is sitting at a desk telling him how things work in academia. Any idea, theory, or experiment that occurs in pursuit of a university-driven project belongs to said university. And since Paul is the head of the department, it all belongs to him. That’s not to say Ethan won’t get credit—scientific papers often have multiple authors and names listed below the person in charge. It merely confirms that he won’t receive all the acclaim. Nor should he. Whether Ethan cracked the case or not, the school has always been the catalyst. It’s their money that made it happen and the team that fulfilled its promise. – Jared M. (full review)
Where to Stream: Tubi
The Monopoly of Violence (David Dufresne)
“Scenes filmed in 13 French cities between November 2018 and February 2020. During that period we counted 2 deaths, 5 hands amputated, and 27 eyes lost during law enforcement operations.” That sobering text appears before the end credits of The Monopoly of Violence, a fascinating, conversation-starting documentary from French filmmaker David Dufresne. “Conversation” is an appropriate word here, as Monopoly is centered on two elements: shocking, smartphone-shot videos capturing police brutality against demonstrators and one-on-one conversations between sociologists, lawyers, police union officials, and demonstrators, among others. – Chris S. (full review)
Where to Stream: MUBI (free for 30 days)
Nightmare Alley (Guillermo del Toro)
Of all the oddball flourishes across Guillermo del Toro’s filmography, it’s perhaps most surreal that he has taken this long to run away and join the circus. In re-adapting William Lindsay Gresham’s 1946 novel of a carnival barker-turned-mentalist, The Shape of Water and Crimson Peak helmer seems a safe bet to follow down the wild, murky corridors of Nightmare Alley. Ever the rapturous stylist, del Toro lends an undeniable dreamlike sheen to this retelling, even managing to sharpen the claws on some of the key scenes shared by its 1947 predecessor. Yet what remains contains no more truth or deep connection than one of Stanton Carlisle’s (Bradley Cooper) spook shows. That role, it seems, is one of Nightmare Alley’s main sticking points. – Conor O. (full review)
Where to Stream: HBO Max and Hulu
Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché (Celeste Bell & Paul Sng)
For a young teenager steeped in grunge, Britpop, and the Beatles, the discovery of 1970s UK punk rock was tantamount to a swift slap in the face—and a glorious one, at that. And one of the crucial pieces of pre-internet background information was England’s Dreaming, Jon Savage’s indispensable study of the era. The book is full of memorable figures—none more so than Poly Styrene. She is only a minor player in Savage’s text, but few resonate more. The author explains that “Poly was a star, with her dayglo clothes, multi-racial background, teeth braces, and surreal songs which wittily commented on that very process of consumption and packaging that she was at once celebrating and transcending.” All of these elements and many others are represented in the long-in-the-works documentary Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché, which made its Canadian premiere at Hot Docs 2021. – Christopher S. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
Also New to Streaming
Amazon Prime
Needle in a Timestack (review)
The Criterion Channel
Hulu
Charli XCX: Alone Together (review)
Stop and Go (review)
MUBI (free for 30 days)
Chuck & Buck
The Visitor
Black Medusa
Looking for Venera
Honey Cigar
VOD