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.
Art-House Animation
If your eyes are tired of the latest cookie-cutter animation from the Hollywood mill, Criterion is featuring quite a line-up of inventive arthouse offerings in the field. With works by Marcell Jankovics, Satoshi Kon, Ari Folman, Don Hertzfeldt, Karel Zeman, and more, the series includes The Fabulous Baron Munchausen (1962), Belladonna of Sadness (1973), Fantastic Planet (1973), Watership Down (1978), Son of the White Mare (1981), Alice (1988), Millennium Actress (2001), Mind Game (2004), Paprika (2006), Persepolis (2007), Waltz with Bashir (2008), Mary and Max (2009), It’s Such a Beautiful Day (2012), Tower (2016), The Wolf House (2018), No. 7 Cherry Lane (2019), and more.
Where to Stream: The Criterion Channel
Neo-Noir
One of the greatest series to arrive on the Criterion Channel thus far is this selection of neo-noir offerings, including Brian De Palma’s masterpieces Blow Out and Body Double, Michael Mann’s debut Thief as well as Manhunter, the Coens’ debut Blood Simple, Wim Wenders’ The American Friend, Arthur Penn’s Night Moves, classics like The Long Goodbye, and Chinatown, plus the underrated The Last Seduction, the forthcoming Criterion disc release Mona Lisa, and much more.
Where to Stream: The Criterion Channel
Princess Cyd (Stephen Cone)
Stephen Cone’s protagonists are often defined by an inquisitiveness, whether it pertains to faith, sexuality or maturation in general. In Princess Cyd, Jessica Pinnick captivatingly embodies these concern as her Cyd is the ying to the yang of her aunt Miranda, played by Rebecca Spence in an equally great performance. As the two delicately spar during a warm Chicago summer, Cone has carefully crafted another world bursting with humanity that any viewer would want to live in. – Jordan R.
Where to Stream: MUBI (free for 30 days)
No Sudden Move (Steven Soderbergh)
Now working at a pace that nearly matches Hong Sangsoo, Steven Soderbergh has returned only about half a year after his previous film with a new crime drama. No Sudden Move, set in 1954 Detroit, features a bevy of enticing faces with Don Cheadle, Benicio Del Toro, David Harbour, Ray Liotta, Jon Hamm, Amy Seimetz, Brendan Fraser, Kieran Culkin, Noah Jupe, Craig muMs Grant, Julia Fox, Frankie Shaw, and Bill Duke leading its cast. Check back for our review and podcast discussion soon.
Where to Stream: HBO Max
Summer of Soul (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (Amir “Questlove” Thompson)
The biggest block party of 1969 took place over six weeks in central Harlem. Clustered together into the rocky confines of Mt. Morris Park (now Marcus Garvey Park), 300,000 people spent their summer grooving to a free outdoor concert series that featured some of the world’s best gospel, blues, and R&B singers alive. At the intersection of the country’s racial and social revolution, the “Harlem Cultural Festival” offered a cathartic and electric musical experience for those in attendance, combining song and spoken word that inspired and unified. It was also largely forgotten. Which makes Summer of Soul (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised) both a documentary and a rectification of history. – Jake K. (full review)
Where to Stream: Hulu
They Came Together (David Wain)
The subject of well-deserved lamenting, we’ve seen a number of films subvert or subtly ridicule Hollywood’s generic romantic comedy genre, but the parody to reign over them all has arrived with They Came Together. In an era where much of the spoof genre simply lazy repeats scenarios, David Wain‘s comedy brilliantly and hilariously deconstructs every aspect of the genre to provide one of the funniest films one is bound to see. – Jordan R. (full review)
Where to Stream: Hulu
Till Death (S.K. Dale)
For its first act, Till Death tries keeping things muted. S.K. Dale directs his cast to deliver lines as if they’re somewhere between whispering and talking; cinematographer Jamie Cairney shoots with the brand of ruby-tinged glossiness that the last decade has really leaned into as a visual shorthand for wealth and privilege; dialogue from screenwriter Jason Carvey funnels us bits of exposition. – Matt C. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
Two of Us (Filippo Meneghetti)
When Two of Us begins, we meet Nina (Barbara Sukowa) and Madeleine (Martine Chevallier) a couple whose comfort with each other is palpable through their silences, a way of intimate communication only developed through years of relationship. As they discuss their plans to relocate from France to Rome while talking about children, we first assume they have always been together, and are finding a way to break the news to the kids. As Nina becomes a bit more impatient, reminding Madeleine she needs to take care of herself as well and that her children are adults, we wonder: is she their stepmom? – Jose S. (full review)
Where to Stream: Hulu
Werewolves Within (Josh Ruben)
If not for a Ubisoft logo revealing the game company as a producer of Werewolves Within, I would be wondering what the point of buying licensing rights was since this adaptation isn’t even set in medieval times. I’m not sure there’s more that sets it apart from other variations on Mafia (the deduction party game created in 1986 by Dimitry Davidoff before getting a fresh spin as Werewolf by Andrew Plotkin in 1997 and more recently appropriated into the online sensation Among Us) since I’ve never played the VR title, but it appears anyone could just write a murder mystery populated by over-the-top paranoids without worrying about already existing IP. I guess if you already own that IP anyway, though, why not utilize it for cross-media synergy? – Jared M. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
World of Wong Kar Wai
The new Wong Kar Wai restorations from the Criterion Collection’s recent box set are now available on their streaming channel, including As Tears Go By, Days of Being Wild, Chungking Express, Fallen Angels, Happy Together, In the Mood for Love, 2046, and his shorts Hua yang de nian hua and The Hand. While the changes the director made have caused much discussion, having watched a few of them thus far, his new (or rather, original) interpretation is still quite glorious to behold.
Where to Stream: The Criterion Channel
The World to Come (Mona Fastvold)
In The World to Come, an unlikely romance blossoms against the rugged rural backdrop of the American Northeast. The action plays out during the year 1856 somewhere in the region of Syracuse, a few years shy of the American Civil War. The setting could hardly be more isolated; the living much further from easy. On January 1st, our lonesome protagonist welcomes the changing of the calendar with the bleakest of resolutions: “With little pride and less hope, we begin the new year.” – Rory O. (full review)
Where to Stream: Hulu
Also New to Streaming
Amazon Prime
The Criterion Channel
MUBI (free for 30 days)
Un film dramatique
Memoir of War
Bad Lieutenant
Nadia, Butterfly
White on White
Diary of a Chambermaid
Netflix
Fear Street Part One: 1994
Killing Them Softly
Prime Time (review)
VOD