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.
Aftersun (Charlotte Wells)
One of last year’s most resonant films, Aftersun looks at the scratchy dynamics between a father and daughter while on vacation. It’s about memory, the finite nature of the relationships in our lives, and the difficulties of a parent’s diminishing mental health. Charlotte Wells knows where to put the camera in her debut—undeterred from taking risks, from placing her characters outside of the frame, from looking at shadows instead of the people themselves. Aftersun is a rare, tremendous first film, full of heart and focused melancholy; it breaks you down and fills you up simultaneously. The consistent inclusion of camcorder footage, and the fact that it enhances the story rather than becoming a distraction, further proclaims Wells as a director with immense talent and overflowing care. – Michael F.
Where to Stream: Paramount+
AI
Dark Star (1974), Zardoz (1974), Demon Seed (1977), Electric Dreams (1984), Making Mr. Right (1987), Ghost in the Shell (1995), Johnny Mnemonic (1995)*, A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), Teknolust (2002), 2046 (2004), Computer Chess (2013), Her (2013), After Yang (2021)*, Life After BOB: The Chalice Study (2021)
Where to Stream: The Criterion Channel
Biosphere (Mel Eslyn)
Biosphere feels like a movie Mark Duplass was born to lead. Small sci-fi with a provocative twist. One location, two characters, and a lot of talking. This is one of the pioneers behind the mumblecore subgenre, after all. Most of it works, and some it works really well. Written by Duplass and Mel Eslyn, with Eslyn directing (a longtime producer making her feature directorial debut), it stars Duplass and Sterling K. Brown as the last two living human beings on Earth. – Dan M. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
The Blackening (Tim Story)
The original short directed by Chioke Nassor asked a group of Black friends to choose who among them was the “blackest” as a sacrifice to save the rest. Why? Because the killer got confused when starting his spree, unable to find the “Black character” his trope-fueled brain demanded as its first victim. Hilarity ensues, everyone desperately trying to erase said blackness to keep breathing, revealing embarrassing (some unforgivable) secrets along the way. It’s an ingenious conceit for satire that’s perfectly suited for a full-fledged horror comedy willing to tread heavily in that vein while also holding some surprises up its sleeve. So that’s exactly what screenwriters Tracy Oliver and Dewayne Perkins (the lone holdover from that skit) do with Tim Story’s The Blackening. – Jared M. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
Personal Shopper (Olivier Assayas)
After Clouds of Sils Maria, Personal Shopper confirms Olivier Assayas as the director most adept at drawing the best out of Kristen Stewart. Here she follows in the footsteps of Maggie Cheung and Asia Argento, actors whose exceptional central performances prevented fundamentally flawed films by Assayas – Clean and Boarding Gate, respectively – from foundering altogether. Stewart’s achievement is arguably even more remarkable considering that for the bulk of Personal Shopper’s running time, her only co-actor is an iPhone. – Giovanni M.C. (full review)
Where to Stream: Hulu
The Quiet Girl (Colm Bairéad)
A thoroughly dull if not totally unpleasant work of nicecore cinema, The Quiet Girl is the case of a film being easy to dismiss but hard to hate. Are the intentions “good”? If hedging your bets around such a self-congratulatory gentle tone and story is, then yes. Yet it’s hard to deny how the story might touch anyone who’s moving past the pains of a difficult childhood with emotionally distant parents. – Ethan V. (full review)
Where to Stream: Hulu
Sepa: Nuestro Señor de los milagros (Walter Saxer)
After years of working with someone like Werner Herzog, it seems you deserve some rest—especially after films as spectacular as Aguirre: The Wrath of God and Fitzcarraldo, both shot in Peru with grueling backstage problems that can be felt onscreen. That was the case for Walter Saxer, a Swiss producer who started as unit production manager in Herzog’s debut Even Dwarves Started Small, then retired and took residency in Iquitos, Peru, buying the hotel where the main production for both films was settled on, and turning it into a bed-and-breakfast called La Casa Fitzcarraldo. – Jaime G. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
Will-o’-the-Wisp (Joao Pedro Rodrigues)
A hopeful and bittersweet plea for a better future, Joao Pedro Rodrigues’ 67-minute oddity Will-o’-the-Wisp covers three periods in the life of Alfredo, a “Prince” of Portugal. If a little conceited and cutesy at times––perhaps “a musical comedy by” wasn’t literally needed to be specified in the opening credits––this a film that manages to remain likable throughout. Seemingly an accomplishment for something with so much on its mind. – Ethan V. (full review)
Where to Stream: The Criterion Channel
Also New to Streaming
The Criterion Channel
’50s Kubrick
Breathless (1983)
British Noir
Dangerous Game
Directed by Roberto Rossellini
Directed by Susan Seidelman
Eight Deadly Shots
Elvis!
Madeline’s Madeline
Mother of George
Showgirls
Summer 1993
Stanley Kwan’s New Wave Melodramas
Two Films by Masashi Yamamoto
Metrograph at Home
Straub-Huillet: Early Works
MUBI (free for 30 days)
Synecdoche, New York
2046
The Exiles
Ivansxtc
Un Pur Esprit
Contemporary Color
The Idiots
Netflix
Clear and Present Danger
Titanic
OVID.tv
Air Doll
Prime Video
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Cool Hand Luke
The Cotton Club Encore
High Tension
Gaslight
Jackie Brown
The Limey
No Country For Old Men
Night Moves
Ran
Saving Private Ryan