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.
Arco (Ugo Bienvenu)
With his debut feature, Arco, Ugo Bienvenu puts a unique, thought-provoking twist on the solarpunk genre. He gives us a glimpse of the sort of sustainable utopia that one would expect from the genre: clean air, luscious gardens, thriving wildlife, and cities in the clouds (think Jack and Victoria’s pad in Oblivion, with a lot more greenery). But instead of contrasting this paradise with our contemporary society, Bienvenu shifts his reference point by 50 years, to a world desperately struggling to adapt to ferocious wildfires and biblical storms, and lamenting its failure to act when it mattered most. It is a slight but poignant change in perspective, which gives the playful adventure at the heart of the film a sobering air of contingency. – Oliver W. (full review)
Where to Stream: Hulu
The Bride! (Maggie Gyllenhaal)
While many compared Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride! to another recent WB antihero tale that turned off general audiences, Joker: Folie à Deux, I found something about both endeavors, if not radical, then at least far more compelling than the average Hollywood tentpole. Crafted with enough care to put the vast resources at her disposal to good use, there’s enough verve and style here to imagine this will gain at least a minor cult following in the years to come. – Jordan R.
Where to Stream: HBO Max
Bunnylovr (Katarina Zhu)
Sensitive and nuanced, Katarina Zhu’s directorial debut Bunnylovr is a compelling character study that never quite makes sense of the messy life of personal assistant by day / cam girl by night Becca (Zhu). Perhaps that is the point, although the film often edges close to something fascinating only to backpedal––perhaps a feature more than a flaw of Becca, a millennial who finds herself stuck. She’s initially drawn to a mysterious client who first refuses to go on camera with her. The Philly native sends her a rare bunny in the mail to keep her company and then insists on her putting on a show. The connection appears to be driven more by loneliness and isolation than pure fetish, but the film leaves the stranger’s motivations somewhat ambiguous until he lays down the ground rules, at one point telling her this is a transaction. – John F. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair (Quentin Tarantino)
One of the great theatrical experiences I had last year was Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair, Quentin Tarantino’s version of the revenge epic that was originally presented in two volumes. Removing the cliffhanger ending from Vol. 1 and the recap that began Vol. 2, the new addition includes a never-before-seen, 7½-minute animated sequence. With no new Quentin Tarantino film on the horizon (at least one he’s directing), one can now experience the long-awaited holy grail of his filmography at home.
Where to Stream: Peacock
Mile End Kicks (Chandler Levack)
There’s a reason Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill speaks to Grace Pine (Barbie Ferreira). It’s the same reason her pitch endears a publisher to cut her an advance and contract to publish a 33 1/3 book on the subject: the feminist rage; the honesty; the fact that the world was willing to fork over millions of dollars to listen as a woman bared her soul. There’s catharsis in it, inspiration. What’s stopping Grace from achieving that same success through authentic voice and impeccable taste as a burgeoning music critic in Toronto? The adrenaline rush answers: “Nothing!” The inevitable crash back to earth supplies a revision: herself. – Jared M. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
Miroirs No. 3 (Christian Petzold)
Christian Petzold’s fifteenth feature Miroirs No. 3 marks his fourth with Paula Beer, the actor-muse he first directed in 2018’s Transit, a film that shares significant themes with his newest––chiefly that of total strangers inexplicably recognizing each other and immediately feeling a deep, soulful bond with nary a word. Needless to say Miroirs No. 3 is, like the others, an enigma. – Luke H. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
Mother Mary (David Lowery)
The first thing we hear in Mother Mary is the sound of Michaela Coel’s voice. She anticipates Mother Mary’s arrival and warns us that this story is cursed. Anyone who has been watching television for the last decade could recognize the richness and clarity of her tone. But now, on the big screen, we get to hear it louder than it’s ever been. Writer-director David Lowery sets the stage for Mother Mary, but it’s Coel—playing the jilted, acidic fashion designer Sam Anselm—who steps out center stage. Coel dominates the screen, keeping all our senses at attention; though she has been in films before, Mother Mary feels like her grand entrance. Living on a large, dark property in England, Sam has banished herself from society. All she has is her work, loyal assistant Hilda (Hunter Schafer), and enough fire in her soul to chase off creeping feelings of ennui. Sam is also, crucially, a woman haunted by love, her passion fueled by sustained, aching heartbreak. – Jourdain S. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
Normal (Ben Wheatley)
You might wonder if you’re watching the wrong movie during the prologue to Ben Wheatley’s Normal. The setting is Japan, three Yakuza are being reprimanded by their boss, and blood is splattering against the walls. Then you recall the screenwriter and remember Derek Kolstad has spent the past decade inside the “world of John Wick“––its flagship series, Ballerina, and spiritual sibling Nobody. The allusions to hardcore crime making its way across the Pacific into tiny Normal, Minnesota suddenly make a lot more sense. – Jared M. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
Palestine 36 (Annemarie Jacir)
You almost believe Amir (Dhafer L’Abidine) wants the village perspective when asking his chauffeur Yusuf (Karim Daoud Anaya) to explain the Palestinian experience outside the city to a collection of landowners at his table. He’s barely able to get the preamble out before one of the guests reminds him of his place: it’s them who pay British taxes while the farmers never pay off their debts. There’s no clearer picture of just how powerful a role greed plays in our world’s tone-deaf political discord. They ignore their kin’s real issues while wondering if “Zionism could be a good thing,” since their property matters most. – Jared M. (full review)
Where to Stream: Letterboxd Video Store
Paper Trail (Don Hertzfeldt)
Winner of the Special Jury Award for Creative Vision from the Sundance Film Festival, the Audience Award & Best Animated Short from SXSW, and the Golden Gate Award from the San Francisco International Film Festival, Don Hertzfeldt’s new 14-minute short Paper Trail is now available to rent or buy on his Vimeo page.
Where to Stream: Vimeo
Stolen Kingdom (Joshua Bailey)
Depending on who you ask, the cultural domination of the Walt Disney Company can be a wonderful thing or an inescapable nightmare. From Marvel to Pixar, 20th Century Studios to Lucasfilm, and theme parks from Orlando to Tokyo with cruise ships in the waters between them, Disney is everywhere. With that much presence and power in people’s lives, it comes as no surprise to see strange pockets of fans pop up––such as Disney Adults clinging on to childlike wonder long after their childhood years. Joshua Bailey’s Stolen Kingdom takes a look at one of the more extreme offshoots of Disney fandom through urban explorers, whose interest in Walt Disney World extends well beyond the theme park’s defined borders. It’s an entertaining, surface-level look at a bizarre subculture that, while sometimes hilarious, leaves a lot on the table. – C.J. P. (full review)
Where to Stream: Letterboxd Video Store
The Stranger (François Ozon)
Nobel laureate Albert Camus is one of the most consequential thinkers and writers in the French language, having created absurdist characters and worlds that reflect a view on human existence which remains hauntingly unique. His debut novel The Stranger has seen two notable cinematic adaptations since its publication in 1942: once by Italian maestro Luchino Visconti (1967), most recently by Turkish director Zeki Demirkubuz (2001, under the title Fate). A fellow Frenchman has finally stepped up to revive Camus’ words for the big screen as they had originally sounded; perhaps not coincidentally, it proves the most faithful, hypnotically evocative version. – Zhuo-Ning Su (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
Also New to Streaming
Kino Film Collection
The Escapees
The Iron Rose
Netflix
Nope
Song to Song
The post New to Streaming: Miroirs No. 3, Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair, Mother Mary, Palestine 36 & More first appeared on The Film Stage.
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