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.
The Christophers (Steven Soderbergh)
Steven Soderbergh continues to stretch his creative muscles with the light but entertaining dramedy The Christophers, which concerns an aging artist (Ian McKellen) and his new “assistant” (Michaela Coel) as they delve into extensive conversations about artistic value, a life of creativity and the sacrifices that entails, and much more. While not reaching the recent highs of the hugely entertaining Black Bag, Ed Solomon’s script and central performances at the center are the main stars, resulting in a film that could be just as effective as a stage play. – Jordan R.
Where to Stream: Hulu
Failed State (Christopher Jason Bell, Mitch Blummer)
This indie gem is a gripping slice-of-life character study with an exceptional performance by Dale A. Smith, following his journey as a messenger in NYC. With a loose script giving spotlight to the authenic character at the center, this is a poignantly painful, riveting portarit of our current broken economy. – Jordan R.
Where to Stream: MeansTV
Dolly Parton
For those looking to remember the infectious joy of Dolly Parton, a number of her films have been recently added to select streaming service in the wake of her passing. 9 to 5 is on Prime Video and Hulu, Straight Talk on Prime Video, The Beverly Hillbillies on Prime Video, Steel Magnolias on Paramount+, and Rhinestone on The Roku Channel, Joyful Noise on The Roku Channel, and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas on VOD.
Her Private Hell (Nicolas Winding Refn)
The ten years since Nicolas Winding Refn’s prior theatrical feature was just enough time to activate déjà vu when Her Private Hell debuted at Cannes to a mixed-hostile response. While certain of these reactions (like our own) are well stated and eloquently offered, much else rings perfunctory when few directors still attract stars and financing while so staying on their own island. Even as he innovates and surprises, the constituent parts remain consistent: beautiful actors will glare as an ethereal score (usually by Cliff Martinez, this time from Pino Donaggio) underlines constant dread and—if you ask partisans—some greater concept about the aestheticization of rage (particularly as it’s rooted in genre convention) emerges. Continue reading Nick Newman’s interview.
Where to Stream: VOD
I Only Rest In The Storm (Pedro Pinho)
A bolt from the blue. From the outset, Pinho establishes a temporal plane that will be familiar to fans of the work of Abdellatif Kechiche and Miguel Gomes, filmmakers for whom every scene is an opportunity to craft a sequence where affective relations between different people from various cultures can be staged, where the outsider never gains entrance. It doesn’t hurt that you can’t take your eyes off its gorgeous cast: Sérgio Coragem, Jonathan Guilherme, and Un Certain Regard best-actress-winning Cleo Diára. Its unabashed depiction of sex won me over, solidified in the best surprise threesome of the year, in addition to actively taking on the aftereffects of the history of colonialism with an immersive, dirty realism amplified by Carpotxa and Mazulu’s incantatory music. I had never heard of Pinho before this, but after 217 minutes, I’m a fan. – Nirris N. (top 10 films of 2025)
Where to Stream: Letterboxd Video Store
Nickel Boys (RaMell Ross)
RaMell Ross––the Brown University film professor and writer-director behind 2018’s stunning impressionist portrait of rural Alabama life, Hale County This Morning, This Evening––made a splash with his second film and fiction debut Nickel Boys. This adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s novel is a tender, enchanting movie that quickly develops a mood-defining dread stemming from America’s ugly history with abusive juvenile centers for Black boys. Innovatively shot in first-person to gripping effect, it follows Elwood Curtis, a young man wrongly detained at the Nickel Academy, as he develops a life-changing friendship and navigates the nightmares of Nickel, where the unmarked graves of rule-breaking children haunt the kids who still have to walk its grounds. Bouncing back and forth between Elwood’s days at Nickel and his adult life researching its crimes, Ross submerges us in what feels like a lifetime of beauty and trauma. – Luke H.
Where to Stream: MUBI
Also New to Streaming
Hulu
Desert Warrior
Kino Film Collection
Gerhard Richter Painting
Unmaking of a College
Netflix
I Swear
PBS
Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World
VOD
The Deb
Esta Isla
Hadestown: The Musical
Motor City
Olmo
Reading Lolita in Tehran
The post New to Streaming: Dolly Parton, Nickel Boys, Her Private Hell, I Only Rest in the Storm, Failed State & More first appeared on The Film Stage.
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