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 Crisis (Jordan Wolfson)
Contemporary artist Jordan Wolfson (David Zwirner, Tate Modern, The Whitney) muses about art while visiting a medieval cathedral in this hilarious video from his mid-twenties. Describing artworks that have made a strong impression on him, he worries about his own future in the art world.
Where to Stream: Le Cinéma Club
Eddington (Ari Aster)
In Eddington, Ari Aster’s latest doom spiral, the proposed building of a data center in nowhere New Mexico provides the catalyst for a long-overdue psychological breakdown. The man in question is Sheriff Joe Cross (Joaquin Phoenix), whose perceived list of ills includes a worryingly online mother-in-law (Deirdre O’Connell), a disinterested, catatonic wife (Emma Stone), a woke mayor (Pedro Pascal) with plans to build a state of the art data centre, and the familiar inconveniences of COVID-19. Should even reading that word cause discomfort, it’s nothing if not intended: since rewiring the horror genre with A24, Aster has been repositioning himself as cinema’s patron saint of debilitating anxiety. Hereditary is probably best-remembered for its brutal decapitation but, all these years later, one suspects the scariest thing for Aster was whether or not his protagonist, an artist with an imminent exhibition and a nervy benefactor, will make her deadline. – Rory O. (full review)
Where to Stream: HBO Max
Kiss of the Spider Woman (Bill Condon)
In their dark, damp prison quarters, Malina (Tonatiuh) and Valentin (Diego Luna) only have each other for company. Valentin is a radical imprisoned for his revolutionary views; Malina is a window-dresser condemned for homosexual activities. Valetin wants nothing to do with Malina, focusing on his work as his cellmate flutters around their modest room trying to make the best out of a bad situation. To Valentin, Malina is a man who lacks substance and morals, living a life without dignity. Their room is decorated with Malina’s posters and trinkets procured by the guards, with his queerness implied to be the payment. “There are privileges in degradation,” he tells Valetin, who responds with disgust. Valentin remarks that Malina shouldn’t “make himself trivial.” Malina flaunts his queerness and Valentin displays no sexuality, but his straightness is implied––at least at first. As the two men slowly warm up to each other, Malina makes a suggestion: he will describe his favorite film, Kiss of the Spider Woman, to Valentin in order to pass the time in their miserable situation. And so begins their unlikely love story. – Jourdan S. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
Nouvelle Vague (Richard Linklater)
Shot on black-and-white film with the same Cameflex model used by Jean-Luc Godard for Breathless––the film it portrays and embodies the making of––Nouvelle Vague is not merely an imitation of Godard. It’s a theft of Godard for a creation all its own, which is a strange thing to say about a movie that looks and feels so much like the one that inspired it. Richard Linklater’s newest, despite suggesting no form of his past work, rings much like Linklater. – Luke H. (full review)
Where to Stream: Netflix
One Battle After Another (Paul Thomas Anderson)
Like all of Paul Thomas Anderson’s films, his tenth feature One Battle After Another is a rich text. A deeply-layered narrative that’s as funny as it is moving, the movie jumps from the U.S.-Mexican border to Baktan Cross—and from drama to comedy and back again—with breakneck speed. The story itself is fairly straightforward, especially compared with the other entries in Anderson’s filmography: Leonardo DiCaprio plays Bob Ferguson, an ex-revolutionary who must protect his daughter Willa (Chase Infiniti) after an old nemesis (Sean Penn) reappears. Read Cory Everett’s full feature.
Where to Stream: VOD
One to One: John & Yoko (Sam Rice-Edwards, Kevin Macdonald)
If there’s one thing you absolutely cannot miss in Kevin Macdonald’s electrifying ’70s-set New York City music documentary One to One: John & Yoko, it is, unsurprisingly, the music. Thanks to son Sean Ono Lennon’s supervision, the remastering of the iconic couple’s only full concert––and what would be John’s final performance, eight years before his assassination––sounds like an avalanche of near-mythical music history. And, as if hearing it anew isn’t enough, for the first time we can see it. What could only be partially heard on Lennon’s posthumous 1986 album Live in New York City can now be seen and heard in crisp, clear beauty across one giant, riveting, unforgettable cinematic experience. – Luke H. (full review)
Where to Stream: HBO Max
Orwell: 2+2=5 (Raoul Peck)
“From the totalitarian point of view, history is something to be created rather than learned,” George Orwell wrote in his 1946 essay “The Prevention of Literature.” Orwell: 2+2=5, the new documentary from Raoul Peck, serves as a stark reminder of indisputable facts and the rate at which they are disappearing. This film comes at a precarious time in which fiction is often presented as fact. Phrases from Orwell’s 1949 novel 1984 hit as hard (if not harder) than they did so many decades ago. In a totalitarian state, “war is peace” and there are “thoughtcrimes.” Capitulation is not just expected; it is required. – Dan M. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
Roofman (Derek Cianfrance)
Derek Cianfrance’s place in the current American cinema landscape might be somewhat minuscule, but it’s still one worth acknowledging. His small filmography of only four features and one HBO miniseries displays remarkable tonal and stylistic consistency: post-Cassavetes grit cranked so high it becomes practically Sirkian melodrama, focused on a heavy preoccupation with generational trauma and broken families. His last work, the Mark Ruffalo-led Emmy-winner I Know This Much is True, was spread across six hours, perhaps piling up misfortune to the point of misery-porn self-parody. Yet it was still wholly moving and authentic, evincing how the director ultimately succeeds despite himself. – Ethan V. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
Also New to Streaming
Apple TV
Come See Me in the Good Light
Prime Video
Belen
Drop
VOD
Are We Good?
Bunny
Mr. K
