weekend watchlist: some much needed yet very realistic eco-optimism
plus adventures in drinking, hanging out in bars, and murder
Don’t spend hours scrolling the menus at Netflix, Prime Video, and other movie services. I point you to the best new films and hidden gems to stream.
Movies included here may be available on services other than those mentioned, and in other regions, too. JustWatch and Reelgood are great for finding which films are on what streamers; you can customize each site so that it shows you only those services you have access to.
When you rent or purchase a film through the Prime Video and Apple links here, I get a small affiliate fee that helps support my work. Please use them if you can! (Affiliate fees do not increase your cost.)
published August 7th, 2022
both sides of the pond
It’s been a miserable summer in the northern hemisphere of record-breaking wildfires, heatwaves, floods and droughts, and yet even as incontrovertible evidence of the warming we have subjected our planet to piles up, our so-called leaders don’t seem very inclined to do anything about it. It’s difficult not to despair… but documentary 2040 offers some desperately needed optimism. Australian filmmaker Damon Gameau engages in “an exercise in fact-based dreaming” as he looks at a slew of terrific ideas with real power to transform everything about how we live for the better — not only for our environment, though that is the primary focus here. All of these ideas — from decentralized solar “microgrids” to regenerative farming, grazing, and marine practices that can draw carbon back down into the earth — are ones that are already working somewhere on a small scale. Nothing we see here is invented or imaginary: we only need to take the example they offer and run with them. It’s a lovely vision of a near future that is well within reach. (Read my review.)
US: streaming free on public-library system Kanopy; available for rent or purchase on Apple TV and YouTube
UK: available for rent on BFI Player, and for rent or purchase on Apple TV and YouTube
US
Hulu hidden gem
Seems like everyone is worried these days about drinking too much alcohol. But what if you’re not drinking enough? Another Round, from acclaimed Danish filmmaker Thomas Vinterberg, won the Oscar for Best International Feature Film last year for its exploration of that very question. Four pals, high-school teachers all, decide to experiment to see what happens when they have just a little bit of alcohol in their bloodstream at all times — including during the school day. Internet Boyfriend Mads Mikkelsen steals the show in a film that is an extraordinary — and hugely entertaining — amalgam of dry comedy, surprising drama, and existential philosophy.
streaming on Hulu; also available for rent or purchase on Prime Video and Apple TV
leaving Netflix soon
Modern western murder mysteryWind River teams up Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen as law-enforcement officers — respectively, a US Fish and Wildlife Service agent and an FBI rookie — investigating the death of a Native American woman on the titular Wyoming reservation. Writer-director Taylor Sheridan’s previous scripts include those for the terrific Sicario and Hell or High Water, and this intense film shares the despair of those stories over the particularly American, particularly modern failures, or even outright inversions, in our culture of the notions of law, justice, and moral authority. It may make for bleak viewing, but it’s utterly riveting.
streaming on Netflix through August 27th; also available for rent or purchase on Prime Video and Apple TV
UK
expiring soon on BBC iPlayer
Never pass up a chance to revisit Peter Weir’s magnificent 1985 crime thriller Witness. Harrison Ford gives one of his greatest performances as a Philadelphia cop hiding out in Amish country and protecting the small boy (a very young Lukas Haas) who is the sole witness to a murder. Ford and Kelly McGillis (as Haas’s mom) spark with chemistry of the forbidden kind (she’s of the Plain people), and the film also features the big-screen debuts of Viggo Mortensen and ballet dancer–turned–actor Alexander Godunov. The barn-raising scene remains one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen in a movie.
streaming on iPlayer until 1:45am on August 12th; also streaming on Paramount+ (via Prime Video); available for rent or purchase on Prime Video and Apple TV
streaming hidden gem
Workplace dramedy Support the Girls is one of the true cinematic treasures of recent vintage, not least for the unexpected delight of seeing that a male filmmaker — in this case, Austin indie writer-director Andrew Bujalski — is perfectly capable of crafting complex, funny, interesting women characters. That Bujalski manages this without fetishizing them is all the more extraordinary because his setting is an ersatz Hooters, a roadside sports bar where the waitresses all wear tight T-shirts and are expected to flirt with the male customers. Regina Hall steals the show as the no-nonsense but kindly manager, with Haley Lu Richardson a close second as one of her underlings. This is a smart, witty movie about how women navigate everyday sexism, and it’s wise, too, about women’s relationships in the moments that men don’t usually see. Bujalski has been paying attention. (Read my review.)
streaming free for members on Prime Video, BFI Player, and Mubi; also available for rent on Curzon Home Cinema, and for rent or purchase on Prime Video and Apple TV
find lots more movies to stream at Flick Filosopher
follow me…
Twitter | Letterboxd | Rotten Tomatoes | Pinterest