Best Films to Stream This Week in the UK
From the best offerings on Disney+ to some seriously eye-opening documentaries, here's our picks for what to stream and rent...
These are certainly strange times. Yet what better way to take refuge from the bizarre situation currently gripping our world than with a host of unique, inspiring, and entertaining films. Going to the cinema isn’t an option right now, but bringing the magic of the big screen directly into your home is – especially as so many studios opt to release the latest films on VOD platforms instead.
As always, we’ve assembled the best of what’s showing (ahem: streaming) and gathered them here to make choosing a great movie as easy as possible. Whatever you’re in the mood for, WeLoveCinema has you well and truly covered…
[New to Streaming…]
System Crasher
Where to stream it: Curzon Home Cinema
Nine-year-old Benni, brilliant but difficult, is shipped from one foster home to the next, earning her the title of “system crasher.” Nora Fingscheidt’s frantic drama, set in Germany, is a vastly uncompromising debut, featuring a brilliant lead performance from Helena Zengel, and an aptly energetic score from composer John Gürtler.
What we said: “Sometimes System Crasher is fun, and sometimes it makes you feel sick. The film operates on a constant seesaw of extremes, as Benni crosses lines with horrific brutality at one turn, before retreating to comfort a crying carer at the next (read our full review).”
The Perfect Candidate
Where to stream it: Curzon Home Video
Haifaa al-Mansour, Saudi Arabia’s first female filmmaker, directs this moving film about a female doctor who decides to run for local council. Mila Al Zahrani gives a brilliant performance in the titular role in a deeply feminist film that’s both uplifting and groundbreaking. Saudi Arabia isn’t a very good place to be female – this film probes the sexist interior of the country in a clever way, calling attention to the absurdity without ever losing its sense of humour.
[Vivarium]
Where to stream it: Curzon Home Cinema
Jesse Eisenberg and Imogen Poots play a young couple who find themselves confined to a nightmarish suburbia and forced to raise a baby in writer-director Lorcan Finnegan’s twisty meditation on parental expectations and settling down. A head-scratcher for the post-millennial generation.
What we said: “It’s a perversely curious premise, a lab experiment of a relationship drama (read our full review).”
Crip Camp
Where to stream it: Netflix
This insightful and moving documentary tells the story of Camp Jened, a camp in upstate New York, founded in the 70s and intended for people with disabilities. Directed by James Lebrecht and Nicole Newnham, and produced by the Obamas, this is the sort of film that opens your eyes to a world you had no idea existed, educating and enlightening in equal measure.
Togo
Where to stream it: Disney+
If you thought The Call of the Wild was the year’s only film teaming a Hollywood veteran with a loveable pooch, think again: Willem Dafoe stars in this Disney+ original film about “the Great Race of Mercy,” based on the true story of the heroic dog-sled teams who set out to deliver a serum through hazardous conditions to aid an epidemic. You can’t make this stuff up.
What we said: “Sentimental but packing genuine bite, Togo will no doubt go down as a family favourite for years to come (read our full review).”
For They Know Not What They Do
Where to stream it: BFI Player
Originally intended as part of this year’s BFI Flare Festival but since made available to stream through the BFI’s dedicate website, this timely documentary hones in on four LBGTIQ+ persons in order to explore the battles they’ve faced with organised religion in the United States. What’s more, this film goes deeper, looking at how these stories relate – and help to shape – our rapidly changing world.
Lady and the Tramp
Where to stream it: Disney+
Disney’s endless quest to remake each and every one of its animated classics has led us to this surprisingly charming and harmless live-action version of the Lady and the Tramp, released alongside the studio’s streaming service, Disney+. Yes, they do the spaghetti scene, and yes, it’s very lovely.
What we said: “This new Lady and the Tramp won’t change the world, but it won’t anger it either. At this stage in Disney’s breakneck mission to respin every beloved story into oblivion, this feels like a crucial achievement (read our full review).”
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[Still Streaming…]
The Platform
Where to stream it: Netflix
With its Darwinistic themes and isolated setting, this timely Spanish horror movie takes place in an endless vertical prison where inmates are forced to survive based on a food sharing system. They could split the food equally, of course, but they don’t, triggering violence, suicide, and insanity. Unsubtle? Sure. But a thrilling takedown of capitalism, nonetheless.
What we said: “Set at an undetermined but vividly nightmarish point in the future, Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia’s dark, cynical metaphor of a film clings to an undeniably intriguing premise, unfolding with the air of a cinematic social experiment. It is depressing stuff, but oddly compelling (read full review).”
Blow the Man Down
Where to stream it: Amazon Prime Video
Like Fargo, but set in a blustery port town in Maine, the first film from writer-director pair Bridget Savage Cole and Danielle Krudy follows two sisters trying to cover up a grisly crime that quickly spirals out of control. It’s a noir-ish delight with memorial characters and a brilliant sense of place; the sort of debut that suggests the arrival of a major talent.
What we said: “Positioned somewhere between a Coen brothers film and Sam Raimi’s A Simple Plan, with just a little Wes Anderson thrown in for good measure, it’s a deadpan murder mystery told with a subtly feminist kick (read full review).“
This post was categorised in Archive.