What to rent and stream this week, from a thought-provoking prison drama to a surrealistic animated tale about an iconic filmmaker...
Going to the cinema might not be an option for everyone right now, but bringing the magic of the big screen directly into your home is – especially as studios opt to release the latest films on VOD platforms instead.
As always, we've assembled the best of what’s streaming across a multitude of platforms and gathered them here to make choosing a great film as easy as possible. Whatever you're in the mood for, WeLoveCinema has you well and truly covered…
New Releases
Clemency
Where to watch it: Various streaming services
Alfre Woodard delivers one of the best performances of the year – perhaps of the 2010s – in this admittedly dour death row drama that doubles as an emotionally-charged character study. She plays Bernadine, a prison warden whose personal and professional life begins to unravel after years of overseeing executions in an unspecified US state. Directed by Chinonye Chukwu, it's tightly-controlled, gripping, and deeply affecting (read our full review here).
Come As You Are
Where to watch it: Various streaming services
This remake of the 2011 Belgium film Hasta la Vista centres around the misadventures of three disabled friends who hit the road for a brothel that exclusively caters to special-needs clients. Directed by Richard Wong and featuring great turns from Grant Rosenmeyer, Hayden Szeto, and Ravi Patel, it's that rare remake that actually outdoes the original: funny, endearing, and perfectly pitched.
Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles
Where to watch it: Various streaming services
And the prize for the film with the most intriguing title goes to…! This strange and surreal animated retelling of filmmaker Luis Buñuel's battle to make his second film, Land Without Bread, finds him down and out in Spain, facing crises both personal and professional. An affectionately told and uniquely animated tribute to a master of cinema (read our full review).
Undocument
Where to watch it: Various streaming services
Four individual tales make up Amin Bakhshian and Kyla Simone Bruce's timely exploration of the contemporary immigrant experience, set in London, Iran, and Greece. Stories of trafficking, law, and family come together to paint a gripping and emotional portrait of disparate lives bound by a common thread.
Father Soldier Son
Where to watch it: Various streaming services
A wounded soldier and his family are the subjects of this intimate and emotional documentary from Netflix. Shot over the course of a decade and made in conjunction with the New York Times, Father Soldier Son explores patriotism, masculinity, and the effects of war through the subtleties of daily life – and with a refreshingly apolitical approach (read our full review).
Still Streaming…
Finding the Way Back
Where to watch it: Various streaming services
Awkwardly retitled for overseas distribution, Finding the Way Back (originally just The Way Back) follows Ben Affleck's alcoholic construction worker as he finds redemption coaching a high school basketball team. The pieces might sound familiar, but this is Affleck's most dedicated performance in years, a movie that worked as therapy for the actor following years of personal turbulence (read our full review).
Greyhound
Where to watch it: Apple TV+
Tom Hanks returns to the same territory as Sully and Captain Phillips in a yet another movie about a competent captain facing a crisis at sea – this one based on the true story of the 37-strong convoy of ships who manoeuvred through enemy waters at the height of World War II. If this is just what Tom Hanks movies are now, we're completely fine with that (read our full review).
The Old Guard
Where to watch it: Netflix
“Let's just say we're very hard to kill,” intones Charlize Theron, tapping into the high stakes action thrills that made her so memorable in Mad Max: Fury Road with Netflix's sleek superhero yarn The Old Guard. Based on the comic book of the same name, the story finds a group of undying warriors, long hidden from society, facing a crisis when they discover a new immortal in their midst.
Spaceship Earth
Where to watch it: Various streaming services
This intriguing and interesting documentary charts the strange and bizarre true story of “Biosphere 2,” which saw eight visionaries confined to a self-contained homestead for a period of two years. Led, cult-like, by eccentric polymath John Allen, Spaceship Earth offers a window into one of the weirdest social experiments of the '90s (read our full review).
Hamilton
Where to watch it: Disney+
The long-awaited, original cast performance of Lin-Manuel Miranda's musical phenomenon has arrived, forgoing its planned cinematic release in wake of the pandemic for an early unveiling on Disney+. A hip-hop retelling of the life of American “Founding Father” Alexander Hamilton, told primarily by way of a Black, Latino, and Asian cast, Hamilton deserves every bit of praise that has come its way. This filmed recording captures exactly what has made the show such a smash hit all over the world – two and a half hours of pure musical bliss.
