With London's cinemas still closed, we highlight the best new releases to stream this Christmas, including Pixar's latest
With cinemas in London still shut, we'll have to wait a while longer for the proper big screen experience. Fear not: we’ve rounded up the best of the latest streaming releases to keep you entertained until the capital's dream palaces return. Whatever you're in the mood for, from great documentaries to heartfelt dramas, WeLoveCinema has your covered over this very unusual Christmas period…
New Releases
Soul
Where to watch it: Disney+
Pixar's 23rd film is a surreal, jazz-inspired foray into the space between life and death – a typically heartfelt and innovative exploration of talent and creativity, about a musician (Jamie Foxx) who enters a strange void and embarks on a journey of discovery. It's stunningly animated, deeply strange, and deliciously life-affirming – and landing on Disney+ just in time for Christmas (read our full review).
Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets
Where to watch it: Curzon Home Cinema
One of the year's best films is this quasi-documentary about a Las Vegas dive bar, whose regular patrons come together for one final blowout before it closes its doors. Except the bar isn't in Las Vegas, and the patrons – most of them non-actors – have been gathered together for a fascinating vérité experiment that may or not be real. An intoxicating ode to fleeting connections and drinking into the early hours, it – somehow – makes for perfect Christmas viewing (read our full review).
Sylvie’s Love
Where to watch it: Prime Video
Eugene Ashe’s charming, old school romantic drama stars has the air of something plucked right out of the 1950s. Inspired, beautiful, and refreshingly sincere, Sylvie's Love tells the story of the daughter of a Harlem record shop owner, played by Tessa Thompson, who embarks on a beguiling romance with a saxophonist (read our full review).
Ariana Grande: Excuse Me, I Love You
Where to watch it: Netflix
A mix of behind-the-scenes buffoonery and live performances, recorded during Ariana Grande's 2019 Sweetener World Tour, makes this concert film a perfect Christmas treat for Arianators everywhere – and might make a few converts, too (read our full review).
Un Film Dramatique
Where to watch it: MUBI
Over a four year period, the filmmaker Éric Baudelaire met with students from the Dora Maar middle school in Saint-Denis, and gave them use of his camera to document whatever they felt like documenting. This film is the result of their union – an experimental and inspired tribute to creativity and collaboration (read our full review).
Still Streaming…
Let Him Go
Where to watch it: Prime Video
Kevin Costner and Diane Lane play two grandparents who set out to rescue their grandson from a brutish clan in this '70s-set, neo-western. It's the kind of film you rarely see these days, which takes its time to develop its characters – and indulge the American scenery – before throwing them into a fiery, bloody confrontation with a crazed matriarch, played by Leslie Manville. Based on the novel by Larry Watson.
David Byrne's American Utopia
Where to watch it: Various streaming services
David Byrne and Spike Lee join forces this relentlessly joyous celebration of music, life, and human connection – a spiritual successor to Byrne and Jonathan Demme’s 1986 iconic concert film Stop Making Sense that comes close to matching the original. Filmed in New York, it’s an enthralling showcase for the brilliance of Byrne‘s back catalogue, a bonafide Greatest Hits package with a contemporary and political spin. Above all, though, it’s just a whole lot of fun – a tonic for these troubled times (read our full review).
The Macaluso Sisters
Where to watch it: Curzon Home Cinema
Filmmaker Emma Dante adapts her own stage play about five sisters – Maria, Lia, Pinuccia, Katia and Antonella – who are left with no choice but to raise themselves after their parents are killed in 1980s Palermo. The resulting tale is frequently sunny, but one tinged with melancholy and sadness, as we watch the sisters grow over the film's expertly paced 90 minutes (read our full review).
The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart
Where to watch it: Various streaming services
How deep is your love? Hardcore fans will be sure to treasure this in-depth chronicle of one of the most successful bands in music history – but newcomers also find this deep dive into their origins, fame, and legacy to be compelling viewing, too, as Frank Marshall's documentary exposes every side to a band who are certainly beloved, but whose talent is often overlooked (read our full review).
The Woman Who Ran
Where to watch it: Curzon Home Cinema
The latest from South Korean genius Hong Sang-soo tells a typically low-key and conversational tale of a woman who has three enlightening encounters with three friends while her husband is away for work. It doesn't sound like much, but in typical Hong fashion the tiny details and quiet suggestions of this Rohmer-esque tale linger with you (read our full review).
