Here’s our pick of some of the best films around, that are currently available for streaming. Our selection includes recent releases, old favourites that we’ve screened at Phoenix over the years, and some lesser-known gems that you might not have seen before.
★★★★ – Empire. Antonio Banderas delivers a career-best performance as an ageing film director, wrestling with his mortality and confronting the ghosts of his life. Pedro Almodóvar’s deeply personal, semi-autobiographical drama is “bittersweet perfection” (The Guardian).
★★★★★ – Empire. Bill Forsyth’s “timeless masterpiece” (Mark Kermode) is gloriously reminiscent of Ealing’s comedies. A young Texas oil executive is sent to a remote Scottish seaside village to arrange the construction of a new refinery. But he finds himself facing opposition from the locals.
“★★★★★ – A gasp-inducing masterpiece” – Observer. Director Bong Joon-ho displays Hitchcockian mastery with his seventh feature, an Oscar-winning satirical thriller about a poverty-stricken family who begin to infiltrate a wealthy household. If you haven’t seen this yet, the big question is…why not?!
“★★★★★ – Basketball doc slam-dunks the power of hope” – Guardian. Steve James’s acclaimed, landmark film follows a pair of Chicago teenagers over the the course of five years as they tackle social and physical barriers on their quest to become NBA stars. Causing a sensation on its release in 1994, this undisputed epic is an essential study of race, class, and the American dream.
“★★★★★ – compelling” – Guardian. Winner of the 2015 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, Pawel Pawlikowski’s drama is essential viewing. Poland 1962, and Ida, a novice nun about to take her vows, learns of her last living relative and her Jewish heritage. Reunited with her previously unknown aunt, the pair begin to uncover their past, leaving Ida with a choice between her heritage and the religion that saved her from the Holocaust.
“★★★★★ – A masterwork whose relevance remains starker than ever” – Guardian. On a hot day in a racially-diverse Brooklyn district, simmering tensions boil over as locals question an Italian restaurateur’s lack of black representation on his pizzeria’s ‘Wall of Fame’. Released in 1989, Spike Lee’s classic study of race relations cemented his place as one of the great black filmmakers.
“★★★★ – masterful” – Guardian. Christian Petzold’s (Barbara) suspenseful study of identity, betrayal and survival is an outright masterpiece. Former cabaret singer and Auschwitz survivor Nelly (Nina Hoss) – her face disfigured and reconstructed – returns to Berlin. When her estranged husband fails to recognise her, she becomes embroiled in his plot to claim his wife’s inheritance. Could he be the one who betrayed her to the Nazis?
★★★★★ – Guardian. Condemned by the Vatican on its release 60 years ago, Federico Fellini’s satirical masterpiece put Italian cinema firmly on the map. Despite his girlfriend’s overdose, womanising journalist Marcello Rubini (Marcello Mastroianni) gallivants around Rome, embracing a hedonistic life as he pursues an heiress and a movie star.
★★★★★ – The Independent. Not just one of this year’s best films, but one of the best films you’re ever likely to see, period. This masterfully told story of forbidden love between a painter and her subject – the betrothed daughter of a countess – is utterly compelling, with what is sure to be considered one of the greatest final shots in the history of cinema.
“★★★★★ – A five-star symphony of love” – Guardian. Gorgeous and heart-breaking, Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight scooped the Oscar for Best Picture against the odds, and should be regarded for its beauty and power rather than that La La Land blunder. Split into three chapters, the film follows the life of Chiron – a young black man growing up in Miami – through childhood, adolescence, and adulthood as he struggles with his sexuality.
“★★★★★ – Exerts an irresistible pull” – Guardian. Winning him his third Oscar, Federico Fellini’s hallucinatory 1963 masterpiece is regarded by many as the most iconic movie about filmmaking. Film director Guido Anselmi (Marcello Mastroianni) wrestles with his dreams and memories as he struggles to find inspiration for his next project. Blending visions with reality, his artistic crisis deepens as his life unravels around him.
★★★★★ – Guardian. South Carolina, 1902. Three generations of women from the same family grapple with the decision to migrate north, leaving behind the Gullah culture they inherited from their West African slave ancestors. An avowed influence on Beyoncé’s album Lemonade, Julie Dash’s masterpiece broke new ground in its representation of black women on screen, and is a luminous, vital portrait of black life.
★★★★★ – Guardian. Marina (Daniela Vega), a young trans woman in Santiago, has her life thrown into turmoil by the sudden death of her boyfriend, who is twenty years her senior. Grieving for her lover, she finds herself shunned by his family and under intense scrutiny from those with no regard for her privacy. Sebastián Lelio’s Oscar-winning drama is a sublime study of love and loss.
★★★★ – Guardian. Haifaa al-Mansour’s (The Perfect Candidate) landmark feature debut was the first Saudi Arabian film ever to be directed by a woman. Wadjda (Waad Mohammed) is a rebellious Saudi girl living in conservative Riyadh, where girls are barely seen and never heard. She dreams of owning a bicycle, much to her mother’s horror, so she enters a Koran recitation competition in the hope of winning enough money to buy herself one.
“One of the most moving screen dramas of the 20th century” – Mark Kermode. 40 years since its original release, David Lynch’s Elephant Man remains one of the director’s most beautiful and haunting works, with stunning black and white photography from the Oscar-winning Freddie Francis and an incredible performance from John Hurt as John Merrick.
“★★★★★ – sensuous and beguiling, an act of pure witchcraft” – Independent. Elizabeth Moss (The Handmaid’s Tale) stars as Shirley Jackson in this fictionalised biopic of the renowned horror writer. Wrestling with her latest book and overwhelmed with anxiety, Shirley forms a strange bond with a young lodger.
“★★★★ – Riz Ahmed delivers a blistering performance” – Observer. British Pakistani rapper Zed (Emmy Award winner Riz Ahmed) is a rising star on the cusp of his first world tour. But, struck down by an illness that threatens to derail his big break, he’s forced to confront his past, his family, and the uncertainty of his legacy. A bold and electrifying exploration of heritage and identity.
★★★★★ – wry, tender, taboo-busting drama – Observer. Thirtysomething Bridget’s (Kelly O’Sullivan, who also wrote the screenplay) life is just getting started. But having found a nice guy and a promising job as a nanny to six-year-old Frances, Bridget’s plans are derailed by an unexpected pregnancy. Directed by O’Sullivan’s real-life partner Alex Thompson, this heartfelt examination of female lives proved a big hit with critics and festival audiences.
★★★★ – Telegraph. Featuring superb ‘80s styling and a killer retro soundtrack, Francois Ozon’s (By the Grace of God) latest is a hormonally charged coming-of-age drama. Summer, 1985. Naive teenager Alexis falls deeply and dangerously in love with David. But David is a free spirit and refuses to be tied down. So how will Alexis respond when he realises he can’t have David all to himself? Save up to 15% with discount code LOCKDOWN2 (offer ends 2.12.20).
★★★★ – Observer. When her teenage son’s trip to spend the summer with his father in Florida is cancelled, librarian Sue (the wonderful Monica Dolan) and sullen metalhead Daniel now face the prospect of six weeks together. Based on Joff Winterhart’s award-winning graphic novel, Simon Bird’s directorial debut is a “quiet treat of well-observed domestic ennui” (Veronica Lee, inews).
“★★★★★ – One of Deneuve’s greatest performances” – The Times. Adding to his global reputation, Japanese auteur Hirokazu Kore-eda’s (Shoplifters, Our Little Sister) exquisite observation of familial relationships was scheduled to screen at Phoenix this month. Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche play a mother and daughter whose reunion turns to confrontation as long-hidden truths are revealed.
“★★★★★ – an insurgent filmic uproar to match the uproar in the world” – Guardian. Academy Award winner Spike Lee’s latest is the story of four African-American Vietnam veterans who return to the country to search for the remains of their revered former squad leader. But their journey into the past opens wounds and unleashes emotional agonies – about the Vietnam War, race, Empire, and the many black lives lost in battle in America’s name.
★★★★★ – Guardian. Alfre Woodard (12 Years a Slave) gives a career-best performance in this devastating prison drama from writer-director Chinonye Chukwu, which won the Grand Jury Prize at last year’s Sundance Festival. Woodward plays a prison warden who is haunted by her work on death row and struggling with its effect on her marriage.
★★★★ – Empire. Richard Wong’s winning comedy-drama is a remake of 2011 Belgian movie Hasta La Vista, and is based on the real-life exploits of Asta Philpot. With the help of a hired carer, three young men with disabilities flee their overbearing parents for a road trip to visit a Montreal brothel, eager to lose their virginity and embrace independence.
Just like Portrait of a Lady on Fire, this romantic drama will sweep you off your feet with its passion and intensity. This modern day tale of rival dancers Merab and Irakli who fall for each other in Tbilisi challenges ideas of masculinity and tradition in Georgian culture. A compelling LGBT drama, mixing the vibrancy of dance with the exhilaration of young love to potent effect.
★★★★ – Guardian. Trailblazing Saudi filmmaker Haifaa Al Mansour (Wadjda) returns with this fiery story of a woman determined to break the glass ceiling. Maryam, a young doctor, has one wish – for the dirt road outside her hospital to be surfaced, but it seems no-one else cares. So Maryam decides to run for election to the municipal council, but she’s fighting an uphill battle from the start.
“★★★★ – Intoxicating” – Empire. One of the 21st century’s greatest new directors, Pablo Larraín’s films (No, Neruda) have brought historical events in his native Chile to the silver screen with verve and vitality. In his dazzling new film he turns his attention to sex, corruption and chaos in present-day Chile, as dancer Ema navigates the wreckage of her professional and personal life to get her adoptive son back.
“★★★★★ – a satisfying and devastating gem” – Guardian. Japanese auteur Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Palme d’Or-winning deeply moving drama tells the story of a petty thief and his ragtag family who take in a young girl from the street. Forced to survive by shoplifting, the group find themselves tested by an unforeseen incident. Kore-eda proves himself the master chronicler of family life.
★★★★ – Guardian. Shola Amoo’s (A Moving Image) outstanding, BIFA-winning drama tells the semi-autobiographical story of Femi, a young British boy of Nigerian heritage who, after being fostered in rural Lincolnshire, returns to live with his birth mother in inner-city London where he struggles to adapt to his new environment. A compassionate and profoundly moving coming-of-age tale.
“★★★★ – a quiet storm of banked emotions” – Observer. Irrfan Khan (who sadly passed away at the end of April) stars in this wry, bittersweet comedy drama set in Mumbai. A lonely housewife’s tiffin delivery to her husband goes astray and instead winds up in the hands of a curmudgeonly widower. She adds a note to the next day’s delivery and so begins an unusual and heartwarming friendship.
★★★★★ – Telegraph. Luca Guadagnino’s stunning Academy Award-winning drama is set in sun-drenched Lombardy, Italy. It’s 1983 and, poised on the verge of adulthood, 17-year-old Elio (Timothée Chalamet) is spending the holidays at his family’s villa. There he meets young doctoral student Oliver (Armie Hammer), and as the golden summer progresses so the pair’s awakening desire grows, changing their lives forever.
“★★★★ – An exquisite portrait of family life” – Guardian. Hirokazu Kore-eda’s beautiful and tender tale of sisterly love. Three twentysomething sisters are estranged from their parents – first their father left to live with another woman, then their mother walked out – but when their father dies they attend his funeral. There they meet their younger half-sister, which transforms all their lives.
“★★★★ – a fantastically scabrous collection” – Guardian. Produced by the masterful Pedro Almodóvar, this Oscar-nominated Argentinian anthology consists of six darkly comedic short thrillers. With violent revenge, marital mayhem and road rage on the menu and with a host of familiar Argentinean, stars including Ricardo Darín and Dario Grandinetti, it’s a shocking, laugh-out-loud delight.
“★★★★★ – a candid, lucid, passionate film” – Guardian. Released in 1987, James Ivory’s exquisite adaptation of EM Forster’s novel is a moving portrait of repression, love and acceptance. In the years before the first world War, Maurice Hall (James Wilby) and Clive Durham (Hugh Grant) meet at Cambridge University, and fall in love. But when a friend is convicted of indecency, the two men panic and attempt to put aside their feelings.
“★★★★ – A glorious throwback, rekindling the glory days of New Wave Cinema” – Telegraph. Our second Pawlikowski film this week is a gorgeous monochrome, jazz-infused romantic tragedy. Forced to play into the Soviet propaganda machine, composer Wiktor and singer Zula dream of escaping to the West. As the years march on, the pair watch the world changing around them while falling deeply, obsessively and destructively in love.