It’s comedy or tragedy this week on Netflix, according to Dan Slevin.
Natalie Portman as Jackie Kennedy in Pablo Larraín’s Jackie. Photo: eONE
The best film that’s new to streaming this week is one I reviewed here when it was released to cinemas. Pablo Larraín’s Jackie (2017) stars Natalie Portman as Jackie Kennedy during the days immediately after JFK’s assassination: “It’s fitting that the film, focusing on the life of a single woman at one of the most shocking moments in Western history, has a circular structure. After all, we are watching myths being constructed and deconstructed simultaneously.”
Portman’s performance – which won her an Academy Award nomination – carries the entire film but Larraín’s looping structure might be a little off-putting to the casual viewer. Jackie is on Netflix.
Also new to Netflix – and much easier to consume – is the comedy classic Blazing Saddles (1974) starring Cleavon Little as the new sheriff in town, Gene Wilder as his sidekick and the great Harvey Korman as the corrupt politician Hedley Lamarr.
Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder in a rare quiet moment form Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles. Photo: Warner Bros.
Mubi, the service with a rotating list of 30 always-interesting films from around the world, added the lively indie Short Term 12 (2013) this week. Before Brie Larson became the superhero known as Captain Marvel, she played a hero of another kind – the supervisor of a residential home for troubled teens.
Prime Video – Amazon’s streaming service – hasn’t had as good a week as last week but has added the only feature film that Johnny Depp has a directing credit for – The Brave (1997). In it he plays a troubled Native American who is offered the ‘opportunity’ to star in a snuff film for enough money to get his family out of poverty. By my count that makes at least three reasons not to see this film.
Also on Prime Video, the unseen-by-me but brilliantly titled horror film Countrycide (2017) and a documentary about fishing boats in the Netherlands called Raw Herring (2013).
Neon keeps it much more commercial with the Oscar-nominated I, Tonya (reviewed by me for At the Movies back in January) and the Liam Nesson thriller The Commuter (reviewed by me for At the Movies back in January).
Photo: Neon
There are slightly better picking in the rental market with one of my favourite films of the past ten years, Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012) arriving on Apple’s iTunes store. Back in my Capital Times days, I wrote: “I loved this film. I loved little Hushpuppy. I love films that don’t go where you expect and don’t try and pander to the audience.”
Also new to Apple, the latest Mission: Impossible (2018), Emperor (2012) – which was shot in Auckland and features a few familiar faces among the overseas stars like Tommy Lee Jones – and the worst-reviewed film of the year so far, John Travolta in Gotti (which is also available on Lightbox).
The Seventh Seal (1957) by Ingmar Bergman (l-r: Bengt Ekerot, Max von Sydow) Photo: TCM
On a more positive note, just in time for the end of his centenary year, Apple now has all of Ingmar Bergman’s feature films available for rental. All the big ones are there: The Seventh Seal, Persona, Cries and Whispers, Fanny and Alexander. You can truly lose yourself in all of these. If only we had a streaming service where you could watch all of these classic films for the price of a single monthly subscription. They don’t even have one of those in the US anymore.
Every week around this time, Dan Slevin highlights some of the best and most interesting feature films that are new to Kiwi streaming services.
