CriterionCast

Armchair Vacation: Five Films To Watch At Home This Weekend [June 6 – June 9]

kubrickfearanddesireframed

Every day, more and more films are added to the various streaming services out there, ranging from Netflix to YouTube, and are hitting the airwaves via movie-centric networks like TCM. Therefore, sifting through all of these pictures can be a tedious and often times confounding or difficult ordeal. But, that’s why we’re here. Every week, Joshua brings you five films to put at the top of your queue, add to your playlist, or grab off of VOD to make your weekend a little more eventful. Here is this week’s top five, in this week’s Armchair Vacation.

5. Man Hunt (Netflix)

When one thinks of directors who are popular additions to streaming services as popular as Netflix, few think of niche filmmakers like Fritz Lang. However, with 10 films currently available on the streaming juggernaut, he’s one of the most vigorously supported auteurs one could dig into via Netflix. And it’s not just his masterpieces. Amongst the Metropolis and Dr. Mabuse additions are small gems like his masterful Anti-Nazi picture Man Hunt. A decidedly rare piece of cinema, this anti-Hitler film arrived, shockingly, in 1941, and is as splendid a discovery as you’ll ever make. A breathtaking thriller that had no reason making it past censors during the Production Code era, Lang’s film is a beautifully crafted thriller about a plot to kill Hitler, and is one of Lang’s greatest and most tense American productions. Coming itself from a director who once was discussed as a potential worker for the Nazi party, the film is as intense as they come, and its most talked about sequence, the reveal of Hitler through the rifle of our lead, is one of the most impactful moments from cinema of this period. Along with a film like You Only Live Once, Netflix is a shockingly deep home for one of the most interesting filmmakers to ever pick up a camera, this being one of his most entrancing and historically important pieces of art.

4. Husbands And Wives (Hulu)

He may be best known for his comedies, but few people do human, humane, relationship dramas quite like Woody Allen. One of his greatest films, Husbands And Wives, is currently available to stream on Hulu Plus, and is an absolute must-see. Starring a knock out cast including Mia Farrow, Allen himself, Judy Davis, Sydney Pollack and even Liam Neeson, the film tells the story of a pair of couples on the brink, and is one of Allen’s greates and seemingly most personal pictures. Showing off the influence one Ingmar Bergman had so powerfully on his work, Allen is at the top of his game here, and proves, with this picture, that he’s far from just another strong comedic voice in the lineage of people like Bob Hope. As powerful a drama as the autuer has ever made, the film is a masterpiece of the highest regard.

3. Mandabi (Netflix)

Released just four years after his seminal Black Girl in 1968 (almost a decade prior to his third masterpiece, Xala), Mandabi is a picture near and dear to the intellectual heart of its legendary filmmaker Ousmane Sembene. Starting off his creative career as an author, Sembene was almost instantaneously interested in sparking deep social discussion and change, taking to cinema in order to reach a broader audience with more power. A passion project for Sembene, Mandabi would be his first film produced in his native Wolof language (which he’d write in once again with the above mentioned masterpiece in 1975), and is one of the more subtle, but enthralling pieces of work from the director’s legendary canon. A touchstone of African cinema, a part of the world few truly dig into, Mandabi is currently available to stream on Netflix, as are a few other gems from Sembene’s canon.

2. Fear And Desire (Fandor)

Decidedly a “first film,” few first films look quite like director Stanley Kubrick’s first labor of love. Despite being supressed by Kubrick himself due to his disdain for the picture, the film follows the tale of a group of soldiers stranded in enemy territory. Details are scarce, but what isn’t rare here is some true style, glimmers of what would be one of the most singular filmmakers to ever take to the artform. Despite some stilted performances and a narrative that doesn’t really add up to much, the film is anything but forgettable and it is a definitive look at an artist attempting to find his voice. Introducing some things that would pop up in what many people believe as the first “real” “Stanley Kubrick Film,” Paths Of Glory, this is a flawed but unforgettable piece of cinema from one of the art’s great masters. The final sequence, and its use of light and shadow, is also a real touchstone of this film, and arguably its greatest segment.

1. Paradise: Hope (Netflix)

The final chapter in director Ulrich Seidl’s underrated Paradise Trilogy, Paradise: Hope may be the best one of the bunch. A far cry from the prior two entries, Love and Faith, Hope is the most brightly toned of the bunch, a sensitive coming of age tale of an overweight youngster at summer camp. Beautiful and stayed compositions abound here in what is the trilogy’s most tender and assured entry, a deeply rich film that touches upon themes found in many coming of age tales, but in such a raw and human way that they become truly impactful. Funny and ultimately compassionate in a way that the trilogy’s previous films seem to be incapable of, Hope is far and away the most must-see of this threesome, and features some of the trilogy’s best performances. A breathtaking capper to one of this generation’s most underrated threesomes, this is a film that needs to be caught up with as soon as possible and by any and all people with even a remote interest in cinema.

Joshua Brunsting

Josh is a critic, a member of the Online Film Critics Society, a wrestling nerd, a hip-hop head, a father, a cinephile and a man looking to make his stamp on the world, one word at a time.