Armchair Vacation: Five Films To Watch At Home This Weekend [April 18-20]

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.Bastards (Netflix)

In an age where every other film released seems Hell bent on testing the ability of the viewer to bare with some truly heinous acts, it takes a true master to truly unsettle any avid filmgoer. And Claire Denis is just that master. Her disturbingly unforgettable new film, Bastards, is now available on Netflix to stream for those of you interested in testing the power of your heart and mind. I won’t say much about the picture here because it is an entire experience onto its own, but this is a truly breathtaking piece of work that is at times nearly unwatchable and yet genuinely moving and unforgettable, a meditation on familial strife and the power of lies. Breathlessly crafted and wondrously polarizing, this masterful entry in Denis’ ever growing canon of stunning features is truly a film to be seen, bathed in, and then instantly discussed. If one can make it through to the end, this will be an experience one will never, ever be able to shake. I know I haven’t.

4.The Misfits (TCM; Sunday, 2am EST)

When taking a deep look into Mario Bava’s filmography, one notices the various quirks that prove just how particular and abstruse a filmmaker he was. Be it his great design pieces or his brilliant use of music (his best film, Black Sunday, has a score that is still one of the greatest horror scores ever), there is one thing that becomes more apparent than most; his use of reflective surfaces, with no film being a better example of that than Hatchet For The Honeymoon. Released a decade following Bava’s masterpiece Black Sunday, Hatchet is a far different feature. Starring Stephan Forsyth as John Harrington, the film follows a fashion house head and his penchant for women wearing wedding dresses and veils that is so off the charts, it drives him mad. Driven inherently by the eroticism and sexuality that drove almost every single film Bava ever made, Hatchet is one of Bava’s most visually inspired works, and now set to air on TCM this very weekend.

3.Night Tide (Fandor)

One could argue that the 1960s were a touchstone period for the world of horror cinema. With films like Night Of The Living Dead forever changing the horror game, one of the most intriguing, most atmospheric, horror pictures of that day came right near the beginning of the decade. Night Tide, now streamable on Fandor, stars Dennis Hopper as a fresh faced Navy Seaman on leave near Santa Monica, who runs into a woman who may or may not be a mermaid. Very much influence by the Val Lewton style of horror pictures, this icy cold thriller is beautifully shot from director Curtis Harrington, and is a deeply unsettling bit of pre-David Lynch horror. Mood-soaked and atmosphere-drenched, the film is unlike anything we’ve really seen since, and is both a time capsule from this brooding decade of cinema, and something still so fresh that it feels like something given to us from the future. A far cry from today’s gore-fests, this thoughtful picture is an absolute wonder and needs to be seen by a wider audience

2.The Confession (Hulu)

When it comes to legendary screen directors, maybe it’s because his films are relatively hard to find, but director Costa-Gavras never seems to be high enough on that list. One of the most engaging, politically minded filmmakers of his day, the man is still churning out intriguing pieces of work, and thankfully The Criterion Collection has taken notice by not only making a few of his films members of their ranks, but having one of his best currently available on their Hulu page for all subscribers to enjoy. A Kafka-esque meditation on a Czechoslovakian man who is randomly arrested and forced to confess to acts of treason that he has no idea he ever committed, Gavras’ follow up to his masterpiece, Z, is one of the better and more underrated pictures currently available on the streaming service. Based on the memoirs of Artur London, a Communist leader indicted on counts of treason, the film is a far cry from many of Gavras’ better known films. Very much a quiet, almost Bresson-esque meditation on the power of lies, this film is undeniably brilliant, but in the most stayed and lyrical of ways. Beautifully shot and wonderfully performed, this is an unforgettable, sense-blasting picture that proves the true heights of Gavras’ power.

1.A Touch Of Sin (Netflix)

From director Jia Zhang-ke comes one of last year’s most underrated, or at least under-discussed gems. Following four separate tales, A Touch Of Sin tells the story of a migrant worker, factory rat, a miner and a receptionist, all of whom create a truly entrancing and thrilling quartet of meditations on modern day China. A startlingly blunt and yet bewilderingly empathetic look at violence and corruption in modern day China, this picture is a blitzkrieg of themes and emotions, all in the guise of a beautifully framed masterpiece. Led by a handful of supreme performances and a director who is very much one of today’s most interesting voices in world cinema, Sin is a beautiful and unforgettable film. As China continues to grow as a world power at a rate where they are leaving the lower rungs of the economic system in the proverbial dust, this is an aggressive and unflinching work of anger and sadness, that will haunt the viewer for days to come. In a world where corruption is the norm, how does one take a stand? And this film attempts to answer that in as enthralling a manner as we’ve seen in quite some time.