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Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
Blue Sun Palace (Constance Tsang)
Shot largely on location in Queens, Blue Sun Palace explores a hidden culture and milieu. Amy and Didi, two friends at a massage parlor, are struck by violence that throws their lives into disarray. Director Constance Tsang grew up in New York, which helps explain her script’s authentic feel. Alongside Lee Kang-sheng as a Taiwanese immigrant looking for connection, the real star here is cinematographer Norm Li, who gives the film’s massage parlors, fast-food joints, and convenience stores––all seen in grungy fluorescent lighting––a universal currency that makes just as much sense in Korea or Mexico as in the U.S. – Daniel E.
Where to Stream: MUBI (free for 30 days)
F1 (Joseph Kosinski)
Sports are at their dramatic best when the improbable occurs. So are the movies that portray those implausible stories. From Rudy to Rookie of the Year, America loves a narrative that tracks the rise of the five-foot-nothings and, well, the Chicago Cubs, baseball’s near-eternal underdogs. Joseph Kosinski applies that tried-and-true blueprint to F1 (also marketed as F1 The Movie, lest any confusion), his follow-up to the theatrical treasury known as Top Gun: Maverick. But the checkered flag for this big-budget, star-driven, premium-format film lies beyond the box office. – Kent M. W. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
Familiar Touch (Sarah Friedland)
In a sunny kitchen in California, Ruth prepares a sandwich with the muscle memory that only a lifetime allows. Bread is toasted and left to cool; dill is picked and chopped efficiently; sour cream, radish, and salmon are arranged to resemble a blooming flower. After going to get ready, she serves it to a man named Steve (H. Jon Benjamin) who she doesn’t seem to recognize. When he tells her he’s an architect, she responds, “My father builds homes. Maybe you’ll meet him one day.” Caught off-guard, her son can only offer a loving smile and say “I’d like that.” This uncertain space––part clarity, part blur––is the subject of Sarah Friedland’s moving debut feature Familiar Touch. – Rory O. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (Christopher McQuarrie)
“I’m going to miss being disreputable,” Ving Rhames’ Luther Stickell grumbles to Tom Cruise’s now-iconic superspy after their first of many impossible missions. It’s 1996 and these brazen upstarts sip beer outside a pub, preparing to part ways forever. “Well, Luther,” Ethan assures with a smirk, “if it makes you feel any better, I’ll always think of you that way.” It’s a lovely, quiet moment, germinating the earnest warmth that makes Mission: Impossible endure. That endurance, longevity, and the ever-increasing scope they persist under both fuel and plague Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. In its aims, director Chris McQuarrie and co-writer Erik Jendersen’s script serves as a capstone to this monumental action franchise. – Conor O. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
Year of the Fox (Megan Griffiths)
Eden and Lucky Them director Megan Griffiths’ latest drama focuses on the nefarious, sickening underbelly of sex trafficking, through the perspective of it happening right under one’s nose. Scripted by Eliza Flug and based on her upbringing in Aspen (wherein she crossed paths with the likes of Jeffrey Epstein), the story follows a teenager faced with growing up quickly as her parents divorce and her father’s hidden secrets come to the surface. Despite a clearly modest budget, Griffiths nails the uneasy feelings of personal horror that crop up when one’s life is completely upended through unspeakable betrayal.
Where to Stream: VOD
Also New to Streaming
Netflix
Devo
Kino Film Collection
Beware of Mr. Baker
Diabolik: Ginko Attacks!
VOD
The Bad Guys 2
The Box Man
Elio
Tornado
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