Welcome to The Penny-Pinching Cinephile, a weekly spotlight of the best free flicks on the web. ‘Cuz sometimes you gotta eat.
We end the month with a delightful treat from Criterion’s Hulu page: a whole slate of Jim Jarmusch movies are free this week! My pick of the litter is the director’s 1984 film Stranger Than Paradise, about a New York musician (John Lurie) whose laconic hipster lifestyle is interrupted when his 16-year old Hungarian cousin comes to visit him. One of the most purely charming films of the ’80s, Stranger Than Paradise borrows a lot from the French New Wave, especially Godard’s Band a part, in its depiction of fancy-free youths and their meandering misadventures. Featuring beautiful, crisp black and white cinematography by Tom DiCillo and a beguiling jazz score by Lurie, this film is one of the best examples of American independent filmmaking.
2.) Skateistan: Four Wheels and A Board in Kabul
This inspiring documentary charts the development of the incredible but true Skateistan, a skate park built in the heart of Afghanistan. With fully half the population of the country under the age of 15, Afghanistan is more than a warzone, it’s a kids’ zone. With this fact in mind, the filmmakers and founders sought a solution to bring the population together in a safe, communal and fun physical activity. Why skateboarding? Well, in the words of one of Skateistan’s founders, “Because it works.” So does the documentary. The most effective footage is just of these kids skating. The founders visit orphanages and take to the streets to recruit kids who can’t afford to go to school. Watching a five or six year old take to the skateboard like a natural is a truly beautiful sight.
Still one of the all-time great head-scratchers in a indie director’s filmography, Pineapple Express is to David Gordon Green is as Bridesmaids would have been to Andrea Arnold. Or something. Regardless of why the critically acclaimed director decided to make an action-comedy about the violent misadventures of two idiot potheads, it exists. And guess what? It’s actually pretty good. You can know watch Seth Rogen, Danny McBride and a scene-stealing, scarily Method James Franco bumble their way through murderous drug dealers for free on YouTube. Smoke ’em if you got ’em.
4.) Double Dare
This great documentary portrays the world of female stunt performers in Hollywood, specifically Zoe Bell (Death Proof). We follow Zoe’s journey from doubling for Lucy Lawless in Xena to being cast as Uma Thurman’s double in Quentin Tarantino’s epic, stunts-heavy Kill Bill and going on to become an award-winning stuntwoman/actress. In a parallel story, the film charts the progress of women in the profession, profiling Jeannie Epper, who doubled with Lynda Carter in TV’s Wonder Woman in the ’70s. This was one of the first times a woman actually got to double for a woman (because men usually doubled for women previous). But because of Wonder Woman’s revealing costume and stunt-heavy episodes, this was no longer possible. Both a document of endemic sexism and a triumphant Hollywood success story, Double Dare is entertaining, enlightening and consistently engaging.
Starring a pre-Social Network Jesse Eisenberg, The Squid and the Whale is the fictionalized true story of director Noah Baumbach’s childhood in New York dealing with his parents’ divorce. The parents are played by the dream team of Jeff Daniels and Laura Linney. Though I haven’t seen the film since it came out in 2005, there’s a scene I remember vividly for its unflinching portrait of stress and self-unraveling: Laura Linney’s character stands in front of a mirror, checking out her appearance, when she notices a bit of skin on her lips. She pulls the skin off, looks at it, and just keeps pulling until her lips are red and bloodied. It’s a brilliant scene that encapsulates the devastating progression of her divorce and its effects on herself and her family.
If you’d like to suggest a website or film that’s screening for free, leave us a comment below.
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