Fandor’s ever-increasing selection of well-curated films can be daunting for new and long-time subscribers alike, especially given the obscurity of most of the selections. With that in mind, we select five films every week available for streaming to promote for viewers who might be unfamiliar with the works in question, or unaware that movies they’ve had on watchlists are available for legal, high-quality viewing. Check out this week’s picks below:
Hard to Be a God (Aleksei German)
Forget Jurassic World. If you want a true horror show of the consequences of unchecked hubris under the self-justifying name of science, look no further than Russian master Aleksei German’s final film, Hard to Be a God. The plot is murkier than the muddy, bloody waters that slosh and foam in the frame, but the sharp monochrome cinematography and hypnotic editing patterns manage to command a viewer’s attention through three grueling hours of suffering. The film is many things, from an avant-garde variation of the sort of mystical-historical revisionism of Game of Thrones to a vision of what a Tarkovsky film might look like if made by a misanthrope. Despite the reference points, however, the film is a wholly original work by one of modern cinema’s least classifiable talents, and a grim reminder that the obscure filmmaker deserves a more prominent reputation than the one he currently has.
Hoop Dreams (Steve James)
Fandor has added a host of documentaries specific to some aspect of American life to their lineup for the July 4th holiday, and none are more vital or excoriating than Hoop Dreams. Steve James’ intended PBS special on inner-city kids taking basketball scholarships at a prestigious private academy morphed into a multi-year study on the corrosive effects of firmly stratified class separations and the hollow promise of making it big in America. This isn’t just the best documentary of the 1990s, it’s the best thriller (feel your heart freeze when someone is injured or misses a key shot), the best tragedy and, in a scene of a boy’s impoverished mother tearfully accepting her nursing degree, the most uplifting film of the decade as well.
Night of the Living Dead (George A. Romero)
Another grimly fitting holiday watch is George Romero’s classic Night of the Living Dead. Cruder even than the director’s subsequent zombie films, Night is nonetheless distinguished by its vicious social commentary, which at times bites harder than the undead. Romero sketches out a vision of Vietnam burnout and mass cynicism, where the chaos engendered abroad is reflected in the sudden cataclysm that envelops the domestic population. Most devastating of all is the arc of the hero, a black veteran who finds prejudiced resistance and distrust even in an outbreak of the damned. The finale is one of the most wrenching in all of horror, and it has nothing to do with the monster lumbering toward the cast.
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
Apichatpong long ago announced himself as one of the most important filmmakers working today, but no feature so deftly illustrates his formal command as Uncle Boonmee. Blending a historical remove redolent of Hou Hsiao-hsien with a magic-realist disregard for physics, the film floats through time not so much as an observer but an active participant, giddily disrupting the continuum with puckish insertions like monkey spirits. It may be abstract, but the film is also a poignant evocation of a country struggling with the still-fresh physical and psychological wounds of its anti-communist purges. Reincarnation may initially provide a wry mystery, but it ultimately stands for the hope of rebirth on a larger scale.
Wake in Fright (Ted Kotcheff)
The Outback regularly symbolizes the edge of human sanity in Australian cinema, but it was a Canadian who best captured the sentiment on film. Wake in Fright is a terrifyingly intimate movie, down to the way both the camera itself and the editing stumbles with the protagonist, mimicking his increasingly drunk and paranoid state. Kotcheff shoots a corrupt small town with such nervous, strange energy you might swear David Lynch got inspiration for Twin Peaks from the place, while the Outback itself is a vast, unknowable force, a terrifying vision beyond mortal understanding. Some submit themselves as tribute to this monster and become its servants, while others, like the protagonist, believe themselves to be too smart to succumb, a mistake they realize far, far too late.
If you’re interesting in watching this week’s top picks on Fandor, use your Movie Mezzanine coupon for an exclusive discount and access to a breathtaking library of cinema!
