New releases and coming soon to MUBI UK (18th March 2017)
David Farnor | On 18, Mar 2017
Following a week dedicated to female directors in honour of International Women’s Day, MUBI delves into the career of German maestro Rainer Werner Fassbinder, while continuing to explore the back catalogue of Lav Diaz – plus a sprinkling of Bill Murray for good measure.
Here’s what’s new, coming soon and leaving soon to the subscription streaming service:
This week on MUBI
Stripes – 18th March
Before Ghostbusters came Stripes, Ivan Reitman’s slacker comedy about the military. Bill Murray stars as John Winger, a cab driver who finds his life going off the rails – and so he joins the army. Murray is joined by Harold Ramis, John Candy and Peckinpah alumni Warren Oates.
The Remains of the Day – 19th March
Merchant and Ivory’s formidable producer-director duo are longstanding masters of the English language period film adaptation. Among their greatest efforts, is this subdued rumination on the intimate tragedy of choosing duty over romance, and an impressive exercise in restraint by Anthony Hopkins.
Holiday – 20th March
One of the Golden Age of Hollywood’s greatest triumphs, this screwball classic boasts the mad chemistry of Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn led by arguably the greatest director of actors ever, George Cukor. Funny and sublimely human behind Hollywood’s artifice, it’s an unsurpassable pleasure.
The Bitter Tears of Pera Von Kant – 21st March
MUBI continues its Fassbinder season with this 1972 drama about the eponymous successful fashion designer. She’s in a fairly satisfactory S&M relationship with her assistant Marlene, but when the arrogant Petra develops an obsession with fashion model Karin, things become far more complicated in this tale of intermingled love and hate.
Other new releases on MUBI
MUBI’s new weekly season handpicks films from Fassbinder’s career to explore the German director’s exploitability of feelings.
The Merchant of Four Seasons
A key milestone in Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s career, this drama follows Hans Epp (Hans Hirschmüller), a former foreign legionnaire and fruit-peddler living in 1950s West Germany, who is pushed over the edge by an uncaring society.
Special Discovery: Between Fences
How can a migrant tell his or her story? Documentarian Avi Mograbi has come together with theater director Chen Alon to collaborate with detainees in Israel not only to document their treatment but to work together using Theater of the Oppressed methods to dramatize their incredible experiences.
Lav Diaz: Flroentina Hubaldo, CTE
MUBI continues its monthly retrospective of director Lav Diaz with this two-year shoot expanding a story of poor treasure hunters into one interwined with the tale of a woman who drifts through the countryside looking to understand her addled mind and damaged body.
Child Mother
MUBI takes the Human Rights Watch Film Festival beyond London with Child Mother, part of this year’s line-up. Yael Kipper and Ronen Zaretzky’s 2016 film investigates the tragedy of child marriage, uncovering the generational trauma behind it.
Tiny Furniture
As Girls finishes, go back to creator Lena Dunham’s feature film debut – an authentic, incisive portrait of a young woman at a crossroads.
Being Julia
MUBI begins a double-bill dedicated to the work of Hollywood power couple Annette Bening and Warren Beatty. First up, István Szabó’s adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham, which follows actress, Julia Lambert, who is bored with her career, her devoted husband, and desperate to experience something new and exciting in her life. She finds what she is looking for in a fling with a handsome young fan. One of Bening’s best roles, her performance won her an Oscar nomination.
Lilith
MUBI’s double-bill concludes with a fresh-faced turn from a young Warren Beatty, who plays therapist Vincent, a war veteran who works at a private sanitarium. Vincent’s life gradually becomes unhinged as he falls for Lilith (Jean Seberg), an unstable and highly manipulative patient.
VIVA
As The Love Witch arrives in UK cinemas, MUBI takes us back to Anna Biller’s 2007 film, which sees a suburban housewife in 1972, abandoned by her husband, go out to find herself in the middle of the swinging Playboy-era sexual revolution. Looking for love and adventure, she explores nudist colonies, orgies, prostitution, bisexuality, and bohemia.
For Ellen
A quiet, moving film, For Ellen follows Joby’s (Paul Dano) attempt to connect with his daughter, Ellen (Shaylena Mandigo), before he loses her completely. So Yong Kim keeps things moving at a slow pace, giving her enough time to draw out a intensely delicate performance from Dano. Read our review.
Tomboy
Céline Sciamma’s 2011 drama follows Laure, who’s 10 years old and a tomboy. On her arrival in a new neighborhood, she lets Lisa and her crowd believe that she is a boy. Truth or dare?
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Ang Lee’s 2000 martial arts flick (about a thief stealing a treasured sword) is more tender character piece than breathtaking action, something that makes his introduction to the wuxia genre for western audiences all the more dazzling. An epic of whispered poetry, its wirework and nighttime sequences are unlike anything many had seen before, always using its stunts to further its characters, with each blow from veteran warriors Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh) and Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun Fat) a gesture of unspoken emotion.
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Last chance to stream: Titles leaving MUBI soon
Modern Romance
Available until end of: 18th March
The People vs. Larry Flynt
Available until end of: 19th March
Gandhi
Available until end of: 20th March
The Greatest Show on Earth
Available until end of: 21st March
Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion
Available until end of: 22nd March
Kramer vs. Kramer
Available until end of: 23rd March
Closely Watched Trains
Available until end of: 24th March
Sense and Sensibility
Available until end of: 25th March
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Available until end of: 26th March
As Good As it Gets
Available until end of: 27th March
Branded to Kill
Available until end of: 28th March
The Man Who Would Be King
Available until end of: 29th March
Angele & Tony
Available until end of: 30th March