James R | On 15, Apr 2017

After kicking off the Easter weekend with Andy Guérif’s 2015 adaptation of the Maestà of Duccio as a tableau vivant, MUBI serves up the next best thing to The Life of Brian: a look back over all of Monty Python’s Flying Circus highlights. Add in Fassbinder, Fellini and a dash of film noir, and it’s a cracking week, indeed.

Here’s what’s new, coming soon and leaving soon to the subscription streaming service:

 

This week on MUBI

And Now for Something Completely Different – 15th April

Sometimes, it’s easy to forget that Monty Python started out as a TV sketch show. Between the naughty boy Messiahs and killer rabbits, you could almost overlook the dead parrots and cheese shops. Effectively a 90-minute highlights reel of the comic troupe’s small screen creations, And Now for Something Completely Different reminds you just how great that old Flying Circus was. Read our full review.

Juliet of the Spirits – 16th April

Fellini’s first colour film made the most of every shade and tint, with a fever dream of hallucination and self-discovery that follows a betrayed wife who struggles to come to terms with reality.

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town – 17th April

MUBI’s Frank Capra season continues with another of the director’s winning portrayals of the American Dream. Gary Cooper plays a young man who inherits a $20 million fortune from a deceased patron of the arts. Mr. Deeds does, indeed, goes to New York, and proves that an everyman with honesty and courage can triumph over the bigger, unjust system.

The Marriage of Maria Braun – 18th April

MUBI’s Fassbinder retrospective reaches its conclusion with the director’s biggest box office success. Collaborating with the late cinematographer Michael Ballhaus, and starring Hannah Schygulla, this German Hollywood movie is study of a woman picking herself up from the ruins of her own life, and a pointed metaphor for a society determined to forget its past.

Murder by Contract – 19th April

From Capra and Fassbinder to Irving Lerner’s 1950s film noir, which follows a young man with a regular job, no history of trouble with the law, and a secret line of work as an assassin.

Contact High – 20th April

Hot dogs, cars and a mysterious bag collide in Michael Glawogger’s 2009 comedy of absurd situations and misunderstandings.

Rouge – 21st April

Hong Kong filmmaker Stanley Kwan directs this supernatural melodrama about a passion, romance, and lost history.

 

Other new releases on MUBI

Maesta, the Passion of the Christ

MUBI begins the Easter weekend with Andy Guérif’s 2015 adaptation of the Maestà of Duccio as a tableau vivant: the tale of the Christ’s Passion in 26 successive panels, from the arrival in Jerusalem to the road to Emmaus.

Tony Conrad: Completely in the Present

MUBI celebrates the late Tony Conrad with this documentary portrait of the multi-disciplinarian genius, whose charisma and talent leap off the screen.

The Two Jakes

17 years on from Chinatown, Jack Nicholson and Roman Polanski reunite for this follow-up for detective Jake, who is still mourning the events of the original film, as he gets drawn into a web of conspiracy and deceit.

The Bitter Tea of General Yen

MUBI kicks off a new season dedicated to the king of cinema’s Golden Age: Frank Capra. It begins with The Bitter Tea of General Yen, a 1993 interracial love story that stars Hollywood belle Barbara Stanwyck.

Fox and His Friends

MUBI’s Fassbinder season continues with the director stepping in front of the camera for 1975’s drama about Franz Biberkopf, a poor gay man who performs in a traveling circus, until he wins half a million in a lottery.

Storm Children, Book One

MUBI’s Lav Diaz retrospective reaches 2014 with this documentary about children living on Tacloban Island in the devastating aftermath of Typoon Yolanda – the strongest typhoon ever to hit the storm-battered Philippines.

Lila Says

Two inner-city teenagers engage in an obsessive, innocent flirtation fuelled by Lila’s sexually explicit overtures, in Ziad Doueiri’s 2004 romance.

Gimme the Loot

When Malcolm and Sofia’s latest graffiti masterpiece is buffed by a rival gang, these two determined Bronx teens must hustle, steal, and scheme to get revenge and become the biggest writers in the City. Adam Leon’s energetic debut from 2012 is a portrait of the high-wire act of balancing friendship with artistic ambition.

Marlon Brando Double: The Chase

Most everyone in town thinks that Sheriff Calder is merely a puppet of rich oil-man Val Rogers. When it is learned that local baddie Bubber Reeves has escaped prison, Rogers’ son is concerned because he is having an affair with Reeves’ wife.

Marlon Brando Double: The Wild One

Johnny and his motorcycle gang roll into Carbonville for a biker competition and raise enough hell to get kicked out of town. They repair to nearby Wrightsville and continue their reign of terror, and the local sheriff is helpless.

Effi Breast

MUBI’s Fassbinder season continues with the director’s austere adaptation of Theodor Fontane’s novel from the late 19th century. The result is a period drama following a teenager forced into a loveless marriage with an old count. Living as the aristocrat’s trophy wife, Effi endures her provincial existence unhappily.

1,000 Times Good Night

Juliette Binoche plays a war photographer in Erik Poppe’s powerful 2013 film. “As Rebecca’s calm exterior crumbles, the beautiful cinematography captures the fallout of war in a genuinely affecting way. You wish A Thousand Times Good Night managed to sustain that subtlety throughout. The uniformly excellent performances, though, mean that there are real moments of power between the overdone lines.” Read our full review

Ali: Fear Eats the Soul

MUBI’s Fassbinder retrospective hits its peak with one of the most director’s famous films – and with good reason. Taking inspiration from Douglas Sirk, this powerful drama follows an almost accidental romance between an ageing German woman and a Moroccan migrant worker more than 20 years her younger – and their bond, which crosses boundaries of race and age, sends shocking ripples through the society around them.

Henri-Georges Clouzot’s Inferno

MUBI teams up with the Fashion on Film Festival to present a newly mastered cut of The Inferno, Clouzot’s legendary unfinished film. Uncovered by film archivist Serge Bromberg, the result is a treasure trove of images from what would have been called L’enfer, starring Romy Schneider – except for the fact that it sadly never got made.

 
A monthly subscription to MUBI costs £5.99 a month, with a 30-day free trial.

 

Last chance to stream: Titles leaving MUBI soon

Between Fences
Available until end of: 15th April

Stripes
Available until end of: 16th April

The Remains of the Day
Available until end of: 17th April

Holiday
Available until end of: 18th April

The Better Tears of Petra von Kant
Available until end of: 19th April

Fireworks
Available until end of: 20th April

Kikujiro
Available until end of: 21st April

Kids Return
Available until end of: 22nd April

Henri-Georges Clouzot’s Inferno
Available until end of: 23rd April

Ma Mere
Available until end of: 24th April

Silence
Available until end of: 25th April

 

Add to Watchlist