David Farnor | On 07, Jan 2017

Not getting your arthouse fix from Netflix? Wish there were more indie films on Amazon Prime Video? Every week, we round up the new releases on MUBI, the subscription VOD service that hand-picks new and old classics from around the world.

This week, MUBI follows its excellent First Films First series, dedicated to directorial debuts, with Film is a Theorem, a new weekly strand celebrating the documentaries of Sergei Losnitza. And, of course, there’s the small matter of My French Film Festival on the horizon later this month – watch this space for more on that.

Here’s what’s new and coming soon to MUBI:

 

This week on MUBI

First Films First: I Killed My Mother – 7th January

Hubert Minel dislikes his mother. For his 16 years, with contempt, he only sees her ugly sweaters and kitschy décor. Confused by their love-hate relationship, he moves through the rites of passage of adolescence. The only thing more striking than Xavier Dolan’s debut was how young he was when he made it.

Inside Job – 8th January

The global financial meltdown, at a cost of over $20 trillion, resulted in millions of people losing their homes and jobs. Charles Ferguson’s 2010 documentary traces the rise of a rogue industry and unveils the relationships that have corrupted politics, regulation, and academia.

Film is a Theorem: The Train Stop – 9th January

MUBI begins a new weekly season dedicated to the documentaries of Sergei Losnitza with this 2000 film. Speeding trains slice through the silence of the small train stop. The whistle on the locomotive and the thunder of the wheels disappear into the night, but fail to wake up people at the station. People just continue to sleep. What do they wait for? What will wake them up?

Labyrinth – 10th January

“I ask for so little. Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave.” If you’ve never seen David Bowie as Jareth the Goblin King in this iconic 1986 fantasy, this is your chance.

Triple Agent – 11th January

One of the last films from the renowned Eric Rohmer, Triple Agent takes place in 1930s France, at the time of the Spanish Civil War. Fiodor, a general in the former Tsar’s army, has taken flight to Paris together with his young Greek wife, Arsinoé. Arsinoé sympathizes with her Communist neighbors, but Fiodor’s stance is unclear. White Russian, Soviet, Naz…whose side is he on?

It’s About Time: Elegy to the Visitor from the Revolution – 12th January

MUBI continues its monthly retrospective of the cinema of Lav Diaz with the global online release of Elegy to the Visitor from the Revolution.

 

Other new releases on MUBI

First Films First: Easy Rider

MUBI’s directorial debut season begins with Dennis Hopper’s counterculture classic, Easy Rider. Following two friends heading cross-country in search of their “American Dream”, this is one of the most iconic slices of Americana ever to hit the cinema screen.

First Films First: Mysterious Object at Noon

In this semi-documentary, Apichatpong Weerasethakul provides an original portrayal of his fellow citizens. Battling food vendors, a boxer addicted to TV, a pious policewoman and a loveless rubber-tree tapper each contribute to a serial narrative.

First Films First: The Life of Jesus

Bruno Dumont’s directorial debut takes place in a provincial town in the north of France, where a twenty-year-old named Freddy lives. Racial tensions arise when he sees his girlfriend talking to the new guy in town, an Arab.

First Films First: Red Road

Jackie is a CCTV operator. One day a man appears on her monitor, a man she thought she would never see again, a man she never wanted to see again. Now she has no choice: she is compelled to confront him. Andrea Arnold’s debut kick-started a career that continues to impress with every new film.

First Films First: A Generation

Stach is a wayward teen living in squalor on the outskirts of Nazi-occupied Warsaw in Andrzej Wajda’s directorial debut. Guided by an avuncular Communist organizer, he is introduced to the underground resistance—and to the beautiful Dorota. Soon he is engaged in dangerous efforts to fight oppression and indignity.

First Films First: Shotgun Stories

Jeff Nichols is one of the most interesting US filmmakers working today. His first film, Shotgun Stories, tracks a feud that erupts between two sets of half brothers following the death of their father. Set against the cotton fields and back roads of Southeast Arkansas, these brothers discover the lengths to which each will go to protect their family.

Son of Joseph

Summer in Paris. 15-year-old Vincent refuses to join in with his schoolmates torturing rats or selling sperm on the Internet. He lives with his single mother Marie and finally wants to find out who his father is. His investigations lead him to a famous, obnoxious publisher. Read our review – and our interview with director Eugene Green.

Cinema Paradiso

A young boy’s fascination with the images at the Cinema Paradiso turns into a deep love for filmmaking 30 years later. His ambition is encouraged by the theatre’s projectionist, Alfredo, in Giuseppe Tornatore’s moving masterpiece, a tribute to romance as well as a love letter to the big screen.

Films About Films: Room 237

Rodney Ascher’s documentary, Room 237, fuses fact and fiction to tell the story of ardent fans, scholars, and conspiracy theorists who are convinced they’ve decoded the secret messages of The Shining. Read our full review.

King of Devil’s Island

Stellan Skarsgard is formidable in this bleak drama about the true story of a rebellion in a boys’ home on a Norwegian island in the early 20th century – a string of events that are kick-started by the arrival of new inmate Erling, who is not cowed by the firm discipline of housefather Brathen. Read our full review.

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

 

Last chance to stream: Titles leaving MUBI soon

King of Devil’s Island
Available until end of: 7th January

Love Crime
Available until end of: 8th January

Passion
Available until end of: 9th January

Edvard Munch
Available until end of: 10th January

Room 237
Available until end of: 11th January

Lost in La Mancha
Available until end of: 12th January

This is Not a Film
Available until end of: 13th January

Beavis and Butt-Head Do America
Available until end of: 14th January

Barfly
Available until end of: 15th January

A Man Escaped
Available until end of: 16th January

Three Wishes for Cinderella
Available until end of: 17th January

 

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