James R | On 01, Jun 2019

MUBI begins a new month by looking back at an old film restored by Nicolas Winding Refn ad continuing its comprehensive Straub + Huillet retrospective – before kicking off a new celebration of Claire Denis’ career and shining a light on French auteur Virgil Vernier and new debut director Isabella Eklof, which premiered at Sundance last year.

For those looking for a big screen experience, you can use MUBI Go (which offers a free cinema ticket every week to its subscribers), to see indie flick Thunder Road at participating theatres.

What’s new, coming soon and leaving soon on the subscription service? This is your weekly MUBI Digest:

 

This week on MUBI

byNWR: Orgy of the Dead – 1st June

A pulp author and his wife are stranded in a graveyard and become slaves to the undead, in this horror fantasy written by Ed Wood.

“Restored from the pristine original 35mm negative, the film is presented in its correct 1.85 widescreen aspect ratio, unlike previous poor home video versions. The estate of the director maintained excellent materials, so we were able to use the quality source for this ultimate camp treasure.” —NWR

Scoop – 2nd June

Even in death, British reporter Joe Strombel is dedicated to completing his final piece. During a magician’s performance in London, he hands tenacious journalism student Sondra the scoop of a lifetime. All the clues, however, are leading to the aristocrat she has dangerously fallen in love with.

MUBI Auteurs: Sophia Antipolis – 3rd June

Sophia Antipolis is a technology park on the French Riviera, nestled between the sea, the forest and the mountains. Sophia is also the name of a missing young woman. A group of vigilantes, members of a sect and women seeking plastic surgery wander around and look for some sort of connection.

Claire Denis: Nenette and Boni – 4th June

Claire Denis’ fifth feature is set in Marseille, where Boni (Grégoire Colin) gets an unexpected visit from his pregnant fifteen-year-old sister Nénette (Alice Houri). Winner of the Golden Leopard at the 1996 Locarno Film Festival.

Straub + Huillet: History Lessons – 6th June

A shot from a car coursing through Rome in 1972 opens this interpretation of Brecht’s unfinished experimental novel The Business Affairs of Mr. Julius Caesar. In a second part set in contemporary Rome, a young researcher discusses the economic and political manipulation that drove Caesar to power.

MUBI Debuts: Holiday – 7th June

A perilous, violent love triangle unfolds over a Turkish Riviera vacation between a beautiful young Danish girl, her possessive drug lord boyfriend, and the free-spirited, yacht-owning Dutch traveller she flirts with.

 

Other new releases on MUBI

While We’re Young

An entertainingly awkward tale of growing pains, this mature comedy of manners sees Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts play a couple whose marriage has descended into stale routine – until they meet Jamie (Adam Driver) and Darby (Amanda Seyfried), a hipster couple with energy to spare. The result is an astute study of the gulf that can open up between generations.

MUBI Luminaries: The Lion Sleeps Tonight

In honour of Jean-Pierre Léaud’s 75th birthday, MUBI presents Nobuhiro Suwa’s The Lion Sleeps Tonight, an intimate tale about an actor forced to confront his past is an elegant meditation on life, love, mortality, and an inspiration for a new generation.

Lost in La Mancha

After Terry Gilliam finally finished The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, there’s never been a better time to go back to this definite cult classic – the documentary about his troubled, seemingly interminable production, and the cinematic epitome of Murphy’s Law.

Cannes: Only God Forgives

Ryan Goslin and Nicolas Winding Refn teamed up again after Drive to make Only God Forgives. If the former lightly tip-toed around the discotheque of darkness, then this is an all-out Danse Macabre. A gnarly and lubricious film that lambadas its way through an assortment of big themes like honour, masculinity and Oedipal rage. With karaoke.

Cannes: The White Ribbon

Tracing the genesis of a fascist ideology as it develops and swiftly proliferates in a small community, Michael Haneke’s Palme d’Or winner is a prescient parable in stark black-and-white cinematography.

Cannes: Norte, The End of History

Transplanting Dostoyevsky’s epic “Crime and Punishment” to the director’s native Philippines, Norte may be the most accessible offering from director Lav Diaz, even shooting the whole picture in colour.

Cannes: The Death of Mr. Lazarescu

A key film from the Romanian New Wave, this pitch-black and Kafkaesque contemporary comedy reveals the myriad nuances involved in the quest for human care.

Cannes: We Need to Talk About Kevin

Nine agonizing years after Morvern Callar, Lynne Ramsay returned to Cannes with another literary adaptation. Radically reimagining the nature-or-nurture novel, Ramsay—and star Tilda Swinton—transform the text into a chilling film rightfully venerated for its unforgettable visual language.

Cannes: Wild Tale

Damián Szifron’s wicked anthology of Argentine comedy shorts is dark, violent and hilarious.

Cannes: Mimosas

Entering genre territory and remarkably pushing its boundaries, this desert odyssey from Oliver Laxe is a spiritual western and a daring invitation to jump into the unknown.

Cannes: Amores Perros

Alejandro González Iñárritu and Guillermo Arriaga’s thriller, which sees three characters connected in Mexico City by one fateful car crash, is brutal, powerful, visceral filmmaking.

Cannes: Force Majeure

MUBI’s Cannes takeover kicks off with Ruben Ostlund’s superbly spiky comedy. It follows a Swedish family who travel to enjoy a few days of skiing. The slopes are spectacular but, during a lunch at a mountainside restaurant, an avalanche turns everything upside down. Tomas and Ebba’s marriage now hangs in the balance as Tomas struggles desperately to reclaim his role as family patriarch.

Cannes: The Angels’ Share

MUBI’s Cannes series continues with Ken Loach’s Jury Prize winner from 2012. Robbie is a Glasgow boy locked in a family feud who just wants a way out. On community service he meets Rhino, Albert and Mo. Little did Robbie imagine that turning to drink might change their lives, leading them to the distilleries of the Scottish Highlands and the biggest gamble of his life.

Cannes: Paranoid Park

Following Elephant and Last Days, Gus Van Sant returned to Cannes with this dreamlike tale of guilt and loneliness in suburbia. Shot by Christopher Doyle, the legendary DP best known for his work with Wong Kar-wai, Paranoid Park is a rare, haunting immersion into youth and its deluge of emotions.

Josephine Decker: Madeline’s Madeline

Madeline has become an active member of an experimental theatre troupe. When its ambitious director pushes Madeline to weave her rich interior world and her troubled relationship with her mother into their collective art, the lines between performance and reality begin to blur.

Josephine Decker: Art History

Josephine Decker stars in Joe Swanberg’s filmic act of self-reflection. Sam likes Juliette, the lead actress in his sexually explicit film, but he must remain professional while directing her. When Juliette and her co-star Eric develop feelings for each other that they explore off-camera, Sam feels jealous, and his inner struggles threaten to derail the project.

Josephine Decker: Butter on the Latch

At a balkan folk festival deep in a California forest, Sarah reunites with her old friend Isolde for a trip of stories and sensations, as they embrace the lush natural surroundings. But when Sarah meets and decides to seduce a handsome male camper, reality and myth become hopelessly entangled.

Josephine Decker: Thou Wast Mild and Lovely

MUBI’s Josephine Decker retrospective concludes with her second feature, partly funded on Kickstarter, which follows Akin, who takes a summer job on Jeremiah’s farm and develops an attraction to Jeremiah’s daughter, Sarah. The budding relationship unveils Jeremiah’s jealousy. But Akin has secrets too, and as they begin to surface, his attempts to cover them up lead to a twisty, mesmerising finale.

Out of Sight

Not only one of Hollywood’s best crime films, Out of Sight is also one of its steamiest romances, courtesy of the flushed chemistry between a dashing George Clooney and a career-best Jennifer Lopez. Sexy, witty, and clever, this Elmore Leonard adaptation stands out as one of the 90”s best.

MUBI Shorts: Flores

The entire population of Azores is evicted due to an uncontrolled plague of hydrangeas, a common flower in these islands. Two young soldiers, bound to the beauty of the landscape, stay on the islands to guide us through the stories of those forced to leave and the inherent desire to resist.

MUBI Debuts: Closeness

1998, Nalchik, Russia. A crisis arises in a Jewish family when son David and his fiancée are kidnapped. Rebellious daughter Ilana is trying to fight her way out of the traditional family structure. While her parents cling to the Jewish community for help, she turns to her Kabardian boyfriend.

Straub + Huillet: Eyes Do Not Want to Close at All Times

A faithful adaptation of Pierre Corneille’s classic tragedy Othon, set amid ruins in modern-day Rome. With the play, the film examines the process by which events enter our cultural mainstream, and the process by which their use as part of a communications system is transformed into Culture.

 

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Last chance to stream: Titles leaving MUBI soon

Of Horses and Men
Available until end of: 1st June

Crooklyn
Available until end of: 2nd June

The Childhood of a Leader
Available until end of: 3rd June

Funeral Parade of Roses
Available until end of: 4th June

Art History
Available until end of: 5th June

Not Reconciled, or Only Violence Helps Where Violence Rules
Available until end of: 6th June

Nervous Translation
Available until end of: 7th June

Madeline’s Madeline
Available until end of: 8th June

A Most Violent Year
Available until end of: 9th June

 

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