James R | On 09, Aug 2015

Not getting your arthouse fix from Netflix? Wish there were more indie films on Amazon Prime? Every week, we round up the new releases on MUBI, a subscription VOD service that hand-picks films from around the world and adds one a day, with each film available to stream or download for a month. (Current titles include Tokyo Tribe and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.)

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

Nightwatching – 1st August

Martin Freeman as Rembrandt? If you missed Peter Greenaway’s 2007 film – which was released in the UK in 2010, a whole two years after it bowed at the Raindance Film Festival – you can catch it now on MUBI, examining the romantic and professional life of the master painter.

Available until: 31st August

The Men Who Stare at Goats – 2nd August

Ewan McGregor. Kevin Spacey. Jeff Bridges. George Clooney. That cast alone was enough to make Grant Heslov’s adaptation of Jon Ronson’s novel worth watching. The fact that it’s about telepathic US soldiers, who practiced their powers by killing goats by staring at them, is a bonus. How true is this strange story? The boundary between reality and fiction is sometimes too blurred to fully work, but there are laughs aplenty. Also, goats.

Available until: 1st September

The Stranger – 3rd August

A war crimes investigator heads to Connecticut to track down a Nazi fugitive in this 1946 noir. Orson Welles’ third film was intended to be a mainstream crowd-pleaser – and, sure enough, was his only box office success.

Available until: 2nd September

Fantastic Planet – 4th August

MUBI brings a welcome splash of colour and style to its line-up with Fantastic Planet (La Plenete Sauvage), a 1973 stop-motion animation, which uses cut-outs to tell the story of humans living on a planet where aliens consider them to be animals. The film took home the special jury prize at Cannes, cementing it as a unique piece of sci-fi.

Available until: 3rd September

Cure: The Life of Another – 5th August

MUBI always keeps an eye out for topical additions to its line-up. The Locarno Film Festival began this week in Switzerland, an event that inspired the streaming service to release a film from last year’s contest across all of its territories. Cure: The Life of Another, making its global online premiere, follows a young girl who, in the wake of the siege of Dubrovnik, is lured away by a friend to forbidden forest outside of the city – a place where identities are not set in stone.

Available until: 4th September

Louise-Michel – 6th August

This French comedy from 2008 is an impressively dark response to the financial downturn: a group of now-redundant factory workers decide to club together and hire a hit man to take out their boss.

Available until: 5th September

We Can’t Go Home Again – 7th August

Nicholas Ray’s birthday is another of this month’s key events for MUBI, with the streaming service released the Hollywood renegade’s final major film. Years in the making and tinkering – and perhaps never fully finished – the experimental movie sees him play a fictionalised version of himself, joining forces with students at Binghamton University to make a collaborative production.

Available until: 6th September

Nathalie – Saturday 8th August

Anne Fontaine’s 2003 drama follows a Parisian prostitute, who adopts the name Nathalie to investigate a middle-class wife’s suspicions that her husband is being unfaithful. The steamy result, starring Gerard Depardieu and Emmanuelle Beart, was remade by Atom Egoyan as Chloe, starring Liam Neeson and Amanda Seyfried.

Available until: 7th September

Away We Go – 9th August

“I will always love you. Even if you get so fat I can’t find your vagina.” Filmed on the quick during Revolutionary Road’s post-production, Away We Go is one of those films about a couple expecting a baby. But forget the cynical screenplays you usually see. Following Leo and Kate’s painful fallout, this is the perfect antidote. Sam Mendes’ movie (starring the wonderful John Krasinski and Maya Randolph) is an endearing thing: a romantic comedy with real romance.

Available until: 8th September

The Foreign Duck, the Native Duck and God – 11th August

Yoshihiro Nakamura’s 2007 film sees a student in Sendai drawn into a planned theft with a charming stranger. The target? A Kojien dictionary from a bookshop…

Available until: 10th September

Leaving – 12th August

This 2011 Czech comedy from Václav Havel takes an absurdist look at the final days of a high-up Chancellor about to step down from his post following years of national service.

Available until: 11th September

In the City of Silvia – 13th August

José Luis Guerín’s 2007 film sees a man return to his old town to find a woman he met years before.

Available until: 12th September

Wild Things – 14th August

12 years after Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, director John McNaughton delivered this erotic crime mystery, which follows a detective (Kevin Bacon) investigating claims of rape by two female students (Neve Campbell and Denise Richards) against their high-school guidance counsellor (Matt Dillon).

Available until: 13th September

Quinceañera – 15th August

Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland direct this 2006 drama, which follows Magdalena, who discovers that she is pregnant at the age of 15, something that leaves her evicted from her family home and seeking shelter with her uncle and cousin.

Available until: 14th September

The Swimmer – 16th August

Burt Lancaster stars in this 1968 film from Frank Perry, which begins as the tale of a guy planning to swim from the backyard of his friends all the way home by dipping into the pool of every garden along the way.

Available until: 15th September

 

Upcoming release dates are subject to change. For more information or to sign up, visit www.MUBI.com.

 

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