David Farnor | On 04, Sep 2022

MUBI is a global streaming service, production company and film distributor, which has become the go-to place for new and old classics from around the world, ranging from hand-picked debuts to festival favourites. This month, MUBI shines a spotlight on David Cronenberg, celebrates Tilda Swinton, showcases the latest from Zhang Yimou and Gaspar Noé and finds time for a double-bill from Olivier Assayas. But it’s most exciting exclusive title is without a doubt Laura Wendel’s Oscar-nominated feature film debut Playground.

In the meantime, it’s your last chance to stream The Legend of the Stardust Brothers.

What’s new, coming soon and leaving soon? Read on for your monthly MUBI Digest.

 

This month on MUBI

Things to Come – 2nd September

Mia Hansen-Løve continues to excel with this bittersweet comedy starring Isabelle Huppert.

Only Lovers Left Alive – 4th September

Effacing the borders of gender and genre, the chameleonic Tilda Swinton embodies the infinite possibilities of cinema. This month a showcase celebrates her talents, beginning with Jim Jarmusch’s entrancing vampire stoner comedy-horror, co-starring Tom Hiddleston.

Hideous – 8th September

Musician Oliver Sim – singer and bassist of The xx – joins forces with filmmaker Yann Gonzalez (You & The Night, Knife + Heart) for a three-part queer horror movie that features songs from Sim’s highly-anticipated debut album.

The short film Hideous, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in this year’s Semaine de la Critique, stars Sim as the main guest of a talk-show which slides into a surreal journey of love, blood and homage to some of Sim’s favourite horror films. This star-studded glam horror features appearances from queer icons singer-songwriter Jimmy Sommerville as The Guardian Angel and drag queen Bimini as The Queen of Doom – plus Jamie xx, long-time collaborator of Sim and producer of the album.

Rabid – 9th September

David Cronenberg has carved out an indelible legacy with his string of “body horror” films that marry skin-crawling bodily transformations with psychological and philosophical concerns. Starting this month and running through to November, MUBI serves up the Cronenbergian body in all its complexities digging deep into the auteur’s fascination with the sick and twisted.

It begins with 1977’s Rabid. After undergoing experimental plastic surgery, Rose develops an insatiable desire for human blood. She searches out victims to satisfy her craving, infecting them with a disease which swiftly transforms them into blood-thirsty zombies who proceed to infect others, creating a city-wide epidemic.

Cinema Paradiso – 10th September

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.

Wildlife – 11th September

Paul Dano directs a stellar cast in this enthralling all-American drama.

John Smith Season – 12th September

This month MUBI shines a spotlight on the work of British video artist John Smith, one of the best-known experimental filmmakers working today. Rooted in everyday musings, Smith’s films playfully combine humour, documentary, fiction and formal ingenuity to capture changes in English society and London’s cityscape over time. His use of illusions, play on words, and associations through sound and image create an unpretentious body of work bound by a comedic thread. Here’s the rundown of what’s being added:

12th September
The Girl Chewing Gum (John Smith, 1976)
Blight (John Smith, 1996)
Shepherd’s Delight (John Smith, 1984)
Dad’s Stick (John Smith, 2012)
Citadel (John Smith, 2020)
Om (John Smith, 1986)

13th September
The Black Tower (John Smith, 1987)

Destello Bravío – 14th September

Filmmaker Ainhoa Rodríguez pays eccentric tribute to the suppressed desires and dreams of women in rural Spain in her impressive debut feature, Destello Bravío (2021). In a town suspended in time and whipped by depopulation, Cita, Clara and Isa live between the apathy of their daily lives where nothing extraordinary happens and a deep desire for liberating experiences. This portrait of the Extremadura region, where Rodríguez was raised, is a highly original drama oscillating between reality and fantasy, naturalism and surrealism.

Playground – 19th September

Shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best International Film, Laura Wendel’s stunning feature film debut, Playground (2021), is a deeply emotional work that grounds the viewer in the everyday reality of a Belgium grade school, as 7-year-old Nora struggles to find her place in the playground while her brother, Abel, contends with schoolyard bullying.

A work of grim determination, Wandel transposes the realism of filmmakers such as Jacques Audiard and the Dardennes Brothers to the inner world of kids, while crafting an empathetic and visceral portrait of the cruelty of children, and the failure of adults to protect them.

One Second – 16th September

The long-awaited latest feature from award-winning director Zhang Yimou (Hero, House of Flying Daggers), One Second (2020), a deeply personal homage in the vein of Cinema Paradiso. The tragicomic tale follows an escaped convict in Northwestern China, seeking out a film reel which contains footage of his estranged daughter. After arriving in a nearby village, he crosses paths with a homeless girl who is also desperate for the film reel and will steal it by any means. The enigmatic film reel that sets them apart soon becomes the root of their unexpected friendship.

Featuring stunning cinematography of the Gobi desert along the Silk Road of Western China, Zhang Yimou’s heartfelt and often humorous feature is a bittersweet love letter to the redemptive power of cinema on both a personal and collective level.

Irma Vep – 17th September

From his earliest coming-of-age dramas to his reflexive studies in female identity, Olivier Assayas has proven himself a multi-faceted filmmaker and consistently exciting to follow and return to. His 1996 drama is a reflection on the state of the French film industry through the eyes of the enigmatic Maggie Cheung.

An Autumn Tale – 21st September

Eric Rohmer’s 1998 romance follows Magali, a widowed wine grower whose best friend, Isabelle, is concerned that she is lonely now that her daughter has grown up.

The Night – 22nd September

Tsai Ming-liang’s love letter to Hong Kong, The Night (2021), arrives on MUBI this month. Carrying Ming-liang’s signature observational, meditative style, the film captures the late hours of Causeway Bay, Hong Kong’s bustling commercial district, amplifying the city ambience with its magical subtleties of the mundane and contemplating its changing landscape. Inspired by the 1940’s Chinese pop song “The Beautiful Night is Slipping Away.”

Demonlover – 24th September

This 2022 thriller follows a sleek techno-shocker in the cutthroat world of business.

We Need to Talk About Kevin – 25th September

Lynne Ramsay’s adaptation of Lionel Shriver’s novel may not always be the psychological mystery that either set out to make, but Tilda Swinton and Ezra Miller’s performances as troubled teen Kevin and his mother are horribly convincing.

Wood and Water – 28th September

Wood and Water (2021) is a compassionate debut feature from Jonas Bak which casts a sympathetic eye across trans-continental family bonds, growing older, and finding connection in an increasingly chaotic world. Anke, played by Bak’s own mother, retires from her job and looks forward to reuniting with her children over the summer holidays by the Baltic Sea. When her son Max is unable to join because of the pro-democracy protests bringing Hong Kong to a standstill, she decides to visit him. The sharp atmosphere of the film is captured on the intimate grain of 16mm film and heightened by the work of Romanian cinematographer Alex Grigoras and the New Space Music of Brian Eno.

Orlando – 29th September

Inspired by Virginia Woolf’s classic novel; a 17th-century nobleman inherits his parents’ house thanks to the queen, but in exchange the queen makes him promise never to change and grow old. Starring Tilda Swinton, Quentin Crisp, Billy Zane, Jimmy Somerville, John Bott.

Vortex – 30th September

Following a near-fatal brain haemorrhage, cinematic provocateur Gaspar Noé (Climax, Enter the Void) confronts his own health anxieties. Noé’s stylistic departure from his previous work is a compelling and tender exploration of love and loneliness. Having debuted to widespread acclaim at the Cannes Film Festival, starring film icons Dario Argento and Françoise Lebrun, Vortex guides us through a few days in the lives of an elderly couple as they struggle with the degeneration of their mental and physical health. Presented in split-screen, the couple goes about their daily routines both together and alone. As everyday tasks become more challenging, forgetfulness shifts to something more troubling and they struggle to care for each other.

 

Other titles also coming to MUBI UK in September 2022:

1st September
Classical Period

3rd September
The Gold Machine

6th September
Lata

7th September
The Box

20th September
A Night of Knowing Nothing

26th September
Another World

27th September
At War

 

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Last chance to stream: Titles leaving MUBI soon

The Legend of the Stardust Brothers
Available until: 1st September

Inflatable Sex Doll of the Wastelands
Available until: 3rd September

Women Hell Song
Available until: 3rd September

I and the Stupid Boy
Available until: 3rd September

Abnormal Family
Available until: 3rd September

Gushing Prayer
Available until: 3rd September

Blue Film Woman
Available until: 3rd September

Art History
Available until: 4th September

PVT Chat
Available until: 5th September

Before the Third Bell
Available until: 9th September

Taipei Suicide Story
Available until: 10th September

Ghost Tropic
Available until: 11th September

The Oak
Available until: 13th September

Truth or Consequences
Available until: 19th September

Nadja in Paris
Available until: 29th September

In Bed with Victoria
Available until: 29th September

Deerskin
Available until: 29th September

Maeve
Available until: 29th September

Panic
Available until: 29th September

I Like Life a Lot
Available until: 29th September

Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands
Available until: 29th September

Hey, You!
Available until: 29th September

Katha
Available until: 29th September

Six Strands
Available until: 29th September

Alexandria… Why?
Available until: 29th September

Endless Night
Available until: 29th September

Fermière à Montfaucon
Available until: 29th September

The Kreutzer Sonata
Available until: 29th September

Presentation, or Charlotte and Her Steak
Available until: 29th September

The Return of the Prodigal Son
Available until: 29th September

Véronique and Her Dunce
Available until: 29th September

Berenice
Available until: 29th September

Alexandria, Again and Forever
Available until: 29th September

A Modern Coed
Available until: 29th September

Your Day Is My Night
Available until: 2nd October

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