Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
American Fiction (Cord Jefferson)
Thelonious “Monk” Ellison is in a rut. He’s still trying to get a publisher to accept his latest book in a market that doesn’t exactly embrace his erudite style. His gig as a college professor lecturing to students that are too “goddamn delicate” to embrace thorny topics of race has him ostracized from colleagues. He’s estranged from family, all of whom are juggling their own issues––health problems, divorce, the financial strain that comes with both. When Monk concocts an elaborate joke to get more fame and acceptance, it’s taken shocking seriously, setting off a series of misadventures exploring how white America is more willing to accept the most reductive, pandering stories of Black...
American Fiction (Cord Jefferson)
Thelonious “Monk” Ellison is in a rut. He’s still trying to get a publisher to accept his latest book in a market that doesn’t exactly embrace his erudite style. His gig as a college professor lecturing to students that are too “goddamn delicate” to embrace thorny topics of race has him ostracized from colleagues. He’s estranged from family, all of whom are juggling their own issues––health problems, divorce, the financial strain that comes with both. When Monk concocts an elaborate joke to get more fame and acceptance, it’s taken shocking seriously, setting off a series of misadventures exploring how white America is more willing to accept the most reductive, pandering stories of Black...
- 5/17/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
What a pleasure it is to see Kiyoshi Kurosawa in his Hong Sangsoo period. The typically prolific filmmaker is having an especially verdant 2024: his medium-length Chime debuted at Berlinale to strong notices; Serpent’s Path, a remake of his 1998 feature, opens in France this June; and September 27 brings the Japanese release of a new horror feature, Cloud. Ahead of this, there’s a 30-second preview and two posters.
As previously reported, Cloud stars The Boy and the Heron‘s Masaki Suda as Ryosuke Yoshii, “an enigmatic young man who tries to make money by reselling shrewdly obtained goods on the internet under the pseudonym ‘Ratel.'” Kurosawa expanded upon this by saying,
“In the obscure corners of modern-day Japan, violent incidents sometimes occur for seemingly no reason whatsoever. When the causes are investigated, it becomes apparent that a system of sorts exists through which petty grudges and frustrations are accumulated...
As previously reported, Cloud stars The Boy and the Heron‘s Masaki Suda as Ryosuke Yoshii, “an enigmatic young man who tries to make money by reselling shrewdly obtained goods on the internet under the pseudonym ‘Ratel.'” Kurosawa expanded upon this by saying,
“In the obscure corners of modern-day Japan, violent incidents sometimes occur for seemingly no reason whatsoever. When the causes are investigated, it becomes apparent that a system of sorts exists through which petty grudges and frustrations are accumulated...
- 4/23/2024
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Wayne Brady is known for his improv skills on Whose Line Is It Anyway? and for enticing contestants with better offers on Let’s Make a Deal.
He also shows his talents in a touring production of the classic musical, The Wiz.
The 51-year-old recently revealed several other wild jobs he had before television and is now featured as the host of an intriguing group experiment.
While contestants can receive cash prizes for those deals, Pay Progress Forward relies on a group’s generosity to determine whether they win.
A new YouTube video begins with the notion that many Americans live “paycheck to paycheck.”
However, the financial technology company Chime believes its experiment will show that struggling individuals want to help others in addition to themselves.
Wayne Brady hosts Chime’s group experiment
“You can either double your money, or you can pay it forward. Which would you like to do?...
He also shows his talents in a touring production of the classic musical, The Wiz.
The 51-year-old recently revealed several other wild jobs he had before television and is now featured as the host of an intriguing group experiment.
While contestants can receive cash prizes for those deals, Pay Progress Forward relies on a group’s generosity to determine whether they win.
A new YouTube video begins with the notion that many Americans live “paycheck to paycheck.”
However, the financial technology company Chime believes its experiment will show that struggling individuals want to help others in addition to themselves.
Wayne Brady hosts Chime’s group experiment
“You can either double your money, or you can pay it forward. Which would you like to do?...
- 3/26/2024
- by Matt Couden
- Monsters and Critics
How do you even start to write about Chime, a film that keeps secrets guarded and lives off the shocks of its knife-edge turns? It’s safe to say the director is Kiyoshi Kurosawa. It’s also safe to say Chime is 45 minutes long, making it feel more like the pilot for a TV series we’ll never see––only adding to the intrigue. Like much of the director’s work, it’s the kind of thing you could have seen late night on television when you were much too young. It would have also left a mark.
The story follows Matsuoka (Mutsuo Yoshioka), a strick-ish teacher at a culinary school, where the story begins. We’re in a classroom where nothing seems out-of-the-ordinary, the usual washing and slicing, then Kurosawa draws your attention to one student at the back, Tashiro, who seems to be working erratically, chopping onions in...
The story follows Matsuoka (Mutsuo Yoshioka), a strick-ish teacher at a culinary school, where the story begins. We’re in a classroom where nothing seems out-of-the-ordinary, the usual washing and slicing, then Kurosawa draws your attention to one student at the back, Tashiro, who seems to be working erratically, chopping onions in...
- 3/21/2024
- by Rory O'Connor
- The Film Stage
Update: the first poster for and a new image from Serpent’s Path are below, courtesy Cinefil, which lists the French release date as June 14. Sounds like a Cannes premiere to us!
Few directors loom over 2024 like Kiyoshi Kurosawa, who’s expected to debut two films these next twelve months. We just learned of Chime, a genre-bending Japanese feature, and for some time have anticipated Serpent’s Path, a remake of his (fantastic) 1998 horror thriller that’s set to star Damien Bonnard and Ko Shibasaki (The Boy and the Heron). Today brings a major update courtesy the financier Tax Shelter, who’ve shared three stills featuring Mathieu Amalric (previously of Kurosawa’s Daguerrotype) and Claire Denis regular Grégoire Colin, while further digging has revealed the involvement of Michaël Vander-Meiren.
Though it had been reported this new Serpent’s Path (perhaps officially subtitled La vengeance du serpent) would be female-led, Tax Shelter’s synopsis...
Few directors loom over 2024 like Kiyoshi Kurosawa, who’s expected to debut two films these next twelve months. We just learned of Chime, a genre-bending Japanese feature, and for some time have anticipated Serpent’s Path, a remake of his (fantastic) 1998 horror thriller that’s set to star Damien Bonnard and Ko Shibasaki (The Boy and the Heron). Today brings a major update courtesy the financier Tax Shelter, who’ve shared three stills featuring Mathieu Amalric (previously of Kurosawa’s Daguerrotype) and Claire Denis regular Grégoire Colin, while further digging has revealed the involvement of Michaël Vander-Meiren.
Though it had been reported this new Serpent’s Path (perhaps officially subtitled La vengeance du serpent) would be female-led, Tax Shelter’s synopsis...
- 3/20/2024
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Much as Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s new film Chime, soon to debut in Berlin, might not fulfill every wish for being only 45 minutes long, it’s perhaps time to adjust expectations––just slightly––around Leos Carax’s It’s Not Me. Though we’re deeply excited about a career-spanning film memoir, he recently told the Festival du Cine de Lima it’s an “essay” film that runs “under an hour.” Not quite what early reports suggested, but it’s best to trust the runtime comes with reason.
That said: we may be getting a new feature before long, at least faster than Carax’s every-eight-to-twelve-years pace. Speaking to AnOther Magazine, Juliette Binoche––collaborator on his early classics Mauvais Sang and Lovers on the Bridge––revealed Carax “has a new project with Adam Driver.” Which is about the deepest details go, though likely that’ll change soon; while it’s possible she...
That said: we may be getting a new feature before long, at least faster than Carax’s every-eight-to-twelve-years pace. Speaking to AnOther Magazine, Juliette Binoche––collaborator on his early classics Mauvais Sang and Lovers on the Bridge––revealed Carax “has a new project with Adam Driver.” Which is about the deepest details go, though likely that’ll change soon; while it’s possible she...
- 2/14/2024
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Look out, Hong Sangsoo. Your distinction as the most prolific director working today is being challenged. It’s been nearly four years since Kiyoshi Kurosawa last released a film with 2020’s Wife of a Spy, but in 2024, the Japanese director will make up for lost time, premiering a trio of new films.
As featured in our 2024 preview, he remade his own film with Serpent’s Path, starring Damien Bonnard, Mathieu Amalric, Grégoire Colin, and Ko Shibasaki. Before that feature sets its premiere, his 45-minute thriller Chime will debut at Berlinale this month. Now, a third 2024 film has been unveiled with Cloud.
Screen Daily reports he’s already finished shooting the project, with the first still featured above, and is in the editing process with a Japanese release planned for this September. Backed by Nikkatsu Corporation and Tokyo Theatres Company Inc., the Kurosawa-scripted project stars The Boy and the Heron‘s Masaki Suda as Ryosuke Yoshii,...
As featured in our 2024 preview, he remade his own film with Serpent’s Path, starring Damien Bonnard, Mathieu Amalric, Grégoire Colin, and Ko Shibasaki. Before that feature sets its premiere, his 45-minute thriller Chime will debut at Berlinale this month. Now, a third 2024 film has been unveiled with Cloud.
Screen Daily reports he’s already finished shooting the project, with the first still featured above, and is in the editing process with a Japanese release planned for this September. Backed by Nikkatsu Corporation and Tokyo Theatres Company Inc., the Kurosawa-scripted project stars The Boy and the Heron‘s Masaki Suda as Ryosuke Yoshii,...
- 2/13/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Japanese auteur Kiyoshi Kurosawa, who won best director at Venice in 2020 with Wife Of A Spy, is working on a new suspense thriller titled Cloud, which will be introduced to buyers at the EFM by Japanese studio Nikkatsu Corporation.
The feature is in post-production with a Japanese release set for September 2024. A first look at the film can be seen above.
Written by Kurosawa, the story centres on Ryosuke Yoshii, an enigmatic young man who tries to make money by reselling shrewdly obtained goods on the internet under the pseudonym ‘Ratel’.
The film stars Masaki Suda, who won best actor...
The feature is in post-production with a Japanese release set for September 2024. A first look at the film can be seen above.
Written by Kurosawa, the story centres on Ryosuke Yoshii, an enigmatic young man who tries to make money by reselling shrewdly obtained goods on the internet under the pseudonym ‘Ratel’.
The film stars Masaki Suda, who won best actor...
- 2/12/2024
- ScreenDaily
The Strangers’ Case from American filmmaker Brandt Andersen and starring French actor Omar Sy will make its world premiere at this year’s Berlin Film Festival.
The film’s short synopsis reads: Tragedy strikes a Syrian family in Aleppo, starting a chain reaction of events involving five different families in four different countries.
The pic is among a trio of late additions to the Berlinale Special sidebar, announced this morning by the festival. Also showing in Berlin are the two mid-length Japanese films Chime by Kiyoshi Kurosawa and August My Heaven by Riho Kudo.
Chime follows Tashiro, a student at a culinary school, who hears voices in his head. His teacher, Matsuoka, remains unconcerned. But then Tashiro claims that a machine has replaced half of his brain. August My Heaven follows Joe, who earns a living as a professional stand-in actor for hire to play a relative, lover, or friend...
The film’s short synopsis reads: Tragedy strikes a Syrian family in Aleppo, starting a chain reaction of events involving five different families in four different countries.
The pic is among a trio of late additions to the Berlinale Special sidebar, announced this morning by the festival. Also showing in Berlin are the two mid-length Japanese films Chime by Kiyoshi Kurosawa and August My Heaven by Riho Kudo.
Chime follows Tashiro, a student at a culinary school, who hears voices in his head. His teacher, Matsuoka, remains unconcerned. But then Tashiro claims that a machine has replaced half of his brain. August My Heaven follows Joe, who earns a living as a professional stand-in actor for hire to play a relative, lover, or friend...
- 1/25/2024
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
The 2024Berlin Film Festival has added Brandt Andersen’s refugee drama The Strangers’ Case, featuring French superstar Omar Sy (Lupin) to its official lineup. The drama, about a tragedy that strikes a Syrian family in Aleppo, triggering a chain reaction of events that impact five different families across four countries, will screen in the Berlinale Special sidebar at this year’s festival, which runs Feb. 15-25. Jason Beghe and Yasmine Al Massri co-star in the film’s ensemble cast.
Berlin on Thursday also added two mid-length Japanese films to its Berlinale Specials lineup: Chime by Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Tokyo Sonata) and August My Heaven by Riho Kudo (Orphan’s Blues). Chime follows a student at a culinary school who begins to hear voices and becomes convinced half of his brain has been replaced by a machine. August My Heaven centers on Joe, a professional stand-in actor who is hired by clients to play their friend,...
Berlin on Thursday also added two mid-length Japanese films to its Berlinale Specials lineup: Chime by Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Tokyo Sonata) and August My Heaven by Riho Kudo (Orphan’s Blues). Chime follows a student at a culinary school who begins to hear voices and becomes convinced half of his brain has been replaced by a machine. August My Heaven centers on Joe, a professional stand-in actor who is hired by clients to play their friend,...
- 1/25/2024
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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