This month, moviegoers and cult movie lovers alike won the blessing of the movie gods: a fair remake of “The Fall,” Tarsem Singh’s unique 2006 fantasy epic. The film, starring Lee Pace as a wounded 1915 Hollywood stuntman and The Hero of an Epic Story that tells for a hospitalized girl, received mixed reviews but with the love of its biggest fans when it premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 2006. In the years since its release, the film has evolved into a passionate little fandom, but in reality, tracking it down has proven to be harder than you’d like: it hasn’t been available for streaming for years.
With the July 15 announcement that Mubi will re-release “The Fall” this fall, this long drought is finally about to end. The streamer and art distributor will premiere the 4K revival of Singh’s film at the 2024 Locarno Film Festival in August, followed by a streaming release on September 27. The announcement marks the end of one of the longest droughts a movie has ever experienced in terms of streaming availability, and provides hope for other films trapped in this brutal purgatory.
Generally speaking, other people refer to the streaming era as providing almost unlimited access to film history to anyone – or, at least, anyone who can shell out cash for the right services. And it’s true that streaming has its advantages, as it allows you to temporarily and seamlessly access thousands of old movies, as long as you know where to watch them and how to locate them. But as the American public has almost completely abandoned physical media in favor of online access, this transition has left many wonderful and underrated works in the dust.
Whether due to rights issues or undeniable negligence, you don’t have to look too hard to find many iconic and engaging videos that are simply available for streaming. Some of those videos sometimes appear on streamers for a month or two before disappearing; others have had prolonged absences. While the answer to the question of how to watch those videos is undeniable (invest in physical media) if you don’t have the option, the inability to release a hit like “Living and Dying in Los Angeles” Turn Up the Volume” may be more than a little annoying.
As “The Fall” finally heads to streaming, IndieWire takes a look at some of the others affected by streaming who deserve a new life through streaming. To be eligible for this list, the film cannot be available on any legal advertising streaming services or through VOD platforms such as YouTube, Apple TV, and Amazon. Read on to find ten wonderful videos you can’t stream anywhere. The entries are arranged in chronological order.
A pivotal musical romantic comedy, “Love Me Tonight” appears on and off the Criterion Channel, but it can’t be watched or booked on any major streaming platform. Rouben Mamoulian’s comedy of errors stars Maurice Chevalier as a humble French tailor who poses as a noble baron to woo the stunning Princess Jeanette (Jeanette MacDonald). With several old songs such as “Isn’t it romantic?” and the title track “Love Me Tonight” is a melancholic and uplifting treasure.
It is absurd that Alfred Hitchcock’s only Best Picture winner is one of his few films not to be broadcast, yet such is the fate that has tainted “Rebecca,” Hitchcock’s first American production, his adaptation of the Gothic novel by Daphne du Maurier. a perfectly atmospheric and tortured interpretation of the love story between Mrs. de Winter (Joan Fontaine) and Byronic Maxim (Laurence Olivier) de Winter, with Judith Anderson stealing the show as the vampiric Mrs. Danvers. Unfortunately, if you need to revel in Du Maurier’s story broadcast, your only option is Ben Wheatley’s 2020 widescreen version, which has probably been omitted entirely.
Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s last film before his retirement, 1972’s “Sleuth,” saw the “All About Eve” director take on a twisted and shocking duo. Laurence Olivier plays Andrew Wyke, a crime fiction editor who invites his spouse’s lover (Michael Caine) to his mansion, where a fierce and unexpected game of overcoming begins. Always shocking and, indeed, unpredictable, the wild “Sleuth” is a film worth watching blindly.
If you want, you can go ahead and stream the 2007 remake of ‘The Heartbreak Kid’ starring Ben Stiller on Paramount+. But why would you want to do that? The poorly reviewed bomb can’t hold a candle to Elaine May’s fiercely funny 1972 original film, which is less easily available but well worth seeking out. Starring a career-best Charles Grodin as a self-absorbed salesman who heads to Miami Beach to honeymoon with his wife and soon finds himself taken with another woman, May’s film is a skewering of masculine selfishness and deluded romantics that practically perfects the art of cringe comedy.
One of William Friedkin’s most exciting films, “Living and Dying in Los Angeles,” presents audiences with a dark, dystopian look at life in its titular city. After the cat-and-mouse game between two Secret Service agents and a counterfeit Ring, the film functions as a brilliant and sublime mystery crime (with unforgettable original music by the New Wave band Wang Chung) and a deconstruction of the genre, questioning the morals of reckless officials and breaking the regulations that serve as intended heroes. In a performance early in his career, Willem Dafoe steals the show as the main reptilian villain.
One of David Lynch’s most polarizing films, “Wild at Heart” is, however, one of the director’s available maxims (low bar, we know) and purely funny: a story of Bonnie and Clyde full of warmth between the protagonists Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern. . Array They play young lovers Sailor and Lulu, who travel a path to escape the shadow of Lulu’s authoritarian mother, Marietta (Diane Ladd), only to be followed by the detective and hitman hired through Marietta. Elegant and full of passre, grotesquerie and homages to Lynch’s favorite film, “The Wizard of Oz,” “Wild at Heart” won a well-deserved Palme d’Or upon its release in 1990.
“Heathers” is more famous, but it is “Pump Up the Volume” that includes the must-have feature from early ’90s heartthrob Christian Slater. He plays Mark Hunter, an introverted and unpopular freshman who starts an unnamed shortwave radio show in which he rebels against the injustices and hypocrisies of his best school and his small Arizona town. Slater is passionate, dreamy and unforgettable in the role, and his chemistry with Samantha Mathis as Mark’s love interest makes the film about Allan Moyle’s youth a deeply charming watch. Unfortunately, in streaming, the closest thing to localizing “Pump Up the Volume” is Disney Channel’s 2012 “Radio Rebel,” which basically does the same premise to significantly greater effect. less powerful.
One of the most successful films of Robert Altman’s revival in the ’90s, “Short Cuts” is incredibly hard to find. Based on 10 other short stories by the master of minimalism Raymond Carver, Altman’s comedy-drama transforms those different stories into an intertwined story. narrative that unfolds throughout Long Angeles. With an enviable ensemble of stars (including Lily Tomlin, Julianne Moore, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jack Lemmon, Frances McDormand, Robert Downey Jr. , and Tom Waits), “Short Cuts” is an indelible portrait of the City of Angels.
It’s a crime that the only “Crash” you can watch smoothly in streaming is the notorious winner of Osautomobile in 2004. Not when David Cronenberg’s “Crash” is in all likelihood the Canadian author’s masterpiece, a sublime and unforgettable look at sexuality and dating that wraps his probing questions in a sinister premise. Deborah Kara Unger and James Spader play the central couple, whose passionless sex life is rekindled when they worry about a cult organization that gets its sexual arousal from car accidents. With memorable performances from its entire cast and scenes that are haunting and undeniably hot, Cronenberg’s film is a desirable look at the relationship between emotion and pain.
Controversial but highly acclaimed upon its release, “Happiness” went years without airing. It’s a shame, because more and more is known about Todd Solondz’s acerbic comedy, one of the most productive independent films of its decade. Loosely following the lives of three adult sisters and their loved ones living in New Jersey, the film features a cast of actors, including Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Dylan Baker, Jarred Harris, Lara Flynn Boyle, and Jane Adams, gambling problem souls of pedophile parents. to the dirty and perverted guys. Solondz’s film not only pushes the Yettons for the sake of the Yettons, but instead provides unexpected empathy for those fucked-up monsters and their quest to find love. Hopefully, the upcoming physical release of the film via the Criterion Collection hints at a streaming release of the film in the near future.