The Best Movies New to Every Major Streaming Platform in March 2020

THE CRITERION CHANNEL

“Wendy and Lucy” (Kelly Reichardt, 2008)

Humanity’s greatest hope for selling people on the idea of self-quarantine, the Criterion Channel’s March lineup is a predictably gluttonous feast of incredible films. The month kicks off with a massive series of movies featuring scores by Quincy Jones; Sidney Lumet’s guilt-stained Holocaust drama “The Pawnbroker” and Peter Collinson’s “The Italian Job” may not seem to make a natural double feature, but Jones marries them together with his music. 

Anyone looking for something a bit more ruminative will enjoy the eight-film Tarkovsky retro that stretches from the Russian master’s 1961 short “The Steamroller and the Violin” all the way through “The Sacrifice” some 25 years later. More than a dozen Rita Hayworth classics land on the platform not long after that — there’s never a bad time to rewatch “Only Angels Have Wings” — along with a smattering of German Expressionism for good measure (from Fritz Lang’s “Dr. Mabuse the Gambler” to Fritz Lang’s “M,” this series mostly sticks to the basics). And that’s it. Just kidding. There’s also Pier Paolo Pasolini’s gloriously lustful “Trilogy of Life,” three by Peter Bogdanovich, and a wide array of Catherine Deneuve classics that includes semi-rarities like “The Hunger” but inexplicably omits “Dancer in the Dark.” 

Picking the “best” of these films would be a fool’s errand, but — in honor of the great “First Cow” — we’ll shine a special light on Kelly Reichardt’s heartbreaking “Wendy and Lucy. Coming to the Channel alongside a clutch of the director’s other work, this exquisite lo-fi two-hander about wanderer Michelle Williams and her pet dog lends credence to the idea that no filmmaker on Earth is better at telling stories about animals. How dumb that Reichardt could’ve made “Wendy and Lucy” 200 times over for what Disney spent on Harrison Ford’s CGI co-star in “The Call of the Wild.” 

Available to stream March 6.

DISNEY PLUS

“Stargirl” (Julia Hart, 2020)

Disney+ doesn’t have much in the way of new movies this month, as the biggest new player in the streaming market continues to lean on the Mouse House’s massive vault of studio titles as it ramps up production on original content. Big-ticket additions like “Black Panther” should keep subscribers happy enough, but the most promising aspect of Disney Plus’ March lineup has to be “Stargirl.” 

Pitched at a slightly older crowd than the streamer’s previous original features (e.g. “Lady and the Tramp,” “Timmy Failure,” and “Noelle”), and dusted with some of the same magic that’s helped live-action Disney movies like “The Parent Trap” and “Holes” stand the test of time, Julia Hart’s sweet and unusual adaptation of Jerry Spinelli’s YA novel tells the story of a shy Arizona teenager whose world is turned upside down when the free-spirited Stargirl Caraway transfers into his high school. Grace VanderWaal’s irresistible turn in a title role that makes great use of her time-stopping musical talents, and told with the earnestness and emotional acuity that made Hart’s previous films (“Miss Stevens,” “Fast Color”) so powerful, “Stargirl” is exactly the kind of thing that Disney Plus should be making: Smart, loveable, a bit too small and peculiar to survive in today’s ecosystem, but ultimately all the more special for that. 

Available to stream March 13

FILM MOVEMENT PLUS

“Afterimage” (Andrzej Wajda, 2016)

Film Movement Plus’ March lineup is a bit less robust than usual, but the standouts are strong as ever. Chief among them is the final film by legendary Polish auteur Andrzej Wajda (“Ashes and Diamonds”), who died a month after its TIFF premiere. The tough-minded tale of a revered avant-garde painter and art professor whose outsized influence makes him a target for Poland’s Ministry of Culture, “Afterimage” is a vital and rage-filled rebuttal against the evils of toadyism and groupthink. The final howl from an iconoclast who spent much of his 90 years fighting against fascistic oppression, this spirited call to arms for artistic freedom makes for one of cinema’s most appropriate and galvanizing swan songs. 

Available to stream on March 6

HULU

“Monos” (Alejandro Landes, 2019)

It’s a solid month for Hulu exclusives, as vital recent indies like “Always Shine” and “Knives and Skin” join the service alongside first-run titles like the Pete Davidson starrer “Big Time Adolescence.” But as Neon becomes a household name, it’s worth highlighting the distributor’s output deal with Hulu, which is bringing last year’s most feral movie to streaming just in time to seduce and inflame your anxieties about the world descending into chaos. Here’s what IndieWire’s Chief Critic Eric Kohn wrote about “Monos” when he slotted it in at number three on his list of 2019’s best films:

“Monos” takes place in the dense jungles and foggy mountaintops of northern Colombia, but it may as well be another planet. Director Alejandro Landes’ thrilling survivalist saga tracks a dysfunctional group of young militants as they traipse through perilous terrain, engaging in savage behavior while toying with their mortified American hostage (Julianne Nicholson), but they never reveal their motivations. Equal parts “Lord of the Flies” and “Aguirre, the Wrath of God,” Landes’ third feature distills guerrilla warfare into sheer anarchy.

By stripping away the sociopolitical context, “Monos” provides a window into power-hungry mayhem on the fringes of society that could happen anytime, anywhere — but depicts its hectic showdowns with a you-are-there intensity that could only take place in the present. Aided by “Under the Skin” composer Mica Levi’s thunderous score, Landes delivers a suspenseful encapsulation of alienated youth enmeshed in pointless battles that can only lead to further destruction.

Available to stream March 9

IFC UNLIMITED

“The Trip to Spain” (Michael Winterbottom)

IFC Unlimited’s strong March slate includes some vital work from major filmmakers, most notably Mia Hansen-Løve’s “The Father of My Children” and Hirokazu Kore-eda’s “Nobody Knows.” But in honor of the forthcoming “The Trip to Greece” — and in recognition that most of us aren’t going to be traveling anywhere in the immediate future — our pick of the month is Michael Winterbottom’s “The Trip to Spain.”

Firmly cementing its series’ status as the “Before” movies of male friendship, “The Trip to Spain” is a third serving of a favorite dish. Once again, British comedians Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan eat their way through a week-long drive through some repugnantly gorgeous European countryside. Once again, their playful (but gently existential) rivalry is expressed through dueling impressions of the more famous men who came before them; despite an obligatory appearance from Michael Caine(s), this installment belongs to Mick Jagger and Roger Moore. And once again, a bouquet of melancholy notes results in a bittersweet aftertaste that lingers on the tongue, as our two heroes — recast as Don Quixote and Sancho Panza tilting at wind turbines — struggle to reconcile the myths that men write for themselves with the realities that life is actually willing to offer them.

But it’s been seven years since “The Trip” first sparked this accidental triptych, which means that Brydon and Coogan are seven years deeper into the morass of middle age, and seven years closer to being the people they’ll eventually have to become. Both of them have scaled 50 and started to come down the other side, and both of them are horribly insecure in their footing (though Brydon at least has something of a safety line). So while this didn’t turn out to be the last of their adventures, it fully embraces the fact that its twin buffoons aren’t getting any younger.

Available to stream March 4

MAGNOLIA SELECTS

“We are the Best!” (Lukas Moodysson, 2014)

A much-needed bolt of pure, unadulterated cinematic bliss, Lukas Moodysson’s “We Are the Best!” is the kind of movie that people will be craving this month. Here’s what IndieWire’s Eric Kohn wrote about it back in 2014, when the movie charmed critics the world over and began awaiting its canonization as a heart-wearming mainstay:

If Yasujiro Ozu — the Japanese filmmaker who excelled at telling stories about the lives of young children — lived long enough to turn his camera on punk rock, the result might look something like Swedish director Lukas Moodysson’s warm portrait of middle school angst “We are the Best!” Despite the unruly music at its center, the filmmaker has crafted a uniformly gentle ode to growing up.

Adapting the graphic novel by his wife Coco, Moodysson presents an energetic look at three young women in early eighties Stockholm finding catharsis from their mundane lives through the riotous energy of the music, even as many around them roll their eyes. Unlike many dramatizations of the punk scene and its reverberations, “We are the Best!” roots its subject in its adorable young protagonists, who start the movie with the ultra-trim hairdos to suit the subculture but no knowledge of how to play their instruments. So Bobo (Mira Barkhammar) and Klara (Mira Grosin) eventually recruit pampered Christian classmate Hedvig (Liv LeMoyne) to bring her classically trained musical ability to their burgeoning rock group. Their ensuing adventures are never high risk, but Moodyson explores their world so well that it’s easy to feel swept up in their experiences.

Available to stream March 10

MUBI

“Variety” (Bette Gordon, 1984)

If Mubi’s new program of post-apocalyptic movies (e.g. “The Quiet Earth,” “The Last Man on Earth”) is a little too on the nose for you, the service’s March one-offs are predictably worth paying for. That’s especially true of a film that has circled through the MUBI calendar before, and is always a welcome sight to see again. A certified landmark since it premiered at Cannes in 1984, Bette Gordon’s “Variety” seems to have connected with a new generation of cinephiles over the last decade or so, as movies about the interior lives of women have finally moved into the spotlight. Former critic Karina Longworth — who now hosts the essential “You Must Remember This” podcast — was characteristically ahead of the curve when she interviewed Gordon for IndieWire back in 2009. The conversation is well-worth reading, but so is Longworth’s adroit summation of the movie’s gritty charm:

Sandy McLeod stars as Christine, a wannabe journalist who takes a job selling tickets at a Times Square porno house to pay the bills. She soon finds herself caught in an economic, moral and generational limbo, surrounded by women who are driven, by some combination of liberated curiosity and economic panic, to explore the sex industry, and yet find themselves in beyond-traditional, passive-aggressive relationships with their boyfriends. Increasingly fascinated with the tension between watching and being watched, Christine begins tailing a regular visitor to the theater, ultimately playing with the option of choosing her own sexual objectification. All of it unfolds in grainy 16mm against the backdrop of a pre-gentrified Manhattan where, as John Waters puts it in “Blank City,” “just walking home was like going to war.”

NETFLIX

“There Will Be Blood” (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007)

Netflix’s March lineup still has plenty to offer for those who’d rather watch movies from the comfort of their own homes. Another two Martin Scorsese masterpieces have been added to the service’s ever-expanding roster of the filmmaker’s work, while festival favorite “Crip Camp” starts the annual trickle of Sundance hits, and the anti-capitalist horror allegory “Platform” is a reminder that Netflix can be a fantastic reservoir for international gems that might otherwise fall through the cracks.

But the standout picks itself. “There Will Be Blood” is still the Great American Movie of the 21st Century, which is less of a compliment than it is a taxonomic classification. It’s a genre unto itself, an outdated one forged by earlier films like “Citizen Kane” and “The Godfather” and defined by stories of self-made sociopaths — always men — who build empires atop the bodies of their enemies and hold onto the American Dream until it’s the only thing they have left. These are elemental pictures full of people who see capitalism as a bloodsport, making money with a fervor that exposes the fundamental violence of the open market.

How fitting, then, that riches and death are so inextricably linked in “There Will Be Blood,” a film that wears its intrinsic “greatness” like a genre that it grows weary of as it moves along, eventually turning against it and beating it to death with a bowling pin. There’s nothing we love to see more than a rise and fall saga about someone ruined by the same voracious ambition that we lack in ourselves, and audiences have learned that stories like this seldom have happy endings (these narratives teach us not to want too much). But “There Will Be Blood” resolves in victory, not defeat. There’s no “Rosebud” for Daniel Plainview, just a bottomless abyss.

Daniel Day-Lewis inhabits Plainview as the unwitting star of a monster movie, an apex predator who walks with the gangly hunch of a Scooby-Doo villain and crooks his head so that he can only see the worst in people. Thanks to Jonny Greenwood’s Toru Takemitsu-like string compositions, Plainview enters every scene like Jaws circling her next victim. Between Paul Dano’s opportunistic preacher and the plumes of oil and fire that shoot out from the Earth that Plainview claims for himself, the whole film begins to assume a biblical fervor, the drama’s natural gravitas twisting into something vaguely apocalyptic. “There Will Be Blood” is a perfect storm of talent at the top of their game, a movie that drills into America’s past in order to tap into the rot that we’re suffering through in its present. Not only is it the Great American Movie of the 21st century, it actually deserves to be.

Available to stream March 1.

OVID.TV

“The Road Movie” (Dimitrii Kalashnikov, 2016)

OVID’s 30-film slate of new titles finds the upscale streaming platform celebrating its one-year anniversary in fine style, as March additions range from a pair of underseen Eric Rohmer gems (“The Marquise of O…” and “Full Moon in Paris”) to Derek Jarman’s “Edward II” and Asia Argento’s semi-autobiographical “Scarlet Diva,” which came out in 2000 and directly confronted sexual abuse in the film industry almost two decades before Hollywood began to reckon with the epidemic. But OVID’s latest lineup is most defined by a wide litany of Russian documentaries, including “Girl Model,” “Sleeping Souls,” and “Siberian Love.” And then there’s Dimitrii Kalashnikov’s “The Road Movie,” a feature-length compilation of dashcam videos from Russia’s notoriously dangerous highways. A compulsively watchable bit of cinematic rubbernecking — and also an unrelenting snuff film with no redeemable morality — “The Road Movie” feels like a sadistic glimpse into the voyeuristic cinema of tomorrow, where voyeurs careen between horror and numbness as the bodies pile up on screen. 

Available to stream March 6

AMAZON PRIME

“The Descent” (Neil Marshall, 2005)

Too scary to re-watch, let’s defer to what IndieWire’s Eric Kohn had to say about Neil Marshall’s subterranean classic when he wrote about it for our list of the 20 best horror movies of the 21st century:

Neil Marshall’s economical monster movie takes place almost exclusively within the confines of a shadowy cave and the terrible, terrible things lurking within it. After a gradual beginning in which coworkers and friends venture into a cave during their weekend gateway in the Appalachian Mountains, the group winds up trapped in an unknown labyrinth and terrified about their prospects of finding an exit. In other words, “The Descent” is already a claustrophobic nightmare even before the monsters show up. But once they do, Marshall turns the slow-build suspense into a rollercoaster, with the survivors attacked from every corner by blind, monstrous humanoids craving blood.

Using the contained setting to his advantage, Marshall makes the characters’ ceaseless terror as much a special effect as the monsters; the vivid performances draw us into the visceral quality of running and crawling from an unstoppable force that no amount of physical dexterity can possibly deter. Rooting the drama in the plight of a heroine already reeling from the death of her daughter, the movie also takes on a keen allegorical quality, as if the never-ending paths of caves represent far greater challenges taking place in the beleaguered woman’s man. Psychological thrillers never knew such evils.

Available to stream March 1

TUBI

“Carol” (Todd Haynes, 2015)

Brought to life by the careful genius of Phyllis Nagy’s script, the supple glow of Ed Lachmann’s 16mm cinematography, and two of the most extraordinary performances ever committed to celluloid (which isn’t to sweep old Harge under the rug where he belongs), Todd Haynes’ “Carol” is more than just a bone-deep melodrama about a mutual infatuation during a repressive time, or the best Patricia Highsmith adaptation ever made. It’s more than a vessel for Carter Burwell’s swooning career-best score, or Sandy Powell’s seductive costumes, or the rare queer romance that gave its characters a happy ending — an ending that resonates through Cate Blanchett’s coy smile with the blunt force of every impossible dream Carol Aird has ever had for herself. It’s more than just an immaculate response to decades of “if only” dramas like David Lean’s “Brief Encounter,” or a heartstopping series of small gestures that builds into the single most cathartic last shot of the 21st century. It’s all of those things (and more!), but most of all it’s an indivisibly pure distillation of what it feels like to fall in love alone and land somewhere together.

Available to stream March 1