MUMBAI : With endless streaming platforms at hand and so many different things to watch, it is obviously difficult to pick and choose. As weekend dawn upon us, we help you in creating your binge list by rounding up streaming titles that are loved and recommended by Hollywood directors, including Christopher Nolan, Quentin Tarantino, Ari Aster, Lynne Ramsay, Bong Joon Ho, Paul Thomas Anderson, Damien Chazaelle, and more. And when these stalwarts urge viewers to watch a film, you better sit in front of a screen. No questions asked.
So without any further ado, here’s a list of movies that are vouched by your favourite directors along with their respective streaming platforms.
Lady Bird (Netflix)
Recommended by Paul Thomas Anderson, Lady Bird is a 2017 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film written and directed by Greta Gerwing. Set in Sacramento, California, it is a story of a high school senior and her strained relationship with her mother. Anderson is completely besotted with the performance by lead actor Saoirse, who, being an Irish, flawlessly portrayed the character of a Californian. If you wanted to know how well-appreciated the movie is, let’s just say that the film received a standing ovation at its international premiere at the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival. It was also nominated at the 90th Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress.
Dunkirk (Amazon Prime Video)
According to Damien Chazell, Dunkirk is like music, ‘a continuous, breathless flow of images and sound that feels elemental and primal’. Dunkirk is a 2017 war film written, directed, and produced by Christopher Nolan that depicts the Dunkirk evacuation of World War II. Its ensemble cast includes Fionn Whitehead, Tom Glynn-Carney, Jack Lowden, Harry Styles, Aneurin Barnard, James D'Arcy, Barry Keoghan, Kenneth Branagh, Cillian Murphy, Mark Rylance, and Tom Hardy. Distributed by Warner Bros, Dunkirk portrays the evacuation from three perspectives: land, sea, and air. It has little dialogue, as Nolan sought instead to create suspense from cinematography and music. The film got Nolan his first Oscar nomination for Direction. And just like all things Nolan, one gets to hear the brilliant Hans Zimmer yet another fabulous soundtrack and background score. Can’t ask for more now, can we?
Ford v Ferrari (Disney+ Hotstar)
Director Olivier Assayas nominates the Matt Damon and Christian Bale-starrer Ford v Ferrari as a must-watch film. Directed by James Mangold, Ford v Ferrari is a sports drama film set in the 1960s. Packed with a gripping storyline that doesn’t distract you even for a single second, critics and the audiences alike hailed Mangold's direction as well as the performances by Damon and Bale. The film was nominated in four categories at the Academy Awards, winning the award for the Best Film Editing and Best Sound Editing.
Parasite (Amazon Prime Video)
This Oscar-winning film needs no introduction. Not just one, this Bong Joon Ho-directed dominated the 92nd Academy Awards with historic wins for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best International Feature Film. The film also received a recommendation from Adam McKay. Parasite premiered at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, where it became the first South Korean film to win the Palme d'Or. The narrative follows the members of a poor family who hatch a scheme to become employed by a wealthy family by infiltrating their household and posing as unrelated, highly qualified individuals. What follows is a series of unfortunate events that you never saw coming. We’d hate to give you spoilers for this one.
The Irishman (Netflix)
Calling the finale of The Irishman ‘astonishing’, director Luca Guadagnino named Martin Scorsese’s film as one of his favourite films of 2019. The Irishman is an epic crime film, based on the 2004 nonfiction book ‘I Heard You Paint Houses’ by Charles Brandt. The film boasts of some legendary actors in its ensemble cast in the form of Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci. The film follows Frank Sheeran (De Niro), a truck driver who becomes a hitman involved with mobster Russell Bufalino (Pesci) and his crime family, including his time working for the powerful Teamster Jimmy Hoffa (Pacino). The gangster drama nabbed 10 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director.
First Man (Amazon Prime Video)
Even though Damien Chazelle’s Neil Armstrong drama ‘First Man’ turned out to be a box office disappointment, it found an admirer in Christopher Nolan who called the film ‘a masterfully staged recreation of the space program’. The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival and received critical praise, especially for its sleek editing and direction, Ryan Gosling and Claire Foy's performances, musical score and not to forget the legendary Moon-landing sequence.
The Social Network (Netflix)
Quentin Tarantino didn’t have much to say about the best film of the 2010s other than telling an international magazine that “It’s ‘The Social Network,’ hands down.” This biographical drama was adapted from Ben Mezrich’s 2009 book ‘The Accidental Billionaires’ and portrays the founding of social networking website Facebook by Mark Zuckerberg and the resulting lawsuits. The film, David Fincher and written by Aaron Sorkin, was praised for its direction, screenplay, acting, editing, and background score. It was named one of the best films of the year by 78 critics and named the best by 22 critics, the most by any film that year.
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