FIELD OF STREAMS stays in the neighborhood for summer fun
Welcome to Field of Streams, Cinapse’s weekly guide of what’s playing on your favorite streaming services. What’s new on Netflix and Amazon Prime? What do we recommend on Kanopy, Fandor, and Shudder? We’ve got it all. From monthly roundups, to curated top 5 lists, to reviews of our favorites available now… it’s here. We built it for you, so come and join us in the Field of Streams.
Austin is literally (figuratively) boiling right now, so what better way to celebrate this hub of great movies than some streaming goodness? The following are a great smattering of treasure from the finest Central Texas has to offer. Enjoy!
KUMIKO, THE TREASURE HUNTER (Kanopy)
Unlike most of the films on this list, Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter wasn’t filmed in Austin, but its roots are definitely here. The Zellner Bros. just had their newest, Damsel, hit screens across the nation, so this is a great time to enjoy their previous, well-received work.
The set up is fantastic. A downtrodden office worker in Tokyo obsesses over a VHS copy of Fargo and becomes convinced that it’s real. Well, the opening tell us that, right? She makes plans to go find Steve Buscemi’s treasure, hidden in the snow. It’s as off-beat as that introduction implies.
We here at Field of Streams love Kanopy for its incredible selection and price: free! It’s available through most library systems, so just get a library card and sign up for critically-acclaimed movie goodness.
MAYBE SHOWER (Prime)
A few months ago, I had the opportunity to see a screening of Maybe Shower, the newest feature from Lex Lybrand. It was held in the Spiderhouse Ballroom, and coincidentally enough, most of the movie was shot there, too. It was a little surreal but very enjoyable. This ensemble piece explores the idea of a baby shower for women who may or may not be pregnant. Maybe. There’s humor but also real heart, and lovers of local film should do themselves the favor of checking this one now that it’s out on Prime.
LOVERS OF HATE (Hulu)
Filmed mostly in Park City, Utah (a little on the indie nose, don’t you think?), Lovers of Hate will fulfill your need to see BookPeople appear on screen. That’s worth something right there.
The two brothers in Lovers of Hate have a hell of a relationship. They’ve had wildly divergent levels of success, and now one’s wife has become the other’s lover. When one hides in the holiday house of the other, it’s a cat and mouse game with raw emotion served up around every corner.
INFINITY BABY (Prime)
Bob Byington has made a lot of movies around Austin, and Infinity Baby is as good as any of them. Shot in black and white with a futuristic yet modern aesthetic, Infinity Baby is satire and black humor for the hipster set. Also, there’s a shot early in the film with Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar in the background, and it’s just so meta, I could die.
Wouldn’t it be great if babies never grew up, but stayed cute and cuddly forever? Probably not, but Infinity Baby is willing to explore the idea. Kieran Culkin is as unlikable as like and Trieste Kelly Dunn is perky to the extreme. Power couple Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally ground this one.
RESULTS (Netflix)
Like the Zellners, Andrew Bujalski has a new film (Support the Girls) set for summer release after screening at SXSW. This is also a great time to see his previous feature, Results. While Girls is set in the world of “breastraunts” Results is concerned with physical fitness and the trainers that help us achieve it.
Colbie Smulders and Guy Pierce pop on screen, but it’s Kevin Corrigan who keeps this one fun and indie-riffic. Walking around downtown Austin today is an overwhelming experience and yoga mats and athleisure wear, something this movie taps into perfectly.
BONUS: SONG TO SONG (Prime)
It just isn’t possible to have a movie with move shots of the city of Austin in it than Terrence Malick’s latest, Song to Song. Forget Ryan Gosling and Rooney Mara, where else are you going to see a long drive down West (non-dirty) Sixth St. or the portables outside of Murchison Middle School. This is books on the ground work, and it’s just Malick-riffic.
