Genre: Drama
Actor: Chen Yan-Fei, Gingle Wang, Hsieh Ying Shiuan, Jag Huang, Leon Dai
Director: Chun-Yang Lin
Nothing cures the blues like a feel-good movie. If you need a pick me up, the following list will be sure to turn that frown upside down. Here are the happiest movies and shows to stream now.
Genre: Drama
Actor: Chen Yan-Fei, Gingle Wang, Hsieh Ying Shiuan, Jag Huang, Leon Dai
Director: Chun-Yang Lin
Growing up in multiple foster homes to an absentee mother and imprisoned father, Paige Alexander (Kerry Washington) has had a tough life, but you wouldn’t know from the way she carries herself. She’s bright, cheerful, and constantly buoyed by her ambitious hopes for upward mobility. But there are cracks to her facade, and all the trauma she’s been keeping in spills over one day when her recently released father decides to move in with Paige and her teenage son.
Trust and abandonment issues start to emerge. Resentment bubbles over. Despite being a relationship therapist, Paige cannot stabilize her love life. A viewer might expect a self-serious dramedy at this point, but Unprisoned refuses to be pigeonholed in this category. Instead, the show extracts unexpected joy from its bleak premise. Paige and her father Edwin (the perfectly cast Delroy Lindo) riff off each other with sparkling dialogue. They deploy endless jokes sometimes to hide their pain, but mostly to connect in that unique father-daughter way. After years of mistrust and negligence, they’re understandably broken but not, as it turns out, irredeemable. Relatable, sympathetic, and big-hearted, Unprisoned is a welcome show about the unexpected ways we heal (and the detours we take along the way).
Genre: Comedy
Actor: Delroy Lindo, Faly Rakotohavana, Kerry Washington, Marque Richardson
Genre: Documentary, Music, TV Movie
Actor: Angela Bassett, Erwin Bach, Katori Hall, Kurt Loder, Oprah Winfrey, Roger Davies, Tina Turner
Director: Daniel Lindsay, T. J. Martin
Genre: Documentary
Actor: Agnes Albright, Bill Veeck, Charley Rossman, Charlie Day, Dan Barreiro, Darryl Strawberry, Don Wardlow, Eliza Hayes Maher, Gary Private, Howard M. Lockie, Ila Borders, Jeff Daniels, Joel Spence, Kalup Allen, Lamar Johnson, Lee Adams, Max Kassidy, Oscar Jordan, Stewart Skelton, Tom Billett, Tony LaRussa
Director: Jeff Malmberg, Morgan Neville
Genre: Drama, Family, Romance
Actor: Bentley Mitchum, Dennis Letts, Emily Warfield, Ernie Lively, Gail Strickland, Jason London, Reese Witherspoon, Sam Waterston, Tess Harper
Director: Robert Mulligan
At a certain age, it can feel like starting over again isn’t possible, especially when all signs discourage you from ever trying again. Dr. Yehya of The Last Round knows this better than most– quitting kickboxing wasn’t an option, but a requirement, with his age and near misses and personal issues taking him out of the arena and into a low point in his life. But despite this, and despite day-to-day difficulties, The Last Round also portrays him getting back up, pursuing his dream one more time. It’s a familiar story, one we’ve seen in many sports shows, but with Ahmed Al-Sakka in the ring, and the careful characterization of the whole team that gets him there, The Last Round knocks our socks out.
Genre: Action & Adventure, Drama
Actor: Ahmed El Sakka, Ashraf Abdel Baky, Asmaa Abu ElYazeed, Hanan Motawie, Roshdy El Shamy
Director: Mariam Ahmady
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Actor: Ahn Eun-jin, Bek Hyun-jin, Choi Moo-seong, Choi Moo-sung, Gi So-you, Hong Bi-ra, Jang Won-young, Jung Woong-in, Kang Mal-geum, Kim Won-hae, Lee Do-hyun, Lee Sang-hun, Oh Ha-nee, Park Bo-kyung, Ra Mi-ran, Seo Yi-sook, Yoo In-soo
Genre: Documentary, Drama
Actor: Alexandra Reeve Givens, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Christopher Reeve, Dana Reeve, Gene Hackman, Glenn Close, Hillary Clinton, Jane Seymour, Jeff Daniels, John Houseman, John Kerry, Johnny Carson, Margot Kidder, Matthew Reeve, Richard Donner, Robin Williams, Susan Sarandon, Whoopi Goldberg, Will Reeve
Director: Ian Bonhôte, Peter Ettedgui
Silver Dollar Road isn’t a new story– it’s one of many that comes as a consequence of systematic Black land loss that continues to happen to this day. Director Raoul Peck tells it in a new way, completely focusing on the Reels family and hearing their story entirely, from the initial confusion to two of the homeowners’ incarceration, and remembering the good old days when they used to enjoy the land. The land dispute has escalated to years of harassment, imprisonment, and being taken advantage of from opportunistic legal counsel. While it could have benefitted from from detailed legal proceedings, Silver Dollar Road still powerfully depicts an intimate family story that outlines the systemic racism enabling Black land loss today.
Genre: Documentary
Actor: Kim Renee Duhon, Mamie Reels Ellison
Director: Raoul Peck
It’s rare now to hear the phrase “girl power” without being immediately suspicious of its intentions, reduced as it were to cheesy adspeak and empty platitudes. But in the case of Rocks—a movie helmed by a predominantly female crew and co-written by the teenage cast themselves—the slogan fits. There is power in this type of girlhood: open, collaborative, and supportive, and that’s just what happens off-screen.
On-screen, what unfolds is even more complex and beautiful. As Rocks struggles to take care of her younger brother all on her own, as she’s forced to grow up and face ethical dilemmas normally reserved for adults, she is backed unwaveringly by her friends Sumaya, Agnes, Yawa, Khadijah, and Sabina. It's their specific bond, unsentimental but deeply considerate and loyal, that keeps the film as solid and grounded as the title suggests.
Genre: Drama
Actor: Afi Okaidja, Anastasia Dymitrow, Aneta Piotrowska, Bukky Bakray, Curtis Walker, D’angelou Osei Kissiedu, D'angelou Osei Kissiedu, Kaine Zajaz, Kate Isitt, Kosar Ali, Layo-Christina Akinlude, Mohammad Amiri, Ruby Stokes, Sarah Niles, Shaneigha-Monik Greyson, Sharon D. Clarke, Shola Adewusi, Tawheda Begum, Tina Chiang, Umit Ulgen
Director: Sarah Gavron
I always seek out Icelandic films; something about the quality of light and quirky sensibility that appeal to me. Having developed a fondness for sheep on a recent Welsh trek, "Rams" had a double attraction. A tale of brothers divided by life but ultimately united in and by their deep, tender, inspiring love of their rams. Close to perfection. Sigurdur Sigurdurjonsson is luminous in the lead role.
Genre: Drama
Actor: Þorleifur Einarsson, Charlotte Bøving, Charlotte Bøving, Gunnar Jonsson, Ingrid Jonsdottir, Jon Benonysson, Jorundur Ragnarsson, Sigurður Sigurjónsson, Sigurður Sigurjónsson, Sveinn Olafur Gunnarsson, Theodór Júlíusson, Thorleifur Einarsson, Þorsteinn Gunnar Bjarnason
Director: Grímur Hákonarson
There is a lot to appreciate and learn from this work, which is a streamlined history of queer standup with so many enlightening stories. There is a LOT of standup footage and commentary from different eras, and different flavors between them evoking crass, feel-good, and revolutionary — which is reason enough to dive in. It’s got a self-assured tone to it, thanks to all the unapologetic and quick-witted figures telling their story and choosing to make it one of inspiration. In a word, it’s an informative celebration of queer standup comics, of tapping into empowered selves on and off-stage, reminding us that activism is always within reach.
Genre: Comedy, Documentary
Actor: Alec Mapa, Anita Bryant, Bill Clinton, Billy Eichner, Bob the Drag Queen, Bruce Vilanch, Carol Burnett, Cher, Conan O'Brien, Dave Holmes, David Letterman, Diane Sawyer, Eddie Izzard, Eddie Murphy, Ellen DeGeneres, Fortune Feimster, Gina Yashere, Guy Branum, Hannah Gadsby, Harvey Milk, James Adomian, Joel Kim Booster, Judy Gold, Lily Tomlin, Lucille Ball, Madonna, Mae Martin, Margaret Cho, Marsha Warfield, Matteo Lane, Patti Harrison, Richard Pryor, River Butcher, Ronald Reagan, Rosie O'Donnell, Roz Hernandez, Sandra Bernhard, Scott Thompson, Solomon Georgio, Sonny Bono, Susan Stryker, Suzanne Westenhoefer, Tig Notaro, Todd Glass, Trixie Mattel, Wanda Sykes
Director: Page Hurwitz
Genre: Drama, Family
Actor: Andy Stahl, Blaque Fowler, Brady Coleman, Chad Lindberg, Charles Lawlor, Chris Cooper, Chris Ellis, Chris Owen, Courtney Cole-Fendley, Dave Hager, David Dwyer, Don Henderson Baker, Doug Swander, Elya Baskin, Frank Hoyt Taylor, Jake Gyllenhaal, Joe Digaetano, John Bennes, Kaili Hollister, Larry Black, Laura Dern, Mark Jeffrey Miller, Mark W. Johnson, Natalie Canerday, Neva Howell, Randy Stripling, Rick Forrester, Scott Thomas, Terrence Gibney, Terry Loughlin, Tom Turbiville, Tommy Smeltzer, William Lee Scott
Director: Joe Johnston
Genre: Documentary
Actor: Alan Zweibel, Amy Poehler, Bill Hader, Bill Murray, Cecily Strong, Chevy Chase, Gene Wilder, Gilda Radner, Laraine Newman, Lorne Michaels, Martin Short, Maya Rudolph, Melissa McCarthy, Paul Shaffer
Director: Lisa D’Apolito
Sometimes the ability to create good drama (and comedy!) just depends on one's attentiveness to how the world works and how people would reasonably react to it. And this new Telugu-language series illustrates this perceptiveness and empathy to great effect. Kumari Srimathi tells a story free of unnecessary gimmicks and stylization, but still manages to make clashing cultural values and the struggle to make money compelling just through an attention to detail.
Right off the bat, there's so much that drives Siri, our title character: her love for her late grandfather, her frustration with her conservative but well-meaning family, and her outrage at all the assumptions people make about her as a single woman. All of this is channeled into her impulsive gamble to save their old ancestral home. But Siri, played by a tough and incredibly sympathetic Nithya Menen, isn't the only star of the show. Many times these family dramas are content with assigning stereotypes to secondary characters. And this show also admittedly does this, but there are significantly more of them who feel just as real as the protagonist—all attempting to negotiate for the things that matter most to them, all coming from an earnest place.
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Actor: Babu Mohan, Gautami Tadimalla, Madhavi Latha, Mahesh Achanta, Murali Mohan, Naresh, Nithya Menen, Praneeta Patnaik, Rameshwari Talluri, Thiruveer Reddy
Director: Gomtesh Upadhye