Best Films To Watch On Mubi Right Now
Netflix, we love you, but we have to admit you don’t always get it right. Yes, they still have hits like Baby Reindeer, but increasingly this is punctuated by films with – let’s say – lesser of a cultural impact. Mishits like Under Paris, where a giant shark apparently lurks in the Seine, or whatever is going on with Jennifer Lopez‘s newest film Atlas which has already been met with near unanimous condemnation, are all too common these days. And thanks to their own mysterious popularity metrics, these films are often pushed to the top.
Surely there’s a better way to spend a night in than scrolling for 45 minutes before giving up and sticking The Office on again? With Mubi, there is. Holding a range of films hand-picked by experts and cinephiles, it specialises in art-house and foreign cinema, as well as making you reconsider films that may have opened to mixed reviews but have since become cult classics. Even if a certain film doesn’t quite match your own tastes, you can guarantee there will at least be an interesting takeaway from all of them. Here are some of the best films on Mubi you can watch right now.
8 Best Mubi Films To Watch
Under The Silver Lake (2018)
A classic in the marmite genre, Under The Silver Lake usually appeared on either end of critic’s best-of-the-year lists, being labelled either a masterpiece or a huge misstep. For us, it was near the top of the list. It stars Andrew Garfield as an aimless slacker trying to uncover the mystery of a disappeared romantic interest, which takes him on an odyssey through the underbelly of modern Los Angeles as he uncovers a deep conspiracy.
Sometimes trippy, often weird and completely unique, Garfield is brilliant as his natural charm makes you root for his morally questionable protagonist – which makes you feel guilty, but is also the point.
Burning (2018)
With Parasite and Minari, Korean cinema, long regarded as one of the world’s finest, has finally started gaining some much-deserved recognition at the Oscars in recent years. Burning is another gem, a slow-build thriller that gets under your skin.
It follows a young delivery man Jong-su who reconnects with his childhood friend Hae-mi. However, any potential romance is complicated by the introduction of her friend Ben, wealthy and harbouring a secret sinister hobby. This is a film that stays with you for a long time, and Jeon Jung-seo gives one of the most stirring debut performances in recent times as Hae-mi.
Maurice (1987)
Maurice stars a young Hugh Grant, long before Richard Curtis ever got his claws into him and features his hair as its floppiest. Based on the E.M. Forster novel and directed by Call Me By Your Name screenwriter James Ivory, it follows a young man coming to terms with his sexuality and forbidden relationship in early 20th Century England.
The cinematography is lush, costuming is impeccable, and Grant has probably never been better since.
Adaptation (2002)
Screenwriter Charlie Kaufmann was coming off the breakthrough success of Being John Malkovich, and attempting to adapt Susan Orlean’s The Orchid Thief as a follow up. Facing writers block, he came up with a novel solution: Why not write a film about a writer struggling to adapt Susan Orlean’s The Orchid Thief?
From there, it only gets wilder. He adds in a twin brother to the writer, both played by Nicolas Cage, a fictitious meeting with Orlean (played by Meryl Streep) and as his protagonist endeavours to resist filling his script with formulaic Holywood tropes, his own life becomes more and more like the thriller he doesn’t want to tell. A truly unique and singular film.
Paterson (2016)
Legendary indie filmmaker Jim Jarmusch surprised everyone in 2016 with what might be a career best. Famed for his preference for character work over plot, there are no villains or disasters in Paterson – depending on how much of a tragedy you think losing a bunch of poetry is – and yet it is utterly compelling. It tells the story of Adam Driver‘s eponymous protagonist, a bus driver in new jersey, as he goes about his ostensibly simple life. It’s filled with humanity and a genuine curiosity about human interaction.
An Autumn Tale (1998)
Éric Rohmer was part of the French new wave and, while contemporaries Truffaut and Godard made increasingly esoteric and innaccessabile films as they aged, continued to produce banger after banger. Autumn Tale follows the widowed-wine maker Magali and her friend Rosine who plot to get her dating again. What follows is a mix of romantic misunderstandings, unrequited feelings and beautiful visuals of the French countryside.
Tangerine (2015)
The story of transgender sex worker Sin-dee who, upon release from prison, tears across Los Angeles in search of revenge against her pimp/boyfriend is considered a cult modern American classic, and a festive favourite. Gaining notoriety for its guerilla filmmaking – director Sean Baker shot it all on an iPhone 5S – the vibrant colour palette deliberately subverts its Christmas Eve setting
Baker recently won the Palme d’Or at Cannes for his latest film Anora, and his film The Florida Project is another modern classic – now is the perfect time to explore his back catalogue before he has his mainstream breakout.
Wild Tales (2011)
From the opening chapter of Wild Tales, which lasts approximately eight minutes and ends with the sucker-punch of all sucker-punches, you can tell it’s going to be a whole lot of fun. Exploring the theme of revenge through an anthology of six different short films, this Argentinian comedy-drama never ceases to surprise.
All the stories have their own virtues, but it’s the final chapter, a forty-minute romp about a woman discovering her partner’s infidelity on their wedding day, that makes it one of best in recent times.