Netflix’s Hit Man, The Strangers: Chapter 1, and every movie new to streaming this week
Greetings, Polygon readers! Every week we round up the hottest new releases in streaming and VOD, highlighting the biggest and best new movies for you to watch at home.
Start the summer with two shark movies: one about a shark in Paris (un requin à Paris) and one about sharks circling a crashed plane! There’s also Richard Linklater’s new romantic comedy, which stars Glen Powell as an undercover cop posing as a hit man who falls in love with a woman who hires him. And there is The Strangers: Chapter 1for anyone who wants to watch The strangersbut slightly remixed.
Here’s everything new to watch this weekend!
New on Netflix
Touch man
Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix
Image: Netflix
Genre: Romantic black comedy
Duration: 1h 55m
Director: Richard Linklater
Form: Glen Powell, Adria Arjona, Retta
Glen Powell helms this romantic comedy/crime thriller about a police officer who poses as a hitman. While he usually arrests the people who hire him, he eventually convinces a woman who hired him to choose a different path, instead of killing her husband… which leads to them becoming romantically entangled. And it’s based on a true story!
From our impressions after seeing it at the New York Film Festival:
Touch man is somewhere between a rom-com and a police caper, and every second of it is a light-hearted joy. The film is built entirely around Powell’s endless charisma, charm and comedic qualities, and no one else in a 2023 film has been as fun to watch. It’s rare these days to make films built so completely around a star, but Touch man is a perfect reminder of how wonderful it is when we do.
Under Paris
Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix
Image: Netflix
Genre: Horror with creature function
Duration: 1h 41m
Director: Xavier Gens
Form: Bérénice Bejo, Nassim Lyes, Anaïs Parello
It’s a movie about a giant shark roaming Paris, from the people who brought us Bend! What else do you need?!
New on Hulu
Perfect days
Where to watch: Available to stream Hulu
Image: Neon/Everett Collection
Genre: Drama
Duration: 2h 4m
Director: Wim Wenders
Form: Koji Yakusho, Tokyo Emoto, Arisa Nakano
Japan’s Best International Feature Film at the Oscars, Perfect days follows a public toilet cleaner in Tokyo as he lives his life. The film, by legendary director Wim Wenders (Paris, Texas) won the Ecumenical Jury Prize at the 76th Cannes Film Festival.
New on Max
Am I okay?
Where to watch: Available to stream Max
Image: Warner Bros/Everett Collection
Genre: Comedy drama
Duration: 1h 26m
Director: Tig Notaro
Form: Dakota Johnson, Sonoya Mizuno, Jermaine Flower
Lucy (Dakota Johnson) realizes that the reason she can’t find romantic success with men is because she’s actually a lesbian! Watch a funny coming out story where Lucy figures out how on earth she can date women in their 30s.
New on Paramount Plus
ISS
Where to watch: Available to stream on Paramount Plus with Showtime
Image: Bleecker Street Media/Everett Collection
Genre: Science fiction thriller
Duration: 1h 36m
Director: Gabriela Cowperthwaite
Form: Ariana DeBose, Chris Messina, John Gallagher Jr.
This science fiction thriller is set in the near future aboard the International Space Station. Political conflict breaks out on Earth and the American and Russian astronauts receive separate orders to take control of the station.
New at Pauw
Housekeeping for beginners
Where to watch: Available to stream on Peacock
Image: Focus Features/Everett Collection
Genre: Drama
Duration: 1h 47m
Director: Goran Stolevsky
Form: Anamaria Marinca, Alina Serban, Samson Selim
The Macedonian entry for Best International Feature Film at last year’s Academy Awards is about a woman who begins raising her friend’s two daughters, despite never wanting to become a mother herself. It was the winner of the Queer Lion at the 80th Venice International Film Festival.
New on Mubi
Sample
Where to watch: Available to stream on Mubi
Image: Well Go USA Entertainment/Everett Collection
Genre: Mystery
Duration: 2h 5m
Director: Hirokazu Kore-eda
Form: Sakura Andō, Eita Nagayama, Sōya Kurokawa
I can’t say more about Hirokazu Kore-eda’s (Shoplifters) Sample. It’s a tantalizing thriller about a mother trying to figure out what’s going on with her son, who has been acting strangely lately and gets into a conflict with his teacher at school. Kore-eda is an incredibly deliberate filmmaker, thinking deeply about every detail, and uses the film’s intricate story to unravel one of the best mysteries in years. It’s an absolute gem. —Piet Volk
New on AMC Plus
No way up
Where to watch: Available to stream on AMC Plus
Image: RLJE Films/Everett Collection
Genre: Survival thriller
Duration: 1h 30m
Director: Claudio Fäh
Form: Sophie McIntosh, Will Attenborough, Jeremias Amoore
Another shark movie! This one takes place on a plane that has crashed and is underwater, a small pocket of air keeping the surviving passengers alive. Sharks circle the plane and the remaining passengers must figure out how to proceed. What a nightmare.
New at Metrograph’s house
All the colors of the world lie between black and white
Where to watch: Available to stream on Metrograph at Home
Image: Metrograph at home
Genre: Romantic drama
Duration: 1h 33m
Director: Babatunde Apalowo
Form: Tope Tedela, Riyo David, Martha Ehinom
This is a Nigerian film that follows the budding attraction between two men in Lagos, who are unable to express their affection for each other due to societal pressures. All the colors of the world lie between black and white is the directorial debut of Babatunde Apalowo and won the Teddy Award for best LGBTQ-themed feature film.
New for rent
The Strangers: Chapter 1
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple and Vudu
Image: Lionsgate Films/Everett Collection
Genre: Horror
Duration: 1h 31m
Director: Renny Harlin
Form: Madelaine Petsch, Froy Gutierrez
Exhuma
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple and Vudu
Image: Well Go USA Entertainment/Everett Collection
Genre: Supernatural horror
Duration: 2h 14m
Director: Jang Jae Hyun
Form: Choi Min Sik, Kim Go Eun, Yoo Hae Jin
The best film at the Korean box office this year, Exhuma is a seductive possession film that follows a group of exorcists and sorcerers as they try to solve an ancient curse.
Back to black
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple and Vudu
Image: Focus Features/Everett Collection
Genre: Biographical drama
Duration: 2h 2m
Director: Sam Taylor Johnson
Form: Marisa Abela, Jack O’Connell, Eddie Marsan
Back to black follows the life of Amy Winehouse, specifically centered around her second album (Back to black, hence the title) and her subsequent check-in at rehab. Marisa Abela stars as the iconic singer and rocks her signature beehive updo.
The Old Oak
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple and Vudu
Image: Zeitgeist Films/Everett Collection
Genre: Drama
Duration: 1h 52m
Director: Ken Loach
Form: Dave Turner, Ebla Mari, Claire Rodgerson
A pub owner in northern England is struggling to keep his establishment afloat in a once vibrant mining community. When a group of Syrian refugees come to town, tensions rise, but the cafe owner befriends one of the refugees.