February is coming to an end, and while the leap year makes it a little longer, there’s still just enough time to watch all the great movies leaving streaming services at the end of the month.
This month’s streaming lineup is strong, with recent Oscar contenders, critical darlings, and strange entries from the filmographies of established filmmakers. Maybe you’re up for a contemplative drama about art and love, which was also the first Japanese film to be nominated for Best Picture (Drive my car). Maybe you’re in the mood for a drama that understands the joys and complexities of family (The goodbye). Maybe you just want a weird comedy (Be kind Rewind, The double).
Whatever you’re looking for, there are options for you, with the added urgency of “you can’t watch this here next month.”
These are the best movies to watch before they start streaming in February.
Editor’s choice
Drive my car
Image: Janus Films
Director: Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Form: Hidetoshi Nishijima, Tōko Miura, Reika Kirishima
Maximum exit: February 29
Drive my car does several things wonderfully well, including transforming a 179-minute runtime into an experience that feels like no time at all, bringing together a layered drama about grief, love, art, hope, and the confusing complexities of human intimacy. through a moving lead performance.
Based on the short story of the same name by Haruki Murakami: Drive my car tells the story of Yūsuke (Hidetoshi Nishijima), a renowned stage actor and director who accepts a residency in Hiroshima to direct a multilingual production of Anton Chekhov’s film Uncle Vanya. Yūsuke grieves the loss of his wife Oto (Reika Kirishima), with whom he shared a complicated but loving relationship marred by a shocking secret, and forms a bond with Misaki (Tōko Miura), his reserved driver, and Kōji (Masaki Okada ), a brash young actor who knew Oto earlier in his life.
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s film is made up of complex emotional stakes, brilliant and patient cinematography and masterful editing. But what strikes me most in retrospect is Eiko Ishibashi’s elegiac score in the film. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve listened to “Ride in my car (Kafuku)‘While I cooked, wrote, read and yes, drove my car down the highway. Drive my car is an honest masterpiece and a film that you owe it to yourself to embrace with your full attention. —Toussaint Egan
Movies to watch on Netflix
The goodbye
Image: A24
Director: Lulu Wang
Form: Awkwafina, Tzi Ma, Diana Lin
Leave Netflix: February 29
Lulu Wang’s new Prime Video miniseries Expats explores the intersecting stories of three women from different backgrounds as they deal with the challenges of expat life in a Hong Kong teetering on the cusp of civil unrest. The core point of ‘belonging nowhere and everywhere at the same time’, as the filmmaker puts it in a Recent interview with NPRfits in well with her previous film, 2019 The goodbye.
Inspired by the story of Wang’s own family, Awkwafina stars as Billi, a Chinese-American writer who discovers that her grandmother has been unknowingly diagnosed with a terminal illness. While Billi’s first instinct is to tell her grandmother, her family has something else in mind: to organize a family gathering under the pretext of celebrating the wedding of one of her cousins, to visit Billi’s grandmother one last time. The tension between these two perspectives forms the emotional core of the film, as Billi must confront the ways in which her Western feelings of death and grief as a first-generation immigrant come into conflict with the traditions of Chinese culture as she at the same time get a grip on what is really going on inside her. grandmother’s best interests. A moving, well-acted drama about identity, love and mortality. The goodbye is a dimensional multi-generational story about finding your place in the world. -AT
Movies to watch on Hulu
The double
Image: StudioCanal
Director: Richard Ayoade
Form: Jesse Eisenberg, Mia Wasikowska, Wallace Shawn
Leaving Hulu: February 28
Between his passage Zombieland, The social networkAnd Now you see me but before his turn as Lex Luthor, Jesse Eisenberg played a double role in this underrated black comedy, directed by comedian Richard Ayoade.
Based on Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s novella, Eisenberg plays quiet office worker Simon James, whose world is turned upside down when a new employee who looks just like him, James Simon, is hired. This new employee is charming, confident and makes connections at work – things Simon could only dream of. Meanwhile, Simon is in love with a neighbor (Mia Wasikowska), and hopes James can help him overcome his clumsiness. Absolute chaos ensues.
The double is a great showcase for Eisenberg’s talents – most dual roles offer that opportunity, but the sharp distinction between his two characters really brings that into focus. It’s also a strong achievement for Ayoade as a director, making the most of a small budget to create a visually appealing experience. —Piet Volk
Movies to watch on Max
Be kind Rewind
Image: Partizan Films/New Line Cinema
Director: Michel Gondry
Form: Jack Black, Yasiin Bey, Danny Glover
Maximum exit: February 29
In 2008, my father and I went to the theater to see Roland Emmerich’s prehistoric action film 10,000 BC. In a wild fluke, our tickets were misprinted and we were instead seated for a screening of Michel Gondry’s buddy comedy starring Jack Black and Yasiin Bey (formerly known as Mos Def). To this day, I couldn’t be more grateful for the confusion.
Be kind Rewind Bey plays Mike Coolwell, the sole employee of a struggling VHS rental store in New Jersey, who enlists the help of his eccentric conspiracy theorist friend Jerry (Jack Black) to help him run the store. Through a series of hilariously bad better-off-than-described choices, the pair accidentally magnetizes every tape in the store, erasing all the movies. Desperate for a solution, Mike and Jerry devise a plan: recreate each of the films from memory and rent these “Swedish” versions to unsuspecting customers to raise money for the store.
What follows is a silly, light-hearted comedy about the communal power of filmmaking and the enduring virtues of brick-and-mortar video stores. The bitter irony of recommending someone watch such a movie on a streaming service is not lost on me, but Be kind Rewind is an underrated and charming comedy that deserves to be seen, whether on VHS, DVD, streaming or yes, even ‘Sweded’. -AT
Movies to watch on Prime Video
First Cow
Image: A24
Director: Kelly Reichardt
Form: John Magaro, Orion Lee, Toby Jones
To leave Prime Video: February 28
One of my favorite films of the decade, First Cow is a tender bromance about two men trying to make it in 1820s Oregon, the unlikely friendship they form, and a very sweet cow they meet and steal milk from (in a friendly way). They use that milk to bake something delicious, with their eyes focused on a life full of comfort and security. —PV
From our rave review in 2020:
The way Cookie and King-Lu’s story fits into a larger picture of American history isn’t as important or moving as the way their relationship blossoms on screen. They are both the odd ones out in Fort Tillicum, where the ability to throw a punch and get rowdy is a dominant force in securing social status. King-Lu is more of a dreamer, while Cookie is more practical, but they are kindred spirits, despite their occasional arguments. (…)
It’s the little things that make life worth living. The key to that rise will be how well Magaro and Lee fit together. Magaro’s sad eyes and slightly scratchy voice convey a softness and warmth as he politely talks to the cow while milking her. His faint sense of insecurity is offset by Lee’s self-assurance. Even when King-Lu experiences moments of doubt, Lee speaks with a reassuring timbre, expertly flipping the switch between King-Lu’s professional acuity and his genuine affection for Cookie as their situation becomes more complicated.