As we all try to navigate the quickly-changing film landscape in the time of coronavirus, we’re committed to continuing our mission of connecting art with audiences, and bringing you world-class cinema to watch on a daily basis. With 37 wonderful editions of Miami Film Festival behind us, we’ve assembled a list of some of our favorite Miami Film Festival/GEMS titles that are currently streaming online, in our new blog series we’re calling “What to Stream While Quarantined”.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Set on an island off the coast of Brittany, Marianne is a painter who is hired by an aristocratic woman to paint a portrait of her daughter, Héloïse. Set to be married off to a Milanese nobleman once he’s seen her portrait, Héloïse – who desperately doesn’t want to be married – has stubbornly refused to pose for the previous artists. At her mother’s request, Marianne pretends to be hired for the purpose of accompanying the lonely and isolated Héloïse on her daily walks, all while committing enough of her features to memory to paint her portrait in secret.
Filmmaker Céline Sciamma’s late 18th century romance is the sort of sumptuous, candle-lit outing that totally immerses you in the film’s every texture. A film about looking – and being seen — Portrait of a Lady on Fire is an achingly romantic drama that feels like a constant burst of fireworks.
Available to stream on Hulu.
I Used to Be Normal: A Boyband Fangirl Story
The term “fangirl” conjures up a very specific image: young girls bouncing up and down with glee, faces flushed, eyes filled with tears, as high-pitched screams of adoration are unleashed. But what about the girls behind the mania? In I Used to Be Normal: A Boyband Fangirl Story, we’re introduced to four women from three different generations that all share one thing in common: their lives have been forever changed by their all-consuming love of boybands.
With a focus on Backstreet Boys, One Direction, Take That, and The Beatles, Jessica Leski’s colorful documentary is a delightful ode to what it means to love something with all your heart. Taking seriously a subject matter and demographic that is so often mocked, this funny and touching coming-of-age doc will make you want to break out your composition book and glitter pens as you’re taken on a nostalgic journey back to your teenage years.
Available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.
Wildlife
Paul Dano has long been considered one of the best actors of his generation. With Wildlife, he proves himself to be just as powerful a force behind the camera as he is in front of it with this astoundingly assured and absorbing directorial debut.
Taking place in 1960s Montana, Wildlife is told through the perspective of 14-year-old Joe as he quietly watches his parents’ marriage disintegrate before him. Freshly fired from his job, his father Jerry (Jake Gyllenhaal) decides to take off to help fight a forest fire — a decision that causes his wife Jeanette (Carey Mulligan) to slowly unravel as she tries her best to keep everything afloat.
Featuring stunning cinematography and an absolute career-best performance from Mulligan, Wildlife is a melancholy portrait of domestic discontent.
Available to rent on iTunes.
The Nightingale
Taking place in 1825 Tasmania, Clare is a young convict who finds her world shattered after a British officer (Sam Claflin) commits a shocking act of brutality against her family. With the help of an Aboriginal tracker whose life has also been touched by extreme violence, the two set out on a journey through the Tasmanian wilderness hell-bent on vengeance.
Winner of the Special Jury Prize at the 2018 Venice Film Festival, writer-director Jennifer Kent’s latest uses a feminist lens for a no-holds-barred look at violence, and the reverberating impact it has on the world.
Available to stream on Hulu.
