Virtual Program Highlights:
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#BREAKYOURALGORITHM
Films from the dusty corners of subscription services
VIRTUAL REPERTORY SERIES
During this time of social distancing, have you started to notice the limitations of your algorithm – whether those provided by streaming services or our own brains? The Brattle is here to help you #BreakYourAlgorithm!
When we are showing films for the public, we try hard to look to the whole depth and breadth of cinema history to provide options that some of our audience may never even have heard of. Likewise, this weekly selection of 2-4 films will draw from the unseen corners of the most popular streaming services – mostly Netflix, AmazonPrime, and Hulu – to present some options that their trusty computer algorithms seem to ignore. We’ll mostly be highlighting films from before 2000 since those tend to be the hardest to find on the streamers and we’ll endeavor to keep a good variety up so that even if you have seen one film, hopefully, another will be new to you. Let’s all do our best to confuse the robots by breaking out of our cinematic comfort zones!
New selections will be announced every Monday and Thursday afternoon.
Date
TITLE
SteamingNotes
Vitals
Desc
Watch Trailer
Monday, June 29
THE WATERMELON MAN
Now streaming on Prime
1970 • dir Melvin Van Peebles w/Godfrey Cambridge, Estelle Parsons • 100 min
Originally penned by Herman Raucher, the studio rightly determined that they should hire a Black director for the film and brought on pioneering filmmaker Melvin Van Peebles to helm it. Van Peebles radicalized the script even further, much to the dismay of Raucher who had originally included an “it was all a dream” ending that undercut the social commentary of the film. The resulting movie was a surprise hit and, along with Ossie Davis’ Cotton Comes to Harlem, helped to launch the ‘blaxploitation’ craze of the 1970s. Based on the success of the film, Van Peebles was offered a three-picture deal with Columbia but he turned them down to develop his landmark independent film Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song instead.
Watch Trailer
Monday, May 25
SOAPDISH
Streaming on Prime; for rent elsewhere
1991 • dir Michael Hoffman w/Sally Field, Kevin Kline, Elisabeth Shue, Robert Downey Jr., Whoopi Goldberg, Cathy Moriarty, Teri Hatcher, Kathy Najimy, Carrie Fisher • 97 min
Watch Trailer
Thu, May 21
CAST A DEADLY SPELL
Streaming on Prime and HBO; for rent elsewhere
1990 • dir Martin Campbell w/Fred Ward, David Warner, Julianne Moore, Arnetia Walker, Clancy Brown, Alexandra Powers • 96 min
Watch Trailer
Monday, May 18
COOKIE’S FORTUNE
Streaming on Netflix
1999 • dir Robert Altman w/Glenn Close, Julianne Moore, Liv Tyler, Charles S. Dutton, Courtney B. Vance, Chris O’Donnell, Nead Beatty, Patricia Neal • 118 min
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Thursday, May 14
GANJA AND HESS
Now streaming on AmazonPrime (plus Kanopy and Shudder)
1973 • dir Bill Gunn w/Duane Jones, Marlene Clark • 110 min
Watch Trailer
Monday, May 11
DAVE MADE A MAZE
Steaming on Prime, Kanopy; free w/ads on Tubi; for rent elsewhere
2017 • dir Bill Watterson w/Nick Thune, Meera Rohit Kumbhani, Adam Busch, James Urbaniak • 80 min
Watch Trailer
Brattle Premiere, August 2017
Thursday, May 7
PAINTED FACES
Streaming on Netflix
1988 • dir Alex Law • 112 min
Today’s #BreakYourAlgorithm marks a change in our schedule for this program. Don’t worry, we’re still dedicated to confusing your algorithms by unearthing the hidden gems of the streaming services but, from now on, new recommendations will drop every Monday and Thursday.
Watch Trailer
Thursday, April 30
DOUBLE HAPPINESS
Streaming on Prime; free w/ads on Tubi; for rent elsewhere
1994 • dir Mina Shum w/Sandra Oh, Stephen Chang, Alannah Ong, Frances Isles, Claudette Carracedo, Callum Keith Rennie • 87 min
Boston premiere at the Brattle for the 1995 Boston International Festival of Women’s Cinema
Wednesday, April 29
THE WRONG ARM OF THE LAW
Streaming on Prime; for rent elsewhere
1963 • dir Cliff Owen w/Peter Sellers • 94 min
Watch Trailer
Thursday, April 23
BERNICE BOBS HER HAIR
Streaming on Prime and Kanopy or look for it on YouTube
1976 • dir Joan Micklin Sliver w/Shelly Duvall, Veronica Cartwright, Bud Cort • 47 min
Watch Trailer
Wednesday, April 22
THE MILKY WAY
Streaming on Prime and the Criterion Channel; for rent elsewhere
1936 • dir Leo McCarey w/Harold Lloyd, Adolphe Menjou, Verree Teasdale • 89 min
Thursday, April 16
STARSTRUCK
Streaming on Kanopy and AmazonPrime; free on Tubi; for rent elsewhere
1982 • dir Gillian Armstrong w/Joey Kennedy, Ross O’Donovan, Margo Lee • 105 min
Watch Trailer
Wednesday, April 15
BUNNY AND THE BULL
Available for rent on Google Play and Apple iTunes
2009 • dir Paul King w/Edward Hogg, Simon Farnaby, Verónica Echegui, Noel Fielding, Richard Ayode, Julian Barratt, Rich Fulcher • 101 min
Watch Trailer
Brattle premiere, October 2010
Thursday, April 9
THE LAST DAYS OF CHEZ NOUS
Straming on Netflix, Kanopy; for rent elsewhere
1992 • dir Gillian Armstrong w/Lisa Harrow, Bruno Ganz, Kerry Fox • 96 min
Brattle premiere, April 1993
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Wednesday, April 8
DON
Now streaming on Prime and Netflix; for rent elsewhere
1978 • dir Chandra Barot w/Amitabh Bachchan, Zeenat Aman, Pran, Iftekhar, Om shivpuri, Satyendra Kapoor • 166 min
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Thursday, April 2
PARTY GIRL
Streaming on Prime; Free on Tubi, Vudu; For rent elsewhere
1995 • dir Daisy von Scherler Mayer w/Parker Posey • 94 min
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Wednesday, April 1
EARTH GIRLS ARE EASY
Streaming for free with ads on Tubi and IMDb TV; For rent elsewhere
1988 • dir Julien Temple w/Geena Davis, Jeff Goldblum, Jim Carrey, Damon Wayans • 100 min
Watch Trailer
Thursday, March 26
THE CRUISE
Please Note: Due to licensing changes, this title is no longer available.
1970 • dir Marek Piwowski w/Jan Himilsbach, Stanislaw Tym, Jerzy Dobrowolski • 65 min
Wednesday, March 25 • Double Feature
WHEELS ON MEALS
Streaming on AmazonPrime, for rent elsewhere
1984 • dir Sammo Hung Kam-Bo w/Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung Kam-Bo, Biao Yuen • 104 min
Sadly, this is an English dubbed version but the film is so much fun that you’ll hardly notice.
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LOVE ON DELIVERY
Streaming on AmazonPrime and Netflix; for rent elsewhere
1994 • dir Lee Lik-chi w/Stephen Chow, Christy Chung, Ng Mang-tat • 93 min
The online version is in Chinese with pretty good English subtitles.
Watch Trailer