The Focus Pull Film Journal The Focus Pull Film Journal
The Focus Pull Film Journal The Focus Pull Film Journal
  • Full Issues 
  • Reviews 
  • Features 
  • OUR TEAM
  • Info.
    • OUR TEAM
  • Content
    • Full Issues 
      • Issue #01
      • Issue #02
      • Issue #03
      • Issue #04
      • Issue #05
      • Issue #06
      • Issue #07
      • Issue #08
      • Issue #09
      • Issue #10
      • Issue #11
      • Issue #12
      • Issue #13
      • Issue #14
      • Issue #15
      • Issue #16
      • Issue #17
      • Issue #18
      • Issue #19
      • Issue #20
      • Issue #21
      • Issue #22
      • Issue #23
      • Issue #24
      • Issue #25 - Horror Week
      • Issue #26
      • Issue #27
      • Issue #28
      • Issue #29
      • Issue #30
      • Issue #31
      • Issue #32
      • Issue #33
      • Issue #34
      • Issue #35
      • Issue #36
      • Issue #37
      • Issue #38
      • Issue #39
      • Issue #40
    • Reviews 
      • (All Reviews)
      • Action Adventure
      • Animation
      • Biography/History
      • Comedy
      • Crime
      • Documentary
      • Drama
      • Foreign
      • Horror
      • Romance
      • Sci-Fi
      • Thriller
    • Features 
      • (All Features)
      • Bonding with Bond
      • Double Exposures
      • Essays
      • Event Coverage
      • Lists
      • New to Netflix
      • News
      • Retrospectives
    • OUR TEAM
REGISTER
@
LOGIN
Features
2
1
previous article
Review: Snowpiercer
next article
Double Exposure: The Fault in Our Stars

New to Netflix: May 25 – June 1

by Zack Miller on June 2, 2014

Here’s what’s new to Netflix Instant for the week of May 25.

usedtobedarker

I Used to Be Darker

Directed by Matthew Porterfield

“My friends are stupid, all they do is drink and fool around.”

“That’s all anybody does. We’re drunk now.”

That exchange between two cousins sets the tone for Matthew Porterfield’s Sundance darling. The movie is light on plot, opting rather to riff around a central theme: everyone is a little bit messed up, and that’s okay. Deragh Campbell stars as Taryn, a pregnant girl who runs away from home to stay with her musician aunt and uncle, played by real musicians Kim Taylor and Ned Oldham. They’re in the midst of a trying divorce, which doesn’t offer much comfort to Taryn or their daughter, Abby (Hannah Gross). While some of the conflict may feel underdeveloped, the interspersed musical scenes are pleasing and help to articulate the myriad emotions at play.

escapefromtomorrow

Escape from Tomorrow

Directed by Randy Moore

This avant-garde fever dream was surreptitiously shot inside of Disney theme parks, where the cast and crew couldn’t reveal that they were making a film lest they be shown the gate. The result is an undeniably interesting victim of circumstance, pieced together with inventive – if not occasionally jarring – edits of the footage they were actually able to capture. Following Roy Abramsohn’s Jim and his family on vacation, the atmosphere becomes increasingly hallucinatory and sinister as Jim succumbs to an unexplained illness. Its mix of psycho-surrealism and body horror is agoraphobic and claustrophobic at the same time, and is sure to leave the more curious and adventurous of movie lovers with an appreciated dose of head scratching.

leviathanLeviathan

Directed by Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Verena Paravel

Last year, we called this film a “one-of-a-kind experience” with “… the most visceral imagery ever put into a documentary.” It ended up making our best films of the year. “Leviathan” chronicles the daily operations of a fishing boat in strictly observational fashion; fly-on-the-wall is taken to the extreme as the movie eschews any well-known filmmaking structure.

runandjumpRun & Jump

Directed by Steph Green

Steph Green’s first film recently clocked in at 7th place on our list of the 10 of the Best Debut Films by New Directors. Will Forte stars as a psychologist living with a patient’s family in Northern Ireland, and the film charts his relationships with the various family members as they cope with the recovery of their father and husband.

 
Continue Reading Issue #5

(All Features), Features, Issue #05, New to Netflix
Escape from TomorrowI Used to Be DarkerleviathanNew to NetflixRun & Jump
Escape from Tomorrow, I Used to Be Darker, leviathan, New to Netflix, Run & Jump
About the Author
Zack Miller
Zack Miller
Zack is a software developer from Halifax, Nova Scotia moonlighting as a cinephile - until the weekend, when those roles reverse. He can often be found thoughtfully stroking his beard or thoughtfully stroking his cat. Despite remaining in the sitting position almost exclusively, he occasionally makes time to be bent into other shapes during jiu jitsu practice. You can aggresively shout your opinions and objections at him via Twitter or in person (anywhere beer is served).
You might also like
leviathanNew to Netflix
 

Spotlight Chicago: Music Box Theatre Winter Preview

by Taylor Sinople on December 8, 2014
This winter is a fine time to be living in Chicago. The Music Box Theatre’s schedule of independent and foreign screenings has been released and it’s a real doozy. Featuring some of the best films we saw at the 2014 Chicago International Film Festival, as well as a full offering of retrospective screenings, this season at Chicago’s […]
 

10 Films from Cannes 2014 That You Won’t Want to Miss

by Vivek Suvarna on May 26, 2014
Now that Cannes 2014 is over, let's check out ten of the most promising films that screened at the festival.
 
Before Midnight

Top 5 Movies of 2013: Part One (January – June)

by Taylor Sinople on July 18, 2013
5. MUD Director: Jeff Nichols My Rating: 9/10 DVD Release: August 6th, 2013 “Creating a snapshot of life in Southern America isn’t easy, it’s an experience that many viewers will be entirely unfamiliar with. Director Jeff Nichols transcends these limitations with a fantastic narrative, and atmosphere that stays on your skin for days. Every minute […]
 
Leviathan Movie Documentary

Review: Leviathan

by Taylor Sinople on May 23, 2013
LEVIATHAN noun (in biblical use) A sea monster, identified in different passages with the whale and the crocodile, and with the Devil. Beautiful, horrifying, and one of the strangest films I’ve ever scene: “Leviathan” is –of all things – an abstract fishing industry documentary from directors Lucien Castaing-Taylor (“Sweetgrass”) and Verena Paravel. It is highly […]
comments
Leave a reply
  • Tyler Ward
    Tyler Ward
    June 2, 2014 at 1:29 pm

    Oh, good! “Leviathan” is one of the few critically-acclaimed films from 2013 that I haven’t seen yet. I’m really looking forward to giving that one a watch.

Add Comment Register



Leave a Response
Cancel reply

Latest Articles

 
Taylor Sinople Picks – The 17 Best Films of 2017
 
Taylor Sinople Picks: The 16 Best Films of 2016
 
Taylor Sinople’s Top 10 Films of 2015: “The Duke of Bur...
 
8 Films to See at the 51st Chicago International Film Festival
 
Heathers (1988): A “Wobbly” Kind of Beauty

FESTIVAL COVERAGE

View All
 
8 Films to See at the 51st Chicago International Film Festival
 
Every Thing Will Be Fine 3D Review
 
Berlinale 2015: Eisenstein in Guanajuato
 
Berlinale 2015: Sworn Virgin
 
Berlinale 2015: Under Electric Clouds

LISTS

View All
 
Taylor Sinople Picks – The 17 Best Films of 2017
 
SNL40: A Look Back at 40 Years of SNL in Film
 
Six Must-See British Films Opening in 2015
 
Oscars 2015: Ranking the Best Picture Nominees
 
Our 26 Most Anticipated Films of 2015
Tweets by @thefocuspull
  • "Popcorn - check. Soda - check...I have a date with Netflix on Friday night." - Sherry
  • "[…] nails it.” I disagree, and frankly wonder what movies John is talking about. The original G..." - Dear Godzilla Fans: Please Stop Defending that ...
  • "[…] www.thefocuspull.com […]" - Annie Hall
  • "[…] more vibrant monologue or confrontation, like the dinner scene that comes at just the right time ..." - Taylor Sinople's Top 10 Films of 2015
  • "[…] of the year is also the stuff of a best picture winner. With Michael Keaton, hot off praise from ..." - Taylor Sinople's Top 10 Films of 2015
TRENDING ON TFP
   
Try a different filter
© 2014 THE FOCUS PULL FILM JOURNAL
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.