We’re back again with another guide to some of the best movies you can now stream at home for free using your library card!
THE FAREWELL
Chinese-born, U.S.-raised Billi (Awkwafina) reluctantly returns to Changchun to find that, although the whole family knows their beloved matriarch, Nai-Nai, has been given mere weeks to live, everyone has decided not to tell Nai Nai herself. To assure her happiness, they gather under the joyful guise of an expedited wedding, uniting family members scattered among new homes abroad. As Billi navigates a minefield of family expectations and proprieties, she finds there’s a lot to celebrate: a chance to rediscover the country she left as a child, her grandmother’s wondrous spirit, and the ties that keep on binding even when so much goes unspoken.
Description and score provided by Metacritic.
“The Farewell has a special feeling about it. It’s full of truth and emotion, and lacking in sentimentality. It has an eye for absurdity and for the telling detail, and it marks Lulu Wang as a director with the rare but essential ability to make you care about what she cares about. It will go down as one of the standout movies of 2019.” – Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
“This is a viewing experience to be treasured. It is one of the very best films of 2019.” – Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times
“The Farewell pays delightful, insightful homage to the facades and pretenses nearly everyone adopts in the name of compassion.” – Ann Hornaday, Washington Post
Available Formats:
Kanopy Streaming
STORIES WE TELL
Director Sarah Polley looks into her past and excavates layers of myth and memory to find the elusive truth at the core of a family of storytellers.
Description and score provided by Metacritic.
“Polley’s fearless personal journey is a huge achievement, a genuine revelation — but the less detail you know beforehand, the better. Go in cold, come out warmed.” – Dan Jolin, Empire
“This is the kind of film that benefits from being experienced with as little prior knowledge as possible. As one watches it, certain questions may arise. But don’t worry — the answers are fascinating.” – Calvin Wilson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“Sarah Polley’s memoir is a poignant, funny and engrossing film, challenging our notions of memory and family mythology.” – Claudia Puig, USA Today
Available Formats:
Kanopy Streaming
IP MAN 4: THE FINALE
Ip Man’s life remains unchanged after his wife’s death, but he and his son are slowly drifting apart. To seek a better future for his son, Ip Man decides to travel to the U.S. only to find the stable, peaceful life abroad is only skin deep. Underneath lies a deep rooted racial discrimination that is far worse than he has expected. Ip Man re-examines his position and ponders on the reason he took up martial arts in the beginning.
Description and score provided by Metacritic.
“Ip Man 4: The Finale is a thrilling end to the Ip Man saga. The action is fast-paced, and the fighting is poetic. The story not only brings a modern twist to the legend but is just as relevant today as it was in the 70s.” – Alan Ng, Film Threat
“There is no mystery about who wins the movie’s final bout, but it is never less than thrilling to watch Yen’s fluttering limbs in action.” – Ben Kenigsberg, New York Times
“One of the unexpected pleasures of Ip Man 4 is a warm montage of highlights from the previous three films that plays at the close. Star Yen has said there are no more Ip films in his future, but no one would be upset if another one happened to come along.” – Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
Available Formats:
Hoopla Streaming
THE ART OF SELF-DEFENSE
After he’s attacked on the street at night by a roving motorcycle gang, timid bookkeeper Casey (Jesse Eisenberg) joins a neighborhood karate studio to learn how to protect himself. Under the watchful eye of a charismatic instructor, Sensei (Alessandro Nivola), and hardcore brown belt Anna (Imogen Poots), Casey gains a newfound sense of confidence for the first time in his life. But when he attends Sensei’s mysterious night classes, he discovers a sinister world of fraternity, brutality and hyper-masculinity, presenting a journey that places him squarely in the sights of his enigmatic new mentor.
Description and score provided by Metacritic.
“It’s a surprising film in many ways. Both for its thoughtfulness and the way the plot unfurls into thriller territory as Casey falls deeper under Sensei’s spell.” – Randy Cordova, Arizona Republic
“The film as a whole feels audacious and original, a case study of violence begetting more of the same, and Mr. Eisenberg is ideally cast as the soul of fearfulness, as well as the embodiment of mixed motives that include courage, lust for power and revenge.” – Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal
“A singular work, brimming with ideas, by a budding visionary with a hell of a lot to say.” – Randall Colburn, Consequence of Sound
Available Formats:
Kanopy Streaming
MR. HOLMES
In 1947, an aging Sherlock Holmes (Ian McKellen) returns from a journey to Japan, where, in search of a rare plant with powerful restorative qualities, he has witnessed the devastation of nuclear warfare. Now, in his remote seaside farmhouse, Holmes faces the end of his days tending to his bees, with only the company of his housekeeper and her young son, Roger. Grappling with the diminishing powers of his mind, Holmes comes to rely upon the boy as he revisits the circumstances of the unsolved case that forced him into retirement, and searches for answers to the mysteries of life and love – before it’s too late.
Description and score provided by Metacritic.
“McKellen is brilliant throughout, his piercing blue eyes revealing the gallantry of youth and the sadness of a life’s worth of memories slipping further away. His understated and charming approach to the role makes it all the more potent and engaging.” – Miriam Di Nunzio, Chicago Sun-Times
“Sherlock Holmes is totally cool again, which warms my dorky heart.” – Bilge Ebiri, Vulture
“Maneuvering shrewdly within the boundaries of the traditional canon and aided by the impeccable performance of Ian McKellen, Bill Condon directs an elegant puzzler that presents the sage of Baker Street dealing with the one thing he’s never had to contend with before: his own emotions.” – Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
Available Formats:
Kanopy Streaming | Hoopla Streaming
THE SKELETON TWINS
After ten years of estrangement, twins Maggie and Milo coincidentally cheat death on the same day, prompting them to reunite and confront how their lives went so wrong. As the twins’ reunion reinvigorates them both, they realize that the key to fixing their lives just may lie in fixing their relationship with each other.
Description and score provided by Metacritic.
“What’s singular here isn’t that the stars are playing brother and sister, or that they stir such sublime and anxious joy from each other. It’s that the real love story isn’t even between the damaged-but-lovable characters. It’s between two profoundly depressed people and life itself.” – Alan Scherstuhl, Village Voice
“It’s a shockingly vulnerable performance (Hader), one of the best I’ve seen all year.” – Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly
“Warm, funny, heartfelt and even uplifting, the film is led by revelatory performances from Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig, both of them exploring rewarding new dramatic range without neglecting their mad comedic skills.” – David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter
Available Formats:
Kanopy Streaming
LAZY SUSAN
Susan has always been the self-centered oddball in her family, who lazily skated through life with their grudging support until one day she wakes up to realize she’s middle-aged with no job, no relationship, and an increasingly estranged family. She finally decides to take charge and turn things around, but never having done anything herself before, the struggle is real (and hilarious) as Susan becomes the woman she always wanted to be, all on her own.
Description and score provided by Metacritic.
“Sean Hayes is a droll delight as Susan, who uses cynicism and snappy put-downs as a defense mechanism but has a real heart.” – Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times
“…it’s to co-writer Hayes’ credit that Susan retains a core sympathy despite constantly nudging the character to the edge of tolerance.” – Michael Rechtshaffen, Los Angeles Times
Available Formats:
Hoopla Streaming
ABE
Twelve-year-old Abe (Noah Schnapp) is an aspiring chef who wants his cooking to bring people together–but his half-Israeli, half-Palestinian family has never had a meal that didn’t end in a fight. Ditching his traditional summer camp, Abe begins working with Chico (Seu Jorge), an adventurous street chef who encourages him to think outside his old cuisines. But when Abe’s deceit is uncovered, he must grapple with his family, his background, and his passions, and whether even the most lovingly-cooked family dinner can heal old wounds.
Description and score provided by Metacritic.
“A great measure of Abe’s success is that it made me hungry. More than that, it’s the first movie in quite some time to make me smile.” – Ty Burr, Boston Globe
“The blend of coming-of-age and coming-together in director Fernando Grostein Andrade’s film is a poignant one, regardless. The lessons Abe learns about life through Chico and his inventive cooking are made all the more beautiful by how tasty and colorful the food looks. And with Schnapp’s work in the title role, I found myself believing that a 12-year-old Brooklyn boy just might be able to solve the world’s thorniest conflict with an appetizer.” – Johnny Oleksinski, New York Post
“Andrade serves up an enticing dramedy that wholeheartedly celebrates the potential for multicultural cuisine to unite people from distinctly different traditions, even in the face of determined opposition.” – Justin Lowe, The Hollywood Reporter
Available Formats:
Hoopla Streaming
BECOMING ASTRID
The teenaged Astrid Lindgren (Alba August) leads a carefree life with her family in rural Sweden. Eager to break free from her strict religious upbringing, she accepts an internship at a local newspaper where she attracts the attention of its married editor, Blomberg (Henrik Rafaelsen). When Astrid becomes pregnant, she is forced to leave her childhood home for Copenhagen to secretly give birth to a son, Lasse, whom she reluctantly leaves with a foster mother, Marie (Trine Dyrholm). Astrid goes into self-imposed exile in Stockholm, refusing Blomberg’s offer of marriage but saving up her paltry salary for visits to see her son. When Marie falls ill, Astrid uses her imagination and flair for storytelling to reconnect with her child. In spite of her struggles, she emerges with a newfound courage that will form the foundation of a vast and beloved body of work.
Description and score provided by Metacritic.
“Erik Molberg Hansen’s relaxed camera movements and fuzzy-soft compositions are quite beautiful, and the performances — including the superb Trine Dyrholm as the baby’s Danish foster mother — are pitch-perfect. Best of all is the magnetic August, whose open, mobile features can slide from plain to lovely with just a shift in the light and whose embrace of the character is a joy to watch.” – Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times
“Throughout Becoming Astrid, August acquits herself brilliantly; the woman we come to know is a tangle of impulses and qualities, and feels vibrantly alive.” – Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune
“This is not a flat and lifeless biopic in which a creation loses a bit of its wonder in the dissection of its inspiration. Becoming Astrid sidesteps that pitfall by focusing on the writer’s painful passage into womanhood, telling an intimate and unhurried story of quiet triumph over pain.” – Barbara VanDenburgh, Arizona Republic
Available Formats:
Kanopy Streaming
THE OATH
When Chris (Ike Barinholtz), a high-strung 24-hour progressive news junkie, and his more levelheaded wife Kai (Tiffany Haddish) learn that citizens are being asked to sign a loyalty oath to the President, their reaction is disbelief, followed by idealistic refusal. But as the Thanksgiving deadline to sign approaches, the combination of sparring relatives, Chris’s own agitation and the unexpected arrival of two government agents (John Cho and Billy Magnussen) sends an already tense holiday dinner gathering completely off the rails.
Description and score provided by Metacritic.
“The Oath is harsh. It’s extreme. It goes to places you don’t expect, and then past those places. It’s the most unpleasant comedy in a long time, and lots of people will absolutely hate it. It’s also one of the best movies of the year.” – Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
“Raw, improvised and indicative of Trump’s America, The Oath reminds viewers of the need for laughter despite the downtrodden insanity around us. Thankfully, Barinholtz resists the urge to lapse into cynicism, because at the end of the day people are more important than politics.” – Kyle Kohner, The Playlist
“Somewhat courageously, the film’s real focus is not on the obvious villains in this tale of two Americas, but on the absurd contradiction of its liberal hero watching a political apocalypse unfold on his iPhone.” – Kerry Lengel, Arizona Republic
Available Formats:
Kanopy Streaming
STRAY DOLLS
Leaving India behind to break with a life of petty crime, Riz (Geetanjali Thapa) arrives stateside and gets a housekeeping job at the decidedly landlocked Tides Plaza Motel. Its manager Una (Cynthia Nixon) houses and employs several other young people in dire straits, including Dallas (Olivia DeJonge), Riz’s new roommate. At first antagonistic, the girls soon realize that their opposite personalities complement each other. Dallas is a bit of a wild card, hooking up with the motel’s resident drug dealer – and Una’s son – Jimmy (Robert Aramayo), whereas Riz is guarded but stolid, reluctant to take any route forward that isn’t entirely legal. But when Riz is forced to steal from one of the motel rooms, she inadvertently sets off a series of violent events and becomes entangled in a web of crime. Desperate for agency, Riz and Dallas are forced to take matters into their own hands.
Description and score provided by Metacritic.
“A taut and stylish thriller that manages to draw fresh blood from some very familiar territory.” – David Ehrlich, Indiewire
“The film is at its best in exploring the gaps between dream and reality.” – Steve Pond, The Wrap
“Sinha’s debut may not be destined to be the next American indie classic, but it’s a powerful debut film with a stirring perspective on criminality and immigration.” – Andrew Bundy, The Playlist
Available Formats:
Hoopla Streaming
SYLVIO
It’s the story of a small town gorilla, Sylvio, who is stuck in his job at a debt collection agency. Deep down he just wants to express himself with his hand puppet, Herbert Herpels, and his puppet show that highlights the quiet moments of life. He accidentally joins a local TV program and a series of on-air mishaps threaten to shatter his identity, sending him on a journey of self-discovery.
Description and score provided by Metacritic.
“The directors, Kentucker Audley (who co-stars as a talk-show host) and Albert Birney, embrace both sides of Sylvio’s temperament, realizing his frenzied outbursts (including a vehicular-chase scene) as imaginatively and as delicately as his self-doubt.” – Richard Brody, The New Yorker
“The plight of the alienated monkey is at turns absurd and genuinely bittersweet, not to mention a whole lot better than its premise might suggest.” – Eric Kohn, Indiewire
“Birney and Audley have an impressive visual sense — the smart framing and thrifty, ingenious production design (by Peter Davis) at times suggest a Wes Anderson–directed installment of Between Two Ferns — and also the good sense to lean on Birney’s nuanced physical performance.” – Danny King, Village Voice
Available Formats:
Kanopy Streaming
AFTER MIDNIGHT
Dealing with a girlfriend suddenly leaving is tough enough. But for Hank (Jeremy Gardner), heartbreak couldn’t have come at a worse time. There’s also a monster trying to break through his front door every night.
Description and score provided by Metacritic.
“…promises monsters but delivers more demons of the human experience variety, as this sweet and sincere creature feature is far more romantically heartfelt than expected.” – Matt Donato, We Got This Covered
“As genre hybrids go, After Midnight displays enough nuance and filmmaking savvy to qualify as a success.” – Alex Saveliev, Film Threat
“For the most part Hank’s heartbreak resonates. By the end of After Midnight, he and the audience both may wonder whether the bogeyman and true love are equally mythical.” – Noel Murray, Los Angeles Times
Available Formats:
Hoopla Streaming
THE INTERPRETERS
Local interpreters were key to the US war effort, but now many face danger in their countries because of their affiliation. This is the story of how they are rebuilding their lives, told through a chain-smoking Iraqi codenamed “Phillip Morris” who was able to make it to the US with the help of an American soldier he befriended during his deployment, an Afghan called Malik who is still working as an active interpreter at the US base in Kabul despite threats to his life, and another Afghan named Mujtaba who fled with his family as refugees to Turkey.
Description provided by IMDb.
“A brutal condemnation of imperial arrogance, The Interpreters needs to be seen.” – Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Hammer to Nail
Available Formats:
Kanopy Streaming
WORLDS OF URSULA K. LE GUIN
Decades before Hogwarts, Ursula K. Le Guin invited young readers to wizard school in her classic Earthsea fantasy series, and dazzled the science fiction world with masterworks like The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed. Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin tells the groundbreaking author’s story in her own words, sprinkled with stunning animation and commentary from literary luminaries like Margaret Atwood, Neil Gaiman, David Mitchell, and Michael Chabon. Produced with Le Guin’s participation over ten years, Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin is a breathtaking journey through the late writer’s career and her worlds, both real and fantastic.
Description and score provided by Metacritic.
“A perfect primer for anyone new to Le Guin, the documentary also has enough to offer dedicated fans, confirming her place as a major figure in American literature and as a spiky, rebellious and engaging personality.” – Allan Hunter, ScreenDaily
“In the documentary, Le Guin describes her work as one of ‘holding doors or windows open’ for people; this film does just that, opening an intimate window onto the tender interiority and expansive curiosity of Le Guin’s mind.” – Nina Li Coomes, Chicago Reader
“Worlds is a much-needed antidote for the world right now…” – Alexandra Vlak Cipolle, Bust
Available Formats:
Kanopy Streaming