This month’s highlights on the streaming services include a vengeance-seeking Jennifer Lopez, a remake of a ‘90s cult classic, a Donna Summer documentary and a hard-hitting journalistic exposé.
ON NETFLIX
Starts May 12
The Mother
When you think of Mother’s Day-themed releases, surely you think of government-trained assassins, explosions, bloody fistfights, inhospitable Alaskan climes, sneering and implacably European-sounding bad guys, and all manner of death and destruction, right? A Mother’s Day release that sounds better targeted for Dad, this latest vehicle for Jennifer Lopez to flex her action-movie bona fides finds her as a former FBI assassin forced to give up her child and live in solitude after a botched raid—until events threaten her daughter’s life and force her to revisit her deadly skill set. Sounds like “Taken” territory with a maternal spin, and it costars Joseph Fiennes, Lucy Paez, Omari Hardwick and Gael Garcia Bernal.
Starts May 23
Victim/Suspect
One of the most important documentaries in recent memory, “Victim/Suspect” tackles the nationwide phenomenon of rape victims reporting their abuse to the police, only for local law enforcement to accuse the victims of false reporting—a Class A misdemeanor punishable to a year in prison, to say nothing of the emotionally re-traumatizing effects it has on the women who speak out. The “star” of the movie, if you will, is the relentless investigative reporter Rachel de Leon, who digs into what emerges as a systemic problem: authorities badgering and disbelieving victims, even to the point of siding with the alleged perpetrators. “Victim/Suspect” looks like infuriating but essential viewing, the sort of movie that can elicit constructive change.
ON HULU
Starts May 19
White Men Can’t Jump
In the pop-culture annals, when historians ponder when ‘90s nostalgia jumped the shark, the remake of the 1992 race comedy “White Men Can’t Jump” may just be a touchstone. I haven’t seen this update, directed by Calmatic, but the concept is just a little cringe-y in 2023. That said, the trailer brims with exuberance and emerging talent, so I’d be delighted if I were wrong. Rapper Jack Harlow stars as Jeremy, the white man who can very much jump, and who hustles African-American street ballers by dressing the part of a suburban poseur. After proving himself on the court, he strikes up a business partnership with fellow player Kamal Allen (Sinqua Walls) with the end goal of a $500,000 tournament payday. Notably, “White Men Can’t Jump” marks the final film appearance of Lance Reddick, a veteran actor most famous for his work on “The Wire,” who died in March.
Starts May 24
Broker
I suppose I’m not getting out enough, because I’d never heard of the concept of a “baby box” until screening Hirokazu Kore-eda’s new movie, “Broker,” late last year. Baby boxes are places where women can safely deposit unwanted newborn babies, consigning them to the care of the state. In Kore-eda’s story, which has its streaming premiere this month, the owner of a laundromat and his younger friend, who works at a nearby church, conspire to steal infants from the church’s baby box and sell them to adoptive parents on the black market. When the mother of their latest bit of “cargo” discovers their scheme, she confronts them and ultimately joins them on their journey to sell their human property. Kore-eda’s rich filmography, spanning from ‘90s classics like “After Life” to the 2008 masterpiece “Still Walking” and 2018’s “Shoplifters,” includes some of the most humanist and transcendent pictures of this century, and the emotionally complex “Broker” is cut from a similar cloth.
ON HBO MAX
Starts May 20
Love to Love You, Donna Summer
The definitive Donna Summer documentary her millions of fans have been waiting for, this HBO original tackles with seriousness, verve and wonderment the life and career of the signature voice of a still-unjustly maligned genre. Summer both epitomized and transcended her “queen of disco” status, as this doc directed by Roger Ross Williams and Brooklyn Sudano illustrates, through the use of never-before-seen film and home video footage, photographs, artwork and personal audio recordings. It reveals an artist of enormous crossover popularity—she was the first Black singer to be played on MTV—who cultivated an onstage persona with actorly precision.
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