Instant Picks of the Week 11/20/2015
Gone are the days of scrolling mindlessly through your queue! No longer will you have to sift through the vastness of what’s coming to the instant viewing wastelands this month! Whether you’re looking for a stellar film or an exciting new show to binge, Instant Picks of the Week brings you the hottest releases in film and television on instant viewing platforms that we know you’ll love, or at the very least not despise.
FATEFUL FINDINGS (Amazon Prime)
Fans of THE ROOM prepare yourselves: this is the latest and greatest in the “so bad it’s good” genre. Described as “a movie made by a man who has never seen a movie,” the poorly titled and even more poorly executed film FATEFUL FINDINGS is Wiseau-ian, to say the least. Writer/Director/Star/Executive Producer/Production Designer Neil Breen brings us the story of a man who has “hacked” into a goldmine of “corporate and government secrets,” but also has a black cube that gives him magical powers. And a Russian wife with a drug problem. And a giant room made of trash bags where he hangs out naked. Previously, the only way to view this film was to send Neil Breen twenty five dollars via Paypal in exchange for a DVD. Now, it is available in all its splendor on Amazon Prime. Prepare to boost your hipster cred before this hits the midnight screening circuit.
UPSTREAM COLOR (Netflix)
One could find an uncomfortable amount of similarities between Neil Breen and the singular vision behind UPSTREAM COLOR, Shane Carruth. Both are men who insist on having their hands in every part of the filmmaking process. The major difference is, of course, that Shane Carruth is an excellent director (one has to look no further than his first feature, PRIMER), while Neil Breen is insane. UPSTREAM eschews the narrative and technical complexity of his previous work in favor of telling an equally small scale sci-fi story of romance, mind control, and the strange life-cycle of a mysterious fungus. More of a mood piece than the hard-as-nails structural masterpiece of his previous film, UPSTREAM uses beautiful muted cinematography, excellent layered sound design, and a powerful and confusing performance from its main actress (the lovely Amy Seimetz) to deliver a story that is at times chilling and heart-warming. The added bonus is a farm of piglets that share a psychic link. Cute, creepy, and perfect for streaming.
