A doco on an Aotearoa music prodigy, a Cannes and Academy Award-winning crime mystery, a punchy minimalist thriller, an ’80s paranormal comedy classic and a legendary piece of Aussie cinema are available for your viewing pleasure right now on free New Zealand streaming services.
Marlon Williams: Ngā Ao E Rua – Two Worlds
Acclaimed musician Marlon Williams’ journey to reconnect with te ao and te reo Māori is full of insightful and personal moments. Filmmaker Ursula Grace Williams traces the songwriter and performer’s multi-year project to make an album in the native language of Aotearoa, a creative process taking place as the country stands up to the anti-Māori policies of its government. STEVE NEWALL
Streaming free on Whakaata Māori / Māori+
Anatomy of a Fall
It’s nigh impossible to bring something fresh to a genre as rigid as the criminal procedural, but writer-director Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or and Academy Award-winner managed just that. Sandra Hüller’s in top form as a woman accused of her husband’s murder—and the only witness to the incident is their blind son. Flashbacks are limited to the evidence presented, placing the audience right in the jury booth as witnesses to both the case and France’s confronting prosecution system. LIAM MAGUREN
Streaming free on TVNZ+
Alone
This stripped-back, unbearably suspenseful little chiller flew under the radar when it was released in 2020, yet for horror fans it remains a must-see. Following a young woman (Jules Willcox) who gets abducted in the midst of a cross-country move, Alone’s minimalist cat-and-mouse story is all the more gripping for its quiet, creeping restraint. With excellent performances from Willcox and Marc Menchaca as her single-minded assailant, this hidden gem is top-tier horror. KATIE PARKER
Streaming free on Tubi
Ghostbusters
Watching this with adult eyes, and learning about how it was made, you start to see what a one-in-a-million shot this was, and why it’s never been replicated. Paring Dan Aykroyd’s cosmically bonkers script down to its essentials, making it a blue collar, guys-at-work story, and letting Bill Murray off the chain to improvise, it all somehow coalesced into an all-time classic: hilarious, scary, and exciting. TONY STAMP
Streaming free on ThreeNow
Wake in Fright
The movie that helped turn Australia’s outback expanse into a source of unrelenting tension, Wake in Fright unfurls the brutality and terror that arises when a schoolteacher (Gary Bond) is stationed in a desolate regional town. Visually, it’s a masterpiece. Emotionally, it’s a nightmarish masterwork. Adapting Kenneth Cook’s book, Ted Koetcheff doesn’t put a foot wrong—including the casting of Donald Pleasance, veteran Chips Rafferty and a young Jack Thompson. SARAH WARD
Streaming free on Brollie
