The Best Movies Streaming in March 2022
Trying to decide what to stream and where can often result in a whole lot of scrolling, and not much watching. I’m here to help you find a killer flick fit for any movie night. These are the best movies coming to streaming in March.
1. Oculus — Coming to Hulu March 3
Yes, I’ve been out here stumping for the films of Mike Flanagan for almost a decade now. I’m happily back at it this month stumping for the movie that go me hip to the man’s work to begin with. Oculus was indeed the first Mike Flanagan movie I ever saw, and I simply cannot understate the effect it had on me as both a lover of movies, and a lover of the horror genre.
For the record, I went into Oculus with exceedingly low expectations, because the concept of a haunted mirror sounded completely ridiculous to me. But the way Mike Flanagan approaches the subject in Oculus, it not only works, but serves as the catalyst for a profoundly resonant human drama fronting the narrative tenets present in all of Flanagan’s work since (i.e. fractured families, hauntings both real and emotional, tests of faith, and lonely people struggling to make sense of traumas past). It’s also a genuinely unsettling horror flick that works its way under your skin and never really leaves… if that matters to you.
2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind — Coming to Peacock March 1
This is easily my favorite Jim Carrey movie. It should be yours too, because with all due respect to the actor’s largely impressive body of work, there’s just not another film on his resume anywhere near the level of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in terms of artistic achievement, narrative ambition, and emotional impact. And no, you’ll not find a single film in Carrey’s oeuvre boasting a finer performance either.
That has a lot to do with the caliber of people Carrey is working alongside here, with the great Charlie Kaufman penning the Eternal Sunshine screenplay, and DIY auteur extraordinaire Michel Gondry calling the shots behind the camera. Regarding the film’s cast, Carry is flanked by an absurdly talented supporting crew including Kate Winslet, Tom Wilkinson, Mark Ruffalo, Kirsten Dunst, and Elijah Wood. And as for what they’re doing in ETOTSM, the film’s beautifully lo-fi take on love, loss, regret, and the tricky nature of memory itself is not just refreshingly original, and immaculately rendered, it frames what may well be the greatest romantic fable modern cinema has yet seen.
3. Irreversible — Coming to Shudder March 1
You might have heard a thing or two about Gaspar Noé’s shocker of a crime drama over the years. I’m here to tell you that most of what you heard is true. It’s a challenging film that is, at times, unbearable to sit through. And yes, if you’re triggered by depictions of violence towards women, you should just forget the name Irreversible altogether, because there’s a scene in this film that could potentially destroy you on an emotional level.
That scene comes about halfway through Noé’s tricky, reverse narrative. It is nine minutes long, and it’s every bit as brutal and unflinchingly graphic as you’ve likely heard. It’s also the moment that begets the unconscionably violent actions in the film’s crazed opening moments. Concurrently, that scene is what makes every single moment that comes after so utterly devastating. Make no mistake, Noé asks arguably too much of his audience in getting there, but the beautifully muted, yet emotionally-charged final moments of Irreversible somehow transform it from a confrontational act of cinematic assault into a soul-crushing work of existential art.
4. Sorry to Bother You — Coming to Netflix March 1
Oh what a completely bat-shit crazy piece of work Sorry to Bother You is. And oh man does everybody need to see it. Almost unfathomably, this brazenly self-assured social satire is the feature debut of one Boots Riley, who’d primarily been known as the front man for hip hop act The Coup prior to writing and directing Sorry to Bother You. And if this is the sort of thing we can expect from Riley the filmmaker, well, here’s hoping he never goes back to the rapping game.
If you’re unfamiliar with the setup, Sorry to Bother You is set in an alternate version of modern day Oakland, and follows the rise of a young black telemarketer (Lakeith Stanfield) whose life-altering success comes only after he unlocks his inner “white voice.” What follows is a caustic, often hilarious sci-fi tinged farce that has more to say about race, gender, the socio-economic divide, cultural appropriation, and the geo-political misdeeds of faceless corporations than your average prestige drama. And as a bonus, this one also boasts a scene-stealing turn from the always amazing Tessa Thompson to boot.
5. Drive My Car — Coming to HBO Max March 2
For those who haven’t been keeping track, the Asian Continent has been cranking out some of the best films, and filmmakers in the game over the past couple of decades. More specifically, the likes of South Korea and Japan have been leading that charge, with names like Wong Kar-Wai, Takashi Miike, Park Chan-wook, and Bong Joon-Ho helping light the way for every aspiring filmmaker in their wake.
Go ahead and add Japanese filmmaker Ryûsuke Hamaguchi to that list. If you haven’t heard his name before, learn it now ’cause Hamaguchi is primed to become a major player at this year’s Academy Awards, where his latest film is nominated for Best International Feature, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director, and even Best Picture. Said film is called Drive My Car. It’s an engrossing, hauntingly poetic exploration of loss, regret, and connection that must be seen to be believed. And it’s an absolute gift that we’ll be able to watch it on HBO Max ahead of Oscar night.
