A long weekend is always great until you run into the short work week. Why are we here? At least it’s Friday, and while there are little to no new theatrical releases to treat you this weekend, I mean you can always check out Furiosa again. Still, we managed to get a few options for you this weekend, from a new slasher film to a dreamlike Ren-faire doc. And oh yeah, surprise, Netflix has Godzilla Minus One now! Here’s everything to watch. —Savannah Salazar
Featured Presentations
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In a Violent Nature
The largest selling point for this feature is that it’s shot entirely from the killer’s point-of-view, following him with close third-person camerawork. In director and writer Chris Nash’s horror film, you get to see this silent undead killer as he brutally terrorizes a group of teens who accidentally resurrected him, making for a more meditative, yet not any less violent, slasher flick. —S.S.
➽ Hear me out: A slasher who slashes inflation.
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Couples Therapy season four
Every season of this docuseries is great, but this spring’s new season is the best the show has been, and not just because Dr. Orna counsels a throuple. There are no heroes and no villains; every couple dynamic is compelling in ways that feel both familiar and utterly distinctive. And not for nothing, Couples Therapy’s B-roll footage is some of the best portraiture of New York City ever put on TV. —Kathryn VanArendonk
➽ Where can Ben Affleck and J.Lo apply?
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We Are Lady Parts season two
Nida Manzoor’s immensely original series about a group of female Muslim punk rockers who find themselves and new friendships through their band was among the best shows of 2021. If you haven’t experienced the joy of watching these women scream along to System of a Down, now you can, as the show returns for a long-awaited second season with the band’s newfound popularity (and a rival band copying their whole deal!) complicating their intragroup dynamics. —Roxana Hadadi
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Movie Pass, MovieCrash
Honestly I still can’t believe the MoviePass summer of 2018 happened. For $9.95, you could watch an unlimited amount of movies at most theaters, and obviously that was too good to be true. MoviePass crashed soon after that summer, and in this documentary, director Muta’Ali examines the rapid rise and damning fall of the subscription company. —S.S.
➽ MoviePass walked so AMC A-List could run.
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Eric
In this Netflix series, the creator of a Sesame Street–esque children’s show (Benedict Cumberbatch) starts to lose his grip on reality after his 9-year-old boy goes missing in New York. Given his profession, that meltdown inevitably involves hallucinated conversations with a large blue puppet. —Jen Chaney
The 30-Second Q&A
Ren Faire
What about Ren Faire makes it worth watching for y’all?
Megh Wright: It’s only three episodes, so it doesn’t overstay its welcome. It centers on a power struggle — basically Succession for nerds. It’s beautifully shot and creatively produced (maybe TOO slick at points? but I loved it). And renaissance faires are objectively interesting!
Wait, what’s the power struggle?
Rebecca Alter: It follows “King George,” an eccentric octogenarian who founded the Texas Ren Faire and incorporated an entire town so it could be his domain. He’s looking to retire, and longtime employees are vying to replace him. He’s also looking for a young girlfriend with natural tits.
Wild.
R.A.: So many TV docs are less actual films and more Information Delivery Services, devoid of an actual filmmaker’s perspective and style. The director, Lance Oppenheim, fills Ren Faire with fantastical elements and shoots it in this dreamy way. You really get a sense of the mythologies the characters have built for themselves. It’s excellent follow-up viewing to Jenny Nicholson YouTube doc about the fall of the Galactic Starcruiser. There you see Disney’s greed and hubris and how it failed an immersive, role-playing, world-building, fantasy-themed experience — the kind that Ren Faire has managed to sustain for 50 years. They’re companion pieces, even if they couldn’t be more different in their approaches as works of ART.
Animation Station
Haikyuu!! The Dumpster Battle
There will be no rematch! Haikyuu!!, the anime for lovers of kinetic volleyball and relentless positivity is back with a movie that pitting the boys from Karasuno High against their rivals at Nekoma. The initiated already know Haikyuu!! runs on striking animation and big emotions; the teen protagonists are perpetually going through it in one way or another. (And we love them for it!) Newbies might appreciate knowing the backstory going in. Try watching a recap. —Eric Vilas-Boas
➽ Also in very select theaters (just two in New York have times right now): the silent, Oscar-nominated Robot Dreams. We hope Neon releases it widely.
Reality Bites
TrixieMotel: Drag Me Home
YouTube’s favorite drag queen, Trixie Mattel, returns for season two of her delightful renovation show, that she hosts alongside her partner David Silver. Last season the pair bought and fixed up a Palm Springs motel, turning it into a pink utopia. Now, Mattel and Silver are inviting cameras into their newly bought house as they remodel that into another fun pink dream with more guest stars like Katya, Nicole Byer, Christine Quinn (from Selling Sunset), Juno Birch, Lisa Vanderpump, and even some ghosts, maybe. —S.S.
Finally Streaming
Godzilla Minus One
Finally! After a historic Oscar win and months and months of waiting, the hands-down best Godzilla movie in recent memory has arrived on streaming. Godzilla Minus One hit Netflix in a surprise drop on Saturday, June 1 — a welcome gift for a relatively light movie weekend. —E.V.B.
Lumberjack the Monster
The prolific Japanese ultra-violence director Takashi Miike returns! His latest brain-ripping gorefest from the director of Audition, Ichi the Killer, and 13 Assassins pits a self-styled “psychopath” lawyer against a serial killer. —E.V.B.
Double Feature
Polite Society
To pair with We Are Lady Parts, if this doesn’t interest you in watching Nida Manzoor’s charming debut feature film, I don’t know what will. (Read more here.) —S.S.
Want more? Read our recommendations from the weekend of May 24.
