What to watch April 26, 2024: Movie awards contenders

Two of spring’s starriest releases arrive on digital platforms this week. Neither was a commercial sensation, but each attracted enough buzz to signal long shelf lives ahead. Watch one when you get home from seeing “Challengers.” 

The contender to watch this week: “Love Lies Bleeding“

For her sophomore feature, Rose Glass, one of the coolest directors working today, made an erotic lesbian crime thriller starring Kristen Stewart as an ’80s gym manager who falls hard for a bodybuilder (Katy O’Brian), not realizing her new lady has ties to her estranged gangster father (a long-haired Ed Harris). It’s an electric movie oozing with noirish grime, but it wasn’t quite the runaway hit A24 was probably hoping for, collecting a modest $8.7 million at the worldwide box office despite Stewart’s star power. Still, “Love Lies Bleeding” seems destined for cult-favorite status, and Glass has gained a lifetime’s worth of clout. Check it out on VOD. 

Other contenders:

• “Monkey Man“: In one fell swoop, Dev Patel became a director, a Bond-worthy action hero, and a heady political commentator. His first stint behind the camera is “John Wick” with heavier symbolism, letting Patel create a fictional Indian metropolis overrun by widespread corruption that mirrors some of the country’s current events. Above all else, “Monkey Man” is a visual feast that would be a top contender if the Oscars would (finally) introduce an award for stunts. In the meantime, the movie has been riding high on the VOD rental charts this week. 
• “High & Low — John Galliano”: John Galliano‘s influential fashion career spanned Givenchy and Dior, Nicole Kidman and Madonna, Vogue and Naomi Campbell. Then a drunken antisemitic tirade that included the words “I love Hitler” sank the designer’s stature. Couture has since re-embraced Galliano, and that roller coaster provides the spine of this documentary directed by Kevin Macdonald (“The Last King of Scotland”). Following a limited theatrical release, “High & Low” is now available on Mubi. 
• “Bad Faith: Christian Nationalism’s Unholy War on Democracy”: Director Stephen Ujlaki traces the alt-right’s embrace of religious theocracy, linking it to 1960s white supremacy, the wealthy Koch brothers, and conservative advocacy organizations that have remade the Republican Party in their image. Variety anointed the documentary a critic’s pick when it hit theaters earlier this month, and now it’s on VOD. 
• “Totém”: Mexico’s most recent selection for the Oscars’ Best International Feature Film prize, which made this year’s shortlist, is streaming on The Criterion Channel.
• “Anyone But You“: Sidney Sweeney and Glen Powell‘s rom-com sleeper hit, released in theaters last December, is streaming on Netflix.

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