Films are doing a great job helping to connect people to the outside world at the moment, and they're heading to streaming services faster than ever before.
This month, some of the most acclaimed movies from the end last year are being made available to watch online, as well as hits from film festivals and movies that lit up the Oscars earlier this year.
Below are our picks of the best films arriving online in May, as well as the new arrivals on streaming sites to look out for.
Make sure to check out our guides to the most underrated films on streaming sites, the 50 best films on Netflix, and our pick of the top films on Amazon Prime Video too.
The Assistant
The Assistant, a new drama inspired by the #MeToo movement and the Harvey Weinstein scandal, has been received as one of the most powerful films of the year. Directed by Kitty Green, the movie takes a look at workplace harassment, toxicity and bullying, starring Julia Garner as Jane, an assistant working at a film production company. The movie appeared at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year, and it’ll be available on plenty of platforms this month.
Available from May 1 on Curzon Home Video, BFI Player, Mubi, iTunes, Amazon & Microsoft
Jojo Rabbit
It divided critics straight down the middle last year, but Taika Waititi’s Hitler comedy Jojo Rabbit was hailed as one of the best movies of 2019 by some, and bagged Waititi an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. It centers on a young boy living in Nazi Germany, who discovers a Jewish girl hiding in his home. Waititi, Starlet Johansson, Sam Rockwell and Rebel Wilson all star.
Available on most major download services
The Whistlers
More people than ever before are broadening their horizons and discovering foreign language cinema, and there’s another gem to check out this month on Curzon Home Cinema. Romanian drama the Whistlers follows a police officer acting as an informant working for the mob, who must head to a remote island to learn an ancient whistling language in order to communicate without avoiding detection. It looks like a real gem, this one.
Available from May 8 on Curzon Home Cinema
Little Women
Greta Gerwig’s acclaimed take on Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women is arriving on streaming services this week, and it could be the perfect antidote to lockdown blues. The joyous adaptation of the coming-of-age novel follows the lives of the March sisters – played Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh and Eliza Scanlen – as they grow up in Civil War era Massachusetts. It won over audiences after it was released on Boxing Day, and now it’s ready to revisit on Amazon Prime Video from May 11.
Available from May 11 on Amazon Prime Video
What’s new on Netflix?
All Day and a Night is one of the most interesting movies to watch out for on the streaming service this month. The Netflix original was penned by Black Panther co-writer Joe Robert Cole and stars Moonlight’s Ashton Sanders and Westworld’s Jeffrey Wright. It tells the story of a man who finds himself in prison with his father.
Also arriving on May 1 is the French thriller Get In, which sees a family return home from holiday to find their home has been occupied by squatters. Read the Standard’s full guide to new arrivals on Netflix here.
What’s new on Amazon Prime Video?
The big news for fantasy fans this month is that Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films arrive on Amazon Prime this month – perfect for a lockdown movie marathon. Stephen Spielberg’s Ready Player One also arrives on May 1. The Ocean’s trilogy lands on May 7, before Mad Max: Fury Road (May 24), Passengers (May 24) and Sherlock Holmes (May 30) later in the month.
