Streaming Wars: “Thelma” Unleashes a Young Norwegian Woman’s Psychokinetic Superpowers

INTERNATIONAL PICK 1:

If you liked Norwegian director Joachim Trier’s recent hit The Worst Person in the World, try Thelma (2017), his humanist horror film about a closeted young scholar (Eili Harboe) whose lust for a fellow student (Kaya Wilkins) awakens her psychokinetic superpowers. With a rush of cleansing fire and refreshingly uncynical romance, the film lives by a pure and vital creed: Purge hate, embrace love. Hulu. Free on Tubi.

INTERNATIONAL PICK 2:

Die-hard Drive My Car devotees have probably picked up the new Criterion Blu-ray by now. But if you’re a newbie who wants to see if Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Oscar-winning film is as good as you’ve heard (spoiler alert: It’s better), it’s still streaming. Based on a short story by Haruki Murakami, the film stars Hidetoshi Nishijima as a grieving theater director who forms a strange and transcendent friendship with his stoic chauffeur (Tôko Miura). HBO Max.

HOLLYWOOD PICK:

After his maddeningly literal-minded West Side Story remake, Steven Spielberg is due for a renaissance. Hopefully, this fall’s The Fabelmans will deliver, but until then, you can savor Catch Me if You Can (2002), the director’s joyous, fact-based caper about ‘60s teen grifter Frank Abagnale (Leonardo DiCaprio) and the FBI agent (Tom Hanks) who pursued him from the U.S. to France. Netflix.

CLASSIC PICK:

The tension between art and commerce is the soul of Hollywood—and few films embody that uneasy truth more than Vincente Minnelli’s The Bad and the Beautiful (1952). Kirk Douglas stars as a producer who ruthlessly charms an actress (Lana Turner), a director (Barry Sullivan) and a writer (Dick Powell). Rent on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Google Play, YouTube.