A group of women gather in a hayloft to decide their future, and “process their pain into fuel”. Set in 2010, in an isolated religious community where women are not allowed to read—they have not even seen a map of the world—and are sexually assaulted, they are debating two options: stay and fight back, or leave and set up their own community. Keeping the minutes of the meeting is the boys’ school teacher August (Ben Whishaw). “Hope for the unknown is good, better than the hatred of familiar,” says one of the women. The ensemble cast in this thought-provoking, slow-paced film by Sarah Polley includes Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Frances McDormand and Sheila McCarthy. (Amazon Prime)
The Star Wars universe continues to expand with this new miniseries about Jedi Ahsoka, played by Rosario Dawson. The character was introduced in the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars and made her live-action debut in the second season of The Mandalorian. Dave Filoni, who’s worked on a number of other Star Wars production, is the show’s writer-creator. (Disney+ Hotstar)
Red, White & Royal Blue
A transatlantic romance between Alex Claremont-Diaz (Taylor Zakhar Perez), the son of US President (Uma Thurman), and Britain’s Prince Henry (Nicholas Galitzine). Based on Casey McQuiston’s best-selling novel, things of course are complex; they have to keep their relationship covert. Plus, Alex’s mother is running for re-election. But they are outed after their emails to each other are leaked. The queer romcom by Matthew Lopez, is part silly, part fun with a cameo by Stephen Fry, who plays the king, Henry’s grandfather. (Amazon Prime)
Morgan Neville is a rare hit documentary director, with popular successes like Won't You Be My Neighbor? and 20 Feet From Stardom (which won the Best Documentary Feature Oscar). Roadrunner, his 2021 film on Anthony Bourdain, is now streaming on Netflix. It’s an emotional look at the late chef, writer and series host who changed the way a lot of people thought about food. (Netflix)