\n<\/p>\n
Stream it on Mubi<\/a>.<\/p>\n Call it \u201cCocaine Hippo\u201d: Nelson Carlo de Los Santos Arias\u2019s gloriously weird new film takes on an utterly strange bit of modern South American history and gives it a cinematic treatment befitting its sordid zaniness. In the 1980s, Pablo Escobar imported four hippos to his estate, where he kept scores of exotic animals. In the subsequent decades, the herd multiplied in numbers \u2014 by 2023, the estimate was 170 \u2014 and became an invasive species in Colombia. One hippo, christened Pepe, escaped the estate and was killed by the authorities in 2009.<\/p>\n In \u201cPepe,\u201d the ghost of this martyred creature, who speaks in multiple languages with a bellowing voice both comical and menacing, narrates to us the long and winding tale of how he came to die thousands of miles away from his native habitat in sub-Saharan Africa. We accompany him on a meandering cross-continental journey, from swamps in Namibia, where German tourists on safari gaze at hippos, to rivers in Colombia, where Pepe\u2019s kind terrorize and haunt local fishermen. His tale is sad, delirious, inspired and often uproariously funny \u2014 though the jokes are on us. An audacious fever dream that implicates European colonialism, cartel violence and environmental destruction, \u201cPepe\u201d is a cautionary fable about the ways in which humankind\u2019s hubristic intervention in nature breeds disasters that threaten to swallow us whole.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Stream it on Hulu<\/a>.<\/p>\n Malayalam-language cinema, hailing from the South Indian state of Kerala, has been on a roll in recent years, and Jithu Madhavan\u2019s delightful comedy-horror exemplifies this fantastic new wave in the region\u2019s storied legacy of independent filmmaking. \u201cRomancham\u201d is an all-out entertainer, serving genuine laughs and chills in equal measure, but it does so without any big stars, flashy special effects, or other bells and whistles. Its strength lies in the inventive script and the lived-in performances. The story opens in a hospital, where our protagonist, Jibi (Soubin Shahir), is recovering from a shock of some kind. As he relates to his nurse how he got there, we see his incredible tale unfold.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Seven young men share a small flat in the city, living as you\u2019d imagine mostly jobless bachelors do: bickering, partying, rarely cleaning, and constantly intruding upon each other\u2019s privacy. One day, Jibi brings home a Ouija board and suddenly, their apartment feels a bit more crowded \u2014 possibly with unseen spirits. A bunch of shenanigans ensue, though what makes \u201cRomancham\u201d (meaning \u201cgoose bumps\u201d in Malayalam) so fun is that both the humor and the horrors are driven by the humans, rather than any supernatural contrivances. The ghosts in the film don\u2019t terrorize the characters so much as give them more reasons to clash and provoke and rib one another, adding layers to what is, in essence, a beautifully observed drama about friendship and cohabitation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Stream it on Tubi<\/a>.<\/p>\n Told in a series of sparse, hushed scenes set in a remote hut in 20th-century Alsace, \u201cLuise\u201d is a historical thriller constructed with clinical precision and yet simmering with feeling. The setup is simple. It\u2019s 1918, and Alsace is poised on the border between the warring empires of France and Germany.<\/p>\n On a secluded hill, Luise (Luise Aschenbrenner) lives alone \u2014 though that\u2019s a recent development, as a deft twist early in the film reveals. On one fateful morning, she receives two unexpected visitors: a Frenchwoman (Christa Th\u00e9ret) attempting to flee across the border to Holland, and a wounded German soldier (Leonard Kunz) on the run from his post. Luise knows German, Alsatian and French and can communicate with both her new guests; the two of them have no way of speaking and regard each other with hostile glances. This linguistic triangle, with its mix of mystery, unease, and intimacy, becomes kindling for a love triangle, fueled by the Frenchwoman\u2019s bold sexuality, the soldier\u2019s Catholicism, and Luise\u2019s confused longing. The small, remote house and the desolate forests around it \u2014 captured in some breathtaking panning shots \u2014 add the weight of history and geography to these erotic tensions, building to a finale that explodes the film\u2019s taut quietness like a gunshot.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\u2018Romancham\u2019<\/h2>\n
\u2018Luise’<\/h2>\n
\u2018Parkland of Decay and Fantasy\u2019<\/h2>\n