Reviews

'Tiger', 'Pieces of a Woman': four brilliant things to stream now

The best new documentaries and movies to binge

17 January 2021 - 00:01 By tymon smith

Tymon Smith Features writer, film and series reviewer

TIGER

HBO's two-part documentary examines the rise and very public fall of golf legend Tiger Woods. It's a fascinating delve into a story that we think we know but perhaps really didn't, in spite of the almost constant media lens that was trained on the athlete from a very young age.

Part two airs on Showmax on January 18 and will look at what happened after his father Earl's death and how his son broke down spectacularly under the glare of the world's media and in spite of all the hopes placed on his shoulders by his father and his community.

Where to stream it: Showmax

How much time you'll need to binge it: 90 minutes

CRACK: COCAINE, CORRUPTION AND CONSPIRACY

Director Stanley Nelson's documentary examines the complicated web of social and political realities that led to the crack epidemic in the US in the 1980s and its consequences for the black community.

Using archive material from the Reagan era's much-publicised war on drugs and the ensuing media panic that surrounded it and combining this with interviews with former dealers, addicts and politicians, the film paints an uncomfortable picture of how fear-mongering around drugs was used as a screen for a racially motivated battle against the poor, mostly black, citizens who didn't fit into the plans of aspirational Reaganomics.

Where to stream it: Netflix

How much time you'll need to binge it: 90 minutes

PIECES OF A WOMAN

Hungarian director Kornél Mundruczó’s heartbreaking, emotionally raw and naturalist story of the effects of the death of a child on a working-class Boston couple is anchored by strong performances from Vanessa Kirby, Ellen Burstyn and Molly Parker that help to overcome the shadows of sexual abuse in the real world hanging over its male star Shia LaBeouf.

It's a heartfelt and complex piece of empathetic drama that places its emotional focus squarely on the woman at its centre and the difficult journey to self-acceptance she must make on her own terms, no matter the consequences.

Where to stream it: Netflix

How much time you'll need to binge it: 2 hours

PRETEND IT'S A CITY

Veteran New Yorkers director Martin Scorsese and writer and speaker Fran Lebowitz join forces to present a sprawling, fast talking, seven-episode set of ruminations on all aspects of life in the Big Apple as seen by one of its most distinctive and sharp-witted residents.

Lebowitz may not always be right about what she thinks of the very different city that New York is now from what it was when she arrived in the '70s. But she has that New York dry wit, cynical world weariness and neurotic Jewish eccentricity that make it impossible not to be engaged as she walks the streets of her beloved metropole, offering her thoughts on all its many peculiarities and surprises.

Where to stream it: Netflix

How much time you'll need to binge it: 3 hours

Reviews

'Tiger', 'Pieces of a Woman': four brilliant things to stream now

The best new documentaries and movies to binge

TIGER

CRACK: COCAINE, CORRUPTION AND CONSPIRACY

PIECES OF A WOMAN

PRETEND IT'S A CITY

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Reviews

'Tiger', 'Pieces of a Woman': four brilliant things to stream now

The best new documentaries and movies to binge

TIGER

CRACK: COCAINE, CORRUPTION AND CONSPIRACY

PIECES OF A WOMAN

PRETEND IT'S A CITY

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