New York Magazine - USA (2020-03-30)

76 newyork| march30–april12, 2020

Maybeit wasthefourth

AdamDevineNetflix

movieyouwatched in a

row,orthat season of Bosch

youinhaledonAmazon

Primewithoutever

actuallypayingattentionto

thestory. If you’ve decided

toget morecreative with

your viewing choices, play

along with this rough

variation on Six Degreesof

Kevin Bacon. We asked

some of our film brainsto

start with one Kevin Bacon

movie—for purposes of

av ailability and ensemble

friendliness, we picked

Clint Eastwood’s Oscar-

winning 2003 thriller,

Mystic River, now on

Netflix—then work their

way through five more

titles ... ending on another

Ke vin Bacon movie.

42 CHOOS YOUR STREAMING ADVENTURE

Mystic River

Live by Night

(rentable on Amazon Prime, Google

Play, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube)

Eastwood directed Mystic River,

but the vision is Dennis Lehane’s:

characters violated, sunk in grief,

acting out in ways that make nothing

better. So we travel with Lehane

to this period gangster epic. Not a

great adaptation but lots to muse

on: “What you put out in the world

will always come back to you.”

WeBoughta Zoo

(rentable on AmazonPrime, Google

Play, iTunes, Vudu,YouTube)

The best performance in Live by

Night is by Elle Fanning, who

also appears in Cameron Crowe’s

underrated film about a family sunk

in mourning that returns to life by

saving a foundering menagerie.

Crowe understands the grief-

whimsy continuum that makes

life so paradoxical (and movies

with only one tone so boring).

Margaret

(rentable on Amazon

Prime, GooglePlay,iTunes,

Vudu,YouTube)

With Zoo star MattDamon, we

move to KennethLonergan’s

story of a teenagegirl(played by

Anna Paquin) learningto find

her moral equilibriumina post-

9/11 New York. Seetheextended

edition, which isa masterpiece.

The Irishman

(availableonNetflix)

We follow thesuperbPaquin

to Martin Scorsese’sold-man’s

movie steeped in shame and

guilt and incomprehension over

how we did what we did—which

put us where we are and always

knew we would be, somehow.

Sleepers

(rentable on Amazon Prime, Google

Play, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube)

Follow Irishman star

Robert De Niro to this drama,

where once morewe’reina Catholic

universe of sinandvengeance.

And look, there’sKevinBacon!

DAVID EDELSTEIN

Mystic River

Play Misty for Me

(rentable on Amazon Prime, Google

Play, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube)

Clint Eastwood’s 1971 directorial debut

is a solid entry in the disreputable

but irresistible genre of lady-psycho

horror-suspense, with Jessica

Walter as an impeccably unhinged

stalker and Clint as her quarry.

Norma Rae

(rentable on Amazon Prime)

Mistyvillain Walter’s late husband

Ron Leibman hadhisbest big-screen

role as a union organizerinMartin

Ritt’s stirring 1979odetothe power

of activism andcommunity. Sally

Field’s performance and the film

itself have both aged superbly.

Hud

(rentable on Amazon Prime, Google

Play, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube)

Sixteen years earlier, Norma Rae’s

screenwriters, Irving Ravetch

and Harriet Frank Jr., crafted this

marvel (alsodirectedbyRitt) about

a Texas badboy(PaulNewman,

possibly neversexier,whichis saying

something) andtheliveshewrecks.

Termsof

Endearment

(rentableonAmazon

Prime, GooglePlay,iTunes,

Vudu,YouTube)

Want a good cry about

somebody else’s troubles?

Watch Shirley MacLaine and

Debra Winger in this affecting

comedy-melodrama (based, like

Hud, on a Larry McMurtry novel)

about how mothers and daughters

are essentially quarantined

together for life. With generous

supporting performances

from Jack Nicholson, Jeff

Daniels, and John Lithgow.

Footloose

(rentable onAmazon

Prime, GooglePlay,iTunes,

Vudu, YouTube)

Lithgow showedupjusta year

l Bacon’spulpit-

mesisinthis

early-MTV-erasweet escape.

MARK HARRIS