Oscar-nominee Anatomy of a Fall is one of our picks for the best movies and shows you can watch on a free streaming service without a subscription.
Cost of living crisis got you cutting your streaming services? Reviewers Zanna Gillespie and Greg Bruce pick the best series and movies that will cost you nothing.
Anatomy of a Fall (TVNZ+)
Despite losing out to the wildly bombastic Oppenheimer at this year’s Academy Awards, Anatomy of a Fall by Justine Triet was last year’s best film. and now it’s screening on TVNZ+. Part mystery, part courtroom drama, part examination of a troubled marriage, the film tells the story of Sandra Voyter, a writer standing trial following the death of her husband, who plummeted from the third storey of their French chalet while their son was out walking the dog. Whether he fell or was pushed is the central question of the hearing, during which every private detail of their marriage is scrutinised. It’s brilliantly written, putting the audience in the position of the court, flipping and flopping on whether or not she’s guilty as new details of their strained marriage come to light, some from Sandra’s largely autobiographical writing, which takes on new, more troubling meaning after he dies. In the event of Greg’s death, I state for the record, I love him deeply and anything previously written in these reviews that indicates otherwise has been either exaggerated, misconstrued or taken out of context.
Cousins (Whakaata Māori)
Among the many revelations of this profoundly moving film, based on the book by Patricia Grace, is the performance of Ana Scotney, who might be New Zealand’s brightest shining light right now. The film spans several decades, telling the story of three Māori cousins, one of whom - Mata - is taken away from whānau and raised by Pākeha. Her cousins Missy and Makareka vow to find her and bring her back to her turangawaewae, but it takes longer than either of them ever anticipated. It’s a beautiful and at times painful study of the importance of belonging and the devastating impact of colonisation. Directed by Ainsley Gardner and Briar Grace-Smith, if this film doesn’t have you bawling your eyes out by the end, you’ve got some seriously repressed emotions. You can find it, along with a vast catalogue of local content and some surprising international content, on Whakaata Māori.
Love it or List it Australia (ThreeNow)
Anyone with a penchant for home makeover shows probably knows ThreeNow reigns supreme in this department because of its relationship with the US network HGTV (Home & Garden Television), which is also owned by Warner Bros Discovery. My unquestionable favourite in this genre, however, is not an HGTV show - it’s Love It or List It Australia. It’s certainly not the most cerebral watch, but I could write a dissertation on the relationship between seeing a house transform from a poky, dark, impractical duck to an open, light, fully functional swan in a period of 45 minutes and the effect it has on dopamine production in the brain with no trouble. The combination of renovation and real estate show is a perfect premise for a makeover programme. Instead of getting bogged down in all the boring bits of renovation, including all the painful hurdles, you get to drift in and out of the glow-up while perusing (read: judging) other houses on the market. Plus, it’s not cagey about money like some of its American contemporaries. It would also make for an incredible dating show: Love Him or List Him.
Honeyland (Beamafilm)
Honeyland was the first film Greg and I reviewed together, back when the chatter about the threat of a global pandemic seemed like overblown catastrophising - little more than a benign what-if to discuss over a crowded dinner table where we all left our droplets in each other’s food. To this day, it remains one of my favourite films we’ve ever reviewed. The documentary’s slow observation of the life of a beekeeper in the mountains of northern Macedonia is beautifully rendered on film, with the full complement of human emotional experience on display. If you haven’t seen it, you can watch it for free on Beamafilm, which you can access with your library membership. It’s a bit of an odd selection of films and documentaries, but among them are some absolute gems like Honeyland. Or you can just read our review of it.
Here is New Zealand (NZ On Screen)
Once you’ve sunk an afternoon watching all the television bloopers and fashion and hair highlights of bygone eras available on NZ On Screen’s comprehensive archive, settle in and watch the 1948 tourism film Here is New Zealand. It’s a treasure of New Zealand history, made by Robert Steele with narration written by poet A.R.D. Fairburn. While there is some truly cringe-worthy content, particularly the rose-tinted view of Māori and Pākeha relations, it captures a moment in history for Aotearoa, a time when we had wonderfully functional tramlines and clean waterways. It highlights so vividly how much this country has changed, in both good and not-so-good ways. Thankfully, we don’t call fully grown women girls anymore and we don’t talk about tobacco leaves as carrying “the promise of peace and contentment”, but I felt a sense of wistfulness for that Aotearoa too. For maximum entertainment value, watch with friends and family and you’ll certainly have a few giggles at your ancestors’ expense.
Mad Men (ThreeNow)
Given the parlous state of Three’s finances, its disbanding of its news division, and its braindead reality-driven focus over recent years, the quality of its back catalogue is genuinely shocking - there’s the smouldering remnants of the network’s once-great journalism, of course, including the great Patrick Gower: On series, but the real surprise is its selection of quality drama: the horrifying but brilliant serial killer series The Fall, all three seasons of genre masterclass Broadchurch, and the two critically acclaimed John le Carre adaptations The Night Manager and The Little Drummer Girl. Without doubt, though, the jewel in the crown is Mad Men - the beautiful, intoxicating, seven series ode to the late 60s/early 70s ad industry graspers of New York City. Together with The Sopranos and The Wire, Mad Men is one of the big three of the golden era of television, and the only one that’s freely available in this country. Get in quick, because who knows what’s about to happen at Three.
Couples Therapy (ThreeNow)
After a long day of behaving passive-aggressively towards your life partner, there’s nothing more therapeutic than putting your feet up and watching other people admit to far worse. The heart of the show is therapist Orna Guralnik, whose slow nods and empathic eye contact alone would be enough to make this appointment viewing, were appointment viewing still necessary. Her ability to listen to people’s BS and then call them out, without being an a-hole about it, is an example for us all. If you were to attempt to design the ideal society, there would be no place in it for watching others talking through the most difficult times in their lives in what is supposed to be a private setting, but we’re hardly the ideal society, are we?
Mr Bates vs The Post Office (TVNZ+)
I think of TVNZ+ as the closest thing to a free Netflix - the most likely of the country’s free streaming services to air something fresh and zeitgeisty and able to draw me away from one of the far too many services I currently pay for. Mr Bates vs The Post Office is the latest in this line. It’s not just a very good drama series but also that rarest of things: a genuinely compelling true crime story about subpar computer software. It’s a difficult story to tell and it has some moments where it’s not as exciting as something involving, say, stalkers and kidnappers, but if excitement is all you’re after, TVNZ+ also offers Naked Attraction. Mr Bates is a series that demonstrates the pitfalls in putting all your faith in computer software and the power of people to put it right, and if you think that sounds relevant to our current moment, so did the producers.
Alister Barry collection (Beamafilm)
Alister Barry is one of New Zealand’s most important filmmakers and historians, and the six films that make up this collection are the best imaginable course of study for anyone wanting to understand why this country now looks and behaves the way it does. The films, spanning the years 1973-2013, provide a brilliant and forensic insight into the people and forces that have shaped us, but - just as importantly - make for compelling and often gut-wrenching viewing. To have the skills to excavate truth and produce insight is rare enough - to also possess the skills to make it impossible to look away? True genius.
The Little Shop of Horrors (Filmzie)
Much of the value of the lesser-known free streaming services is in their stellar selection of B-movies, trash and cheese, which comes into its own late at night, when you lack the focus or desire for the intellectual demands of anything else. While there are plenty of great ones to choose from, (e.g Bruce Lee’s Fist of Fury on Tubi), The Little Shop is easily the greatest – a B-movie so influential that it created a whole industry of remakes, sequels, series, subcultures and spinoffs and people who think it’s funny to say “Feed me, Seymour!” A young Jack Nicholson is in it, but the real thrill is in the bonkers premise and even more bonkers execution. It was shot in two days on a micro-budget using a leftover set from a horror movie, making it arguably the greatest return on investment, creatively speaking, in Hollywood history.
Dolly Parton will receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for her charity work.