Each month, lots of new films and TV shows are added to Stan‘s library. Eliza Janssen surveys the month’s selections and picks for titles most worth watching. For the full list of everything arriving on the platform, scroll down.
Top Picks: TV
The Tattooist of Auschwitz (May 2)
This miniseries is based on the true recollections of Concentration Camp survivor Lali Sokolov (here played by screen legend Harvey Keitel), but also on Kiwi author Heather Morris’ best-selling novel, that adapted Sokolov’s chilling story into a non-fiction must-read. So our fave Melanie Lynskey appears as Morris, keenly absorbing every devastating detail of Sokolov’s imprisonment—and dark role in the camp’s processing of Jews, as it was he who branded each prisoner with their identification number. Certain to be a tough watch but perhaps also an uplifting one, as Sokolov found love in the midst of all Auschwitz’s violence and oppression.
Hacks: Season 3 (May 3)
I’m a real sucker for this comedy about comedy, following the renaissance of washed-up Vegas stand-up Deborah Vance (deliciously droll Jean Smart). At the end of last season, Deb cut the cord that tied her and pass-ag millennial writer Ava (Hannah Einbinder) together, freeing her once-reluctant intern to go focus on her own comedic goals. But the pair are, of course, drawn back together for this raucous third chapter, which should show us how the return of global adulation has changed Deborah (probably for the worse). Quick, one-liner-packed episodes and characters you yearn to hang out with.
We Are Lady Parts: Season 2 (May 31)
It’s been three years since the first season of this riotous comedy about an all-Muslim, female punk band’s formation and foibles. In that time, director Nida Manzoor put out a winning action-comedy (Polite Society) and star Anjana Vasan saw her star rise, appearing in one of the only good Black Mirror episodes in recent memory and making us giggle in Wicked Little Letters. As geeky doctorate student turned riot grrl guitar hero, Vasan is endlessly likeable, and you’ll root for her motley band with your whole heart and two raised hand-horns.
Top Picks: Movies + Specials
Bright Star (May 9)
Recently voted as one of our favourite films directed by a woman, this is one of Jane Campion’s softer, sweeter offerings. Featuring Ben Whishaw and Abbie Cornish as poet John Keats and Fanny Brawne, the woman who loved him up until his untimely death at age 25, it has romanticism at its core far beyond using those old-world ideals and writing as subject matter. Each shot basks in subtle, lyrical life, lulling us into a romance that can’t be quelled by death.
History of the Occult (May 9)
Think of this Argentine-Mexican co-production as a brainier, black-and-white alternative to found-footage hit Late Night with the Devil. It offers us the (fictional) final episode of an Argentine journalistic program, in which commentators expose a supernatural conspiracy that goes all the way to the top—darkly birthed in the halls of government and corrupt institutions. Written and directed by first-time filmmaker Christian Ponce, it’s been available for ages on Netflix in certain regions, but Stan’s summoning Down Under into its shadowy vision for the first time.
Anatomy of a Fall (May 24)
Whether you’re here for a post-Oscar-win rewatch, or delving into Justine Triet’s twisty crime procedural for the very first time, one thing is certain: Flicks cannot get enough of this courtroom murder-mystery. Rory Doherty praised it for “celebrating sterling craft and elevating an oft-dismissed genre”: Luke Buckmaster was one of the many fangirling over the accused Sandra Hüller, saying her performance “evokes enough ambiguity…to allow for fundamentally different interpretations of her inner self and substance.” Pretty sure you’ll fall in love too.
All titles arriving on Stan in May
May 1
White House Down
The Salisbury Poisonings: Season 1
Burning Days
May 2
The Tattooist of Auschwitz: Season 1 Premiere
Geordie OGs: Seasons 1-2
May 3
Hacks: Season 3 Double Premiere
Colombiana
Intruders (2016)
May 4
Jobs
The Most Beautiful Day in the World
Wild Seas
May 5
Hidden Figures
Four’s a Crowd
May 6
Dear David
Clouds of Sils Maria
May 7
Darkland: The Return
May 8
The Expatriate
Hard Sun: Season 1
May 9
Failure to Launch
Bright Star
History of the Occult
May 10
Mid90s
Are You The One UK: Season 1
3rd Rock From The Sun: Seasons 1-6
May 11
Mrs. Doubtfire
The Last Night of Amore
May 12
High: Season 2 Premiere
Predestination
Love Thing
May 13
Alma & Oskar
May 14
Suite Francaise
The Help (2011)
May 15
Little Bird: Season 1 Premiere
The Physician
A Girl Returned
May 16
Teen Spirit
Dublin Murders: Season 1
The Eight Hundred
May 18
RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars: Season 9 Premiere
EO
Murder On The Orient Express (2017)
May 19
Mark Felt: Man Who Brought Down The White House
Shinjuku Incident
May 20
X + Y
Believer
May 21
At War with Love
May 22
American Ninja Warrior: Season 15
Dark Skies
May 23
Insomnia: Season 1 Premiere
Face/Off
Loro: The Director’s Cut Pt.1
Loro: The Director’s Cut Pt.2
May 24
Anatomy Of A Fall
May 25
Flashdance (1983)
Butterfly: Season 1
The Fault In Our Stars
May 26
Revealed: Renee Gracie—Fireproof
The Core
Lord, Give Me Patience
May 27
Those Happy Years
May 28
The Combination
The Combination: Redemption
Bangla
May 29
Baghdad Central: Season 1
Braveheart
May 30
Three Thousand Years Of Longing
Sacro Gra
May 31
We Are Lady Parts: Season 2 Premiere
Float
Disobedience
The Family
See also
* Best new movies and TV series on Netflix Australia
* Best new movies and TV series on Amazon Prime
* Best new movies and TV series on Disney+
* All new streaming movies & series
