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      Best Movies and Shows Streaming in May: ‘Poker Face,’ ‘Murderbot’ and More

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      “Duster,” “Summer of 69,” “Overcompensating,” “‘Deaf President Now!” and more are arriving, and “Poker Face” returns.Every month, streaming services add movies and TV shows to their libraries. Here are our picks for some of May’s most promising new titles. (Note: Streaming services occasionally change schedules without giving notice. For more recommendations on what to stream, sign up for our Watching newsletter here.)New to Amazon Prime Video‘Overcompensating’ Season 1Starts streaming: May 15The comedian and social media content creator Benito Skinner both created and stars in this raunchy campus comedy, about freshmen trying desperately to fit in with their peers — while hiding their actual personalities and desires. Skinner plays Benny, a former high school athlete who does not want his family or his classmates (or maybe even himself) to realize he’s gay. On the first day of college, Benny meets Carmen (Wally Baram), who is recovering — poorly — from a bad breakup. The two bond immediately, but while Carmen thinks she just met her next boyfriend, Benny thinks he has found someone who can pretend to be his girlfriend. “Overcompensating” is set in a broadly comic version of university life, where everyone is sex- and status-obsessed. But Skinner also sincerely explores what it’s like for young people to use a new environment to reinvent themselves.‘The Better Sister’Starts streaming: May 29This twisty mini-series stars Jessica Biel as Chloe, a rich and successful New York City media mogul who calls the cops from her family’s summer house after her husband, Adam (Corey Stoll), is found murdered. While the homicide detectives Nancy (Kim Dickens) and Matt (Bobby Naderi) investigate the crime, Chloe seems unusually interested in keeping them from learning about certain aspects of her life — like her strained relationship with her sister Nicky (Elizabeth Banks). Nicky, a reckless free spirit, is also Adam’s ex and the biological mother of Adam and Chloe’s teenage son, Ethan (Maxwell Acee Donovan). Cocreated by Olivia Milch and Regina Corrado, “The Better Sister” (based on an Alafair Burke novel) is both a mystery with lots of red herrings and the study of a sad sibling rivalry.Also arriving:May 1“Another Simple Favor”May 6“David Spade: Dandelion”May 8“Octopus!”May 20“Motorheads” Season 1May 22“Earnhardt”May 27“The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy” Season 2From left, Tim Rarus, Bridgetta Bourne-Firl, Greg Hlibok and Jerry Covell in “Deaf President Now!,” a documentary film directed by Nyle DiMarco and Davis Guggenheim.Apple TV+New to Apple TV+‘Deaf President Now!’Starts streaming: May 16Back in 1988, Gallaudet University’s students drew international headlines when they shut the college down for a week, angrily rejecting the appointment of yet another hearing president — at a time when the institution had never had a deaf one. For the documentary “Deaf President Now!,” the Oscar-winning filmmaker Davis Guggenheim (“An Inconvenient Truth”) and co-director Nyle DiMarco (a Gallaudet alum) have collected rarely seen student-shot footage of those protests, and combined them with news clips, re-creations and fiery new interviews with the campus leaders. The film delivers a fascinating look back at a pivotal moment in civil rights history that doubles as a gripping political thriller, piecing together the details of the demonstration and how, day by day, these courageous young adults turned the tide of public opinion.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ‘Vulcanizadora’ Review: Guilt Trip

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      Two midlife losers reckon with past mistakes on a despairing and oddly haunting trip into the woods and out of their heads.Midway through “Vulcanizadora,” the fifth feature from the eccentric indie actor and filmmaker Joel Potrykus, his character, Derek, asks his best friend, Marty (Joshua Burge), to consider that hell might be no more than never-ending anxiety.“Can you imagine that? Being nervous forever?” The two are hiking through a Michigan forest en route to a terrible, as yet unrevealed destination, and viewers familiar with Potrykus’s work will feel a stab of amusement: Perpetual unease is a state he has always imagined with exquisite precision.Revisiting the losers we met a decade ago in “Buzzard,” “Vulcanizadora” wonders where slackers go when their adolescent behaviors no longer serve. Nowhere good, is the answer, as these pitiable, middle-aged misfits gradually reveal lives that are likely unsalvageable. Marty, a small-time crook, is facing a second stint in prison and living in his childhood basement. Derek is divorced, estranged from his young son (played by Potrykus’s real son, Solo) and unreliably medicated. Both are depleted from past mistakes and on the verge of making one of the worst imaginable. When everyone thinks you’re a no-count, then nothing you do can ever count.Potrykus, though — an inveterate hand-to-mouth practitioner — persists in treating the lost and the left-behind as if they matter, and his signature empathy is pronounced here. As is his fascination with fire as an arbiter of emotional disturbance: Like the pyromaniac of “Ape” (2014), Marty may be an arsonist, and his emphatic wretchedness finds expression in a lingering, hauntingly surreal close-up of black snake fireworks slowly uncoiling.Spasmodically funny, though hardly a comedy, “Vulcanizadora” is raw, moving and, briefly, horrifying. In the press notes, Potrykus admits to having worried that becoming a father would cause him to soften and “start telling stories of hope and inspiration.” That may be the funniest joke of all.VulcanizadoraNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 25 minutes. In theaters. More

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      ‘Words of War’ Review: Portrait of a Fearless Reporter

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      The Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya is the subject of a film that honors her bravery.The sort of movie in which a story’s inherent power is enough to oil otherwise creaky biopic machinery, “Words of War” dramatizes the life of Anna Politkovskaya, the Russian journalist who became known for her tenacious reporting on the second Chechen war and for her undaunted criticism of Vladimir V. Putin. The movie opens with an apparent attempt on her life — a poisoning on an airplane — and ends with her death in 2006, when she was murdered in her Moscow apartment building.In between, it recounts the tremendous risks that Politkovskaya (played by Maxine Peake) faced in finding and persuading people to talk. When she travels to Grozny, she has difficulty earning the confidence of Chechens, who believe that no Russian reporter can be trusted. One says that she is trying to illuminate “the black hole of the world.” The Russian military eyes her warily, too (a major threatens to slit her throat), and soon an agent (Ian Hart) visits her while she is getting coffee and a croissant in Moscow — to make it clear he’s keeping watch.The closing credits acknowledge that the filmmakers (James Strong directed a screenplay by Eric Poppen) have taken some dramaturgical liberties, including inventing the Hart character. Politkovskaya’s own description of serving as a hostage negotiator at a Moscow theater in 2002 differs in tenor from the portrayal of events onscreen. Some deviations are inevitable, but the expository dialogue — and the convention of having Russian characters speak English, with British accents — are distractions. Even so, Politkovskaya’s bravery, and Peake’s commitment to honoring it, is enough.Words of WarRated R for violence and descriptions of brutality. Running time: 1 hour 57 minutes. In theaters. More

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      Alec Baldwin’s ‘Rust’ Gets Muted Release, Years After Fatal Shooting

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      The filmmakers said that they hoped the finished product would honor the work and memory of its cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins, who was shot and killed on the set.How do you plan the rollout of a film that became notorious for an on-set tragedy?The ill-fated western “Rust” has been trying to figure that out. The movie is finally being released on Friday, three and a half years after its cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins, was shot and killed by a real bullet fired from an old-fashioned revolver that its star, Alec Baldwin, was rehearsing with on a set in New Mexico.Now that the film is finally coming out after years of lawsuits, investigations and two criminal trials, its rollout has been decidedly muted. Unable to find traction at better-known film festivals, “Rust” premiered last fall at a small cinematography festival in Poland. Now, as it is being released in a limited number of theaters (with none so far in New York City) and on demand, it is forgoing the traditional red-carpet premiere, and Mr. Baldwin has not sat for any splashy interviews.The filmmakers said that their overriding goal in finishing the film and pushing for its release was to showcase the final work of Ms. Hutchins, who was a 42-year-old up-and-coming cinematographer when she was killed. And a legal settlement calls for some of the film’s earnings to go to her husband and son.“If I was to make a direct plea to someone about seeing the movie,” said the film’s director, Joel Souza, “I’d say that a lot of really good people worked really hard on finishing this movie to honor her.”Mr. Souza was injured in the shooting by the bullet that killed Ms. Hutchins, which passed through her and lodged in his shoulder. He said that at first he doubted he would ever want to return to the movie business. But eventually a plan came together to finish “Rust,” with Mr. Souza back in the director’s chair.The plan not only had the blessing of Ms. Hutchins’s husband, Matthew Hutchins, but it was at the heart of a settlement agreement he reached with the movie’s producers, including Mr. Baldwin, after he filed a wrongful-death lawsuit.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ’The Surfer’ Review: Nicolas Cage Catches Hell at the Beach

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      Nicolas Cage plays the title role in this punishing beach drama, where an aggressive group of surfers advise him the spot is for “locals only.”Some successful actors start to downshift when they hit their 60s, but Nicolas Cage, 61, still works with the frequency of a man who has a hellhound or a collections agency on his trail. Cage is the best reason to watch “The Surfer,” a deliberately punishing drama in which he plays the title role. His character is an apparently successful wheeler-dealer who’s taking a day off to catch some waves at a beach close to a house he hopes to buy. His plan runs afoul of an aggressive group of surfers who advise him the spot is for “locals only.” But he is a local, he protests.That may or may not be true. And the surf gang, who want him gone, don’t care either way, as they demonstrate with mounting violence. Cage has a penchant for characters who take a lot of punishment, like in the “Wicker Man” remake (2006) or the first half or so of “Mandy” (2018), and here his character just keeps coming back for more.Is he crazy? Maybe. But something else is going on. There’s an older man hanging out at the beach handing out fliers about his lost son — and didn’t Cage’s character first come to the beach with his own teenage son? The surfer is increasingly addled by visions that come to him in harrowing split-second blackouts. The director Lorcan Finnegan drops other intimations of a time loop, reminiscent of Chris Marker’s “La Jetée.” But if this movie leaves Cage adrift, he doesn’t seem at all uncomfortable about it.The SurferRated R for language and some violence. Running time: 1 hour 40 minutes. In theaters. More

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      ‘Lavender Men’ Review: Daring to Reimagine ‘America’s Daddy’

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      A writer rethinks queer history through Abraham Lincoln’s political ambitions, but needs a few present-day edits.What if Abraham Lincoln’s presidential pursuit was sparked amid some playful, shirtless roughhousing with his legal clerk Elmer Ellsworth? Now imagine another twist — a tree in full drag regalia is a witness.That’s some of the reinterpreted history in the unconvincingly staged new film “Lavender Men.”The film begins with Taffeta (Roger Q. Mason), the mistreated stage manager of a community theater production about Lincoln, who is fed up with the current state of the play. Taffeta, who is nonbinary, seizes control of the narrative, granting “America’s daddy” romantic agency and his own gay love story.Through this queer lens, Taffeta critiques Lincoln for his role in upholding white supremacy while also connecting with him as another “lonely queen,” using the encounter to reframe Taffeta’s own story. In this act of reclamation, Taffeta inhabits a kaleidoscope of roles — from army cadet to Mary Todd Lincoln to that all-knowing, unseen tree. “This is my fantasia, honey,” they proclaim to the camera. (The queering of Lincoln is also present in “Oh Mary,” Cole Escola’s Broadway hit.)Drawing a line from modern repression to the 16th president’s sexuality is a bold premise, and “Lavender Men,” which was originally a play written by Mason, struggles to fully realize its world onscreen. The director Lovell Holder, who wrote the screenplay with Mason for this adaptation, tackles the idea of inherited trauma by breaking the fourth wall, yet the film remains narratively inert, reaching for profundity with the earnestness of poetic fan fiction.Tonal whiplash — farcical comedy, heavy drama, even a musical number — undermines the film’s emotional stakes. You want a better story for Taffeta, and for Lincoln and Ellsworth, too. “Lavender Men” rewrites the past, but it could use edits in the present.Lavender MenNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 42 minutes. In theaters. More

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      ‘A Desert’ Review: Motel Hell

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      A washed-up photographer finds himself embroiled in an eerie mystery in Joshua Erkman’s strange, singular thriller.Alex (Kai Lennox), the hero of Joshua Erkman’s languid, atmospheric neo-noir “A Desert,” is a photographer past his prime. His first book, a collection of landscapes channeling the desuetude of small-town America, put him on the map 20 years ago, and now he’s cruising the highways and byways of the Yucca Valley in California, chasing his former glory.It’s in the nature of stories like this to offer its hero the reprieve of a disruption, and it arrives, violently, in the form of Renny (Zachary Ray Sherman), a lanky, keyed-up stranger Alex befriends at a roadside motel. Renny is clearly bad news, and for about 40 minutes, it seems obvious where “A Desert” is going. But Ekrman’s screenplay is slyly intelligent, and in the second act the film takes a sharp turn that is genuinely shocking.Erkman’s use of stark lighting — high beams cutting through the desert night — evokes “Lost Highway,” and there’s some “Mulholland Drive” in the underworld theatrics detailed on the story’s periphery. Lynch is a difficult influence to wield responsibly, yet Erkman keeps it largely under control: “A Desert,” if at times too ambitious, certainly feels distinct.It’s a strange film, but it works, and feels grounded, because of its ensemble cast. Both Lennox and Sarah Lind, as Alex’s wife, Sam, are serious and convincing, and the musician David Yow, as an oddball private detective following in Alex’s wake, gives the movie some idiosyncratic flair. But the highlight is Sherman, whose menacing Renny is truly creepy and, when he really goes berserk, electrifying.A DesertNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 43 minutes. In theaters. More

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      ‘Bonjour Tristesse’ Review: Goodbye Girlhood

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      Durga Chew-Bose boldly reimagines a work once adapted by Otto Preminger in her beguiling first film set on the French Riviera.“She is imagining what she looks like to us as practice for when she wants to be seen,” a woman remarks early in “Bonjour Tristesse” of the teenage Cécile (Lily McInerny), whose mischievous experiment in womanhood is the subject of Durga Chew-Bose’s beguiling first film.Adapted from Françoise Sagan’s 1954 novel, “Bonjour Tristesse” dips into a well once tapped by the prolific director Otto Preminger — a bold choice for a first-time filmmaker. But Chew-Bose makes a convincing case for the remake by showing, like Cécile, a keen awareness of how to direct a gaze.The film follows Cécile, a teenager from the United States, over a summer on the French Riviera with her roguish father, Raymond (Claes Bang), and Elsa (Naïlia Harzoune), his summer fling. Lazing seaside, Cécile enjoys the couple’s company, but the serene scene frays upon the arrival of Anne (Chloë Sevigny), a refined family friend who undermines our protagonist’s status as the apple of daddy’s eye.While Jean Seberg once imbued Cécile with girlish petulance, McInerny gives the role an electric charge of ambivalence. We see our protagonist study Elsa and Anne’s womanly powers with a blend of longing and trepidation. Here, more so than in Preminger’s adaptation, the absence of Cécile’s mother is made to feel tangible.Chew-Bose directs her camera to elegantly glance off bodies, fabrics and seawater. She individualizes her characters through habits and gestures, like the different ways each woman eats her morning apple. A work of image and mood, “Bonjour Tristesse” captures the mythopoetic wonder of an adolescent summer, and the effect is trancelike.Bonjour TristesseRated R for budding female sexuality. In French and English, with subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 50 minutes. In theaters. More