SBS: the 5 best films to stream right now

The Big Steal, The Producers, Lola and more have just arrived on SBS on demand.
The Big Steal. Image: Cascade Films

Every month, SBS adds a roster of films to its lineup that we don’t include in our weekly streaming guides because they’re not all brand new productions.

We reckon they still deserve attention though, especially when their arrival on the streamer tends to come quietly.

So, settle in on the couch with your favourite snack, for our top picks of SBS’s latest movie acquisitions.

The Big Steal

  • 1990
  • Comedy
  • Directed by Nadia Tass
  • Australia
  • Classification: PG
  • Runtime: 1h 39m
  • Rotten Tomatoes score: 74%

Danny wants two things in life more than anything else, one is a Jaguar and the other is Joanna Johnson. After he is conned into trading his Nissan Cedric for a 1973 Jaguar, he plots to win Joanna and get revenge against the sleazy car dealer Gordon Farkes.

The Quick and The Dead

  • 1995
  • Western
  • Directed by Sam Raimi
  • USA
  • Classification: MA
  • Runtime: 1hr 47m
  • Rotten Tomatoes score: 58%

A mysterious woman comes to compete in a quick-draw elimination tournament, in a town taken over by a notorious gunman.

The Producers

  • 1968
  • Comedy
  • Directed by Mel Brooks
  • USA
  • Classification: M
  • Runtime: 1hr 28m
  • Rotten Tomatoes score: 91%

Broadway producer Max Bialystock and his accountant, Leo Bloom plan to make money by charming wealthy old biddies to invest in a production many times over the actual cost, and then put on a sure-fire flop, so nobody will ask for their money back – and what can be a more certain flop than a tasteless musical celebrating Hitler.

Cléo from 5 to 7 

Agnès Varda eloquently captures Paris in the sixties with this real-time portrait of a singer set adrift in the city as she awaits test results of a biopsy. A chronicle of the minutes of one woman’s life, Cléo from 5 to 7 is a spirited mix of vivid vérité and melodrama, featuring a score by Michel Legrand and cameos by Jean-Luc Godard and Anna Karina.

Lola

A bored young man meets with his former girlfriend, now a cabaret dancer and single mother, and soon finds himself falling back in love with her.


SBS On Demand: new this week

Red Flag: Music’s Failed Revolution (15 Oct)

Red Flag: Music's Failed Revolution. Image: Sbs On Demand. New Shows Streaming.
Red Flag: Music’s Failed Revolution. Image: SBS On Demand.

Documentary series. It’s the new millennium and music is facing an existential threat: illegal piracy. Marc Fennell uncovers the bizarre story of the Aussie start up, Guvera, that promised to revolutionise music forever, but instead vanished in a $180 million mystery.

Through exclusive interviews, never-before seen footage and photographs, archive and dramatic reenactments, the series charts the spectacular rise and fall of Guvera – once nicknamed the ‘iTunes Killer’ – which once had A-list superstars like Alice Cooper and Mos Def lining up behind it with one mission: to destroy internet piracy. Fennell is joined by the Australian musician Ben Lee. Watch the trailer.

Fallen (17 Oct)

Series. From the makers of The Bridge and starring Sofia Helin. Police inspector Iris had worked at the NOA in Stockholm for over 20 years when her husband Christian was shot dead. Reeling from the tragedy and furious that the case remains unsolved, she leaves Stockholm and becomes the new head of the Cold Case team in Malmö.

When a skull is found in the forest and linked to a cold case, Iris is called in to investigate. But with the discovery, ominous questions as to the identity of the killer are raised – what is the truth, and how far will Iris go to find it?

ScreenHub: Shaun Micallef’s Origin Odyssey, SBS On Demand review: comedians take a trip with ramshackle authenticity

Bombing Brighton: The Plot To Kill Thatcher (19 Oct)

As the 40th anniversary of the Brighton Bomb looms, this feature-length documentary includes
new and exclusive testimony from some of those who were there, and those who were involved in the
atrocity. The Brighton Bomb, which exploded on 12 October 1984, was one of the IRA’s most significant attacks on mainland Britain during the Troubles. Directly targeting Margaret Thatcher, the bomb blew a gaping hole in the Grand Hotel.

Although the Prime Minister was physically unharmed, the bomb had devastating consequences. Five people were killed in the blast and 31 others were seriously injured. This film includes the testimony of those whose lives were profoundly affected, some of them speaking publicly for the first time.

So Long, Marianne (19 Oct)

Series. So Long, Marianne tells the legendary love story of Canadian singer and poet Leonard Cohen and his muse Marianne Ihlen, who inspired the titular song. Their story crosses the world, from Norway to Greece, New York and Montreal, with the majority of the series filmed on the picturesque Greek island of Hydra where they lived during the 1960s.

There, they joined legendary Australian novelists Charmian Clift and her husband George Johnston, the matriarch and patriarch of a bohemian group of writers, artists, poets, and outcasts who were exploring a new world of free love, drugs, and artistic freedom, but also experiencing the rivalries and jealousy that accompanied their intense, interwoven lives.

Staring Alex Wolff as Leonard, with Thea Sofie Loch Næss playing Marianne. Joining them are Anna Torv, Noah Taylor and Peter Stormare. Watch the trailer.


Find out what else is on SBS by checking out our streaming guide.

Silvi Vann-Wall is a journalist, podcaster, and filmmaker. They joined ScreenHub as Film Content Lead in 2022. Twitter: @SilviReports