Wondering what to watch in May? Check out:
Streaming
1 May
Fatal Attraction (Paramount+)
Lizzy Caplan (Fleishman is in Trouble) is the mistress to Joshua Jackson’s (Dr. Death) cheating husband in this series adaptation of the classic ’80s erotic thriller. Co-stars Amanda Peet (Dirty John).
3 May
Ed Sheeran: The Sum of it All (Disney+)
For the first time ever, global superstar Ed Sheeran opens the doors to his private life as he explores the universal themes that inspire his music in this four-part series.
4 May
Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story (Netflix)
The story of how the young Queen Charlotte’s marriage to King George sparked both a great love story and a societal shift, creating the world of the Ton inherited by the characters in Bridgerton.
Star Wars Visions season 2 (Disney +)
The Star Wars universe collides with the world’s best anime creators for this anthology series of animated short films.
The Other Two (Binge)
Two siblings – one a former professional dancer, the other an aspiring actor – live in the cold shadow of their 13-year-old brother Chase Dreams and his status as an internet phenomenon.
5 May
Bupkis (Binge)
Pete Davidson leads this heightened and fictionalised take on life. Co-stars Joe Pesci, Edie Falco, Charlie Day, Ray Romano and Brad Garrett.
Harriet the Spy season 2 (Apple TV+)
Harriet, a curious and outspoken 11-year-old, wants to be a great writer and is willing to become a spy to do it in this animated kids series. Based on the children’s novel by Louise Fitzhugh.
Silo (Apple TV+)
Rebecca Ferguson (Mission: Impossible – Fallout), David Oyelowo (Selma), Rashida Jones (On the Rocks) and Oscar winner Tim Robbins (Mystic River) star in this series adaptation of Hugh Howey’s post-apocalypse novel.
Death’s Roulette (Paramount+)
Seven strangers wake up in a mansion in the middle of nowhere to discover they are part of a twisted game. They will have 60 minutes to choose one person to die; otherwise, all of them will be murdered. As the clock ticks down, the most lurid secrets will come to light, and they’ll discover they are all connected by a dark past.
9 May
Hannah Gadsby: Something Special (Netflix)
A panicky proposal. A novelty wedding cake. A fateful bunny encounter. Hannah Gadsby shares tales of love and marriage in this feelgood comedy special.
Read: Hannah Gadsby: Something Special – Netflix trailer
10 May
Queen Cleopatra (Netflix)
As Egypt’s last pharaoh, Cleopatra fights to protect her throne, family and legacy in this docuseries featuring reenactments and expert interviews.
The Muppets Mayhem (Disney+)
The Electric Mayhem Band goes on an epic musical journey to finally record their first studio album in this Muppets series. With the help of a driven young music executive, Nora, the old-school Muppet band comes face to face with the current day music scene as they try to finally go platinum.
12 May
Huesera: The Bone Woman (Shudder)
In this horror, Valeria has long dreamed about becoming a mother. After learning she’s pregnant, she expects to feel happy, yet something’s off.
Black Knight (Netflix)
In a dystopian 2071 devastated by air pollution, the survival of humanity depends on the Black Knights –and they’re far from your average delivery men.
City on Fire (Apple TV+)
A college student is shot in Central Park on July 4, 2003. The investigation connects a series of mysterious citywide fires, the downtown music scene, and a wealthy uptown real estate family fraying under the strain of the many secrets they keep.
Crater (Disney+)
After the death of his father, a boy growing up on a lunar mining colony takes a trip to explore a legendary crater, along with his four best friends, prior to being permanently relocated to another planet.
Mulligan (Netflix)
After an alien attack destroys the earth, what remains of humanity has the chance to start society over from scratch – but it doesn’t look promising.
15 May
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie (Apple TV+)
A short kid from a Canadian army base becomes the international pop culture darling of the 1980s – only to find the course of his life altered by a stunning diagnosis. What happens when an incurable optimist confronts an incurable disease?
Ten Pound Poms (Stan)
A group of British people set sail for Australia from post-war Britain in 1956. But life down under isn’t exactly the idyllic dream the new arrivals have been promised. Struggling with their new identity as immigrants, we follow their triumphs and pitfalls as they adapt to a new life in a new country far from Britain and familiarity. A Stan and BBC production, this six-part drama is created by BAFTA-winning Danny Brocklehurst.
16 May
Anna Nicole Smith: You Don’t Know Me (Netflix)
From the heights of her modeling fame to her tragic death, this documentary reveals Anna Nicole Smith through the eyes of the people closest to her.
Fear the Walking Dead season 8 (AMC+)
The final season of the spinoff series of AMC’s The Walking Dead following a different cast of characters from the start of the zombie holocaust.
17 May
High Desert (Apple TV+)
Oscar-winner Patricia Arquette plays a former addict who makes the life-changing decision to become a private investigator following the death of her beloved mother, whom she lived with in the small desert town of Yucca Valley, California.
18 May
XO, Kitty (Netflix)
A young matchmaker meets her match in this teen rom-com series created by Jenny Han (To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before).
19 May
Muted (Netflix)
Sergio hasn’t spoken since the day he murdered his parents. Six years later, a teen girl may be the key to revealing the whole story.
Plane (Prime Video)
Gerard Butler (Greenland) and Mike Colter (Luke Cage) star in this action thriller following a pilot forced to make an emergency landing in a war zone, only to be caught between the agendas of multiple militias that are planning to take the plane and its passengers hostage.
Selling Sunset season 6 (Netflix)
Season 6 of Selling Sunset is back on screens May 19 and this season the stakes and stilettos are as high as they’ve ever been at the brokerage, as longtime agents make big changes and two new team members bring the heat.
22 May
Prehistoric Planet (Apple TV+)
David Attenborough narrated this historical nature series Jon Favreau and the producers of Planet Earth. Travel back 66 million years to when majestic dinosaurs and extraordinary creatures roamed the lands, seas, and skies.
24 May
American Born Chinese (Disney+)
Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, and Stephanie Hsu – Oscar-nominated actors from Everything Everywhere All at Once – feature in this Disney fantasy series based on the novel by Gene Luen Yang.
Platonic (Apple TV+)
Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne team back up with the director of Bad Neighbours for this comedic reunion series about a platonic pair of former best friends who reconnect as they approach a midlife crisis.
The Clearing (Disney+)
Teresa Palmer (A Discovery of Witches), Miranda Otto (The Daughter) and Guy Pearce (Memento) lead this adaptation of author J.P. Pomare’s bestselling crime thriller, inspired by real-life cults in Australia and around the world. The eight-part series follows a woman forced to confront the nightmares of her past in order to stop a secret cult intent on gathering children to fulfil its master plan.
25 May
FUBAR (Netflix)
Arnold Schwarzenegger stars in his very first series as a father who has lied to his daughter for years about his job as a CIA operative. Turns out, she’s been giving him the exact same lie.
The Kardashians season 3 (Disney+)
Moving on from the massively successful Keeping Up with the Kardashians, this new series grants access to the lives of Kris, Kourtney, Kim, Khloé, Kendall, and Kylie as they live with the intense pressures of running billion-dollar businesses.
26 May
Blood and Gold (Netflix)
At the end of World War II, a German soldier is looking for his daughter while an SS troop is looking for a Jewish treasure.
30 May
I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson season 3 (Netflix)
The critically acclaimed and hilariously absurdist comedy series, I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson returns for a third season. Creators and writers Tim Robinson and Zach Kanin bring their distinct comedy style and observational humour to the forefront, continuing to poke fun at life’s most bizarre and mundane situations.
Cinemas
4 May
Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3
Filmmaker James Gunn returns to helm this third installment of Marvel’s misfits-in-space saga.
Cairo Conspiracy
A new student at a prestigeous Cairo University is suddenly thrusted into an unforgiving power struggle in this award-winning drama.
Masquerade
Adrien, an attractive dancer whose career was shattered by a motorcycle accident, squanders his youth in idleness. His life changes when he meets Margot, who lives off scams and amorous manipulations.
Olga
Fifteen-year-old Ukrainian gymnast Olga, exiled in Switzerland, is trying to fit in with her new team in her new home. But as she prepares for the European Championship, the Ukrainian people stage a revolution. Olga is left a powerless, distant bystander as her mother, an investigative journalist, faces danger as she challenges a brutal regime. Can Olga reconcile her personal goals with the history unfolding in her homeland?
The Inspection
In this A24 Marines drama, a young gay Black man with very few options in his world attempts to join the US military. Stars Emmy nominees Jeremy Pope (Hollywood) and Bokeem Woodbine (Fargo) alongside Gabrielle Union (LA’s Finest)
The Survival of Kindness
A woman in a cage is abandoned in the middle of the desert. Escaping the cage, she walks from desert to mountain to city, to find—more captivity.
5 May
Jodi
Set in the vibrant backdrop of Punjab in the 1980s, this musical rom-com tells the fictional tale of two talented and passionate folk musicians. As they rise from humble beginnings to become one of the most celebrated musical duos in the region, a love story also develops.
6 May
Flyways
Using nanotechnology and global tracking from the International Space Station, this film follows migratory shorebirds, the world’s greatest endurance athletes as they travel the ancient flyways of our planet, and meet the scientists, international lawyers and citizen scientists collaborating to save them.
11 May
Book Club 2: The Next Chapter
Diane Keaton, Mary Steenburgen, Jane Fonda and Candice Bergen get the club back together for a new journey in Italy for the fun girls trip they never had.
Infinity Pool
Alexander Skarsgård (The Northman), Mia Goth (Pearl) and Cleopatra Coleman (Dopesick) star in this mind-bending sci-fi horror from Brandon Cronenberg (Possessor).
Hypnotic
Ben Affleck leads this Robert Rodriguez mystery thriller as a detective who becomes entangled in a plot involving his missing daughter and a secret government program, while investigating a string of impossible high-end heists.
Love Again
A young woman tries to ease the pain of her fiancé’s death by sending romantic texts to his old cell phone number, and forms a connection with the man the number has been reassigned to.
November
Featuring an all-star cast, Cédric Jimenez’s new thriller is an edge-of-your seat deep-dive into one of the most incredible manhunts in European history.
13 May
Machine Gun Kelly: Mainstream Sellout
Mainstream Sellout Live from Cleveland: The Pink Era takes fans on a journey with Machine Gun Kelly for his 2022 homecoming performance at Cleveland.
17 May
Eric Clapton: Across 24 Nights
In 1990 and in 1991 Eric Clapton played 24 nights at the Royal Albert Hall performing with different line-ups and sets featuring blues, rock, and a full orchestra. The performances have become legendary to Clapton fans. More than 30 years later this film, edited from the original footage and completely remastered in Dolby Surround Sound, captures for the first time the definitive performances across all the sets over both years.
18 May
Fast X
The tenth Fast & Furious movie, with Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges, Jason Momoa, John Cena, Jason Statham, Sung Kang, Helen Mirren, Charlize Theron and, Brie Larson.
John Farnham: Finding the Voice
A feature documentary about John Farnham’s life and career, his journey to find an artistic voice and become one of Australia’s most beloved performers.
Limbo
Travis, a jaded detective, arrives in the remote outback town of Limbo to investigate the cold case murder of local Indigenous girl Charlotte Hayes 20 years ago. As truths about the murder begin to unfold, the detective gains a new insight into the unsolved case from the victim’s fractured family, the surviving witnesses and the reclusive brother of the chief suspect.
Read: Ivan Sen on sitting in silence with new feature Limbo
Marlowe
Liam Neeson is Philip Marlowe, the lonely private detective from John Banville’s novel (itself inspired by the character created by Raymond Chandler), in this 1930s-set thriller from Oscar-winning filmmaker Neil Jordan (Greta) and screenwriter William Monahan (The Departed). When a beautiful blonde arrives and asks Philip to find her ex-lover, the case proves to be just a small part in a bigger mystery.
The Blue Caftan
Writer-director Maryam Touzani follows up her critically-acclaimed 2019 feature debut Adam with this marriage drama, nominated for the Queer Palm and winner of the FIPRESCI Prize at Cannes 2022.
22 May
Live the Life You Please
Documentary feature exploring the sensitive topic of end-of-life care in Australia.
23 May
Godday Godday Chaa
During the 1990s in Punjab, women were not allowed to accompany men to baraats, and the groom’s mother was not allowed to attend pheras either. A young woman Rani intends to put an end to this ritual in the male-chauvinist society. Rani starts building a team with other women, secretly fights for women’s rights, and succeeds in her plans.
25 May
The Little Mermaid
Halle Bailey, one half of Grammy-nominated duo Chloe x Halle, plays iconic mermaid Ariel in this Disney adaptation of the classic fish-out-of-water story. Directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Rob Marshall (Chicago), co-starring Oscar veterans Javier Bardem as King Triton and Melissa McCarthy as Ursula.
Maybe I Do
Diane Keaton, Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon, Emma Roberts, Luke Bracey and William H. Macy star in this multi-generational romantic comedy.
Renfield
Nicolas Cage is Dracula in this horror-comedy centred on the legendary vampire’s henchman Renfield, played by Nicholas Hoult (The Favourite). Directed by Emmy-winner Chris McKay (The LEGO Batman Movie) and written by Robert Kirkman (Invincible) and Ryan Ridley (Rick and Morty), co-starring Awkwafina and Academy Award-nominee Shohreh Aghdashloo (The Expanse).
Roger Waters: This is Not a Drill
For one night only, Roger Waters, the creative force behind the golden years of Pink Floyd, presents his first Farewell Tour, ‘This Is Not A Drill’, Live from Prague.
Saint Omer
Winner of the Silver Lion and Best Debut Feature at Venice 2022, this French drama follows a novelist who attends the trial of Laurence Coly at the Saint-Omer Criminal Court to use her story to write a modern-day adaptation of the ancient myth of Medea, but things don’t go as expected.
The Machine
A middle-aged American man known for a wild story involving Russia and his 1999 party boy days is suddenly thrown back into the country in a fight for his life in this action-comedy.
Festivals
Screenwave International Film Festival
Coffs Harbour & Bellingen: 20 April-5 May
-Feature films and documentaries.
Screen Forever 37
Gold Coast, Queensland: 3-5 May
Melbourne International Animation Festival
Melbourne: 7-14 May
-Animated films for kids and adults.
Setting Sun Film Festival
Yarraville, VIC: 11-21 May
-The premier international film festival in Melbourne’s West and one of the largest short film festivals in Melbourne.
Very Short Film Festival
Tasmania: 26 May
-Two to five-minute films relating to the theme ‘chip’.
South African Film Festival
Australia & New Zealand: May
-South African films, and films by South African directors.
World Monologue Film Festival
Online only: May
-Films featuring only one-take monologues.
Children’s International Film Festival (CHIFF)
Melbourne and Sydney: May/June
-CHIFF brings a curated selection of feature and short local and international cinema dedicated to the youngest film buffs.
German Film Festival
Various cities:
Sydney: 2-24 May
Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra: 3-24 May
Melbourne, Brisbane, Byron Bay: 4-24 May
-The latest and greatest German films and films by German directors.
