The 3 best movies you can now watch at home

With most theaters still closed due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, this year’s movie season is still up in the air. But film releases have not slowed down. Each weekend, on streaming services and through “virtual theatrical” releases, new and newly available movies arrive to delight cinephiles of all stripes.

This weekend’s best offerings are a trio of delights. There’s a restoration of an Italian comedy about finding yourself while on a (rather picturesque) journey. There’s an understated but affecting film about the friendship between two young women. And a dystopian sci-fi thriller with social concerns on its mind is newly available to stream, too. (Most of the films that were newly released in recent weeks are also still available to watch.)

Here are the best movies, from a range of genres, that premiered this week and are available to watch at home — for a few bucks on digital services, through virtual theatrical engagements, or to subscribers on streaming platforms.

Italian director Nanni Moretti’s newly restored 1993 comedy follows the director through a wry and not at all self-serious journey of discovery — or, really, three different journeys. He rides his scooter through Rome, thinking about movies and running into, of all people, Jennifer Beals (playing herself). Then, in search of somewhere to work peacefully, he travels with a friend between islands. And finally, he starts looking for a doctor who can help him cure a rash on his skin. Caro Diario (in English, “Dear Diary”) was critically lauded upon its release; it’s a fun, refreshing film for those yearning for a peek of the sunny Italian countryside and some musings on cinema and the self.

How to watch it: Caro Diario is playing in a “virtual theatrical” release through Film at Lincoln Center. (You will receive a link after buying a virtual ticket.) See the theater’s website for details.

Mara (Tallie Medel) and Jo (Norma Kuhling) have been friends since they were 14. Now, as young women in New York, their friendship has endured. But free-spirited Jo is a drain on practical Mara, and the relationship verges on co-dependent. Fourteen tracks the slow unraveling of their relationship through a series of scenes and depends on the audience to connect the dots between the events. The result is an engaging and at times heartrending meditation on friendship, growing apart, and what we owe to one another.

How to watch it: Fourteen is opening in virtual theaters this week, and a list of participating theaters is available on the Grasshopper Films website. (You’ll receive a rental link, and profits help support the independent theater you select on the page.)

Neill Blomkamp’s 2009 sci-fi thriller District 9 is an allegorical tale, and one with ongoing resonance. Decades before the story begins, more than a million weak and malnourished aliens come to earth to escape their dying planet. They’re resettled into a camp in an area called District 9, which by now has turned into a slum managed by a weapons manufacturer called Multi-National United. MNU is mostly interested in the aliens’ technology. But things get interesting when an employee (played by Sharlto Copley) contracts a virus that starts to turn him into one of the aliens and is forced to hide in District 9. It’s an exciting and thought-provoking film to revisit, and one with something to say to present-day global concerns.

How to watch it: District 9 is newly available on Netflix. You can also rent or purchase it on platforms including iTunes, Amazon, YouTube, Google Play, and Vudu.