Every Movie on Kanopy in May 2024

In a generation where streaming services rule the world, the small-scale but high-quality Kanopy is fast proving itself worthy of mention in the same sentence as Hulu, Prime Video, and Disney+. Library members can get the streaming service for free, and considering how many good films they have on hand, with more every month, it sure seems like a strong bargain.

As April showers prepare to give way to May flowers, a new batch of Hollywood classics, foreign films, and indie darlings will join the service next month. Today, we’re counting down the best of the best to come to Kanopy in May.

Manhunter (1986)

Streaming on May 3

In 1991, Jonathan Demme’s The Silence of the Lambs became a horror classic, a smash hit, and an unexpected Oscar juggernaut, but the iconic Hannibal Lecter had actually seen his big screen debut five years before. Thomas Harris’s beloved novel Red Dragon was adapted into Manhunter by Michael Mann, and even though it initially underperformed, time has been incredibly kind to it; some even consider it on par with The Silence of the Lambs.

The film stars CSI’s William Petersen as FBI agent Will Graham, brought out of retirement to investigate a serial killer known as the Tooth Fairy. To understand the mind of such a monster, Graham reluctantly turns to Hannibal the Cannibal (Brian Cox) for help, in spite of the fact that Hannibal once tried to kill him. As one should expect from a Thomas Harris adaptation, the film is less shocking than skin-crawling and chilling, and as one should similarly expect from a Michael Mann joint, the visuals and exhaustive attention to detail are immaculate. Manhunter is streaming on Kanopy on May 3.

Manhunter

Release Date: August 14, 1986
Runtime: 119

The Third Man (1950)

Streaming on May 3

Few films encapsulate the entire notion of film noir the way The Third Man does. This 1949 masterpiece is considered one of the greatest British films of all time, and for good reason; it’s a twisting, unpredictable thriller defined by its bleakness while still being exciting. The plot kicks into gear when American author Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten) travels to post-WWII Vienna to investigate the apparent murder of his friend, Harry Lime (Orson Welles).

While many already know the iconic midpoint plot twist, we’ll leave newcomers to discover it for themselves. But suffice it to say, this is as sharply written and meticulously crafted as any film to exist in the entire noir genre. Few films have so effortlessly evoked the era’s post-war cynicism, and the expressionistic black-and-white cinematography (which won an Oscar) evokes time and place with astonishing skill. Noir enthusiasts and newcomers alike will delight in The Third Man. The Third Man is streaming on Kanopy on May 3.

The Third Man

Release Date: February 1, 1950
Director: Carol Reed
Cast: Orson Welles , Joseph Cotten , Alida Valli , Trevor Howard , Paul Hörbiger
Runtime: 93 Minutes
Main Genre: Noir

Sometimes I Think About Dying (2024)

Streaming on May 3

One of the year’s most underrated indie gems so far was the Sundance breakout Sometimes I Think About Dying, which saw Daisy Ridley, the star of the Star Wars sequel trilogy, take on a role almost entirely unlike Rey. She stars as Fran, an office worker with social anxiety who struggles to connect with her co-workers and sometimes daydreams about her own death. The arrival of a new co-worker, the outgoing Robert, gradually forces Fran out of her shell.

Daisy Ridley in a sweater watching the computer in Sometimes I Think About Dying

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Here is a premise that so easily could’ve been twee, but it’s a quiet little film that’s refreshing in its small scale. There are no melodramatic plot twists or contrivances; it’s about a shy young woman simply finding the courage to engage in conversation and how, for those dealing with anxiety, a small step like that is a victory. But the film belongs to Ridley, who gives a lovely performance that’s powerful in how internalized it is. She says so much in her face, often without saying a word, and unlike too many films about the subject, it’s a performance that actually accurately captures social anxiety. Sometimes I Think About Dying is streaming on Kanopy on May 3.

Farewell My Concubine (1993)

Streaming on May 3

Despite receiving two Oscar nominations and winning the Palme d’Or at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival, Farewell My Concubine (which was restored to 4K last year) still somehow remains one of the most unsung of the great foreign films. In 1924, two young Hong Kong boys met at an opera school and thus began a decades-long friendship that soon got put to the test when they both fell for a courtesan (Chinese legend Gong Li). On its own, it’s a powerful story of friendship and the ways in which performance and reality intertwine.

But settling with just this isn’t enough for director Chen Kaige, who stages this smaller, personal story against nearly 70 years of Chinese history. The tumultuous friendship between the boys functions as a sort of microcosm of the century’s changing social trends, which would see an invasion from the Japanese, a communist takeover, and a Cultural Revolution. And miraculously, it doesn’t feel like a film that bites off more than it can chew; it’s epic, audacious, and amazing. Farewell My Concubine is streaming on Kanopy on May 3.

Peeping Tom (1962)

Streaming on May 3

British directing legend Michael Powell saw some of the most influential films in history, with a lineup that includes A Matter of Life and Death, Black Narcissus, and The Red Shoes. And there’s an irony to the fact that Peeping Tom, a film so heavily lambasted upon its release that it effectively ended his career, might have been his most influential of all. In the same year that Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho was released, Peeping Tom proved every bit an insightful commentary on voyeurism, and without it, the slasher genre might not exist at all.

The film centers around a serial killer who murders women while filming their dying expressions of fear with his own portable camera. Over the course of the runtime, the killer edits the various reels of footage together to make what’s effectively his own snuff film, which gets the interest of another young woman, but she soon discovers how much danger she’s in. History has rarely been as kind to a film as it has for Peeping Tom; what seemed unnecessarily shocking and lurid in the ’60s now seems ahead of its time. It’s a thoughtful contemplation of how the act of “watching” a film is itself its own form of voyeurism, and it’s a chilling glimpse into the mind of a disturbed man.

Peeping Tom

Release Date: May 15, 1962
Director: Michael Powell
Cast: Karlheinz Böhm , Moira Shearer , Miles Malleson , Esmond Knight
Runtime: 1h 41m

For a complete list of every film coming to Kanopy in May 2024, check out the list below:

Every Movie on Kanopy in May 2024

Manhunter (1986)