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What to stream: Go your own way with films of indie auteur Gregg Araki

Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service on

Published in Entertainment News

American indie icon Gregg Araki’s 12th feature film hits theaters this week. “I Want Your Sex” is a daring, campy and funny exploration of sexual power dynamics in the workplace, starring a never-better Olivia Wilde and Cooper Hoffman in a go-for-broke performance. It’s yet another installment in the Araki filmography that feels totally singular and totally him, a reflection of his perspective and ethos that made him a pioneer of the New Queer Cinema movement of the 1990s.

If “I Want Your Sex” is your first foray into his work, or if you’re feeling Araki-curious in advance of this film’s release, here’s a guide to his filmography and where to stream it.

A Southern California born, bred and educated filmmaker, Araki’s first two micro-budget features are currently not available to stream. But his 1992 film, “The Living End,” made for $25,000, and premiered at Sundance. It’s a sort of gay “Thelma & Louise,” a road dramedy about two HIV positive gay men who go on the lam after killing a police officer. Stream it on Kanopy or check it out on the Prime Video streaming channel for Strand Releasing, an auteur-driven indie film distributor.

Araki followed that up with three films dubbed the “Teenage Apocalypse” trilogy: “Totally F***ed Up” (1993), which Araki calls a “cross between avant-garde experimental cinema and a queer John Hughes flick”; “The Doom Generation” (1995), a black comedy crime thriller starring James Duval, Rose McGowan and Jonathan Schaech; and “Nowhere” (1997), a surrealist drama following a day with a group of L.A. college students, including Ryan Phillippe, Mena Suvari, Rachel True, Denise Richards and Duval. The Teenage Apocalypse trilogy is available to stream on Kanopy, the Criterion Channel and through the Strand Releasing channel on Prime Video.

He followed that up with the 1999 love triangle exploration “Splendor,” inspired by the screwball comedies of the 1940s and ‘50s, starring Kathleen Robertson, Schaech and Matt Keeslar. Stream it on Tubi. His 2004 coming-of-age drama “Mysterious Skin” starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Brady Corbet might be his most well-known film. Rent it on all digital platforms or stream it on the Strand channel.

 

His 2007 stoner comedy “Smiley Face,” written by Dylan Haggerty and starring Anna Faris, is a cult favorite. Stream it on Prime Video or Tubi. In 2010, he made “Kaboom,” which won the very first Queer Palm award at the Cannes Film Festival. The film stars Thomas Dekker, Juno Temple, Haley Bennett and Duval and follows a sexually adventurous group of college kids poking around a cult. Stream it on Kanopy.

In 2014, Araki released “White Bird in a Blizzard,” a heightened family drama starring Shailene Woodley navigating high school life after her mother (Eva Green) disappears. The film is based on the book by Laura Kasischke. Stream it on Netflix, Kanopy and Tubi.

For the past decade, Araki has focused on television, directing episodes of “American Crime,” “Riverdale,” “13 Reasons Why” and “American Gigolo,” but “I Want Your Sex” sees his return to the big screen. Check out the filmography of this American master who never sold out, and is still getting his due.

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