5 Hidden Masterpieces for May on Hollywood Suite

Looking for something unique to watch this May? I’m excited to highlight five unique under-the-radar premiere titles from across our channels that are available on demand and guaranteed to delight movie lovers.

by Cam Maitland, Hollywood Suite Film and Content Specialist

Cloud (2024)

The latest from Japan’s master of the slow-burning thriller, writer-director Kiyoshi Kurosawa, focuses on the world of online resellers and shows one man’s life spiralling into danger. Starring award-winning actor Masaki Suda, this movie begins as a character study but takes a hard left turn that will leave you haunted. Like Kurosawa’s iconic films Pulse (2001) and Cure (1997) this movie finds thrills and tension in the isolation of modern life and will have you questioning your next post online. 

The Replacement Killers (1998)

Underappreciated in its time, this unique team-up from director Antoine Fuqua and executive producer John Woo offers a distinctly American take on Hong Kong-style action. The story of an assassin who spares a father and faces the wrath of his boss was crafted as a vehicle for the Hollywood debut of Chow Yun-Fat but also offers a surprising, equally violent turn from recent Academy Award winner Mira Sorvino. Modern action fans note it’s one of the better American riffs on Woo’s iconic style and a solid feature debut for music video director Antoine Fuqua who remains one of the biggest names in action filmmaking. 

Proof (2005)

Gwyneth Paltrow might be out of retirement, but it still feels like ages since we’ve a showcase for her acting like this one that re-teams her with her Shakespeare In Love director John Madden. This adaptation of a Pulitzer Prize-winning play sees Paltrow play the daughter of a recently deceased mathematician (Anthony Hopkins) struggling with grief, memories and a dogged ex-student (Jake Gyllenhaal) who is convinced her father made a big discovery in spite of his mental illness. Beyond Paltrow’s Golden Globe nominated performance, this film is also beloved in academic communities for its unrivaled look into the lives and works of mathematicians.

Coma (1978)

Michael Crichton followed up his directorial debut Westworld (1973) with this delightful paranoid thriller starring Geneviève Bujold and Michael Douglas. Turning away from his own novels, Crichton adapts Robin Cook’s hit book and injects some of his own medical school training into the procedural elements, something he’d return to in co-creating ER. But, beyond its gritty 70s realism, Coma is often best remembered for some of the surreal imagery Crichton created in its disturbing climax. 

Human Desire (1954) 

If you were to go off the Rotten Tomatoes score, based on contemporaneous reviews, you might give a miss to this ahead-of-its-time crime thriller from director Fritz Lang. Lang adapts an 1890 novel from Émile Zola with his typical fatalistic tone and stylistic flourishes that helped define film noir in America. Canadian-born noir staple Glenn Ford and character actor Broderick Crawford do a great job as battling lotharios, but it’s Gloria Grahame’s turn as a driven-but-troubled wife, and potential femme fatale, that makes most people return again and again to this classic.