Paramount+ has more than its fair share of hidden gems in its film library. Three of the streaming service’s best offerings include the directorial debut of one of the 21st century’s best filmmakers, a crime drama led by a refreshingly against-type Tom Hanks and one of the greatest and most underrated movies that Harrison Ford has ever made. The platform, in other words, has a wide variety of choices.
You could not go wrong this weekend watching any of these three hidden gems, though, all of which are streaming now on Paramount+.
“The Virgin Suicides” (1999)
Sofia Coppola‘s feature directorial debut, “The Virgin Suicides,” is streaming now on Paramount+, and you would be hard-pressed to find any other film like it on the streaming service. Based on Jeffrey Eugenides’ novel of the same name, the film follows a group of adolescent sisters (led by Kirsten Dunst‘s Lux) as they grow up in the suburbs of 1975 Detroit under the strict thumb of their suffocating parents (James Woods and Kathleen Turner), all while beguiling a group of local boys whose lives are forever changed by them.
Infused with beautiful, rich colors by cinematographer Ed Lachman, “The Virgin Suicides” tackles its tight-rope story with the delicacy and observant distance that it demands. Equal parts hazy, dreamlike and nightmarish, it is a film that comes and goes before you’re even prepared for it to end — leaving only its sudden absence in its wake. Just like youth. Just like innocence.
“Road to Perdition” (2002)
Sam Mendes‘ 2002 crime drama “Road to Perdition” is not just a moving, gripping film in its own right, it is also one of the best comic book adaptations Hollywood has ever produced. Based on the DC Comics graphic novel of the same name, the film follows a mob enforcer (Tom Hanks) who is forced to take his son (Tyler Hoechlin) on the run with him after his boss’ (Paul Newman) paranoid son (Daniel Craig) murders the rest of their family.
Both a revenge drama and a tragic meditation on parenting, “Road to Perdition” unfolds with a fatalistic, measured kind of grace, one which makes the film’s bursts of violence just come across as all the more brutal and unnecessary. From it emerges a film not just about the corrosive nature of violence, but also about the impossibility of trying to protect your kids from the evils of the world while still engaging with them yourself. It’s underrated — and a home-run hit for everyone involved.
“Witness” (1985)
Speaking of underrated, understated genre classics, 1985’s “Witness” is one of the best films of Harrison Ford‘s career and one of the highlights of director Peter Weir‘s criminally under-appreciated filmography. Written by Earl W. Wallace and William Kelley, the neo-noir thriller follows a police detective (Ford) who is tasked with protecting an Amish woman (Kelly McGillis) and her young son (Lukas Haas) after the latter witnesses the killing of an undercover policeman at a Philadelphia train station.
Made with an astonishingly effective level of directorial control and patience, “Witness” is an engrossing thriller that thrives on the specificity of its story and on the strength of Ford’s lead performance, which earned the movie star his sole Oscar nomination to date.
