All The Great Stuff Coming To Hulu In March 2023

Hulu’s March 300-pound gorilla event is of course this year’s Academy Awards ceremony and the associated programs bracketing that event.  Frankly, this writer would love Michelle Yeoh to win the Best Actress Award for “Everything Everywhere All At Once” if only to give racist Hollywood casting directors a public middle finger.  But it’s more likely the same old same old Oscar voters will give the award to Cate Blanchett for her predatory lesbian role or Michelle Williams’ attempt at playing an unnamed Jewish mother.  

For those who want to “Nope” out of Oscar hoopla (and not gripe about Jordan Peele’s film getting screwed over by the Oscars), Hulu has some interesting stuff coming out this March.  Kerry Washington and Delroy Lindo headline a new comedy series about an ex-con trying to finally re-integrate into society with the help of his long-suffering daughter.  A notorious serial killer case gets retold from the experiences of the female reporters, played here by Keira Knightley and Carrie Coon, who broke the story.  A new musical romantic comedy series set in an end of the 20th century New York City boasts among its creators talent involved with such projects as “Dear Evan Hansen” and “Frozen.”   But if readers insist on playing “watch the Oscar nominees” bingo, Ruben Ostlund’s divisive eat the rich satire gets its streaming premiere here.

Incidentally, Andrew Bujalski’s recent “There There,” a film of interlocked two-hander conversations made under COVID lockdown conditions, is also getting a Hulu premiere this month.  Be warned the onscreen results are only intermittently effective, as the only compelling and gripping conversations generally occur when there aren’t any tech bro representatives on screen.  The improvised musical interludes are still fun, though. 

March 1

Review: Dangerous Beauty

Dangerous Beauty–In 16th century Venice, well-born Veronica Franco (Catherine McCormack) becomes a courtesan at the urging of her mother (Jacqueline Bisset) rather than suffer poverty or arranged marriage.  Aside from the sex, this popular courtesan provides her clients with everything from intellectual companionship to poetry duels.  But those jealous of Franco’s power soon try to destroy her by having the Church investigate Franco for allegedly practicing witchcraft.

The Eyes Of My Mother–Nicolas Pesce’s directorial debut is a horror film where many of the story’s disturbing elements are left to the viewer’s imagination.  On an isolated rural farm, young Francisca lives with her emotionally absent father and a mother who used to be a surgeon in Portugal.  For entertainment, the mother teaches her daughter the art of dissection and the wonders of the human body.  The child’s life gets upended by the arrival of a threatening stranger named Charlie, a visit that ends with Francisca’s mother dead and a mutilated Charlie held prisoner in the barn.  What Francisca does as the years pass, the viewer must see (in the mind’s eye) for themselves.

The Ides Of March–In this political drama directed by George Clooney, Pennsylvania Governor and idealistic liberal Mike Morris (Clooney) decides to run for the U.S. presidency.  Among his staff is ambitious junior campaign manager Stephen Meyers (Ryan Gosling).  During the pressure cooker of the Ohio primary, the campaigns of both Morris and opponent Senator Ted Pullman vie for the endorsement of Senator Franklin Thompson to clinch the nomination.  Morris wants to run a clean campaign and win, but circumstances threaten to sink his campaign.  What role will Meyers’ own self-interest play in Morris’ political future?

Unstoppable–Tony Scott (“Top Gun: Maverick”) directed this disaster drama based on an unfortunately true story.  A locomotive accidentally chugs off at breakneck speed while pulling a load of highly toxic molten phenol.  The only hope to prevent the train’s derailment and the resulting environmental disaster lies with the efforts of veteran engineer Frank (Denzel Washington) and young conductor Will (Chris Pine) to find a way to safely stop the train.

The Wife–In this adaptation of Meg Wolitzer’s titular novel, successful novelist Joe Castleman (Jonathan Pryce) is about to cap an incredible literary career by being awarded the Nobel Prize.  But instead of celebrating, wife Joan Castleman (Glenn Close) uses the occasion to reassess her decades of marriage to Joe.  Joan has regularly tended to Joe’s needs ahead of her own over the years.  But has the price of living such a life included the sacrifice of her own literary talents?      

March 3

Coming to Hulu in March is this comedy, Triangle of Sadness

Gulmohar–For generations, the Batra family has made their Delhi home Gulmohar their place of residence.  At a party to celebrate Gulmohar before it gets redeveloped, the Batra matriarch announces the home is getting sold and the family has four days to pack up everything they want to take with them on their move to a new city.  However, long-repressed feelings and unacknowledged family secrets threaten to complicate the packing process.

Triangle Of Sadness–Ruben Ostlund’s divisive Palme d’Or winning dark comedy tells the story of two models, Carl and Yaya, who may have started dating but are still working out the rules of their relationship.  When the duo get invited to promote a cruise filled with rich people on social media, the extreme social divisions that mark the relationships between passengers and crew soon make themselves felt.  But those divisions suffer a sudden change after a disaster befalls the ship.

March 6

Mel Brooks’ History Of The World Part II–After a 40-year wait, comedy director Mel Brooks’ sequel to his “History Of The World Part I” escapes development hell and arrives as a streaming mini-series.  And Brooks’ comic world history revue will come to life thanks to a cast that includes Nick Kroll, Wanda Sykes, Ike Barenholtz, Quinta Brunson, Kumail Nanjiani, Jack Black, Pamela Adlon, and lots more.  There won’t be any “Hitler On Ice” sequences, but you can expect sketches poking fun at the Crucifixion, the Civil War, and the Russian Revolution. 

March 10

The New York Times Presents: Sin Eater–This documentary mini-series debuts on Hulu in March tells the story of Hollywood P.I. Anthony Pellicano.  Back in the 1990s, the man known as Hollywood’s dirtiest private investigator was the person the rich and powerful hired to ensure the problems created by their bad behavior went away.  Any tactic was fair game to help Pellicano get the job done, regardless of its negative effects on problem makers’ lives.  Eventually, Pellicano got arrested and imprisoned while his rich clients got away relatively scot free.  Now the former detective is talking, and the filmmakers have receipts including previously unaired audio recordings of well-known Hollywood stars and power brokers. 

UnPrisoned Season 1–Kerry Washington acts as executive producer and star for this new comedy series.  Paige (Washington) is a relationship therapist and single mom to son Finn.  But her life routine gets upended when her father Edwin (Delroy Lindo) shows up on her doorstep.  The older man has finished serving a 17-year prison sentence and wants to live with her and Finn.  Since she was a child, Paige has gotten used to not having Edwin around thanks to his being a criminal recidivist.  But this time, Edwin wants to make a real go of staying on the outside and being there for his family.  The therapist eventually agrees, but will she regret her decision?

Watcher–Julia (Maika Monroe, “It Follows”) is an actress who’s just moved to Bucharest with her marketing executive husband.  Because her husband’s caught up with his job and she can’t speak Romanian, all she can do in the new city is just watch and observe.  Piling onto the actress’ unease is the news that a serial killer is stalking Bucharest. Could the unknown man constantly looking at Julia through the window be the killer?  For that matter, is Julia truly being stalked or has her social isolation and growing paranoia gotten the better of her?

UnPrisoned is a comedy coming to Hulu in March

March 15

Flux Gourmet–-Director Peter Strickland’s (“The Duke Of Burgundy,” “In Fabric”) newest bit of cinematic weirdness takes viewers to the Sonic Catering Institute.  This art organization is dedicated to the artful extraction of sounds from various foods.  Journalist Stones has been hired by the Institute to follow and document Elle di Elle’s avant garde culinary collective during their residency at the Institute.  However, the job is complicated by Elle’s penchant for stubbornly butting heads with people and Stones’ preoccupation with worrying about publicly letting loose with a very malodorous fart.

In The Fade–Diane Kruger won a Best Actress award at Cannes for her lead performance in Fatih Akin’s contemporary drama.  Katja Sekerci’s (Kruger) happy life with her Kurdish husband and her son in Hamburg’s Turkish quarter gets shattered thanks to a nail bomb attack that takes both of her loved ones’ lives.  The perpetrators turn out to be a young married neo-Nazi couple.  However, the legal system’s failure to convict the couple breaks Katja…until she decides to do whatever it takes to obtain some measure of justice for her loss.

March 16

Official Competition–Auteurist director Lola Cuevas (Penelope Cruz) has been hired by wealthy Humberto Suarez to direct a film adaptation of a critically acclaimed literary work which the rich man has never read but is interested in using to establish his legacy.  To make the film, Cuevas brings in actors Felix Rivero (Antonio Banderas) and Ivan Torres (Oscar Martinez) to play the lead characters.  However, Rivero and Torres quickly annoy each other with their individual actors’ neuroses.  Cuevas doesn’t help matters with her mind games with her lead actors.  Those games seem more about her exercising power over her actors instead of getting at the script’s truths.  Will a film actually get made?

March 17

Boston Strangler–Yes, this isn’t the first cinematic dramatization of Boston’s notorious “Silk Stocking Murders” case and the man who perpetrated them.  But unlike the earlier film’s copaganda slant, this film focuses on Loretta McLaughlin (Keira Knightley) and Jean Cole (Carrie Coon).  These two female reporters for the Record American would write a four-part series that not only connected the dots of the murderer’s assorted killings but even coined his notorious nickname.  However, getting to that point meant dealing with professional siloing, police sexism, and the possibility of retaliation from the Strangler himself.

Boston Strangler on Hulu in March

March 20

Inu-Oh–This acclaimed animated rock musical set in 14th century Japan comes from the mind of visionary director Masaaki Yuasa comes to Hulu in March.  Inu-Oh may come from an esteemed family, but thanks to an ancient curse, he’s a social pariah.  Life seems bleak until he meets the blind musician Tomona and is inspired to dance by the sightless priest’s music.  The two young men soon become business partners who put on popular and electrifying concerts.  Yet where do their creative gifts come from?

March 22

Rurangi Season 2–It’s the new Hulu season of the International Emmy Award-winning limited series from New Zealand.  Transgender activist Caz Davis has returned home to the titular remote and politically divided dairy community.  He’s hoping to reconnect with his estranged father, who hadn’t heard from him since he’d transitioned.  If the new season logline’s mention of an intensifying culture war among transgender activists, farmers, and Maori is any indication, it doesn’t sound as if Davis’ reconnection process has gone smoothly.  Now add into the mix ancestors with unfinished business approaching the living, and things are about to get interesting.

March 23

Call Jane–Phyllis Nagy’s (“Carol”) directorial debut recounts the story of the Jane Collective, an underground group of Chicago women dedicated to helping pregnant women obtain safe abortions and aftercare at a time when administering abortions was illegal in America.  Joy (Elizabeth Banks), a lawyer’s wife, contacts the Collective after doctors refuse to grant her a life-saving abortion.  She soon goes from being a Jane client to becoming a part of the Collective helping other women who need abortions.  As Joy does so, she slowly becomes aware of her own personal strengths.

The Lesson Is Murder—This docuseries follows Dr. Bryanna Fox, a psychological criminologist and ex-FBI special agent turned university teacher.  Dr. Fox and her graduate student class study convicted murderers to identify their personality traits and develop psychological profiles in hopes of understanding why a killer kills.

March 24

Up Here–This musical romantic comedy series comes from Steven Levenson (“Dear Evan Hansen”) and Danielle Sanchez-Witzel (“The Carmichael Show”) with original songs written by the duo of Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez (“Frozen,” “WandaVision”).  It’s late 1999 in New York City.  Lindsay (Mae Whitman) and Miguel (Carlos Valdes) are two ordinary people who meet and fall in love.  But what’s keeping them from reaching their happy ending might very well be themselves…thanks to the memories, obsessions, and fantasies each person carries within them.

March 30

Hunt–Emmy Award-winning actor Lee Jung-jae (“Squid Game”) stars in and directs this historic spy thriller based on South Korea’s 1980s Security Planning.  The Korean Spy Agency learns a North Korean mole codenamed Donglim is deeply embedded within the agency.  Tasked with uncovering the mole are Foreign Unit chief Park Pyong-Ho (Lee) and Domestic Unit chief Kim Jeong-do.  Both men are quite good at their jobs, but they’re also rivals.  It’s also not clear with all the double- and triple-crosses occurring whether one of the two spy chiefs might actually be Donglim.

RapCaviar Presents–This new docuseries based on the Spotify playlist of the same name examines current issues in the world of hip-hop.  Conversations among both chart-topping artists and emerging musicians will be key to the series.  Among the participants will be Tyler The Creator, City Girls, Roddy Ricch, and Pharrell Williams.

March 31

Rye Lane–This romantic comedy coming to Hulu in March follows two 20-somethings on an eventful day in the Peckham and Brixton districts of South London.  Reserved Dom can’t move on after learning his supposed girlfriend Gia has been two-timing him with his best friend Eric.  The fallout from outspoken Yas’ bad breakup with a pretentious artist boyfriend has left her ready to move on.  When the pair meet in an art gallery, the duo connect and support each other as they deal with their toxic exes…and maybe be open to future romance.