David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived, Albert Brooks: Defending My Life & more documentaries to stream this month
DAVID HOLMES: THE BOY WHO LIVED
First on Showmax | Stream now
Nominated for the 2024 BAFTA for Single Documentary, David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived is the story of the friendship between Daniel Radcliffe and his stunt double in Harry Potter, who was paralysed in a tragic on-set accident on the penultimate film.
The HBO documentary has a 94% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes. In their five-star review, The Guardian writes, “This incredibly emotional film paints a moving portrait of Daniel Radcliffe’s double – and the accident that left him paralysed. It’s a smart study of friendship, kindness and guilt.”
ALBERT BROOKS: DEFENDING MY LIFE
First on Showmax | Stream from Wednesday, 19 June
Nominated for a 2024 Producers Guild of America Award, Albert Brooks: Defending My Life is an HBO documentary from Oscar-nominated director Rob Reiner (A Few Good Men) about his best friend – comedian, actor, and filmmaker Albert Brooks.
As The Atlantic says, “The funniest people on the planet think there’s no funnier person than Albert Brooks.” This is backed up by the documentary’s star-studded cast, which includes the likes of Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, Conan O’Brien, Larry David, Jonah Hill, Judd Apatow, Tiffany Haddish, Sarah Silverman, Jon Stewart, and more.
Albert Brooks: Defending My Life has a 97% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with CNN hailing it as, “a warm and wonderful trip down memory lane for those who know Brooks’ work, and a grand introduction for those who don’t.”
As The Daily Beast put it, “Watch the new Albert Brooks doc and laugh your ass off.”
THE JANES
Stream from Wednesday, 12 June on Showmax
Defying the state legislature that outlawed abortion, the Catholic Church that condemned it, and the Chicago Mob that was profiting from it, the members of Jane risked their personal and professional lives to support women with unwanted pregnancies in the pre-Roe v Wade era.
The Janes won Emmys for Best Documentary, Best Social Issues Documentary and Outstanding Direction for Tia Lessen and Emma Pildes. The documentary also has a 100% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics’ consensus says: “Frighteningly timely and powerfully persuasive, The Janes offers a unique opportunity to look back at a pivotal chapter in American history through the eyes of those who helped define it.”
Showmax is also streaming the dramatised film version, Call Jane, starring Elizabeth Banks and Sigourney Weaver.
SHADOWLAND S1
Binge now on Showmax
Inspired by reporting in The Atlantic magazine, Shadowland sees legendary non-fiction filmmaker Joe Berlinger send documentary teams across America to embed with subjects who have embraced ‘conspiracy theories.’
These include a beloved rural Pennsylvania pizza shop owner facing 20 years in prison for her role in the January 6th United States Capitol building attack, an anti-vaccine activist pushing a dangerous fake cure for Covid-19, and a mother divorcing her husband because she fears his beliefs put their children’s lives in danger.
Shadowland was named Best Documentary Series at the Telly Awards, with Time calling it “terrifying” and Decider hailing it as “fascinating, upsetting, sometimes depressing, sometimes revelatory journalism.”
Berlinger was nominated for an Oscar and Emmy for Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory and won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award for Brother’s Keeper, the SXSW Audience Award for Under African Skies, the True Vision Award at True/False for Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, and Critics’ Choice Real TV awards for Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes and Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich, among many other accolades.
EVERYTHING ON SHOWMAX IN JUNE
Other highlights include:
- All 51 UEFA EURO 2024 games (from 14 June) on Showmax Premier League
- The second season of the Emmy-winning fantasy House of the Dragon (from 17 June)
- Sonic The Hedgehog spinoff series Knuckles, the most-watched kids and family title ever on Paramount+ (from 14 June)
- The #1 box office hit Expend4bles, starring Jason Statham, Sylvester Stallone, 50 Cent, Megan Fox and more (from 17 June)
- The 2024 BAFTA-nominated reality series My Mom, Your Dad, hosted by Yvonne Orji (from 13 June)
- The S2 reunion of the smash hit reality TV show The Mommy Club (from 10 June) and the new Showmax Original reality series Born Into Fame (from 18 June)
Find out more here: stories.showmax.com/za/what-to-watch-on-showmax-in-june-2024
