Everyone seems very excited about Alfonso Cuarón's first feature film in seven years, Gravity. It currently has a Tomatometer Rating of 98%, with many critics echoing Joe Morgenstern's assertion that "motion pictures have been with us since the middle of the 19th century, but there's never been one like Gravity." The film apparently made $17 million on opening day, and is on pace to earn $50 million this weekend.
Seems like a good time to catch up with Cuarón's previous work. Here are six Cuarón films currently available for streaming through subscription or pay-per-view services, from oldest to newest. If you haven't seen Children of Men, scroll down to the end of the list and watch it immediately (what have you been doing these past seven years?) I was surprised that the portmanteau film Paris, je t'taime / Paris, I Love You was not currently streaming; please let me know in the comments if I'm wrong about that. When films are available on multiple services, I'll just provide a link to the least expensive option.
Posters and Synopses from The Movie Database
Tomás Tomás (Giménez Cacho) is a young yuppie playboy. Silvia (Liubomirova), the victim of one of his adventures, tries to get back at him by typing "positive" on his AIDS test. Tomás, trying to end his life, meets Clarissa (Ramírez), a flight attendant, who is also trying to kill herself after finding out her fiance is having an affair.
When her father enlists to fight for the British in WWI, young Sara Crewe goes to New York to attend the same boarding school her late mother attended. She soon clashes with the severe headmistress, Miss Minchin, who attempts to stifle Sara's creativity and sense of self- worth.
Based on Charles Dickens' timeless tale, this is a story of the love of a man for an unreachable woman. Updated to modern day New York City, the story concerns a man of modest background who falls in love with a rich girl. But when a mysterious benefactor greenlights the man to make his dreams come true, everything done has the ultimate goal of making Estella fall in love with him.
Y Tu Mamá También (Alfonso Cuarón, Mexico, 2001, 106 minutes)Y Tu Mamá También (English: "And Your Mother, Too") is a coming-of-age story about two teenage boys taking a road trip with an older woman. When teenagers Tenoch (Diego Luna) and Julio (Gael Garcia Bernal) meet the alluring, older Luisa (Maribel Verdu) at a wedding, they try to impress her with stories of a road trip to a secret beach, and ultimately convince her to come with them. What follows is an escapade involving seduction, conflict, and the harsh realities of poverty set in 1999 against the backdrop of the political and economic realities of present-day Mexico, specifically at the end of the uninterrupted 71-year line of Mexican presidents from the Institutional Revolutionary Party, and the rise of the opposition headed by Vicente Fox.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Alfonso Cuarón, UK/USA, 2004, 141 minutes)Harry, Ron and Hermione return to Hogwarts for a third adventure-and-magic-filled year in this follow-up to the first two Potter blockbusters. Harry comes face-to-face with danger yet again, this time in the form of escaped convict Sirius Black. In a bid for help, Harry turns to sympathetic Professor Lupin -- but will it be enough?
In 2027, in a chaotic world in which humans can no longer procreate, a former activist agrees to help transport a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea, where her child's birth may help scientists save the future of humankind.
