14 Things To Stream To Make You Proud You’re Single This Valentine’s
Single today and stuck at home? Here's a streaming guide just for you.
It’s Valentine’s day, you’re single and all your friends are out with their partners. So while you stay at home scrolling between the same 3 dating apps hoping for a miracle, here’s 14 things to stream to make you feel a bit better about being single, or take your mind off it altogether.
Appropriate Behaviour
For all my fellow single bisexuals sitting pretty by themselves this Valentines– first of all, call me. Secondly, watch Appropriate Behaviour. Directed by Iranian-American bisexual legend, Desiree Akhavan, the film follows Shirin (played by Akhavan) and her dating misadventures as she struggles to balance being the perfect Persian daughter with her secret dating life. On the surface, it may seem like a romance film, but Appropriate Behaviour is really about keeping your feet firm in your individual identity when you don’t have a cliche to cling to. Streeam it on Youtube.
Birds of Prey
Apart from being the best superhero film of 2020, Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) is first and foremost about the vibrant, necessary, messy but ultimately fulfilling work of redefining your relationship with yourself and the world after getting out of a bad relationship. Completely absent of the male gaze, BOP is about finding family in the women and friends who have your back and kicking ass on your way to being a better person. Stream it on Netflix.
Brave New World
Brave New World won’t necessarily make you proud to be single, but it will make you glad you don’t live in an absurd sci-fi future where monogamy has been outlawed and having a boyfriend/girlfriend is a punishable offence. If you’re single and looking for a perfectly weird and unsettling, yet hilarious binge to distract you from every aspect of reality, Brave New World is where it’s at. It’s Black Mirror meets Friends and ten times raunchier than either. Find it on Stan.
The Breaker Upperers
Directed by, written by and starring best friends Madeleine Sami and Jackie van Beek, and produced by Taika Waititi, The Breaker Upperers is a New Zealand comedy following two cynical best friends who have created an agency to help break up couples too scared to do it themselves. It’s the perfect cynical buddy comedy to watch with your single besties this Valentine’s day. Stream it on YouTube.
Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency
Much like Brave New World, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency is for people looking to escape the whole reality of Valentine’s day for something weird and wonderful, and all about unlikely friendships. Part murder-mystery, part sci-fi, part action, but all odd-ball optimism and buddy comedy, Dirk Gently starts with down on his luck Todd (Elijah Wood) and how his accidental witnessing of a murder and unfurls into a chain of cosmically strange events. If you’re a fan of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Dirk Gently is for you! Stream on Netflix.
Gone Girl
Personally, nothing makes me feel more relieved to be single than watching David Fincher’s missing-person classic, Gone Girl. The film follows the unravelling of a dysfunctional couple, Nick (Ben Affleck) and Amy’s (Rosamund Pike), marriage after Amy goes missing on the morning of their fifth wedding anniversary. Rent this award-winning thriller on YouTube.
I Hate Suzie
Starring Billie Piper (Doctor Who, Secret Diary of A Call Girl), I Hate Suzie, much like Gone Girl is a limited series worth bingeing if you want to feel relieved you’re single for a few hours. The dark comedy follows washed-up actor, Suzie (Billie Piper) and the disintegration of her toxic as hell marriage after someone hacks her Cloud and leaks some dirty pictures that are clear evidence of an affair she’d been hiding. It’s an addictive series that will definitely keep your head busy and you can find it on Stan.
Kedi
If watching people, in general, is a too harsh reminder of your singlehood this Valentine’s day and you also love cats than I can’t recommend Kedi enough. Free to watch on Kanopy, Kedi is a documentary about the 1000s and 1000s of cats that reside in Instanbul, focusing on a handful of cat-characters that essentially run the streets. It’s a documentary about community, kitties, and a proudly shared history of both caring for one another. Kanopy is a service free when you sign up as a student, or with a library card and Kedi is available there.
Hannah Gadsby: Nanette
An award-winning stand-up like no other, Nanette is written and performed by Australian comedian, Hannah Gadsby. In her performance, Gadsby harrowingly and hilariously explores her identity as a lesbian, loneliness, misogyny, living with autism and anecdotes about what it was like growing up in conservative Tasmania. While it may seem like something a little dark for the day, it’s a perfect performance to make one feel less alone in the world this Valentine’s day. Stream it on Netflix.
Ocean’s 8
Do I really need to sell to you why watching a film about eight beautiful women teaming up and deciding to rob the met-gala to get revenge on am awful ex-boyfriend is the perfect single-on-Valentine’s-day film? Surely not, but if you needed the extra incentive, here are eight: Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Rihanna, Awkwafina, Mindy Kaling, Sarah Poulson and Helena Bonham Carter. Stream it on Netflix.
The Other Woman
One of my all-time favourite revenge-comedies, The Other Woman stars Cameron Diaz, Leslie Mann and Kate Upton as three women who don’t know one another until they learn they’re being cheated on by the same man (Game of Throne‘s Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and team up to teach him a lesson. It’s a movie that can be a little hard to find, but it’s available to rent on YouTube.
Ready Or Not
For all my fellow single folk who love horror and feel an ever-increasing need to eat the rich, Ready or Not is here for you. The film stars Australia’s own Samara Weaving as Grace, who couldn’t be happier after she marries the man of her dreams at his family’s luxurious estate until she learns she must now hide from midnight until dawn while her new in-laws hunt her down with guns, crossbows and other weapons. Stream it on Foxtel or YouTube.
Tuca and Bertie
If you ever thought that there needed to be a series that blended Bojack Horseman with Broad City, Tuca and Bertie is your cup of tea. This vibrant animated comedy series explores the friendship between two 30-year-old bird women who live in the same apartment building. Tuca, voiced by Tiffany Haddish, a cocky, care-free toucan, and Bertie, voiced by Ali Wong, an anxious, daydreaming songbird. Stream it on Netflix.
What We Do In The Shadows
If you loved Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement’s What We Do In The Shadows film about vampire flatmates living in Aukland, and desperately wanted more than you need to binge the film’s spin-off series by the same name. The WWDITS series also follows a group of Vampire housemates, but in New York City, dealing with the day to day of being a creature of the night in a city that never sleeps. It’s filmed in the same mockumentary style as the film, with much of it still directed and written by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi. The series is streaming on Binge and Foxtel and will make the prospect of being single for eternity in good company pretty appealing.
Merryana Salem is a proud Wonnarua and Lebanese–Australian writer, critic, teacher, researcher and podcaster on most social media as @akajustmerry. If you want, check out her podcast, GayV Club where she gushes about LGBT rep in media with her best friend. Either way, she hopes you ate something nice today.