Streaming guide: The Secrets of Playboy a demolition job on Hugh Hefner

A brilliant new documentary series exposes the predatory behaviour of Playboy impresario Hugh Hefner. These are the new shows and movies you should be streaming.

Leigh Paatsch runs the rule over the new shows and movies streaming on Binge, Netflix, Amazon and more.

The one where a monster is unmasked

THE SECRETS OF PLAYBOY (MA15+)

★★★★★

STREAM VIA FOXTEL, BINGE

This 10-part documentary investigation commissioned by America’s A&E Network is a comprehensive (and quite deserving) demolition job on the late Playboy impresario Hugh Hefner.

Like many a serial predator recently unmasked, Hefner is shown to have ruined the lives of literally thousands of women, merely to satisfy his unconventional sexual appetites.

Many of those who have lived to reluctantly tell the tale have bravely sat down for the cameras here, and much of what they have to say is as damning as it is disturbing.

In building his business empire and moulding an image as an advocate for sexual freedom, Hefner also constructed the perfect camouflage behind which he and his many enablers merrily hid for five decades.

Not an easy watch, but definitely an illuminating one.

Hefner is shown to have ruined the lives of thousands of women in Secrets of Playboy.

The one where the book turns to a new page

LITTLE WOMEN (G)

★★★★½

NETFLIX or RENT

A fastidiously realised and impeccably cast rendition of Louisa May Alcott’s classic novel.

With their father taken away by the US Civil War, all the growing up the four young March sisters have to do will be completed under the watchful eye of their warmly supportive mother, Marmee (Laura Dern).

The much-admired Saoirse Ronan has the plum role of Jo March, and delivers her usual shrewd read of a character.

Rising star Florence Pugh (Midsommar) more than matches Ronan in the deceptively demanding part of Amy, the youngest and most high-spirited of the March women.

Adding yet more power to an already strong ensemble are the incomparable Meryl Streep and the ever-consistent Timothee Chalamet (skilfully underplaying the male heart-throb role of Laurie). Written and directed by Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird).

Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Saoirse Ronan and Eliza Scanlen in Little Women. Picture: Sony Pictures

The one where the troubles are brewing

BELFAST (M)

★★★★½

RENT ONLY

Though Belfast is filmed in black-and-white, there is nothing remotely monochromatic about its contents.

This is as colourful, vivid and textured as a screen memoir can be in the present era. Belfast is an autobiographical passion project for the accomplished actor, writer and director Kenneth Branagh (working exclusively behind the camera here).

It is the summer of 1969 in Northern Ireland, and the ever-rising tensions between Protestants and Catholics have escalated to a point where open violence on the streets is now accepted as a matter of fact.

This unusual state of affairs is witnessed through the eyes of 9-year-old Buddy (Jude Hill), who lives with his Protestant parents and brother in a working-class neighbourhood of Belfast.

Over the course of the movie, the street on which Buddy and his family live — a street where families of both religious persuasions have been able to coexist happily and harmoniously — will devolve gradually into something most would categorise as a war zone.

One of the year’s best movies. Co-stars Jamie Dornan, Judi Dench.

Belfast is a vivid and textured screen memoir. Picture: Supplied

The one opening a shrieking door

ESCAPE ROOM: TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS (M)

★★½

STREAM via FOXTEL, BINGE, AMAZON

The first Escape Room was a surprise horror-lite hit in 2019, cashing in as it did on the popularity of real-life escape rooms, where problem-solving punters are voluntarily locked away in a tricked-out enclosed space.

This obligatory sequel follows the same blueprint as before. Half a dozen contestants will be fed into a digitally controlled architectural maze, with all rooms, walkways and furniture both rearranging themselves without notice, and failing to observe correct OH&S standards. Therefore you can rightly expect less than six of these dopey youngsters to be crossing the finishing line with all digits, limbs or vital signs intact.

In all honesty, the novelty of this premise has already worn off, but the movie never quite becomes the dull dud it should be. Stars Taylor Russell, Logan Miller.

Tournament of Champions is a paint by numbers sequel.

The one where age is not a number, just a slow fade to black

THE FATHER (M)

★★★★½

STREAM via AMAZON, FOXTEL or RENT

What we have here is a superb drama about the ravages of age on those who do not wish to feel them, and the regrets of those much younger who cannot do anything to stop them.

83-year-old Anthony (an astonishing Anthony Hopkins) would have the world believe he is quite capable of looking after himself.

However, the world that Anthony believes to still exist has crumbled into ruins long ago. Anthony wakes each day assuming he lives independently in his well-appointed London flat.

This is not the case at all. To make matters worse, his daughter Anne (Olivia Colman) can no longer find a carer capable of handling either Anthony’s prickly demeanor or steadily advancing dementia.

A brutally blunt, yet beautifully honest portrait of a life ending before it is actually over, The Father capitalises on a towering performance from Hopkins.

While this decorated actor applies pinpoint precision to his role, he also generates great poignancy as he shows us fleeting glimpses of the man Anthony once was, and never will be again.

Olivia Colman and Anthony Hopkins in The Father. Picture: Sean Gleason

The one getting by with some help from her friends

HERSELF (M)

★★★½

STREAM via STAN or RENT

From Ireland, a quietly eloquent little film about the hurt of ending an abusive relationship, the hardship of asking others for help, and the healing power of starting a new life on your own terms.

Clare Dunne stars as Sandra, a Dublin mother of two who has had to make a definitive break from the father of her young daughters. Not just for the safety of her children.

But for her own survival. With the aid of an unlikely benefactor and discovering a will to prevail she never thought she had, Sandra and a new social circle set about making her dream a reality.

There is a raw authenticity to the handling of Sandra’s difficult journey that has you worried for her and cheering for her right to the very end.

Great work from director Phyllida Lloyd, who has opted for a radical change of gears from past films such as The Iron Lady and Mamma Mia!.

Clare Dunne and Molly McCann in Herself.