Best new movies and TV series on Neon: June 2023

Neon continues to bring in a convoy of quality shows and films. See our handpicked highlights below followed by the full release schedule.

Top picks: TV

The Idol (June 5)

Right now as I’m writing this, Euphoria creator Sam Levinson’s new show is premiering at Cannes: after months of negative buzz surrounding its tumultuous production, I can’t wait to see for myself whether the sordid showbiz tale is worth all the fuss. R&B star The Weeknd has always had a distinctly cinematic sensibility in his tunes and music videos, and here he plays a music industry svengali who takes a fragile young talent (Lily Rose Depp) under his wing. The original songs should be terrific, and a bunch of today’s most exciting pop stars make cameo appearances: everyone from Moses Sumney and Troye Sivan to Blackpink’s Jennie.

The Righteous Gemstones: Season 3 (June 20)

Often described as hillbilly Succession, HBO’s other show about a trio of spoiled siblings gunning for control over their dad’s corrupt empire is finally headed back to our screens. It took a while for season one to convince me, but since then the characters have just evolved into nuttier, realer, more hysterical versions of themselves. They’re the revoltingly wealthy offspring of a mega-church pastor played by GOAT John Goodman, and season two saw them lie, kill and steal their way to owning a Jesus-themed family resort: the new episodes are going to give us more televangelist rivals, Judy driving a monster truck, and plenty of glorious Uncle Baby Billy (Walton Goggins) action.

And Just Like That…: Season 2 (June 23)

The first season of this Sex and the City sequel landed somewhere between the vibrant messiness of the original show and the utter glam chaos of the two films that came after: it was highly implausible and sometimes frustrating, sure, but also deeply entertaining. Still with no Samantha in sight, Carrie, Miranda, and Charlotte are trying to find perfect balance in their extremely moneyed Manhattan lives—and for Carrie, it’s hinted that a lover from her past will show up again to sweep her off her Manolo Blahniks. When this show is out of touch, at least it does it with ludicrous, loveable style.

Top picks: Movies

After Yang (June 2)

What’s an ultra-modern family meant to do when their robot nanny breaks down? The android Yang (Justin H. Min) was the only cultural connection parents Colin Farrell and Jodie Turner-Smith had to offer their adopted Chinese daughter, and the trio’s unspoken tensions and ennui come bubbling to the surface at his loss. So do plenty of secrets about Yang’s identity: he had a girlfriend, painful memories and emotions, everything that we consider to be human. Director Kogonada’s serene, thought-provoking soft sci-fi will leave you in an entranced state of melancholy.

Titane (June 3)

It’s still a bit of a miracle that this wince-inducing body horror masterpiece won the Palme d’Or a few years back, what with its plot of a mysterious serial killer getting pregnant with a carbaby. But Julia Ducournau’s vision cannot be denied, right from the opening tracking shot of a car expo where her camera looms and leers over women and machines alike. What makes it even more worthy of a rewatch is its secretly wholesome and progressive family story, of monstrous protagonist Alexia (Agathe Rousselle) disguising herself as a man and getting taken under the wing of a hyper-macho firefighter with grief and gender dysphoria struggles of his own. It’s probably the most fucked-up adoption story you’ll ever see.

She Said (June 15)

Finally streaming after its cinema release last year, this sobering, neatly-told drama takes the journalistic expose of Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein’s abuses as its shocking source material. It’s based on the book of the same name by New York Times’ reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, played here with immense sensitivity and realism by Zoe Kazan and Carey Mulligan. Most bravely of all, actress Ashley Judd appears in the film as herself, and Gwyneth Paltrow provides her own voice—no doubt a cathartic, if difficult, decision. The movie got mixed reviews from some critics, compared to a Wikipedia explanation of the industry-shaking revelations, but now we can give it a stream to make up our own minds.