Netflix is adding one of the best films of 2023 this week

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Washington Bureau Chief

Netflix is about to quietly add one of the best films of the year so far to its library.

Already this month, the streaming service has released many high-profile titles, including season two of The Lincoln Lawyer, a documentary about Wham! and a stand-up show from comedian Tom Segura.

But those who haven’t rifled through the forthcoming new titles that are set to be made available this week will not have spotted an acclaimed film that was released in cinemas in April.

The movie in question is How to Blow Up a Pipeline, a radical heist thriller based on Andreas Malm’s 2021 book on climate activism. It follows a group of environmental activists in Texas who attempt to to sabotage the development of an oil pipeline.

How to Blow Up a Pipeline, which will be added to the streaming service in the UK on Thursday (20 July), was written by lead star Ariela Barer, Jordan Sjol and Daniel Goldhaber, who also directs. His previous film was the Netflix horror thriller CAM (2018), starring Handmaid’s Tale actor Madeline Brewer.

Also starring in the film are Kristine Froseth, Lukas Gage, Forrest Goodluck, Sasha Lane, Jayme Lawson, Marcus Scribner, Jake Weary and Irene Bedard.

In The Independent’s four-star review, critic Clarisse Loughrey says the film “borrows the tone and structure of a classic Hollywood thriller”, adding: “The humanity at the centre of How to Blow Up a Pipeline better serves its tension, too – ratcheted up by the cinematographer Tehillah De Castro’s use of grainy 16mm, sharp editing by Daniel Garber, and a restless electronic score by Gavin Brivik.”

Meanwhile, The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw compared the film’s structure to that of Quentin Tarantino’s 1992 debut Reservoir Dogs, while RogerEbert.com, writer Matt Zoller Seitz branded it “one of the most original American thrillers in years”.

Find a full list of every new title coming to Netflix in July here, and a breakdown of every movie and TV show being removed from the streaming service here.