🌟 What to watch this weekend
Two thrillers on Netflix, The Mauritanian, and a new Nordic thriller set in London
If you like this newsletter, please subscribe or give it as a gift to help us cover our costs.
Dear friends,
For the first week in a long time, both top TV and film picks are on Netflix, and no compromises were made. We have a great newsletter for you.
I wish you all a wonderful weekend.
OUR TOP MOVIE OF THE WEEK
Just Another Love Story
On Netflix U.S.
This Danish thriller is about a man who gets into a car accident with a woman and, upon visiting her at the hospital, gets mistaken for her boyfriend by her wealthy family.
The man in question is Jonas, a family guy with two cheerful children who is also going through a text-book case of mid-life crisis. So when he realizes that Julia lost her memory and that she shows interest in him, he steps into the role of her boyfriend.
Things escalate very quickly, both as Julia starts to get some of her memory back and her actual boyfriend arrives. If you like Scandinavian noirs like Headhunters, you will love this.
📰 The New York Times: “As Just Another Love Story zigzags between austere realism (the scenes of Jonas and his family) and surreal gore, you have the not unpleasant sense of being taken for a ride.”
📺 On Netflix U.S.; 🍅 rating: 74%
OUR TOP MOVIE OF THE WEEK
Vincenzo
New episodes coming out every weekend, six out so far.
This South-Korean drama is about an Italian-Korean lawyer who as a kid was adopted by a Mafia boss and renamed “Vincenzo”. After the mob boss’s death, Vincenzo— himself now a high-ranking member of the mafia who is rejected by the boss’s biological son—escapes to South Korea, where he intends to lead a quieter life.
The show has all the trappings of an enjoyable K-drama: Vincenzo, of course, meets his match in an equally fierce lawyer (with equally perfectly-tailored suits), and together they go after a bunch of bad guys. But by the fourth episode, the plot picks up and it becomes something with a little more substance, as a commentary on corruption in South Korea. As the lawyer says, “in Italy, only mafiosos are in the mafia. In Korea, everyone is in the mafia: the prosecutor, the police, the government, the companies…”
📰 South China Morning Post: “The many moving parts in the series are for the most part handled well on their own, but the clash of genres occasionally has a jarring effect. This is a problem in the first pair of episodes but the balance evens out somewhat as the show settles into its groove by episode four.”
📺 On Netflix almost everywhere.; 🍅 rating: -
Top picks outside of Netflix and Amazon
A strong Oscar contender called The Mauritanian is now available on rental services like iTunes. It’s about Mohamedou Ould Salahi, a man who was detained in Guantanamo Bay without charge for fourteen years. He is played by the forever-reliable Tahar Rahim (A Prophet), and stars Jodie Foster and Benedict Cumberbatch.
A new TV show called Cold Courage premiered yesterday on AMC+. It’s a crime thriller about two Finnish women involved in a secret organization in London.
That’s it for this week, I hope there is something in there for you.
If you can, become a paid subscriber or give the newsletter as a gift to help us cover our costs. We have made a pledge that once we cover our annual costs, we will make all issues of the newsletter free to all subscribers, including the ones who are not paying subscribers:
The next edition of this weekly letter will be in your inbox Friday, March, 19th.
Until then,
Bilal