Dear friends,
In these uncertain times, I’m so grateful to be able to share movies with you. Today’s top pick is a Norwegian movie that blends East and West, telling an upsetting but important story.
THE TOP MOVIE OF THE WEEK
What Will People Say
On Amazon Prime.
Nisha, the daughter of conservative Pakistani immigrants in Oslo, finds ways to secretly go out with her Norwegian friends. She goes to parties, plays basketball, and dates.
One day, Nisha’s father catches her with a boy, bringing what he perceives as a great shame to the family. Nisha’s delicate balance is broken, and her family acts drastically: without telling her about their plans, they move her to Pakistan.
What Will People Say is based on its director and writer Iram Haq’s own experience being kidnapped to Pakistan and going back to Norway at age 16.
📰 NPR: “As the Norwegian snow gives way to sunbaked Pakistani desert on screen, you'll feel a tug between the awful and the artful.”
📺 on Amazon Prime U.S.; 🍅 rating: 78%
THE TOP TV SHOW OF THE WEEK
Into the Night
New on Netflix this month.
If you liked Lost you will love Into the Night, Netflix’s first Belgian production, a formulaic but very enjoyable show. For an unknown reason, the sun starts killing everyone in the world. A soldier gets an early tip and highjacks an overnight flight in an attempt to survive.
This storyline is not the most calming with everything that’s happening in the world right now but Into the Night is about the passengers more than what threatens them. Its directors recently said: "our genre is more about turning the camera not to the fire, but to the characters as they are looking at the fire.”
📰Not yet reviewed
📺 on Netflix everywhere; 🍅 rating: unavailable
Readers’ top picks
The German drama System Crasher on Netflix is back as our readers’ favorite movie. It’s a tough watch about a kid who exhausts every support option in the German healthcare system.
The comedy Feel Good on Netflix is also back at the top of the charts. It’s a charming Fleabag-esque take on LGBTQ+ love.
New titles worth your time
The fantastic Dead to Me is back for season two today. It stars Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini in a story of murder and redemption. Applegate’s character loses her husband in a mysterious accident that coincides with Cardellini’s character coming into her life.
The fourth season of the British comedy The Durrells was added to Amazon Prime earlier this week. It’s about a family who leaves England to start a new life in Corfu, Greece. Based on a true story.
Great titles that will soon expire
Christine with Rebecca Hall leaves Netflix this Friday, May 15th. It’s the disturbing true story of the first-ever live televised suicide by a reporter, and the events that led to that moment.
Also leaving the same day are Limitless with Bradley Cooper and The Place Beyond the Pines with Ryan Gosling (and also Bradley Cooper).
The 2009 Alien-action movie District 9 leaves Amazon Prime this Friday, May 15th.
The Newsflash: password sharing
This week cordcutting.com released a big report on streaming habits called in very contemporary terms “Subscription Mooching & Streaming Media”. It answers the much speculated-about question of: how much of streaming is shared passwords?
The answer is that an estimated 44 million Americans use borrowed passwords.
This is mostly driven by parents sharing passwords with their kids.
This practice of sharing passwords “costs” Netflix alone over 2 billion a year. That’s the estimated revenue they would generate if everyone who shared passwords paid for their own subscription.
However, much of this “lost” revenue is not really there. Only 47% of borrowers would buy a subscription if Netflix cracked down on password sharing, according to the same report.
That’s it for today, I hope there is something in there for you.
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The next edition will be in your inbox on Friday, May 15th.
Until then,
Bilal Zou, founder [bilal@agoodmovietowatch.com]
Carried with the support of the Creative Europe Program – MEDIA.