Dear friends,
Some things come at exactly the right time. Like Zoom during confinement, the release of Spike Lee’s new movie is incredibly timely.
The first 2 minutes alone, like the last minutes of Blackkklansman, summarize much of the historical background for the current protests.
THE TOP MOVIE OF THE WEEK
Da 5 Bloods
New on Netflix today.
In this adventure movie that often flashes documentary-style historical references, four Black Vietnam War veterans return to Vietnam to remember their fifth member and look for a treasure they had hidden.
As is mentioned in the movie, Black people in America represented 11% of the population at the time, but they were 32% of the troops deployed to Vietnam.
Yet, as they disproportionately suffered from fighting a war for a white administration that oppressed them, their stories are rarely told. That’s why Da 5 Bloods feels like a fresh take on a topic that the film industry has exhausted and a much-needed historical reframing of the Vietnam War.
📰 The New Yorker: ‘A history lesson wrapped in an adventure, the caveat being that history is never done with us, and that we struggle to shrug it off our backs.’
📺 on Netflix everywhere; 🍅 rating: 91%
THE TOP TV SHOW OF THE WEEK
Lenox Hill
New on Netflix this week.
This docuseries is a straightforward account of what actually happens in emergency rooms and about people who dedicate their lives to this extremely demanding work.
Set in a New York hospital that has struggled in the past to compete with bigger establishments, it follows two brain surgeons, an OBGYN, and an ER physician.
If you like ER, Grey’s Anatomy, or anything similar, and want to know how it actually works - this is a great show. Hint: reality is light years away from how ERs are usually depicted.
Lenox Hill a tough watch that might not be for everyone — there are people diagnosed with horrible things and pretty much every single scene is highly emotional.
📰 Vulture: “In a time where it seems as if there is too much TV, somehow there simply aren't enough shows like Chewing Gum.”
📺 on Netflix everywhere; 🍅 rating: 100%
Readers’ top picks
I’m no Longer Here on Netlfix is still our readers’ favorite movie. It’s half an immigration story, from Mexico to Queens, New York, and half a dance documentary.
Unorthodox also on Netflix is back as our readers’ favorite show. It tells the true story of a girl’s attempt to escape an ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn.
New titles worth your time
Pose season two is new on Netflix today. It’s a highly-acclaimed show about the ballroom culture scene in 1980s New York.
Both our top movie and TV picks are also new on Netflix this week.
The 2019 award-winning mystery Knives Out has been added to Amazon Prime today. With Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, LaKeith Stanfield, and Toni Collette.
Great titles that will soon expire
The excellent The Stanford Prison Experiment leaves Netflix this Tuesday, June 16th. It’s a thriller about a real-life experiment at Stanford University in which students were assigned a prisoner and guard role for two weeks. They did it for $15 a day, but things quickly degenerate in a fascinating look at how humans behave in those roles. With Ezra Miller.
Sunday, June 14th is the last day to watch The Hours on Amazon Prime with Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep, and Julianne Moore. Also expiring the same day is the action-comedy Zombieland.
The Newsflash: a BLM category on Netflix
Netflix, citing an uptick in searches for the term Black Lives Matter created a category with the same name. You can access it here.
To help you navigate it, here are movies and shows that have already been featured as top picks in the newsletter:
Da 5 Bloods, the top movie pick today.
Uppity The Willy T. Ribbs Story, about the first Black Indy 500 race driver
They’ve Gotta Have Us, stories of how Black actors and directors have been fighting adversity for their place in Hollywood.
Oscar-nominated 13th from director Ava DuVernay about the prison system in America and how it disproportionately affects Black people.
Seven Seconds, a TV show about a police unit that tries to cover up a hit-and-run of a Black teenager by a white police officer.
Pose, of which season 2 is new this week, is about ballroom culture in 80’s New York, with many Black LGBTQ+ and gender-nonconforming characters.
When They See Us also from Ava DuVernay about the case of the Central Park Five.
And thank god, no, there is no The Help.
But there are also classics like:
Moonlight
Malcolm X
She’s Gotta Have it
These are all great suggestions and a great initiative from Netflix, but it does highlight a sad statistical fact.
The category that includes both shows and movies has 55 entries. Recent data shows that Netflix has about 5500 titles, meaning the BLM category is 1% of all of Netflix.
That’s it for today, I hope there is something in there for you.
If you can, please support us by subscribing or giving it as a gift:
The next edition will be in your inbox on Friday, June 19th.
Until then,
Bilal Zou, founder [bilal@agoodmovietowatch.com]
Carried with the support of the Creative Europe Program – MEDIA.