Dear friends,
For a while now, I’ve been working on a new addition to our Spotlight section for indigenous stories. This week I watched the eye-opening Angry Inuk, the very difficult nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up, the more light-hearted The Sapphires, which is also on Netflix, and today’s top movie pick.
When Two Worlds Collide is the top pick because it’s a mix of harrowing and hopeful - it showcases acts of aggression on indigenous people which are all too common around the world but it also documents a successful campaign to protect their rights.
THE TOP MOVIE OF THE WEEK
When Two Worlds Collide
Now on Netflix. in Spanish.
This documentary is about one of Peru’s worst political crises. In 2009, indigenous communities clashed with the Peruvian government and police in reaction to laws that voided them of their land rights to pave the way for oil investments.
When Two Worlds Collide is a story of indigenous determination, sacrifice, and successful mobilization. At its center is the charismatic Alberto Pizango, the top indigenous leader in Peru, who until recently was on trial after being forced into exile in Nicaragua.
📰 Variety: “Shot over several years’ course, “When Two Worlds Collide” maintains a raw verite feel despite its narrative, temporal and geographic sprawl. ”
📺 on Netflix almost everywhere; 🍅 rating: 91%
THE TOP TV SHOW OF THE WEEK
Hanna
Season 2 is new today on Amazon Prime.
This excellent spy thriller show is back for a more fiery, and somehow even better season two. Initially based on the 2011 movie by the same name, it tells the story of a girl who tries to know more about the circumstances of her birth in a CIA facility.
It’s the perfect mix between a coming-of-age story and a Bourne-Trilogy-type thriller. The second season starts when the movie ends, leaving free reign to the writers to innovate and surprise.
📰 AV Club: “Hanna season two is still more of a spy thriller than a fractured fairy tale-but freed from the need to tell the same story, it evolves into something more thoughtful and compelling.”
📺 on Amazon Prime everywhere; 🍅 rating: 88% (for season two)
Readers’ top picks
Athlete A on Netflix is our readers’ movie pick this week. It’s a tell-all documentary on the predatory practices at the center of USA Gymnastics.
Lenox Hill also on Netflix is our readers’ favorite TV show for the second week in a row. It’s a realistic docuseries set in a New York emergency room.
New titles worth your time
Many classics were added to Netflix on July 1st: Airplane!, Cloud Atlas, Million Dollar Baby, Mean Streets, Schindler’s List, The Devil’s Advocate, The Town, and Total Recall.
Frida, the Oscar winning Frida Kahlo biopic with Salma Hayek was also added to Netflix the same day
The 9th season of Suits was added to Amazon Prime yesterday.
Great titles that will soon expire
Blue Valentine, the Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams drama leaves Netflix tomorrow, Saturday, July 4th.
Also leaving tomorrow from Amazon Prime is the excellent A24 coming-of-age story Lean on Pete. It stars Steve Buscemi as the mentor to a kid who tries to save an aging racehorse.
The Newsflash: Cinemas are reopening, but should we go?
The question of going to the cinema in the wake of the pandemic is actually very different from the questions of going to a bar, a restaurant, or a concert venue. In the cinema, no-one is talking, or at least they really shouldn’t be.
“In a setting where we’re not talking, we’re just passively breathing and wearing masks, it might be a safer bet than a noisy, crowded bar,” a staff member at Johns Hopkins Medicine told Quartz this week. “At movie theaters, if you’re not eating popcorn, you’re just sitting there with your mask on.”
The same Quartz article notes that there is little evidence that cinemas cause outbreaks. Theaters are also trying to do their part by lessening the chance of contagion: checkerboard seating, plexiglass protection for staff, etc.
Interestingly, some chains like Cinemark reported that they can be profitable even below 30% capacity (red flag?), and therefore don’t have to use full rooms.
And yet, there is absolutely no definitive answer. The choice of whether it’s OK to go or not depends on each individual. I do recommend reading the full article for a clearer idea:
The choice of which cinema, for those who do decide to go, is where there is a definitive answer: big cinema chains don’t need saving. It’s the small, independent, mom-and-pop establishments that need our support. So if we risk it, let’s do it right, and as always:
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, July 10th.
Until then,
Bilal Zou, founder [bilal@agoodmovietowatch.com]
Carried with the support of the Creative Europe Program – MEDIA.