Dear friends,
Both picks today are immigration-themed and based on true events: a feel-good story of one French village’s first African family; and the unlikely tale of a woman who grows up in Australia and tries to get a new identity by pretending she is a refugee.
THE TOP MOVIE OF THE WEEK
Bienvenue à Marly-Gomont (The African Doctor)
On Netflix. in French.
In this French movie based on a true story, a med-school graduate from Congo is offered a job as the doctor to the president of Zaire. He refuses and chooses instead to move to a small town in France in hopes of getting French citizenship and securing a better future for his children.
The story, which starts in 1975, is set in a village where people had never seen a Black person. To that, Seyolo, the doctor, says: “so what? Now they will.”
The culture clash is both villagers-to-new-arrivals and the other way. Seyolo tells his family that he was hired in a village “north of Paris”, but all they hear is “Paris”, only to be shocked by the state of the rainy and muddy countryside village.
📰 BBC: “[…] this, tonally, is a feel-good film, set in a location which is easy on the eye, that shows in a comedic way how a family can adjust to rural France, while initially resistant villagers can also change. ”
📺 on Netflix almost everywhere; 🍅 rating: -unavailable
THE TOP TV SHOW OF THE WEEK
Stateless
New on Netflix this week.
In this crazy true story, a woman who grew up in Australia shows up with a refugee boat and is held in a refugee detention center.
Attempting to get a new identity, Sofia is unaware of what she’s getting herself into and of how badly Australia treats asylum-seekers. At her arrival she learns that some refugees have been detained in that facility for seven years, awaiting processing that never comes.
It’s not a perfect show (sometimes there are too many storylines unfolding at once), but it’s a sobering look at the human cost of Australia’s anti-immigrant policies. With Cate Blanchett.
📰 Boston Globe: “A masterfully told, forcefully acted nightmare about life in a dirty, bureaucratically impacted limbo.”
📺 on Netflix everywhere; 🍅 rating: 75%
Readers’ top picks
Entre Nos on Amazon Prime gets our readers’ award this week. It’s about an immigrant mother of two who joins her husband in New York, only for him to vanish.
Get Shorty on Netflix is our readers’ favorite series. It stars Ray Romano in a fun comedy-thriller about an ex-criminal who tries his luck in Hollywood.
New titles worth your time
The top TV pick, Stateless, is the only noteworthy arrival on Netflix this week.
The 5 seasons of The Fosters, an easy family drama about a same-sex couple who raise both biological and foster children, are now streaming on Amazon Prime. With Teri Polo and Noah Centineo.
Great titles that will soon expire
The excellent The Spectacular Now, a coming-of-age story with Miles Teller, Shailene Woodley, and Brie Larson, leaves Netflix tomorrow, Saturday, June 11th.
And leaving one week after on Saturday, July 18th are Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain’s great slow-burning thriller A Most Violent Year, Jenny Slate’s Obvious Child, and Brie Larson’s Oscar-winning Room.
No noteworthy titles are leaving Amazon Prime this week.
The Newsflash: A new Netflix feature to remove titles from rows
Last month Netflix premiered a new much-needed feature that allows to remove titles from rows. “Continue watching” for a show you haven’t watched in 5 years? Or a movie you turned off at the credits? Or something the algorithm really wants you to watch? You can finally remove all of that.
The feature was only available for Android users but has now been extended to iOS. It is unclear when it will be available for browser and Smart TV versions, but removing a title from mobile will also remove it on all other platforms.
To access it, open the new tile menu button (previously an information button):
And select “Remove From Row”:
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 17th.
Until then,
Bilal Zou, founder [bilal@agoodmovietowatch.com]
Carried with the support of the Creative Europe Program – MEDIA.
Thoroughly enjoyed Bienvenue à Marly-Gomont, merci
Thanks for that "remove from row" tip!!