Angels, Demons, Trolls, Threesomes: 5 things to add to Your Netflix Que This January
Yes, we are aware that it is no longer called a “que” but “5 things to add to your Netflix “my list” just doesn’t sound good. And with all the streaming services calling them different things, que is just more expedient. (Calling them all Watchlist would be a little more on-the-nose than even we could stand) So “que” it is! Aaaand yes, we also know there are only four things in the title. It had better flow. We care about aesthetics here — sue us!
There are some big things coming to Netflix this month. The hype for Series of Unfortunate Events is real and we too are beyond stoked to see it. But one problem with an abundance of binge fuel on Netflix is that great stuff can slip through the cracks. So we’re here to tell you that there are awesome things to watch on Netflix that are more than two weeks old. Here’s 5, with everything the title promised.
1. The OA
This one sort of came out of nowhere. The trailer dropped something like four days before the show was released on Netflix and I’m not sure if that helped or hurt the hype, but this show is very much worth a watch. In The OA, a missing blind girl returns home after 7 years, having regained her sight and with a very strange story to tell. In recounting her tale she amasses a cult-like following among the community’s downtrodden. Things get very weird, very fast. This is a series hemmed by film-making team Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij who co-wrote the script as well as star in,and direct the show respectively. In the duo’s 2011 film ‘The Sound of my Voice’ they demonstrated their skill at creating smart, heartfelt, and original scifi and this feels very much like that film’s successor. They also proved that Brit Marling might have a bit of a messiah complex as she casts herself in yet another angelic role. (And the word Angel is tossed around a few times here) But over all, the series is deftly crafted, character focused, and compassionate in an amazing way, not to mention refreshingly original. On the surface this may look like another ‘Stranger Things’ but its actually a stark counterpoint. Where “Things” is nostalgic, “OA” is…expectant? Whatever the opposite of nostalgic is. And I can’t forget to mention the credit sequence in episode one. It blew me away.
2. The Wailing
So…this is a Korean Horror movie — Subtitles!? Run for your lives! But trust me, it’s worth it, and you’ve been meaning to read more anyway, right? In The Wailing, a bumbling, cowardly police officer is in over his head when a series of strange and gruesome crimes indicate that his town might be under the shadow of a demonic force. He’s coerced into taking drastic measures when he suspects that said force might be possessing his daughter. This film is worth the watch if only for the strange brutal dance that is a Korean exorcism, but The Wailing is a lot more than just an exorcism movie, it’s a mystery, it has twists and turns and it’s confusing in a way that proves it really understands what makes something terrifying. We don’t understand our nightmares.
3. Trollhunters
In Trollhunters, an animated series based off books co-written by Guillermo Del Toro, a teenager stumbles upon a society of trolls living underneath his California town, and an amulet that thrusts him into an ancient position of power: the daylight-wielding civil servant known as the Trollhunter — who ironically is supposed to protect trolls. (The irony of the name is addressed, but in a somewhat unsatisfactory way) This series is unashamed to be YA fantasy in a way that doesn't shy away from the inherent complexity of the genre. Yes, the animation is colorful and exaggerated, but it can also be just the right amount of scary. Yes, the series is peppered with jokes, but the story’s lightness is evenly balanced with real and dire stakes. The best YA entertainment has an earnest respect for young people, and this series does. Trollhunters has a deep empathy for its characters. It chooses to acknowledge the subtleties of their developing ethical understanding instead of opting for simple moralistic didacticism. And it has a great voice cast in Kelsey Grammar, Steven Yeun, and the late Anton Yelchin, among others.
4. Blue Jay
There’s been many a cultural critique of pervasive nostalgia rampant in media today. A massive portion of the entertainment industry capitalizes on a version of nostalgia that is centered mostly on broad pop-culture experience, the nostalgia of past consumption, of franchise. We’re encouraged to be nostalgic for certain media in the context of other media. But cultural nostalgia can never be as potent as personal nostalgia. It lacks the pain for which the term is named. That’s probably why it isn’t found in franchise; real nostalgia hurts, and not always sweetly. The team behind Blue Jay gets this. Blue Jay is one of many films forthcoming from Neflix’s deal with The Duplass Brothers, formerly of the mumblecore pantheon and currently the low budget master-producers dominating indie film. It’s written by and staring Mark Duplass along with Sara Paulson currently of American Horror Story fame, and directed by Alex Legmann who is smart enough to stand back and let his leads carry the film. Blue Jay is the story of former high school sweethearts, now middle aged who meet up serendipitously in their home town and spend an emotionally eventful day together. There are, I think three speaking parts in this movie. Duplass and Paulson ARE the film, largely improvising the script. They are never boring, but often hilarious, sweet, and devastatingly raw in their performances. It’s a well known trick that if you don’t have the time or budget to properly color a film, you just make it black and white. I’m not sure that’s what motivated the decision to color Blue Jay in shades of grey, but in this case it really works.
5. Easy
In yet another example of how the mublecore crew have taken over indie film, Easy is a series that comes from director Joe Swanberg, a Duplass contemporary probably best known for his film Drinking Buddies. There are a few things Swanberg seems to really love making films about, beer, Chicago, and relationships. Easy is the summation of all these. From the sexual, to romantic, to platonic, to familial, this is a series about people who love each other and how complicated that can be. Through an anthology of short films all set in Chicago and disproportionately involving beer, Swanberg continues to prove himself a master of the slice of life. His filming style is expertly improvised, genuinely emotional, and it just feels “real.” Swanberg also happens to be one of the few directors who really understand how to shoot a sex scene honestly. He’s done a few films with unsimulated sex, which no doubt informed that. The sex here is simulated, but only sometimes “sexy.” It’s also awkward, and silly, and strange, and just really human. That’s what this series is more than anything. And it’s not an easy thing to do.
Follow @tinycitrusinc for more Watchlist suggestions and reviews, and throw us a tweet with some pics of your own
