Thanks to the Turner Classic Movies (TCM) channel I was finally able to watch the `1930 German classic The Blue Angel directed by Josef von Sternberg and famously starring Marlene Dietrich (he was one of her lovers) in the role of the cabaret singer “Lola Lola”. She truly commanded the screen. The amount of streaming content being added is staggering. Netflix has become a global production juggernaut offering a proliferation of docuseries. Among these are: Human: The World Within (6 episodes), the jaunty Australian Ask the Doctor (several seasons, 24 episodes), and The Surgeon’s Cut (4 episodes). Some are from TV series of past years. That includes another terrific Australian series Tales by Light, 2015-2018, with three seasons totaling 18 episodes. Each segment follows photographers on a mission to capture memorable images through the lens of locations and situations from around the globe. The range is astonishing. I was especially taken with an episode exploring South Georgia island, famously part of the Shackleton Antarctic legend, because this is the most special place on earth I have had the fortune to visit. Also on Netflix is a 50-minute doc Brave Blue World: Racing to Solve Our Water Crisis. And it’s not just new content being added. Netflix now has the 1998 Oscar-winning documentary The Last Days which includes images of the horrors of the Holocaust and the testimonies of Hungarian Holocaust survivors including the late American Congressman Tom Lantos. Another Netflix addition is the 2014 two-art British documentary Everyday Miracles presented by Professor of materials science Mark Miodownik.
Read on for more reviews.
Earth:
The Nature of Our Planet (UK/Austria
2021, BBC Earth via Amazon Prime Video)
A
A
production of Vienna-based Terra Mater (“Mother Earth”) Factual Studios (https://www.terramater.at/productions/earth-the-nature-of-our-planet/),
season one of this excellent docuseries covers three episodes on the nature of
air, land, and water. Each is crammed with amazing facts. In a similar vein, and also on BBC Earth
through Prime Video, let me also highly recommend the 5-episode series Wonders
of Life with physicist Professor Brian Cox as an engaging narrator
guide to what makes earth so special in the immensity of the universe. These documentaries rank with the David
Attenborough documentaries that are so renowned for their approach to exploring
our amazing planet and everything that lives on it. (On Netflix don’t miss the hour-long Our
Planet – Behind the Scenes detailing the immense and often arduous
effort of four years involved in the making of that Attenborough-narrated
series.)
Penguin
Town (South
Africa 2021, 8 episodes, Netflix) A-
A
decade ago during a trip to South Africa I was able to watch the many African
penguins that congregate at the tip of the African continent, next to Simon’s
Town not far from Cape Town. They are
also colloquially called “jackass” penguins for their calls that sound like a
braying donkey. Penguins are remarkable
creatures and their behaviors are wonderful to watch. On land their awkward waddle appears comical
but in the sea, their food source, they are superbly sleek swimmers. Patton
Oswalt is an engaging narrator guide to this overall excellent docuseries that
covers all aspects of the penguin life cycle including the raising of young and
predatory dangers. My only quibble is that some of the storylines can tend
towards Disneyfied anthropomorphism. That
said, the penguins themselves are a consistent delight. [More at: https://readysteadycut.com/2021/06/16/review-penguin-town-netflix-series/.]
Innocent (UK from
2018, 2 seasons, four episodes each, Sundance Now) A
This
series created by Matthew Arlidge and Chris Lang makes for superb drama. In the first season David Collins (Lee
Ingleby) has been acquitted and released after serving seven years for the
murder of his wife. Taken in by his brother, he struggles to reconnect with his
two teenage children and convince others of his innocence. So who did it?
Was infidelity involved? The last
episode’s confession of fraternal resentment builds to an unexpected shocking
conclusion.
Silver
Skates (Russia 2020, Netflix) B
The
Netflix parade of international productions continues. This swirling winter wonderland fantasy
directed by Mikhail Lokshin takes place in the tsarist capital of St.
Petersburg as it rings in 1900 on the cusp of a new century. I’ve been fortunate to explore this city, a
truly enchanting place justly renowned for its many canals. The storyline of this long fable (130
minutes) mostly takes place on their frozen surfaces. Its central character with the silver skates
is Matvey (Fedor Fedotov), a courier for s shop who loses his job and hangs out
with a gang of pickpockets on skates. He
falls in love with the lovely Alisa (Sonia Priss), the daughter of a tsarist
minister whose desire to study chemistry is being thwarted by patriarchal
attitudes. And she’s also been promised to an aristocratic army captain. The gang leader spouts quasi-Marxist lines
(there’s even a copy of Das Kapital and a book burning), giving a
class-conscious edge to the narrative’s romantic glow. While it’s far more spectacle than substance,
tending to the sentimental and overwrought, the St. Petersburg locations are
used to magical effect. [More comment
at: https://readysteadycut.com/2021/06/16/silver-skates-netflix-review/]
Luca (U.S./Italy 2021,
Disney+) A
The
stars of this delightful animated feature, a Pixar-Disney production helmed by
Enrico Casarosa, are the titular Luca (voiced by Canadian Jacob Tremblay, so
memorable from Room) and his freckle-faced friend Alberto (voiced by
Jack Dylan Grazer). They are shape
shifters—in the sea they appear as sea monsters but on land (or whenever water
is added) they morph into young boys with dreams of riding a “vespa”, an
Italian brand of motorized scooter. Another main character who stays on land is
the spunky girl and race competitor Giulia (voiced by Emma Berman). Italian
themes abound including the charming location in the group of five fishing
villages known as “Cinque Terre” that hug the coast of the Italian
riviera. A half-hour Disney+ extra
details the “Italian inspiration” that was involved in the filming
process. It’s a sweet-natured story
that perfect for summer and family viewing.
[More comment at: https://www.indiewire.com/2021/06/luca-review-pixar-disney-plus-1234644627/]
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