A classic of Pablo Almodovar's films, Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios is a treat to revisit. Completely over the top, slightly disorienting, but entirely entertaining, this is a gem from the 80s that follows Pepa as she navigates the end of her relationship with a married man. Filled with unlikely coincidences and excellent shoulder pads, this is an excellent mid-week watch.
Read More"An Icelandic saga of the highest order" is how an IMDB review of this movie begins. Set in rural Iceland, this movie, directed by Grímur Hákonarson, follows two brothers who both own ancestral, prize-winning sheep farms. One day, the village discovers that the local sheep have been infected with scrapie, a fatal, degenerative, and highly contagious nerve condition, and they're faced with the prospect of sacrificing their herds to prevent a wider outbreak. It's a touching, slightly unnerving saga.
Read MoreWhat would you do if you found out that you share dreams with someone you just met? This question underlines the plot of Hungarian director Ildiko Enyedi’s On Body and Soul—a quirky and ethereal romance, though not one for the faint of heart. (Let’s just say it’s set in a slaughterhouse.)
Read MoreThis movie is quite a treat - though it took Dominique a few tries before she finally sat down to watch it, Okja, directed by Bong Joon-Ho, is a Netflix Original movie in which a young girl and her best friend and super pig, Okja, get caught in a battle between environmentalists and a multi-national corporation. Delightfully dystopic, this is a movie well timed for our current environmental crisis.
Read MoreThis gorgeous German period piece revels in the joys and turmoil of Berlin's "Golden Twenties"—the brief, raucous years between the horrors of the Great War and the Great Depression. Police commissioner Gereon Rath, a veteran with a morphine problem, is sent from sleepy Kōln to Berlin to find his father's blackmailers. The investigation leads him through slums, nightclubs, train yards, Communist hideouts, and fine restaurants on the trail of an ever-expanding conspiracy.
Read MoreCall My Agent, or Dix Pour Cent in the French, is a TV show comedy about a talent agency in Paris. It's a joy to watch the main characters (all high-powered, fast-speaking Parisian agents) juggle the egos of a similarly eclectic cast of actors and actresses.
Read MoreFrench Netflix production Osmosis is the latest in a line of gripping and brainy Western European sci-fi shows. Siblings Esther and Paul are the founders and leaders of a tech startup promising to revolutionize the way we fall in love. Using a system of “implants” and mind mapping, they promise patients total emotional consummation with their “soul mate.” (We know: what could possibly go wrong?) On the eve of the company’s public launch, beset by treacherous test subjects, mutinous staff, and sinister backers, Paul and Esther begin to unravel the consequences of their own emotional needs. A deeply felt and deliciously tense story about what we feel and how we try—and usually fail—to control it.
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