Recently have been on a netflix spree. Watched a few movies, I had not expected to love so much. Series are one thing, but netflix movies haven’t managed to capture me before. But I found the right ones now.

Kodachrome 

• emotional story
• beautiful lines
• father-son but more than that, some sense of legacy
• great perfomances. Ed Harris brings out his characters emotions so tangibly.

A story of estranged father-son, they hit the road because the dad, a famous photographer, wants to develop the last kodak film before it stops being developed. The movie has resonant, strong performances. Ed Harris the dad is fantastically humane, genuine in his role and has a lot of emotional depth – he’s so great at presenting thise hiiden depths of Ben.  Matt the son shines as well. Those two are just wonderful.
And  the movie is also about a sense of an end….an end of an era, of how things were done perhaps but also that memory of it can be preserved, with love, in a kind of legacy.

Analogue photography is hardly dead though. There are people out there preserving beautiful, noble photography techniques (like ambrotype where you basically had just one chance to  take a good picture) along with analogue film  photography as I knew it growing up (I’m an 80s child). It was great because it required effort, attention, dedication and also a kind of respect for your own time and  vision, all with a kind of great payout. Nowadays we can easily take series of photos but it’s not quite the same, not the same feeling.  Things like that, that require effort and respect, I define as having a heart and spirit, a spirit that seems to be  somehow evaporating nowadays though I still see this in people that surround me, people with love, passion and dedication – I’m very fortunate in this way because such people inspire me and stimulate my growth as well.

The aspect of photography adds an important dimension to the film’s overall effect – preserving life’s moments, memory and the lines – there are some absolutely beautiful lines – sneak in that meaning and let it sink it, resonate. I absolutely love that. The ending has such a rewarding emotional payout and a love-filled, extremely positive effect,  it’s really one of my most favourite endings in any film, and this is now my favourite netflix film, a total keeper.

Annihilation 

• eerie atmosphere is definitely the selling point of the film.
• intriguing

Alex Garland is a filmmmaker I may want to watch out for, making him the fourth  filmmaker of interest to me. Well, I know I was into Milos  Forman – I will keep loving Forman’s work because that man had attention to detail in storytelling. The ‘Making of amadeus” feature? It was extremely insightful, Amadeus is my top favourite movie ever, it always gets better when I watch it.  Then there’s Cary Fukunaga who I kind of find more and more intriguing – I enjoyed his Jane Eyre and I definitely loved Maniac. and there is early Tim Burton – and I’m gonna quote Edward Scissorhand here as an example of a movie that’s one of my total keepers, alongside Forman’s Amadeus.  Oh and there are plenty other filmmakers whom I ought to give more attention and see if they are my thing. But Forman has always topped my charts because he was such a careful storyteller. and he will continue to, I love his work.

For Garland, I really enjoyed his Ex Machina and I think he has a a certain subtlety in building atmosphere that I find appealing. Annihilation, based on a book by James Vandermeer, is atmospheric, unsettling. The Shimmer did make me think back to Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker… it’s just places of isolation  that have a sort of eerie atmosphere, like another world, two very interesting places.

So, Garland’s movie does a great job in creating the atmospher,e the visuals and sounds are  great and I have found it thought provokin.  It made me want to read the book I previously haven’t heard of. I need to read it in fact because while I enjoyed the movie,  I’m not sure i’m entirely sold on the portryal of characters. The book will likely provide me with a clarification I need. nonetheles, it is certainly a movie I found an interesting experience to watch

 The discovery 

• asks and explores an interesting question in an immersive manner

Robert Redford is a scientist who has proven that the after life exists and he also, dangerously, let the world know about it.  There is a price to pay. It was  driven by a certain emotional need and the cost will also have a certain emotional impact. The discovery changes the lives of people, and his own family. It’s a very interesting exploration of the sort of question that perhaps is on our minds from time to time. but do we really want to know? is it all how we imagine it to be?  And what happens when we do know? The ending was rather emotional for me as well, it got me thinking about the side left behind and about the sort of drive…..if you  had a chance to remedy a biggest regret of your life, would you take it no matter the consequences and the price to pay? Gosh, there is a lot to this story as well.  Very nice watch, a thoughtful movie.

Set it up 

• an entertaining romcom.

As a growing girl, I went through a big phase on romcoms. I binge watched them until I could take no more. I still enjoy them of course but  they need to have at least some warmth and/or wit but not of the sort of Woody Allen vibe. I do not like Woody allen much at all (only Purple Rose of Cairo had a certain charm). Goodbye girl had both – and was very endearing with great performances. You’ve got mail had the warmth and nice collab between Hanks and Ryan that always worked well and there have been a few other romcoms  that have stood well the test of time and continue to be rewatchable.  Over time, romcoms have become a tired, empty genre for me but I do not think the genre is dead and cannot be enjoyed any more.

In fact, I like that netflix shows me a fun, enjoyable, compelling romcom with some warm vibes can still be done.

 It’s a story about two employees who decide to act as matchmakers to their demanding bosses and get them off their chests.  I found the characters fun and likeable, a very light and easily entertaining and rewatchable thing.

Mudbound

• powerful
• devastating ending but not without hope
• compelling

If there is one powerful netflix original, this one is it. A story about  two families – white and black – in US South in the years after World War II, whose fates are fatally interlinked and lead to a devastating ending – but one that isn’t totally bereft of a silver lining either. Compelling, riveting performances, really worth watching if only for the ending alone.

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I have a few other titles lined up for soon – Caliber, Okja and Beasts of no Nation. Quality movies are always appreciated and in the above,  I certainly found what I seek. Great, resonant stories, well told.