From IMDB:
An architect is diagnosed with a rare eye disease, entering him into a surreal reality in which he sees people’s true motives. As the visions become intolerable, he falls for a mysterious woman and confronts the truth about his own identity.
From Amazon Prime you can stream this 1 hour 48 minute complete film. Characters and acting are well done. However, at times it may not be completely clear what is happening.
If you watch this film, let me know your take on the ending.
From PBS Passport:
Based on the novel by the English writer Daphne Du Maurier, Jamaica Inn is a gripping mystery that tells the story of Mary Yellan, a woman who is forced in the 1820s to move into the ominous Jamaica Inn in Cornwall with her aunt and uncle. Mary must uncover the secrets of a local group of smugglers while also managing her growing attraction to the mysterious Jem Merlyn.
From PBS Passport you can stream the 3 hour-long episodes of this TV series that was recently (February 2023) aired on the PBS TV station.
Be prepared for a really grubby old Jamaica Inn notorious for a rough crowd of smugglers. Josh Merlyn (played by Sean Harris) is a brutally violent and disturbed proprietor. Mary Yellan (played by Jessica Brown) is a determinedly upright young woman who, at least initially, is overwhelmed by the evil surrounding her. Mary finds solace from the Reverend Francis Davey (played by Ben Daniels who played Lord Snowdon in “The Crown”). Mary falls in love with Joss’ brother Jem (played by Matthew McNulty who played Steve Campbell in “Deadwater Fell”).
Framed as both a love story and a mystery adventure, where the mystery is “who is really running the smuggling”, these three hours provide tense and suspenseful viewing.
DO NOT MISS!
From IMDB:
A mob enforcer’s son in 1930s Illinois witnesses a murder, forcing him and his father to take to the road, and his father down a path of redemption and revenge.
From Netflix (and Kanopy) you can stream this 1 hour 57 minute Irish mob classic film which earned five Academy Awards nominations, including Best Supporting Actor for Paul Newman. Originally the story was a graphic novel.
Tom Hanks bemoans the seeming obscurity of the film. He is quoted as saying “For one reason or another, no one references Road to Perdition, and that was an incredibly important movie for me to go through.” In fact, it was just his comment that motivated me to watch the film.
Consider the outstanding actors involved:
Of course, it is a violent gangster film, but a tasteful one (if that is possible). At the center of the film is the son Michael who is an essentially good kid that worships his father and whose salvation is at stake.
DO NOT MISS!
From IMDB:
In the 1960s, at the height of the Cold War, in the small village of Glória do Ribatejo, João Vidal will take on several high-risk espionage missions that could change the course of Portuguese and world history.
From Netflix you can stream the 10 episodes of this Portuguese spy thriller. Each episode lasts about 45 minutes. In Portuguese and English with subtitles.
RARET is short for portuguese RAdio de RETransmissão (Retransmission Radio). Think of RARET as Radio Free Europe. An article in the New York Times suggested this film to me. That article, which is worth reading, begins as follows:
————————————————————————-
Anyone who didn’t live through the Cold War might find the Portuguese Netflix spy thriller series “Glória” improbable.
Deep in the Portuguese countryside, in the tiny village of Glória, a complex radio transmission operation run by Portuguese and American engineers springs up in the 1950s, a branch of a Munich-based news organization called Radio Free Europe.
It broadcasts news and anti-communist messages in languages of various Soviet republics, but, in the show and in real life, that’s only part of its early mission: It’s also a C.I.A. front.
Until 1971, Radio Free Europe was a covert U.S. intelligence operation seeking to penetrate the Iron Curtain and foment anti-communist dissent in what was then Czechoslovakia, in Poland and elsewhere.
João (Portuguese for John) is a Russian spy seeking to undermine the activities of RARET. Through 10 episodes we watch his masterful deceits while many around him get hurt as a result. To really appreciate the story you might brush up on some Portuguese history such as its imperialism (especially in Angola), the dictator Salazar, and PIDE (the Portuguese secret police).
Because the very ending comes as a complete and puzzling surprise, after finishing the series you can read an explanation.
Do not expect much happiness. But – DO NOT MISS!
From IMDB:
A world-weary detective is hired to investigate the murder of a West Point cadet. Stymied by the cadets’ code of silence, he enlists one of their own to help unravel the case – a young man the world would come to know as Edgar Allan Poe.
From Netflix you can stream this 2 hour 10 minute complete film.
If only for the 1830 period clothing , surroundings and speech patterns, watching this film can be worthwhile. But the story is clever, the acting is fine, and the plot twist toward the very end is quite unexpected.
Several of the actors are familiar to me:
Harry Melling is a very unusual looking but up-and-coming actor who plays Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849). His physical appearance, especially his face, is so striking that I could only stare. He played Dudley Dursley in the Harry Potter movies. Will he always be cast in eccentric roles?
Well worth the watch!
From Global Screen:
Based on the successful detective novels by Alexandra von Grothe. Mourning his wife’s death, Inspector Maurice LaBréa leaves Marseilles for Paris with his daughter Jenny. But Paris is no respite, for a ghastly copycat killer is imitating a killing spree around the Bastille that went on ten years ago.
From MHz Choice you can stream 3 episodes of this German language detective series set in Paris with English subtitles. Each episode lasts about an hour and a half.
All the crimes are ugly and brutal. Mutilated bodies are par for the course.
However, the central theme running through all the episodes is LaBrea’s loving concern for his daughter Jenny who encourages him to romance his beautiful painter neighbor who often takes care of Jenny when duty so often calls.
Somewhat old fashioned, nothing special, but plots consist of a nice contrast between the grim crimes and LaBrea’s personal life.
From Netflix:
After his young daughter and her friend go missing, a desperate
father clashes with the detective on the case and takes matters
into his own hands.
From Netflix you can stream this 2 hour 33 minute tense thriller.
Jake Gyllenhaal movies are usually not an easy watch and this search for missing children and a serial killer is no exception. What attracted me was the exceptional cast:
Be prepared for Keller’s desperation-driven torture of Alex which is quite ugly to watch, a plot twist, and an ironic ending.
If you can stand to watch, DO NOT MISS!
From Kanopy:
When two paramedics are called to a series of strange accidents, they blame a new street drug. But when one’s daughter disappears, the other happens upon a terrifying truth that challenges everything he knows about reality—and time itself.
From Kanopy you can stream this 1 hour 41 minute sci-fi film.
Besides being a sci-fi film related to time travel, the film features quite a bit of philosophical discussions between the two paramedics. In fact the close friendship between the two men Steve (played by Anthony Mackie who also played Takeshi Kovacs in “Altered Carbon”) and Dennis (played by Jamie Dornan who also play to creepy success the serial killer Paul Spector in “The Fall”) figures heavily in the final brave act of self-sacrifice.
Clever episodes of time-travel accompany a genuine tale of friendship.
From IMDB:
The story of a man who returns home on Christmas to settle his estranged mother’s estate. Once there, he discovers a diary that may hold secrets to his own past and of a beautiful young woman on a mysterious journey of her own.
From Netflix:
Cleaning out his childhood home at Christmas, a novelist meets a
woman searching for her birth mother. Will an old diary unlock
their pasts — and hearts?
From Netlix you can stream this 1 hour 40 minute romance drama.
While a step up from a Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation, this is still in the same vein. Of course the famous popular writer Jacob Turner (played by Justin Hartley) will eventually fall in love with Rachel (played by Barrett Doss).
And no, I have never heard of any of the actors.
Still, it is a relief from all the omnipresent violent entertainment in today’s streaming choices.
And it is NOT sappy.
From IMDB:
The arrival of Patrick into Marion and Tom’s home triggers the exploration of seismic events from 40 years previously.
From Amazon Prime:
A tale of forbidden romance and changing social conventions, My Policeman follows the relationships between three people—policeman Tom (Harry Styles/Linus Roache), teacher Marion (Emma Corrin/Gina
McKee) and museum curator Patrick (David Dawson/Rupert Everett)—and their emotional journey spanning decades.
From Amazon Prime you can stream this 1 hour 54 minute British drama.
In this intense drama Tom marries Marion all the while carrying on a secret love affair with Patrick. Such an explanation is far too simple for such a superb, complex, well acted drama.
Because the action switches continually between the past and the present, each of the three characters are presented by two actors, a younger actor for the past and an older actor for the present.
Critics found many negatives but audiences, including Kathy and me, loved it.
DO NOT MISS!