Category Archives: Love Triangle

2022, Acceptable for teenagers, Action sequences, Art Treasures, Bloody scenes, Boring occasionally, Complicated, Conspiracy, Disguises, Ethical struggles, Everybody lies, Fraud, Impersonation, Love Triangle, Murder, Murder by poison, Netflix Streaming, Off-color moments, Personal Betrayal, Plagiarism, Plot Twist, Satisfying Ending, Suspense, Unbelievably smart detective, Uncategorized

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022)

From Netflix:

World-famous detective Benoit Blanc heads to Greece to peel
back the layers of a mystery surrounding a tech billionaire and his
eclectic crew of friends.

From Netflix you can stream the second installment of the “Knives Out” series. “Glass Onion” runs for 2 hours and 19 minutes.

Should Daniel Craig have stuck to playing James Bond (despite the fact that Bond dies in the last of that series) ?  As the movie starts I thought “Oh, no! Has-beens on parade!”  After awhile the story picks up, so you have to persist. Even Edward Norton’s long-winded boring speeches make a bit of sense.

Be on the lookout for cameo appearances by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Grant.

After two hours the story literally comes to a smashing end. Give the production a B+.

2022, Acceptable for teenagers, Amazon Prime, Anti-Gay Laws, Art appreciation, Art Museum, Based on a Book, Bisexual theme, British Drama, British Police, DO NOT MISS, Drama, Explicit sex, Extramarital Affair, Gay Bashing, Gay theme, Homophobia, Longsuffering wife, Love Triangle, Marital Infidelity, Nudity, Personal Betrayal, Police Culture, Prison, Promiscuity, Sex Scenes, Sexual Seduction, Surprise Ending, Trial Scenes, Unexpected Ending, Unhappy Ending, Unhappy Marriage, Unusual ending

My Policeman (2022)

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.

  • Harry Styles as young Tom also stars in the film “Don’t Worry Darling.”
  • Linus Roache as older Tom is well-known as the assistant DA from several seasons of “Law and Order.”
  • Emma Corrin as young Marion played Princess Diana Spencer in one of the seasons of “The Crown.”
  • Gina McKee as older Marion for me will always be Irene from “The Forsyte Saga.”
  • David Dawson as young Patrick played Alfred in “The Last Kingdom.”
  • Rupert Everett as older Patrick played George Downes in “My Best Friend’s Wedding.”

Critics found many negatives but audiences, including Kathy and me, loved it.

DO NOT MISS!

2015, Abandoned child, Abortion, Adopted child, Arson, Attempted Murder, Blackmail, Bullying, Burglars, Career Competition, Career Criminal, Contract Killing, Controlling personality, Cooking and food, Corrupt Prison Guards, DO NOT MISS, Drama, Erotic Tension, Ethical struggles, Failed Father, False Imprisonment, Family Secrets, Father-son relations, Fight Scenes, Frame someone for a crime, French, French Culture, Friendship, Happy ending, Jealousy, Love Story, Love Triangle, Melodrama, MHz Choice, Murder by poison, Must suspend disbelief, Narcissist, Occasionaly violent, Personal Betrayal, Police Investigation, Prison, Revenge, Romance, Sex Scenes, Uncle-Niece relations, Unwanted Pregnancy

Chefs (2015)

From IMDB:

Chefs in France. Competition drama and more.

From MHz Choice you can stream 2 seasons of this French soap opera centered around the competition between chefs. Season 1 offers 6 episodes whereas season 2 offers 8 episodes. Each episode is a bit under one hour. In French with English subtitles.

Where to begin!  This over-the-top melodrama is something only the French could conjure and runs the gamut from vegetables to love to murder.  Name a topic and it is probably involved. Still the gist of the series is:

  • Le Chef (we never hear his name) is the chef of Le Paris, an expensive and renowned Parisian restaurant who oversees and bullies his expert staff to achieve perfection.
  • Romain is out of jail for burglary and gets a job with Le Chef. We learn later that Romain does not know that he is the estranged son of Le Chef, whereas Le Chef recognizes his son. For most of the series Romain hates Le Chef, especially when he learns more about his father.
  • One constant theme is the fierce and unlawful competition to purchase various properties on which restaurants are located. For example,  Monsieur Edouard, a major villain in the story, manages to purchase Le Paris and force Le Chef to accept as a manager
  • Delphine, a beautiful and ruthless woman, whom Le Chef hates at first glance. Needless to say they eventually fall in love.
  • Yann is a superb kitchen culinary technician that is yet another villain.  Eventually we learn to sympathize with Yann.
  • Additionally there are far too many beautiful young women to record.  As the story proceeds each woman manages to love and leave various men.  Did I mention that this drama is a soap opera?

You will not learn a single recipe even as you watch zillions of meals go by that are too precious or exotic to believe.  Expect burglars, loan sharks, hired thugs,  Russian roulette poisoned meals,  betrayals, attack dogs, apprenticeships in using knives and preparing Chinese food,  unwanted pregnancy,  love affairs,   murder,  and difficult stays in prison to name a few.  Did I mention over-the-top?

If this milieu appeals to you then, DO NOT MISS!

 

2022, Bicycles, COVID theme, Kanopy streaming, Love Story, Love Triangle, Low Key, Quiet, Talking Heads

Alone Together (2022)

From KANOPY:

Two strangers wind up double-booked in the same upstate New York rental during the start of quarantine. Exacerbating the situation, these polar opposite personalities must learn to cope with each other’s eccentricities ultimately realizing they have more in common than meets the eye.

From KANOPY you can stream this 1 hour 41 minute love story.

Looking for a relaxing, sweet romance story?  This “talking heads” film might be just what you are looking for.  Just listening to the growing rapport between June (Katie Holmes) and Charlie (Jim Sturgess) as they banter on into the night might not be  your bag. For some reason I was drawn into their conversations.

In the future when someone watches this film, will they possibly ask “What’s this COVID business?”

Give it a try. You might fall in love with the film.

2021, Afghanistan, Amazon Prime, Based on true facts, Basically Sad, Bisexual theme, Drama, Explicit sex, Extramarital Affair, Fighter Pilot, Friendship, Gay theme, Homophobia, Inevitable Ending, KGB, Love Triangle, Military, Nudity, Sex Scenes, Soviet military, Suspense, Unhappy Ending

Firebird (2021)

From Amazon Prime:

Firebird follows a handsome, soulful young soldier who embarks on a clandestine sexual affair with a charismatic fighter pilot on a Soviet Air Force Base at the height of 1970’s Communist rule.

From Amazon Prime you can stream this 1 hour 47 minute film in spoken and subtitled English.

This true story takes place in 1977 Soviet occupied Estonia as well as in Moscow. Both the love story and the details of life under Russian (military) rule are interesting.

2019, Acceptable for teenagers, Alcoholism, Cross Dressing, Downs Syndrome, Father-son relations, Feel Good Not For Children, Flirting, Friendship, Gay theme, Happy Family Gatherings, Hopeless Love, Lesbian Theme, Love Triangle, Masturbation, Mother-daughter relations, Music Scenes, Netflix Streaming, Nudity, Offbeat, Philosophic Discussions, Privileged Upper Class, Rich versus Poor, Sex Scenes, Single Father, Single Mother, Soap Opera, Social Class Inequality, University Politics, University Professor, University Students

Merlí Sapere Aude (2019)

From IMDB:

Pol Rubio starts to study Philosophy at the University of Barcelona while the relationship between Bruno and him begins to strengthen. Pol will meet new friends, new colleagues and new teachers apart from having to face conflicts in his new student stage, his complicated family and his new relationship with Bruno Bergeron in this way until becoming a Philosophy teacher.

From Netflix you can stream the 8 episodes of the second season of this Spanish (Barcelona) young adult soap opera. Each episode lasts about 45 minutes. Catalan is the original language of the series.

Season one was entitled  simply   “Merlí” and is not available. Merlí is the name of a favorite teacher who dies at the end of season one. Season two takes up from there with Pol grieving over the loss of his teacher Merlí.

All episodes center on a group of students studying philosophy at a university in Spain.  This group of friends quickly formed at the beginning of their studies.  Another notable character in particular is one of their teachers María Bolaño who is lonely and struggles with alcoholism. Each student has his or her own story to tell.  Relationships, sexual and otherwise, are formed and fought over.

My recommendation for this forgettable series is that it is a light-hearted young adult snapshot of the culture of 21st century Spain.

2016, Acceptable for teenagers, Amazon Prime, Amusing banter, Basically Sad, Discussions about Emotions, Dishonest father, Drama, Embezzlement, Failed Father, Family Conflict, Father-son relations, Financial malfeasance, Flashbacks, Fraud, Friendship, Gay theme, Jewish Religious Observance, Love Story, Love Triangle, Manipulative personality, Mother-son relations, Pianist, Prison, Sex Scenes, Suicide, Unhappy Ending, Wonderful acting

Those People (2016)

From Amazon Prime:

On Manhattan’s gilded Upper East Side, a younger painter, Charlie, finds the man of his dreams in an older pianist from across the globe, Tim. If only Charlie weren’t secretly in love with his own manipulative best friend, Sebastian, who is embroiled in a financial scandal. In the wake of Sebastian’s notoriety, their tight-knit group of friends must confront the new realities of adulthood.

From Amazon Prime you can stream this 1 hour 29 minute complete film.

Alone the acting would be a reason to watch this film. But Charlie himself is a sympathetic, naïve, and engaging character.  Root for Charlie BUT (spoiler to follow) do not expect a happy ending.

2017, Art Museum, Bizarre, Brother-Brother relations, Dark family secrets, Drama, Erotic Tension, Erotic Thriller, Explicit sex, French Mystery, Good Brother - Bad Brother, Kanopy streaming, Love Triangle, Mental Illness, Mother-daughter relations, Must suspend disbelief, Nudity, Outrageous Behavior, Psychoanalysis, Psychological Thriller, Sex Scenes, Surprise Ending, Twins, Unusual

Double Lover (2017)

From Kanopy:

Crafting a deliriously cinematic web of suspense, shock, eroticism, and power dynamics, writer/director Francois Ozon returns to master the thriller genre with DOUBLE LOVER.

Chloe, who works as a guard at a museum in Paris, seeks to shore up her resiliency and enters psychoanalysis. Following the end of the treatment with psychiatrist Paul Meyer, both realize that they have fallen in love. A new chapter begins for Chloe when she and Paul move in together…yet Chloe soon comes to believe that Paul is keeping a secret. She impulsively visits another psychiatrist, Louis Delord. Spiraling emotional and sexual stakes will push all three of them to extremes, forcing Chloe to take action in order to solve a mystery and save herself.

Nominated for a Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

“What gives the film its surprising coherence is not only the fluidity of Ozon’s technique but also his mastery of tone, the ease with which he applies serious craft to a resolutely un-serious endeavor.” – Justin Chang, The Los Angeles Times

From Kanopy you can stream this 108 minute French film with English subtitles.

Offering some exciting, explicit sex scenes, this quasi-mystery story is based on a wildly unscientific premise.  In addition to the heavy erotic atmosphere, the film features the  beautiful Marine Vacth who pairs perfectly with the French start Jérémie Renier. Renier featured in “In Bruges”.

Visually, many scenes, especially in the museum, are quite striking and colorful.

Kanopy is available free from your local library.

2020, Abduction, Action sequences, Amnesia, Bad Acting, Barely Acceptable Trash, Brother-Sister relations, Conspiracy, Corny, Detective, Ends in Cliff Hanger, Extramarital Affair, Failing Marriage, Government cover-up, Government human experiment, Government mind-control, Human experimentation, Kidnapping, Lesbian Theme, Love Triangle, Marital Infidelity, Maudlin, Mother-son relations, Must suspend disbelief, Netflix Streaming, Often downright silly, Paranormal theme, Plane Disappearance, Religious Nonsense, Short-lived suspenseful episodes, Sometimes seems silly, Suspense

Manifest (2020)

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From Netflix:

When a plane mysteriously lands years after takeoff, the people onboard return to a world that has moved on without them and face strange, new realities.

From Netflix you can stream two seasons of this fairly awful series. Season 1 has 16 episodes and season 2 has 13 episodes.  Every single episode lasts exactly 42 minutes, which may have been the only technical achievement of the series.

Holy Maudlin!  There were enough tears shed during this slop opera to irrigate California.

Holy Unbelievable! Find yourself in a tight spot?  Just invent some miraculous paranormal intervention.

Holy Gullible! How on earth could I watch all 29 episodes expecting to be satisfied with the ending.  Perhaps it is because I LOVE TRASH.

MISS!

2012, Acceptable for teenagers, Alcoholism, Ambitious Dirty Tricks, Anxiety Attacks, Brother-Sister relations, Career Competition, Character Driven, Corruption, Could Be Sad, Cover-up, Danish, Danish Politics, Danish TV series, Depression, Divorce, DO NOT MISS, Drama, Embezzlement, Ethical struggles, Extramarital Affair, Failing Marriage, Family Conflict, Father-daughter relations, Father-son relations, Husband leaves wife, Love Story, Love Triangle, Marital Infidelity, Mental Illness, Mother-daughter relations, Mother-son relations, Netflix Streaming, Newspaper Culture, NOT violent, Personal Betrayal, Political Intrigue, Politicians, Psychiatrists, Revenge, Romance, Thought provoking, TV Culture, TV news industry, TV Reporter, Well developed plot, Womanizing

Borgen (2012)

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From IMDB:

A political drama about a prime minister’s rise to power, and how power changes a prime minister.

From Netflix you can stream 3 seasons of this Danish political drama series. Each season consists of 10 one-hour episodes.  Recent news hints that there might someday be a fourth season. Danish with English subtitles.

In Danish, Borgen, lit. ’The Castle’, is the informal name of Christiansborg Palace where all three branches of Danish government reside: the Parliament, the Prime Minister’s Office, and the Supreme Court, and is often used as a figure of speech for the Danish government.

In the very first episode we see  Birgitte Nyborg become Prime Minister of Denmark.  This first episode is OK but does not begin to compare with the gut-punching episodes that follow.  Can a woman “have it all” is one of the issues.  Birgitte comes off as a morally upright and  sincere woman steering her way through the compromising pressures of political life.   She will pay a personal price for her success.

Surrounding Birgitte are a multitude of characters meaningful to the plot,  some praiseworthy and quite a few sneaky , malicious,  ambitious “villains.”  Quite a few of those characters are members of the news media.  All these many characters are involved throughout the series and often have their own personal stories to tell.

Each episode usually centers around a theme:  health care, peace negotiations,  and many others.  Don’t expect each episode to have a happy ending.  After most episodes Kathy and I exclaim “WOW, how do the writers maintain such consistent excellence?”

DO NOT MISS!