We recommend: The best new movies and TV series

 

Editor’s note: We guess we don’t need to recommend Border 2. It has its audience locked. What we must point you towards is Timothee Chalamet-starrer Marty Supreme in theatres. Watch it, get mindblown. Do check Primate and The History of Sound in theatres. Robert Pattinson and Jennifer Lawrence play off each other’s talent in the intense drama Die My Love, out on MUBI. And a new season of Queer Eye!

 

*****

 

New releases

 

Border 2 (Hindi)

 

Almost 30 years after JP Dutta’s classic war film arrives this standalone sequel, directed by Anurag Singh. Sunny Deol—older, wiser, but no less angry—returns as our patriotic hero, with the film taking place against the backdrop of the India-Pakistan war of 1971. Given the timing of the release—amid heightened tensions between the two nations, as well as a spate of films that cross over from patriotism to jingoism all too readily—Border 2 seems to have tried to find some semblance of balance in its tone.

 

Shubhra Gupta at The Indian Express wrote that the film “holds on to the soul and spirit” of Dutta’s original—the jingoism, while “clear and present” here, is “never allowed to overtake the film”. 

 

"The futility and devastation of war is part of the script too, with the lives lost and the grieving all round: I was moved to tears in many places."

 

Where to watch: Theatres

 

Marty Supreme (English)

 

Timothee Chalamet headlines a breakneck character study of a reckless young man. Set in '50s New York, Chalamet is Marty, a hustler, a criminal, but most importantly, a table-tennis player. Marty will stop at nothing to let it be known in the world that he was, is, and will be. His chase for supreme-ness leaves wreckage wherever he moves, but he makes it up with ample charm.

 

Critics were taken by storm. Calling it director Josh Safdie's most "personal" film till date, New Yorker critic Richard Brody writes, "It’s one of the very few movies that dramatize—hyperbolically, comedically, even mockingly, yet optimistically—the boldness unto folly of a young fanatic turning ambition into reality."

 

Over in India, Scroll observed, "The fast-paced action involved in table tennis is the perfect metaphor for a character in a tearing hurry to conquer. Marty is both the American dream and its nightmare in all its brash, crude and entitled glory."

 

Where to watch: Theatres

 

The History of Sound (English)

 

Two young men—a singer (Paul Mescal) and a musicologist (Josh O’Connor)—cross paths at a Boston music conservatory right before the Americans enter the first world war. They form a tender bond and, after the war, spend time travelling together. Recording music, hanging out with the locals in rural Maine, discovering life. They fall in love. And then they part. 

 

The film is directed by Oliver Hermanus and written by Ben Shattuck, who has adapted the script from a couple of his short stories. While tempering its praise somewhat, The New York Times noted that the film is “a refined, restrained period piece. Its atmosphere builds charge in small moments of affection, like David gathering up the loose feathers from Lionel’s pillow and packing them back into its seam.”

 

Where to watch: Theatres

 

Primate (English)

 

Family on vacation in Hawaii carries their pet chimpanzee who becomes violent after being bitten by [spoilers!]. Ape supreme follows. You can't go wrong with a claustrophobic creature feature. 

 

Critic James Berardinelli has the cleanest description of what the film has to offer: "...nothing terribly original... but that’s kind of the point. He knows the tropes, adheres to them lovingly without going the comedy/parody route, and delivers a movie that mostly does what it sets out to do. It is a functional genre machine built specifically for a target audience."

 

Where to watch: Theatres

 

Cheekatilo (Telugu)

 

Sobhita Dhulipala is a television news presenter-turned-podcaster who digs deep into a series of unsolved murders in Hyderabad. Red herrings and blind alleys follow. The protagonist, of course, comes with some trauma that the plot helps her process as she gets closer to the serial killer. 

 

Sruthi Ganapapathy Raman of The Hollywood Reporter India was impressed till a point.

 

The procedural part of the film, too, lends some depth to the story, leading us to peel the onion and look for the killer. Along the way, we're also subjected to typical depictions of sexual assault on screen. While not overtly voyeuristic, it still doesn't reverse the gaze all that much. Cheekatilo rushes to its ending, and once we're made aware of the killer's identity, the film struggles to keep us affected. The film might have worked even better as a series... had it been given more space and time to breathe. Even so, it makes a visible dent in the genre.

 

Where to watch: Prime Video

 

The Big Fake (Italian)

 

1970s Rome serves as the backdrop for this Italian crime drama (originally titled Il Falsario), inspired by true events. Director Stefano Lodovichi dives into Italy’s famous art scene through the life of Toni (Pietro Castellitto), whose dreams of becoming an artist take a sinister turn as he becomes a master forger for criminal gangs. Toni’s hubris—his hunger for more—leads him down a path of crime and deception as he seeks a shortcut to success.

 

Where to watch: Netflix

 

Steal (English)

 

What lengths would you go to acquire the wealth that you desire? And at what cost?

 

In this financial heist show, we are dropped into the life of Zara Dunne (Sophie Turner), who finds herself suddenly and unexpectedly caught in the middle of an armed robbery at her workplace, an investment firm. As the show progresses, it becomes unclear whether she is, in fact, a victim, or part of this hi-tech heist. At its essence, as The Guardian notes, “...the series becomes a meditation on the notion that the love of money is the root of all evil.”

 

Where to watch: Prime Video

 

Cosmic Princess Kaguya! (Japanese)

 

Princess Kaguya is an enduring Japanese myth. A most beautiful princess, whose true home is the moon, is discovered as a child inside a tiny bamboo stalk. She grows up with impossible speed and charms the entire world. Director Isao Takahata and Studio Ghibli explore this in the magical and poignant 2013 anime film, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya.

 

This new anime film transports the myth into the near future. Now Kaguya lives inside a virtual world. The girl protagonist, Iroha, discovers her, and together they navigate challenges of online fame, streaming culture, and virtual performance. It's a musical, so watch out for the songs.

 

Where to watch: Netflix

 

 

Fresh off the big screen

 

Gustaakh Ishq (Hindi)

 

Vijay Verma and Naseeruddin Shah are Urdumaxxing for two hours against sumptuous interior decor and fabulous Vishal Bhardwaj-Gulzar tunes. Verma’s hero is supposed to be wooing Shah’s onscreen daughter, played by Fatima Sana Shaikh. That almost becomes an afterthought. Perfect for winter.

 

Where to watch: 

 

Tere Ishq Mein (Hindi)

 

Dhanush is terrorising Kriti Sanon to love him back, AR Rahman songs in tow. This is Raanjhanaa all over again from the same writer-director-actor team. Aanand L Rai, coming from a series of flops like the gargantuan Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Zero, did find success at the box office with this movie. So, man can’t be faulted other than for having to sell his soul at the abattoir of bad taste.

 

Where to watch: Netflix

 

Sirai (Tamil)

 

This critically acclaimed Tamil drama directed by Suresh Rajakumari makes its way on to streaming this week. Starring Vikram Prabhu as a cop with a conscience, one who’s assigned the task of escorting inmates, the film explores the well-worn themes of honest officers functioning within broken, morally bankrupt systems, and the obstacles they encounter.

 

The Hindu called it “the kind of hopeful cinema Indian society desperately needs to champion.” The Hollywood Reporter India lauded Sirai for making “a living, breathing life form of what could easily have remained an intellectual exercise. That it achieves, only because Sirai’s heart is in sync with its head.” 

 

Where to watch: Zee5

 

Him (English)

 

A bit silly but exceptionally well-made horror film. Co-produced by Jordan Peele (writer-director of Get Out and Nope). A rising young quarterback's (Tyriq Withers) dreams of pro football are derailed when he is injured. A veteran in the sport (Marlon Wayans) offers him a chance to train at his remote desert compound. Blood and mayhem follow.

 

Where to watch: JioHotstar

 

Die My Love (English)

 

Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson. You're already sold. And the director is Lynne Ramsay, maker of intense, psychological dramas; you must have seen or heard of We Need to Talk About Kevin? Lawrence plays new mother Grace. Pattinson, her partner Jackson. Postpartum depression engulfs the rest of the story in flames. 

 

Scroll's Nandini Ramnath noted,

 

Some of the scenes between Grace and Jackson have the feel of acting masterclasses. Although Ramsay’s flourishes are overdone to the point of being laboured, her chronicle of womanhood in despair is hard to look away from.

 

The leads are in perfect sync, even as their characters spin out of control. Robert Pattinson ably complements the film’s main draw: Jennifer Lawrence, raw, fearless and uninhibited like never before.

 

Where to watch: MUBI

 

 

One more chapter

 

WWE Unreal S02 (English)

 

Behind-the-scenes look at the creative engine running the billion-dollar World Wrestling Entertainment. Intimate backstage access to major stars Seth Rollins, Rhea Ripley, Becky Lynch, Cody Rhodes and more. This is catnip for the pro-wrestling nerd.

 

Where to watch: Netflix

 

Queer Eye S10 (English)

 

Comfort show to many, this series has now reached its inevitable conclusion with its 10th and final season on Netflix. The Fab Five return to the screen, this time in the nation’s capital city, to bring their impeccable sense of style and fashion sense to perform the makeovers they are best known for. Antoni Porowski, Jeremiah Brent, Jonathan Van Ness, Karamo Brown and Tan France are the lead members of this cast (which used to include Bobby Brent, who left after season 8), each bringing their own special, unique talent to the game. A tear-jerker, according to The Guardian, the show offers viewers hope and allows them to dream of a better future:

 

If Queer Eye offered participants a sometimes temporary shot at a more comfortable life – an expensive haircut, nice clothes, good furniture, a form of counselling, a nutritious meal plan – then it offered that optimism to its viewers, too. Any given episode of Queer Eye pushed the message that decent people would reap rewards, that being good, hardworking and considerate might lead to a helping hand when you’re down on your luck, when it seems as if the world does not care for you any more.

 

Where to watch: Netflix