TV series and films to see during the holidays

Bridgerton
From December 25th on Netflix
Alternative title: Gossip Grandma. Because it is from the gossipy gazette of the mysterious Lady Whistledown, also the narrator of the story (to be listened to in the original: the voice is that of Her Majesty Julie Andrews), that this pimpantissima variation on the Jane Austen theme starts. But it produces Shonda Rhimes, Lady Grey’s Anatomy, which lands with her production company ShondaLand on the platform of the scarlet letter. So, yes: there is the London of neoclassical lounges and afternoon teas, there are young noblewomen of age to (and looking for) husbands, there are the plots and bickering that would make Emma Woodehouse in raptures.

But the queen is afro, the most disputed of the dukes as well, in the soundtrack they feel Thank U, Next by Ariana Grande e Girls Like You by Maroon 5. Amusing, affectionate, joyful, with all new faces that are a bet (and more male than female naked). Shonda’s move to Netflix is ​​also a gamble. After the quoted Grey’s, e Scandal, e The rules of the perfect crime do we really have to say if it will be won?

The Midnight Sky
From December 23 on Netflix
After Solaris by Soderbergh (flop) e Gravity by Cuaròn (top), George offers us his personal interpretation of science fiction. That is: an intimate, solemn place, more human than technological. His Augustine is very human, a scientist left alone at the Pole trying to prevent the return of a shuttle to Earth, weakened by the usual disaster. And the direction is very human (by Clooney himself), who in fact prefers affections to effects: see the almost dance sequence between the astronauts in orbit. Spacecraft claustrophobia? We are used to that from home, which never will be.

Lupin
From January 8 on Netflix
The incorrigible Lupine (this too is a quote for twentieth-century children) returns in “a modern and completely unexpected adaptation”, as his new interpreter Omar Sy has declared. That is the comic shoulder of Almost friends, which is enough to give the sense of the restyling of the character created by Maurice Leblanc. This time he is black, his name is Assane Diop and he grew up in the Parisian suburb. But he remains a thief and, above all, a gentleman. Purists do not turn up their noses: what you watched as a child was just a cartoon, and even this live action has the easygoing step of the cartoon.

The Undoing – The Untold Truths
From 8 January on Sky Atlantic and NowTv
Finally a series made as series are made. No: as they once did, in the pre-binge watching era. With the weekly episode and the cliffhanger in the last sequence that will make viewers discuss at the coffee machine together with colleagues in the following week (oh well: when you could). In addition to the erotic-familiar thriller, there are Nicole Kidman (and her must-have coats), increasingly crazy Hugh Grant, Matilda De Angelis debutante in America, views of Central Park and some healthy architecture porn. Six episodes are almost few.

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina 4
From December 31st on Netflix
New Year’s Eve alone? There are teen witches. From being an institution of the Early Millennials (when the protagonist was Melissa Joan Hart: the under 30s don’t know what we’re talking about), Sabrina has also become an icon for Generation Zeta. Thanks to Kiernan Shipka, who portrays her in line with the wave of female empowerment. And then this П the last season: we will understand if in Miss Spellman the nature of a sorceress will prevail (more: queen of the Underworld) or that of a human more interested in defaulters than in magic.

All for 1 – 1 for all
On December 25th on Sky Cinema Uno and Now Tv
The previous, King’s Musketeers, it was subtitled The penultimate mission. The last remained. Latest. Here she is. Favino / D’Artagnan, Mastandrea / Porthos and Papaleo / Athos are recalled by Queen Anne of Austria (Margherita Buy) for another enterprise «à la Brancaleone». There is still that old comedy atmosphere there, plus the new faces: the best is Guido Caprino in comedy version (finally!), Aka an immediately cult Cyrano de Bergerac. The family movie “on the side of children” (but let’s not spoil it further) of the pandemic Christmas.

Ma Rainey’s Black bottom
From December 18th on Netflix
The last posthumous Oscar awarded to an actor is Heath Ledger’s for The Joker Dark Knight, it was the year 2009. According to the Hollywood buzz, a statuette could also arrive next year for Chadwick “Black Panther” Boseman, who appeared in August (sigh). He is the trumpeter of the blues ensemble led by Malissa Nix Pridgett, better known as Ma Gertrude Rainey (Viola Davis, also in the smell of nomination), the first professional African American singer in the early twentieth century. Obviously true story: for the Academy an added value, you know.

Sylvie’s Love
From 25 December on Amazon Prime Video
It looks like one of those old colorized films, that is, shot in black and white and “painted” scene by scene. It is the strong and clear aesthetic sign of director Eugene Ashe: setting a love story in the 1950s and shooting it, precisely, as a product of the 1950s. But with black protagonists, as it could not be done at the time. Record seller Sylvie (Tessa Thompson) and saxophonist Robert (Nnamdi Asomugha) are swept away by the more classic amour fou, but are busy with others. How you do it? Melodrammone perfect for Christmas, time of paté and suffering.

Cops – A gang of cops
On 14 and 21 December on Sky Cinema and Now Tv
Scandinavians do it best: series. Or, at least, they know how to place brilliant and easily declinable formats everywhere. After Norway’s Shame, here is Kops Sweden. With us Cops, or Apulian cops (we are in Lecce) with a routine so quiet that their police station is destined to close: they will invent crimes in order not to lose their jobs. Supercast of Italian-style comedians (Claudio Bisio, Pietro Sermonti, Francesco Mandelli, plus Stefania Rocca) and the quick hand of Luca Miniero, who was the other half of the couple of directors shared with Paolo Genovese.

Christmas at the Cupiello house
On 22 December on Raiuno and Raiplay
As per tradition: that of Mamma Rai, to bring Eduardo De Filippo’s comedy to Italian homes at Christmas. It had happened – with Eduardo himself – in 1962 and 1977. The refreshata dell’annus horribilis 2020 obviously loses the original protagonist (but there is a great Sergio Castellitto, a very worthy replacement) and buys the hand of Edoardo De Angelis, already suspended director between folk tale and visionary experimentation of Indivisibili and The Vice of Hope, which here seems to tell another of his stories. Instead, it is (still) everyone’s story.

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