What to Watch

The Netflix Original moniker has become a byword for formulaic dross these past few months but, once in a while, a Netflix offering comes along that at least puts out a few moves and ideas that don’t seem to have been stolen wholesale from earlier, better shows.

Welcome to the unexpected and deeply likeable The Laundromat.

The Laundromat is a subjective and mischievous amble through the Panama Papers scandal of a few years ago. You will remember that a tranche of 12 million documents was dumped from an internet vault somewhere into the waiting arms of the world’s media and consumers. The documents had been in the digital archives of a Panamanian law firm (of surpassing shadiness), that went by the name Mossack Fonseca.

Director Steven Soderbergh (Sex Lies and Videotape, Erin Brockovich, Magic Mike) and his writing ally, Scott Z Burns, recast the story as a modern fable.

Meryl Streep’s character – widowed by a ferry disaster – just wants to know what happened to the life insurance premiums she had been paying for years when she finds there is nothing in the kitty when she comes to collect.

The answer is that a pack of conmen had taken her money and stashed it in ‘‘shell companies’’ in the world’s tax havens. Mossack Fonseca was a major player in these international tax-avoidance schemes, although it only accounted for less than 10 per cent of the global business.

The Laundromat takes us through the known facts of Mossack Fonseca’s fall from grace in whimsical fashion.