Netflix for your evening fix
ON OFFER: SO MANY FASCINATING PRODUCTIONS Streaming channel a saviour – with insightful documentaries, classic flicks...
With Covid-19 still on the rampage – and most cinemas not operating to full capacity – movie lovers have turned to Netflix for their entertainment fix.
This streaming channel has proved a saviour to many of us who can discover an amazing variety of fare – from insightful documentaries to classic movies and a number of excellent original productions.
While we watched, intrigued, by Bridgerton and its beautiful recreation of a genteel bygone era in English society, there have been so many other fascinating productions to salivate over.
Over the past months my wife and I have watched a wide selection of drama-based titles, many of foreign origin. I especially enjoy the Spanish and Turkish contributions to the channel and while the sub-titles are often hilarious English translations, the sheer craft of the Spanish and Turkish filmmakers is gripping.
At present we are bingeing on a Spanish series, Velvet, centred around an exclusive Madrid fashion house and some of the hilarious and devious characters it has spawned. We meet the owners and their dubious history and the members of staff, each telling a facet of their lives.
The episodes are crammed with dramatic incident, from personal secrets to mismatched love affairs, from secret takeovers of the firm to unrequited love among the bosses.
Intriguing stuff, full of emotional heft and commanding acting from a cast unfamiliar to most South African viewers.
We erroneously watched the second series first, Velvet Colección, and only realised later that there was a prequel, which we are consuming now.
On the Spanish side, I can recommend several titles that provide the kind of diverting entertainment we all crave.
Series such as High Seas, a drama driven crime-based narrative on a luxury liner; Gran Hotel which is set in an upmarket hotel and focuses on the trials and tribulations of the management and staff; and Cable Girl, a deliciously sordid look at the machinations behind Madrid’s first telephone company and the intrigues of the various staff.
Turkey also produces its fair share of made-for-television productions and we have enjoyed Winter Sun and Black Money Love, which, interestingly, is also being screened on DStv but dubbed into English with terrible South African accents.