The Week’s guide to what’s worth watching
Kindred
James Baldwin’s declaration that “history is the present” courses through this eight-part series based on Octavia E. Butler’s celebrated timetravel novel. Mallori Johnson shines as Dana James, a young Black woman in Los Angeles who has moved into a new home with Kevin, her white husband, when she mysteriously begins being briefly transported to a plantation in
1815 Maryland. She encounters both white and enslaved Black ancestors, and the stakes rise when she figures out a way to bring Kevin back to
1815 with her. Available Tuesday, Dec. 13, Hulu
National Treasure: Edge of History
Disney’s National Treasure has a new face. Fifteen years after the second movie in the hammy but popular franchise, Nicolas Cage has been replaced by a new treasure hunter, this one a 20-year-old Mexican-American played by Lisette Olivera. Much of the creative team returns, as does Harvey Keitel, in the role of the FBI agent who aided Cage’s amateur sleuth. The treasure hunt this time opens up a different story of America’s past. Catherine Zeta-Jones co-stars. Debuts Wednesday, Dec. 14, Disney+
Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths
There are worse ways for film lovers to spend an evening than by sitting through an overly long, love-it-or-loathe-it, Fellini-esque romp from multi-Oscar winner Alejandro Iñárritu.
The Birdman and Revenant director lets his ego run wild in this trippy film in which the brilliant Daniel Giménez Cacho plays an Iñárritu stand-in. The protagonist, a celebrated media figure with homes in Mexico and L.A., conflates personal and continental history as he reflects on his life. The imagery is undeniably dazzling. Available Friday, Dec. 16, Netflix
Nanny
Strange visions and talk of spirits abound in this pulsing thriller from first-time director Nikyatu Jusu. But the real horrors come in the reality of what life has become for Aisha, an undocumented Senegalese immigrant in New York City who finds work with a privileged, white family. Us’s Anna Diop is riveting in the lead role as a woman caught in an existential crisis as she longs for the son she left in Senegal and bonds with another woman’s child. Available Friday, Dec. 16, Amazon Prime
Litvinenko
How good an actor is David Tennant? Good enough to give a performance largely from bed and still carry a four-episode thriller series. Tennant stars as Alexander Litvinenko, the former FSB agent who defected to the U.K. after accusing Vladimir Putin of ordering the assassination of a Russian oligarch. In 2006, Litvinenko was poisoned by Russian agents on U.K. soil. Available Friday, Dec. 16, AMC+/Sundance Now
Other highlights If These Walls Could Sing
Paul McCartney’s daughter Mary plays host and director of a new documentary that dives into the musical history of Abbey Road Studios. Available Friday, Dec. 16, Disney+
The Recruit
Noah Centineo (To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before) headlines this new spy series as a rookie CIA lawyer who quickly finds himself in deep water. Debuts Friday, Dec. 16, Netflix
2022 FIFA World Cup Final
Soccer’s greatest event comes to an end in Qatar, as the last two countries standing battle for the championship. Sunday, Dec. 18, at 10 a.m., Fox Sports and Telemundo