The lineup of digital previews highlights the director’s new animation of “Moana” and many options for the adults of the house, including the highest-grossing horror film in Taiwanese film history.
Check out the 10 tips of the week below – including three national titles -, selected from the best subscription service launches and online rental companies.
| THE BEAST OF THE SEA | NETFLIX
The new animation by Chris Williams, director of two of the biggest recent Disney hits, “Operation Big Hero” and “Moana”, is, like the latter, an adventure at sea undertaken by a young heroine.
The plot follows the insistent Maisie Brumble, a girl who dreams of having great adventures and does not accept negative responses. She clandestinely embarks on the ship of her great idol, the monster hunter Jacob Holland, to participate in a journey from the age of the caravels to seas never crossed, where terrible and gigantic sea creatures live.
The action is not lacking, but the plot defies expectations with references to “Moby Dick” and monster films such as “Kong vs. Godzilla”, as well as inserting a subversive interrogation in the questions posed by his little heroine, who aims at war, the greed and hypocrisy of official lies.
The British voice cast includes Karl Urban (“The Boys”), Jared Harris (“Chernobyl”), Dan Stevens (“Legion”) and young Zaris-Angel Hator (“Black Earth Rising”) in the lead role.
| DEBT OF HONOR | MUBI
Directed and starring Tommy Lee Jones (“Men in Black”), the western features the actor as a cowboy who, after being saved from a violent death, finds himself in debt and is convinced he is embarking on a journey that could bring him back. back on track in deadly conditions. The one who saves him is a farmer played by Hilary Swank (“Away”) and her mission is to help her transport three crazy women across the American prairie, between Indians, outlaws and general madness.
The phenomenal cast includes Meryl Streep (“Don’t Look Up”), Miranda Otto (“Chilling Adventures of Sabrina”), John Lithgow (“The Crown”), Jesse Plemons (“Attack of the Dogs”), James Spader (“The Blacklist”), Tim Blake Nelson (“Watchmen”), Grace Gummer (“Mr. Robot”) and Hailee Steinfeld (“Hawkeye”).
| SIGNS OF CURSE | NETFLIX
Taiwanese horror follows the line of fake documentaries and found videos, which have been a tradition in the genre since “Cannibal Holocaust” (1980). Loosely based on a true story, the plot follows a young woman who begins to see things that aren’t there. Her explanation is provided by her mother, who reveals that she breached a sacred temple many years ago when she ran a ghost hunter YouTube channel. Unknowingly, she drew a curse on herself and the people around her.
Screening in Taiwanese cinemas generated a collective frenzy, making “Marks of the Curse” the biggest box office of the year and the biggest horror hit of all time in the country. Not surprisingly, a sequel is already in development.
| THE LOAD | CHIARA TV +
Set in Serbia, during the conflicts against Kosovo in 1999, the psychological drama follows a driver who is entrusted with the mission of transporting a mysterious cargo from Kosovo to Belgrade on behalf of NATO, crossing a devastated region by truck, with the order not to stop and not to call Notice. No information is given on the contents carried, but with unemployment and the chaos of war, the proposal becomes irrefutable.
A chance encounter with a young hitchhiker offers company, but the plot is essentially the lonely odyssey of a man who agrees to do whatever it takes to survive, even when his conscience advises him to think.
Ognjen Glavonic’s first fictional film (“Zivan makes a punk festival”) harnesses the Serbian director’s experience with documentaries to provide a realistic and melancholy portrait of historical horror, with powerful revelations for both his character and character. viewer. Critically acclaimed, it garnered 100% approval on Rotten Tomatoes and won 16 international awards.
| WHEN CALM COMES | VOD *
Apocalyptic science fiction begins after a devastating cyclone devastated the world and completely flooded Hong Kong. It is in this desolate environment that a young woman tries to survive, isolated and hidden in the ruins of a residential apartment building, fearing who else may have survived the storm and is desperate for food. Until one day a child appears floating in front of her, leading her to abandon her routine.
At a slower pace than traditional disaster films, the Chinese production also has moments of action, especially at the end. Highlight of the cast, actress Kara Wang is currently in theaters in the blockbuster “Top Gun: Maverick”.
| THE COLOR ROOM | VOD *
In her first feature film, Phoebe Dynevor (Daphne of “Bridgerton”) plays potter Clarice Cliff, a determined young woman who turned her business relationships upside down in the 1920s to run her own custom ceramic studio, becoming one of the greatest designers of Art Deco.
The biography is directed by Claire McCarthy (“Ofelia”) and includes in the cast Matthew Goode (“A Discovery of Witches”), David Morrissey (“The Walking Dead”), Darci Shaw (“Judy: Over the Rainbow”) “) , Kerry Fox (“Revenge Is Coming”) and Luke Norris (“Poldark”).
| PURITY | CLARO TV +, VOD *
Inspired by a true story, “Pureza” is a film of denunciation on the situation of slave labor that still persists in Brazil. Dira Paes (“Pantanal”) plays the title character, Dona Pureza, a woman with no news of her child who has left for a mine in the Amazon and has disappeared. At the beginning of his search for her, she ends up witnessing the grooming and false imprisonment of rural workers, who, after being duped with job offers, are forced to work as slaves on a farm at gunpoint.
Dona Pureza becomes the cook of these people and, while collecting the evidence of the crimes, she discovers that her son has been a victim of the same scheme, imprisoned on another farm belonging to the group of criminals. What happens next is a spoiler for the outcome, but it was crucial to the fight against slavery-like work in Brazilian soil.
In 1997, Dona Pureza real received the anti-slavery award in London from the oldest anti-slavery organization in the world.
“Pureza” is the second fictional feature film by Renato Barbieri, specializing in documentaries on deep Brazil, who in 2019 recorded a documentary on current slavery in the Amazon, in the film “Servidão”. But if the theme of “Purity” has aroused unanimous praise, the awareness has divided the critics. It has been called an “Oscar movie” and also a conventional storytelling.
| THE HAPPINESS OF THINGS | CLARO TV +, VOD *
The thing that the protagonist (Patricia Saravy, from “Proven”) of the national drama imagines could bring her happiness is a swimming pool, which she dreams of building for her children in the modest beach house where she lives with their mother. She is pregnant with her third child and financial problems make it increasingly difficult for her to be happy, but she insists, fighting for her object of her desire, against everything and everyone, as a symbol of resistance for her children.
Director Thais Fujinaga (“The City Where I Get Old”) was inspired by her childhood to conceive her second feature, which was shot in the region where she spent her summers as a teenager. Card-carrying critics liked it. “A Felicidade das Coisas” won the prize for the best Brazilian preview, awarded by Abraccine at the Sao Paulo Motor Show last year.
| THE FIRST SOLDIERS | CHIARA TV +
Awarded at the Tiradentes Film Festival, Rodrigo de Oliveira’s drama (“Todos os Paulos do Mundo”) arrives simultaneously in cinemas and on digital platforms. The plot takes place in 1983 during the onset of the AIDS epidemic and follows a young biologist, transsexual and videomaker, who tries to survive the disease amidst the despair of lack of information and an uncertain future.
The main roles are played by Johnny Massaro (“Verdades Secretas”), Renata Carvalho (“Pico da Neblina”) and Victor Camilo (“A Mata Negra”). And there are some curiosities: Carvalho spent a decade as a STD prevention agent, working with transvestites and transsexuals in prostitution. and Massaro declared himself gay during filming.
| THIS SO MUCH I KNOW TO BE TRUE | MUBI
A beautiful addition to the film “One More Time With Feeling” (2016), Andrew Dominik’s new documentary (“The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford”) chronicles the creative relationship between Nick Cave and Warren Ellis as they create music for two from his latest studio albums, “Ghosteen” and “Carnage”, with Marianne Faithfull.
* VOD (video on demand) versions can be rented individually on platforms such as Apple TV, Google Play, Microsoft Store, Prime Store, Vivo Play and YouTube, among others, without the need for a monthly subscription.
Source: Terra
Emily Jhon is a product and service reviewer at Gossipify, known for her honest evaluations and thorough analysis. With a background in marketing and consumer research, she offers valuable insights to readers. She has been writing for Gossipify for several years and has a degree in Marketing and Consumer Research from the University of Oxford.
