We recommend: The best new movies and TV series
Editor’s note: Full, eclectic week. A Mathew Perry documentary drops on Netflix, Vinod Kapri’s aching Pyre releases in theatres, so does Olivia Colman’s charming Wicker and Daisy Edgar-Jones’s Sense And Sensibility. Curry Barker’s breakout Obsession makes its way to streaming—with Kriti Sanon and Varun Dhawan voicing the Hindi dub—and the charming Vijay Sethupathi-starrer Baththa is out on Netflix.
*****
New releases
Akka (Hindi)
This historical fiction series, led by Keerthy Suresh and Radhika Apte, is based in South India in the 1980s. In this imagined matriarchal society, an heiress is pitted against an outsider and this comprises much of the action in the five episodes. Directed by Dharmaraj Shetty, the series is backed by Yash Raj.
“There are many reasons why Akka stands out. Due credit must be given to production designer Laxmi Keluskar, who creates a lush visual canvas. The attention to detail in depicting South Indian traditions, homes, and the surroundings of a 1980s town nestled in nature is remarkable. The fantastic costumes put together by the talented Sheetal Sharma (of Gangubai Kathiawadi fame) frame the story beautifully. The Indianness of the show particularly stands out in a narrative that demands its culture to be represented so effortlessly,” writes NDTV.
Where to watch: Netflix
Meethe Mein Kya Hai (Hindi)
Family reunions make for fertile film premises. Radhika Bansal situates her film in this setting, as a family comes together during Diwali, leading to grief and chaos overflowing. Starring a compelling ensemble including Ritwik Bhowmik, Rohini Hattangadi, Ayesha Raza Mishra among others, this is an almost saccharine tale not undone by excess.
The 119-minute film eventually settles into what it always intended to do: observe a well-shod and well-knit family come together for a group hug. This takes place while the affluent characters are clad in luxe threads and are moving within spaces that are straight out of the pages of Architectural Digest.”
Where to watch: Netflix
The One About Matthew Perry (English)
Matthew Perry’s death in 2023 at the age of 54 came as a shock to so many generations fed on reruns of Friends, with Perry sprinkling stardust on to the memorable character of Chandler. This new three-part doc, thus, is a tough and intense watch, detailing his persistent (and ultimately losing) battle with drug addiction and alcoholism. Through talking heads and a series of testimonies by loved ones present and past, we get a picture of a flawed and troubled individual who tried repeatedly to fight off depression and substance abuse, before eventually succumbing to his demons. The Guardian is all praises:
It remains at heart a simple, sad story. But this unexpectedly candid, thoughtful, genuinely intimate film gives it nuance and depth, and gives a voice to wider sorrows – including what a shame it was that Perry could not enjoy his talent or appreciate the joy it gave as fully as his audiences always did.
Where to watch: Netflix
A Couple of Lies (Swedish)
Two couples decide to swap lives and homes in this four-parter Swedish psychological thriller based on the novel of the same name by Stefan Ahnhem. Helene (Frida Gustavsson) and Carl (Fares Fares) leave behind their life in Stockholm to move into a gorgeous Sicilian villa owned by Scarlett (Emma Appleton) and Adam (Jakob Oftebro), a couple they’ve never met. The ideal holiday? Not a chance. Soon enough, strange things begin to happen. Cops show up to question Carl about a violent crime. Scarlett and Adam discover cameras in the house; are Helene and Carl watching them? All kinds of secrets and conflicts threaten to boil over as the twists keep piling up.
Where to watch: Netflix
Pyre (Hindi)
Mortality has been a recurring theme in films. In his directorial feature, Vinod Kapri not just explores it but makes it the narrative centrepiece. The story revolves around an aged Kumaoni couple trying to deal with the fate of their impending death while waiting for their son. Kapri’s filmmaking lends this an aching sincerity that refashions a simple story into something unique.
Vinod Kapri’s Pyre is the kind of meditative tragedy most of us don’t have the courage to imagine. The story of Padam and Tulsi levitates between all the uncomfortable themes that confirm our worst fears: mortality, abandonment, cultural erasure, dependence, longing, and most of all, the indignities of aging. We often turn caregivers for parents and relatives because this is exactly the picture that terrifies us — and them.
Where to watch:Theatres
Wicker (English)
When a lonely, middle-aged fisherwoman grows tired of the taunts from the other villagers, she requests the village basketweaver to weave her a husband out of wicker. And he does! Here starts the story of Wicker, an eerie comedy starring Olivia Colman and Alexander Skarsgård. Based on a 2006 story called ‘The Wicker Husband’ by British writer Ursula Wills, the story follows the fisherwoman and the wicker man’s romance—he proves to be the perfect husband, affectionate, kind, and loving. When word gets around about how well he satisfies his wife, the villagers grow upset and jealous.
Abhishek Srivastava writes for Times of India,
Olivia Colman delivers a fabulous performance as the fisherwoman and brings a convincing mix of bitterness, defiance and vulnerability to the role. She never asks the audience to feel sorry for her, which makes the character's happiness all the more satisfying. Alexander Skarsgård gives the wicker husband warmth and a sense of care, making him something more than a curious creation. Their relationship feels genuine despite the bizarre premise, and the two actors make an appealing pair.
Where to watch: Theatres
Sense and Sensibility (English)
Jane Austen’s novels continue to be adapted for the screens. And while Pride and Prejudice has had several iterations, filmmaker Georgia Oakley does her own take on Sense and Sensibility. The story of the Dashwood sisters and their coping after their father’s death is familiar but Oakley offers it a modern take without offsetting its core. Led by Daisy Edgar-Jones, the film has received praise upon release.
“Oakley’s film is a love letter to puzzling emotions and total surrender. Womanhood, sisterhood, and love are profoundly volatile experiences that shape us and leave us unprepared. They are trial by fire, chaptered by periods of agony, wit, and radiance, all of which Oakley and company bring poignantly to the fore,” states a review in Roger Ebert.
Where to watch: Theatres
Love Always (Tamil)
Age might just be a number but, in this new series, filmmaker Madhumita adds a fun spin on it. An aging married couple is granted the power to transform into their younger selves. Call it wish fulfillment or fantasy but, across the seven episodes, the show refuses to lose sight of the potential of the premise.
“Nevertheless, the series still wins us over and is a refreshing addition to the Tamil OTT space. It constantly makes us smile thanks to its timely interjections of humour, and the way the wonderful ensemble plays off each other,” reads a review in Cinema Express.
Where to watch: JioHotstar
The Fix (English)
An extraction mission in Kabul, featuring a bunch of operatives including Zachery Levi (playing Tucker) goes wrong. Much later, a heavily bearded Tucker, after a conversation with big boss Larry (Liam Neeson), gets the band back together for one last job. The intelligence operatives get together to execute a heist in Tehran, Iran. A bit jingoistic and mindless, both in thought and action, the film largely flatters to deceive; Rogerebert.com isn’t a fan: “As a buddy picture, it chokes on relationships; as a heist picture, it fumbles the goods; and as an international geopolitical thriller, it doesn’t come close to sticking a landing.”
Where to watch: Theatres
Fresh off the big screen
Obsession (English)
A monkey’s paw-esque scenario is the centre of Curry Barker’s Obsession, loosely inspired by The Simpsons episode ‘Treehouse of Horror II’. Baron “Bear” Bailey has romantic feelings for his friend Nikki. He buys her a toy, a ‘One Wish Willow’, meant to grant you your wish if you break it, but when he is unable to be honest with her about his feelings, he breaks the toy himself, wishing for her to love him more than she loves anyone else. This sets off the rest of the movie, as Bear now gets what he’s wanted for so long, but at an unbelievable—and horrifying—cost.
Katie Rife writes for Roger Ebert,
Throughout “Obsession,” Barker shows little interest in setting up and executing traditional haunted-house scares, instead cutting the film to an off-kilter rhythm that’s properly destabilizing all on its own. This is a byproduct of his background as a YouTuber—like “Backrooms” director Kane Parsons, Barker cuts his own movies—and as a sketch comedian. What it lacks in jump scares, it makes up for with punchlines that grow meaner and more cosmic as the story darkens.
Where to watch: JioHotstar
Baththa (Tamil)
Balaji Tharaneetharan’s charming film is about a gangster who is kidnapped by a child. The premise might sound threatening but this Vijay Sethupathi starrer is probably the sweetest film in a while, tracking the unbecoming of a crime lord and culminating into a heartwarming tale of redemption. As always, Sethupathi offers a memorable turn.
“Watching Vijay Sethupathi devour the role of a gargantuan man, who is slowly but steadily reduced to a small, gentle giant, is an absolute treat. The vulnerability that Sethupathi is often admired for is on unabashed display in the precious final act, which oddly makes you think of the film as a unique companion piece to unlikely friendship dramas such as Meiyazhagan (2024), made by Tharaneetharan’s friend and peer Prem Kumar,” writes a review in The Hollywood Reporter.
Where to watch: Netflix
souk picks