itt: non-english-language netflix series you recommend (or not) and commentary thereon

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The Platform was pretty fun except for a few short scenes of ultra-violence. Social commentary was both far too on-the-nose and (by the end) confused, it's much more rewarding to just take this things literally, i.e. it's a film about a prison hundreds of storeys high where prisoners can only eat the leftovers from the cells above them - that's it. No other readings required.

Paperbag raita (ledge), Tuesday, 7 April 2020 15:46 (four years ago) link

one month passes...

Betaal, the new series from the makers of Ghoul / Blumhouse, seems pretty good so far. Fascist Indian police vs the zombie remnants of a imperial British battalion.

ShariVari, Sunday, 24 May 2020 15:08 (four years ago) link

three weeks pass...

the first episode of 'It's Okay To Not Be Okay' really blew me away. beautifully shot, ridiculously stylish lead character, much more serious and i guess ambitious than I was expecting and a couple of lovely animated scenes. kinda bummed that i have to wait for new episodes weekly tbh.

oscar bravo, Saturday, 20 June 2020 20:29 (four years ago) link

okay episode two is good too. got even grittier and just how over the edge the lead female character is is open to even more question. also features the most incredible office chair I've ever seen plus an a + book signing outfit.

oscar bravo, Sunday, 21 June 2020 17:49 (four years ago) link

one month passes...

I'm enjoying 'Unit 42'. A belgian cybercrime police prodcedural thing.

cajunsunday, Thursday, 20 August 2020 20:49 (four years ago) link

one year passes...

i finally and extremely belatedly got round to bingeing ENGRENAGE/SPIRAL, all eight series

just three series if they edited out the words merde, putain and pute

mark s, Sunday, 5 September 2021 09:14 (three years ago) link

seven months pass...

Looks like I'll never get to watch a whole series on the platform

I don't think anyone's surprised by this, and pouring millions into transphobic comedy specials to court controversy was hardly a longterm solution, couple that with the price increases that offer no additional value, and the compounding cancellations that led to viewer apathy... https://t.co/XMHnHQui82

— Sleepy Sloth (@CaseyExplosion) April 20, 2022

xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 20 April 2022 09:46 (two years ago) link

be more interested in this off-the-cuff laziest of tweet-takes if it in any way addressed netflix as a platform for non-english-material

(or perhaps less parochially as a successful platform for cross-linguistic consumption)

mark s, Wednesday, 20 April 2022 09:58 (two years ago) link

this thread features a more interesting thesis (material non-english if you stretch a point lol)

from the replies it seems like the main thrust of this criticism is that that one viking show has a woman in it https://t.co/qjmaA7RwuR

— flglmn (@flglmn) April 20, 2022

mark s, Wednesday, 20 April 2022 18:29 (two years ago) link

Would subscribe.

Netflix should have a feature where if you are browsing the menu for more than 10 minutes it just starts showing RoboCop

— rubot (@rubot) April 20, 2022

xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 20 April 2022 18:51 (two years ago) link

heres how you fix netflix. if theres a movie that netflix doesnt have you put in a request on the forums and then if someone has the movie, they upload it so that now its available

— suncoast employee in button up flame shirt (@gun_toucher) April 20, 2022

xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 20 April 2022 21:39 (two years ago) link

not noticed this thread before.

watched all the bbc4 things except montalbano which never clicked with me.

More 4 has ok to good Walter Presents stuff every week too, currently Crimson Rivers (french)

would always laugh at spiral because they seemingly had one shot a week just designed to shock. dead prostitute in a skip, dead baby, head in fireplace and the scene with the drug mule they gave laxatives to...

koogs, Wednesday, 20 April 2022 21:55 (two years ago) link

Not series, but still.

80% of what I watch on Netflix is non-English-language action trash. I do not give the tiniest fuck about their original content; gimme 90 minutes of Indonesian dudes kicking, stabbing and shooting each other and you've earned my $15 for the month. https://t.co/kympWdiNCT

— burning ambulance (NOW A RECORD LABEL!) (@burn_amb) April 20, 2022

but also fuck you (unperson), Wednesday, 20 April 2022 22:20 (two years ago) link

one month passes...

Quite an option interesting piece (though a bit long) on showrunning and how that's changing because of streaming.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/epxeze/television-is-in-a-showrunning-crisis

xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 7 June 2022 10:58 (two years ago) link

Though it's good that 20+ ep seasons are shortening, in the main..

xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 7 June 2022 11:22 (two years ago) link

eight months pass...

Recently:
Dead Water: Finnish ... felt a bit like The Bridge and The Killing ...
Capitani: season 2 is quite different from season 1

sarahell, Tuesday, 28 February 2023 05:34 (one year ago) link

one month passes...

Gloria -- Portuguese; set in 1968; I really am liking it (2 more episodes to go) ... it makes me want to ask Daniel_Rf a bunch of questions about politics!

sarahell, Sunday, 2 April 2023 15:38 (one year ago) link

Haven't seen! My Portuguese netflix knowledge revolves mainly about the upcoming series about that time a shipload of cocaine sunk near the island I lived on and everyone went coke crazy for a few years (my mum ran a club at the time and all the musicians turned insufferable).

Happy to answer any questions :)

Daniel_Rf, Sunday, 2 April 2023 15:41 (one year ago) link

oh, the show is a spy thriller where the main character is a KGB agent and son of a government minister. The main character Joao appears to have been "converted" after serving in the military in Angola ... so there are issues re colonialism, and Portuguese "independence" from American influence ... like there are KGB agents, CIA agents, and PICE (?) agents?

sarahell, Sunday, 2 April 2023 15:44 (one year ago) link

Salazar is the head of the government -- I think you mentioned something about him in another thread -- re the revolution?

sarahell, Sunday, 2 April 2023 15:45 (one year ago) link

as in I have questions about historical background lol, not the show!

sarahell, Sunday, 2 April 2023 15:45 (one year ago) link

There was a military coup in the 1920's and Portugal basically stayed a dictatorship from then until 1974. Salazar first made a name for himself as the finance minister and then rose to become head of state, ushering in the Estado Novo regime, initially very much aligned with Hitler and Mussolini but this aspect got phased out a bit in the regime's public presentation when WWII erupted and Portugal decided to stay neutral (many ppl will still bring this up as a point in Salzar's favour, though personally I think "yeah we're sitting this one out" is a morally indefensible stance to take on that particular conflict). Cultivated the image of an austere, frugal, religious man - his most famous quote is "if you knew how hard it is to lead, you'd be happier to obey".

He actually died a few years before the revolution - famously fell of a chair, which is awesome because any online interaction with a Portuguese facist can be concluded by just posting a chair. His successor, Marcelo Caetano, promised democratic reforms (primavera marcelista) but failed to follow through on that, ultimately leading to the Carnation Revolution (but that might be spoilers!).

The Portuguese Communist Party was for decades the only real resistance to Salazar. Very much aligned with the Soviet Union, as most communist parties in Europe were. They're still around, and a bigger party than you'd think, though their voter base is very much aged. I have...complicated feelings about them, they def fucked up on a lot of social issues for a long time and the fealty to Moscow was often indefensible. But anyone living in Portugal now owes them a debt, innumerable stories of bravery and intelligence in the face of an absolutely horrid regime.

The colonial war really kicked off in the early 60's, though before that Portugal had already lost colonies in India. But what's viewed as the Colonial War in Portuguese ppl's mindsets was the conflict against liberation movements in Mozambique, Guinea Bissau, Cape Verde and above all Angola. The many many lives lost in these were the defining factor in bringing about the revolution, so one could say without much exageration that Portugal also owes its freedom to the liberation movements of these African countries.

Relationship with the US is tricky...the US knew the main opponents of Salazar were the commies, and obv preferred a fascist to a communist. That being said around the same time the liberation movements sprung up there were motions from the US in the UN for Portugal to give up its colonies, which caused a lot of friction obv. This was of course not only due to postcolonial solidarity but also because the US wanted stronger access to those countries, Angola in particular being v rich in natural resources. Pretty much every liberation guerrila in any Portuguese colony was funded either by the CIA or the KGB, as these things go. Salazar reacted by trying to rebrand the colonies as not colonies at all but rather part of Portugal - thus the famous slogan "Portugal is not a small country".

Daniel_Rf, Sunday, 2 April 2023 16:13 (one year ago) link

thank you! this is the exact context I was hoping for! All of these things are alluded to or play a part in the plot of this series. ... In the previous episode I watched Salazar had had an "accident" (lol at the chair) and there was a new leader. The PICE, as represented in the show, are horrible and make the CIA people look humanitarian.

sarahell, Sunday, 2 April 2023 16:17 (one year ago) link

also watched: Unpermitted Living - Spanish - organized crime patriarch with alzheimers - and issues of succession. The first season is pretty compelling, lots of melodrama, no one is 100% horrible except for Freddy the upstart Colombian drug dealer, and then the relatives that show up near the end who were living in Mexico ... it made me interested in perceptions/biases of European Spain vs. Latin American Spanish ... I started watching the 2nd season and it started out with a few ridiculous things happening, so I stopped watching it.

sarahell, Sunday, 2 April 2023 16:34 (one year ago) link

The PIDE were the secret police, just basically the Gestapo of the regime. Very adept at torture, just the worst scum.

The only reason the Carnation Revolution had a death toll at all was the director of the PIDE saw a crowd outside and just fired into it at random.

Daniel_Rf, Sunday, 2 April 2023 17:37 (one year ago) link

Very adept at torture, just the worst scum.

so this show's version is a fairly accurate portrayal

sarahell, Sunday, 2 April 2023 17:40 (one year ago) link

I’ve been kinda wiped out on the feel-bad organized crime shows, I stopped watching Gomorrah which is objectively well-done but the characters are such abhorrent ppl that I feel like I get the point. Got to that point w ZeroZeroZero too which looked amazing and had some great acting but it lost me by the end.

Mostly been sticking w/Engrenages, Stranger, and Entrapped.

omar little, Sunday, 2 April 2023 17:59 (one year ago) link

I fucking loved Au Service de la France, but it's not on netflix anymore.

Daniel_Rf, Sunday, 2 April 2023 18:18 (one year ago) link

I think I am 4 seasons behind on Engranages ...

sarahell, Sunday, 2 April 2023 19:26 (one year ago) link

one year passes...

it isn't on Netflix but I am gonna use this as a catch-all for non-english language series on streaming services ... would love to hear other ilxors recommendations, reviews, etc .

I just finished watching all 7 years of A French Village (occupied France during and after WW2)-- it's really good imo and relevant to current events in terms of Occupation and tactics and repression as well as history stuff.

Features Thierry Godard and Audrey F from Engranages

sarahell, Thursday, 16 May 2024 01:44 (five months ago) link

also has communists and communists having meetings! And passive-aggressively calling each other Comrade

sarahell, Thursday, 16 May 2024 01:45 (five months ago) link

Currently watching Furies on Netflix — a dumb John Wick-esque show about a woman, "the Fury," who is in charge of enforcing the bylaws of the French underworld, murdering gangsters who step out of line in order to preserve the balance of power between the six big gangster families who run Paris, or whatever. Could just as easily have posted this in my international-violent-action-trash thread. It's only eight episodes but each one feels as long as a Bela Tarr movie.

Instead of create and send out, it pull back and consume (unperson), Thursday, 16 May 2024 02:39 (five months ago) link

Danish prison drama Prisoner (with Sofie Gråbøl) on BBC iPlayer is excellent.

bored by endless ecstasy (anagram), Thursday, 16 May 2024 07:08 (five months ago) link

Really enjoying Prisoner, thanks for the recommendation

badg, Saturday, 25 May 2024 05:15 (five months ago) link

Started watching Hidden Theories (portugal) and I am somewhat confused about how banks work there

sarahell, Sunday, 26 May 2024 16:46 (five months ago) link

as posted on the other streaming thread, I started watching the Korean ad agency drama AGENCY on Netflix, and it hits a similar sweet spot as my other recent Korean fave STRANGER while being completely different. Two episodes in and it's already extremely twisty with a couple thoroughly despicable male agency execs engaging in a Succession-type war against the female lead. She's similar to one of the two leads in Stranger (Cho Seung-woo as Si-mok) in that the trauma of her childhood has informed her superficial coldness and callousness, which leads to those around her misunderstanding and underestimating her. Absolutely soapy OTT kinda stuff, I love it so far.

omar little, Thursday, 30 May 2024 19:10 (five months ago) link

Spymaster on iPlayer is familiar but not. it's another cold war spy drama set in the 70s with all the necessary retro fashions but this one is Romanian (and German and Russian and American)

koogs, Sunday, 2 June 2024 10:22 (five months ago) link

(a joint Hungarian Romanian production based on the credits)

koogs, Sunday, 2 June 2024 10:56 (five months ago) link

three months pass...

Parlement seems to be the Euro version of The Thick of It… anyone else seen it?

sarahell, Thursday, 5 September 2024 14:55 (one month ago) link

No, never heard of it! downloading now..

Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 5 September 2024 17:46 (one month ago) link

two weeks pass...

Fourth and final series of My Brilliant Friend now streaming. Loving every minute of it so far, the new actresses are great and the script is as sharp as ever.

bored by endless ecstasy (anagram), Tuesday, 24 September 2024 11:31 (one month ago) link


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