Dark, and entertainingly disappointing at times, Call Soul gets too close to comfort but then always manages to depart. A show that will leave you neither happy nor sad. You are not happy because no ending is happy in its numerous intertwined stories; You are not sad because at least it is only a show.
4. Inventing Anna
True story that continues till today to unfold. A classical millennial mix up between reality and delusion, and pop culture unquenched pursuit of fame and luxury.
3. The Squid Game
Existential game that is riddled with symbolism, and too cruel to leave you waiting for the next episode. A game of life, obsessive to teenagers and adults alike.
2. Narcos Mexico Season 3 and 4
1. Lake Ozark Season 4
Leaves you wanting more. It will indulge you to the point of hate and love together. Morality is extremely pragmatic and the whole show rotates around moral judgements and entangles you in them.
Dark relaxing comedy of friendship that borders intimacy, and the long lasting pursuit of love that is hidden under your nose. It is a perfect pick for a relaxing date night with subtle romance and perfect sarcasm.
9. Stillwater with Matt Demon
Matt intensity brings this movie to life. I love the clash between American bravery and honesty with the complexities of French society and teenage life. As a father of two daughters, I found myself relating to the emotions of Matt, and it is the first film set up in Marseille that I watched.
8. Perfect Strangers (ุฃุตุญุงุจ ููุง ุฃุนุฒ)
I watched the French version few years ago and it is a wonderful concept. Now this is history … that is Netflix producing a strong Arab film with a strong cast … pretty much some of the best actors and actresses in the Arab World.
The film is full of controversy as far as the Arab World is concerned, but for Arab Expats, it seems very realistic. I also love how you mix Arabs from different nationalities so smoothly. Goes along my theory of the inevtiablity of the Awaited Arab State.
Watch it and if you hate it, make sure to discuss it.
7. Uncle Frank
I don’t usually like films focused on sexual orientations, but this film had a beautiful dynamic, and gave a glimpse of the suffering of any person hiding a natural tendency .. .in this case homosexaulity in the American 60’s or 70’s.
6. Arab Blues
A realistic comedic take on clash of cultures for Arab Expats when returning home. The kindness makes up for the ignorance, and the expat Arab is lost translating and mending civilizations.
What a beautiful contemplative narrative of the complexities of raising children in todays age, and to be a child. Poetic, nostalgic, and existential, it is a rare creation of modern American film.
3. Red Rocket
Much more that the impression it first gives. There a totally hidden layer in the film, and you feel it, it feels you, and it makes you uncomfortable, but you learn to live with it till the end.
2. The Worst Person in the World
The Norwegian film doesn’t fail the Scandinavian film genre of deep thought, and extensive discovery of emotions, unweaving our mind and feelings in a post-modern way. Films like this always leave you thinking, and warning, they may change you.
The film is about many things, so many natural ends that are just part of the cruelty of nature. We blame ourselves sometimes for them, some more than others, and this film will unpack this for you.
1. Pleasure
I watched it in Paris, and I don’t think it will get to American screens due to its extreme problematic rating. Borders a porn genre, but totally not. This film is more than a journey to the behind the scenes story of the want-to-be porn stars; it is a journey to the concept of pleasure in humanity, success, and morality. This film will split your friends opinions, and it might split you too.
I watched Ahed’s Knee, an Israeli film by Nadav Lapid, a very advanced director whose stories fragment and detour in shocking ways.
Ahed AlTamimi is a teenage Palestinian activist. She was born in 1997 in the village of Nabi Saleh, which is located in the occupied West Bank. Her family has been involved in resistance against the Israeli occupation for years and she has been participating since she was a little girl.
In December 2017, Ahed slapped an Israeli soldier who was guarding her house. The incident went viral on social media and led to Ahed being arrested by Israeli authorities and put into prison for eight months.
An Israeli member of Parliament suggested she be shot in the knee. The film starts focused on producing a show about Ahed’s Knee and then becomes more about the director’s journey and censorship in showing his film.
The film starts focused on producing a show about Ahed’s knee, but quickly evolves into an exploration of the decay of Israeli society and the rise of censorship as a way to protect such a decaying society.
Numerous dance scenes show the randomness of cultural production and arbitrariness of censorship. It is also a surreal representation of the different facets of Israeli society. The director here is making serious subjects not serious by using dance to represent them.
The camera is hijacked later by a monologue that I saw as a way for the director to speak to the government and through it to the Israeli people.
The film disintegrates and questions the concept of negative aggrievement, toxic tensions, oppressive systems, irrational censorship, and through the desert settings, the emptiness at the end of this whole project called Israel.
Wissam Charafeddine 