The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Netflix, Amazon and Co .: The best series of which you may have never heard of

2019-09-07T16:25:37.784Z


Do you always run in the vastness of the streaming worlds? Everything is so colorful here - but what do you really want to spend your life with? You should give this series a chance.



The user interfaces of streaming providers are not exactly known for their clarity. Which is also due to the sheer mass of content that slumbers there. Netflix example: In 2018, the group had around 700 original series in its program, and over the course of this year, several hundred have joined. Nobody can really see it all.

This is not desirable, after all, there is a life off the screen. And the logos of Netflix or Amazon are not automatically guarantors of quality - the opposite may be the case. But of course, along with top titles like "Stranger Things" or "The Crown," there are great series to be discovered that are all too easily lost in the ocean of supply. Or one can not judge, although they meet again and again in the evening search for entertainment.

Often these are purchased productions that were not created by Netflix or Amazon, but are made accessible to a large audience. As currently the Belgian thriller series "13 Commandments", which started on 30 August on Netflix, but produced by the largest Flemish private broadcaster Vtm and was broadcast in 2018.

When Flanders becomes a world stage

Belgium is still home to great films and series and still has an exotic nimbus. Not a single year goes by without great stories, especially from Flanders. Between hysterical ... overdriven and melancholy world doubt there is often only one cut. "13 Commandments" initially sounds like a copy of the serial killer thriller "Seven" - and quickly turns out to be a fascinating character study.

The picturesque town of Aalst is actually known for its beer and chocolate specialties, but now it's a serial killer who burns an Islamist, tortures a wealthy manager, and does not shy away from murdering people he thinks deserve , Investigator team Vicky Degraeve (Marie Vinck) and Peter Devriendt (Dirk Van Dijck) are on the track.

However, quite leisurely - and just the contemplative narrative tempo over 13 episodes makes "13 Commandments" to a real TV sensation. The focus here is not on the perpetrator but on the condition of his persecutors, and that's not the best thing for him. Peter is a cop of the old school, with all collateral damage: divorced, lonely, frustrated. Physically, Vicky suffers from the consequences of a car accident, and most of all emotionally: her mother, who was in the car, has been in a coma ever since.

Out of this constellation emerges a tentative, searching and touching story about people who strive to lead a good life and yet fail: in the circumstances, in themselves. Flanders as a world stage for the tragedy of Homo oeconomicus, once again.

See which series jewels are still hiding at Netflix, Amazon and other vendors.

Eating, killing, chattering

Somebody Feed Phil, Netflix
Netflix exaggerates it with its many cooking shows, and in general: what fun should be to watch others eating? The first argument is correct, the second not, because if Phil Rosenthal has a talent, then this: to eat in front of the camera and thereby translate culinary delights into facial expressions. He opens his eyes, his mouth goes to the ears, the whole body vibrates with enthusiasm. One must absolutely envy him for Rosenthal's job: he travels from Bangkok to New Orleans, from Buenos Aires to Copenhagen and feasts his way through the respective country cuisine. Of course, his series, which has just been extended by a third season, is by no means a journey of pure food: travel is a staple, and food brings people together, according to Rosenthal's humanist message. That tastes good!

Bosch, Amazon
It's hard to imagine that they did not come across this police series while clicking on Amazon Prime. After all, she has been running for five seasons, a sixth is in work. A long-time favorite, but the series did not make the leap into the illustrious circle of big hits. Maybe it's too old-fashioned for that, but that's what makes the charm of "Bosch": the episodes are very realistic about everyday police work (the inventor of the novel was a long police reporter), and the main melancholy lead the viewer to the dark side of sunny LA Outstanding is above all "Bosch" actor Titus Welliver: He processed with his role own loss experiences - three siblings, his stepmother and his wife died from illness and accidents. Maybe this is why Bosch's Weltschmerz is almost palpable.

I'm Dying Up Here, Sky
A strange title for a series about stand-up comedians. And yet awesome. Not because the producing US station Showtime missed her after just two seasons the early serial death. But because the story furiously examines the connection between tragedy and comedy with the help of a group of comedians looking for their fortune in the nightclubs of Los Angeles in the mid-1970s. Sunny minds have the ladies and gentlemen comedian - in contrast to her colleague Mrs. Maisel - namely, despite occupation and location not. On the contrary, on the stage they tear gags, as if it were about their lives. And that's how small stand-up programs turn into great art.

Wild Wild Country, Netflix
Documentaries are Bingewatch material, Netflix has proven with true crime series like "Making A Murderer". "Wild Wild Country" also made waves, as no documentary series develops such a pull as the story of the war between Bhagwan's sannyasin movement and the rural population of Oregon, which is told here. A grotesque, which becomes more and more erroneous with each consequence: The establishment of a municipality in Wasco County led from 1981 first to verbal conflicts between gnarled villagers and red-robed neo-hippies, then a political battle and finally an inferno of armament, siege and shredded beavers. A lesson in the debate between a globally oriented cultural elite and allegedly backward villagers.

Quicksand, Netflix
First, a plaque warning of violence, sexual coercion and drug addiction, then a long tracking shot through hell: pools of blood and splattering, lifeless bodies, thundering rifle bursts, ringing cell phones. No, the first Swedish Netflix series, which tells of a killing spree at an elite school, makes no secret that she wants to push into the heart of darkness. A series for adults about the enigmatic species of teens, radical and far more bloody than the thematically similar series "Dead girls do not lie". Is eighteen-year-old Maja victim or perpetrator? How do kids who live in prosperity come to kill themselves? And what's wrong with their parents, this other strange species?

On My Block, Netflix
Speaking of teenagers: It is also possible without catastrophe scenarios, if the painful moulting processes of adolescence are to be discussed. This is shown in the series "On My Block", although their main characters have every reason to spin. They live in a disadvantaged district of Los Angeles, are not white, and racism and violence are part of their everyday lives. A gag of this series goes like this: Kids flee from a shootout and argue about which caliber was just fired. Comedy and drama are so intertwined that you do not know whether to laugh or cry. Probably both at the same time.

Tuca and Bertie, Netflix
Trippy, funky, funny: It's a great idea to talk about two young women and best friends by alienating them as tukan and female songbirds. For example, creator Lisa Hanawalt negotiates eternal and current topics ranging from relationship problems to neuroses and sexual harassment. And at the same time creates a psychedelic parallel universe in which physical and biological laws do not apply. An animation marvel that naturally makes the inside of a stomach an exciting scene. Maybe that was too wild for the Netflix guys, at least they ended up with "Tuca and Bertie" after just one season. But you should definitely have seen that.

Killing Eve, Starzplay
Phoebe Waller Bridge. Complex name, but in many ears it is now very loud when he falls. Since her hit series "Fleabag", Waller-Bridge has not only pimped the "Star Wars" universe, she also wrote the first season of the thriller series "Killing Eve". Once again, women are at the center of attention, and what for: Villanelle (Jodie Comer) is a flawless psychopath who works internationally as a contract killer; and Eve Polastri (Sandra Oh), an MI-5 agent who chases her. Both women feel an inexplicable obsession for each other. It is bloody, murderous - and extremely stylish: the costumes not only look good, they also tell their own stories. In Germany only to be seen on the pay channel Starzplay, bookable via Amazon Prime. The offer, however, is free for 14 days, during which time the first two seasons have definitely been watched.

Mozart in the Jungle, Amazon
Funny twist of fate: Lola Kirke, daughter of the famous rock drummer Simon Kirke (Free, Bad Company), plays an oboist with the New York Symphony Orchestra. But the fictional orchestra is at least as wild behind the scenes as rock bands in the 1970s. Gael García Bernal shines with self-doubt as a mate-drinking star conductor, and Malcolm McDowell gleefully relieves the nasties of poisoning altstar. The series is an oldie for streaming, it started in 2014, even in times when Amazon was an absolute novice entertainment. In 2018, the group ended after four seasons, despite two Golden Globe Awards. If you have been alienated with the repeatedly proposed title - do not worry, classical music education is not required.

Source: spiegel

All life articles on 2019-09-07

You may like

News/Politics 2024-03-26T16:16:23.859Z
News/Politics 2024-03-12T17:02:36.772Z
Life/Entertain 2024-02-03T18:21:36.898Z

Trends 24h

Life/Entertain 2024-03-28T17:17:20.523Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.