There is an excited hum in the greater Ponsonby area these days
There are mid winter market days, Te Karanga Hape festivals for Matariki as well as new cafes, design stores and events popping up all over. But with the nights getting longer and colder it’s good to know there’s a range of great entertainment options out there to snuggle up at home and share.
Netflix
Sweet Tooth
Critics love Sweet Tooth. Set in a post pandemic world and based on a popular DC comic book series, it shows humankind at its worst and best. When ‘the sickness’ hits and the world as we know it falls in the ‘The Great Crumble’ everything changes and sometimes the most human are the half breeds.
Shot in New Zealand and directed by our own Toa Fraser (The Dead Lands) this series features a few beloved local landmarks (check out Auckland Zoo and The Strand Railway Station) as you have never seen them before. Co-starring great local acting talent (Jodie Rimmer, Anna Jullienne, Sarah Peirse, Andrew Lang, Jared Tuner, Suli Moa and musician Marlon Williams to name a few) it’s no wonder it’s Netflix’s number one show right now.
It’s an adventure story with a lot of heart and you will want to watch it with wh-anau and friends. From mysterious hybrids (babies born part human, part animal), to a community of paranoid ‘survivors’, this series is a commentary on a world in flux that sometimes doesn’t feel much different from our own. When society struggles to understand what really matters sometimes the path has to come from a more unusual place.
Our hero Gus, (Sweet Tooth played by Christian Convery) together with Jepp, (Nonso Anozie) take us on a journey to ‘home’, a place as much as a concept, and you can’t help but see the world through a different lens after seeing it as Gus sees it.
Five Stars for whanau viewing
Lupin
After enjoying a sample of French films from the recent International French Film Festival Aotearoa, (running till July 14), Lupin is a fabulous follow up. It’s like a French version of James Bond and Sherlock Holmes crossed with Ocean’s Eleven. It’s a wonderfully suspenseful series full of exciting and outlandish heists, plenty of humour, and characters who are totally charming.
Based on the character Arsène Lupin, the gentleman thief from Maurice LeBlanc’s 100+ year old novels Assane Diop, is a modern day ‘con man’ with a heart of gold. While he breaks the law, he does so with such charm and skill that it is hard not to like and forgive him.
Played by the charismatic Omar Sy, Assane Diop delivers a performance complete with the allure of the gentlemen thief and the humour and swagger of a modern day lovable rogue.
With intricate plot points to keep you guessing and episodes full of satisfying thrills and fantastical twists, this is a totally fun series that will keep you so entertained you will forgive the outlandish heist plans and barely notice the subtitles. Season 2 has just dropped so there’s plenty to look forward to.
Four stars - binge worthy watch
TVNZ on Demand
Creamerie
This is another post pandemic story world with a new social order thought up well before Covid-19 made its presence felt on the world. Life imitating art? Not quite. This virus only infected men, leaving a world where female driven wellness values seek to restore bliss and balance to the world. What could be more perfect for a community healing after the tragedy of losing sons, husbands, brothers and fathers?
Well, scratch the surface and the new world order is filled with corruption, deceit and social manipulation. This is a well written black comedy that balances beautifully developed characters against a backdrop of something almost unimaginable - a world without men.
While this is one best savoured, it is hard not to binge.
Four and a half stars
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