It’s time for a final round-up in 2024 of new (non-festive) films that I have seen on Netflix this month.

The Piano Lesson
This adaptation of August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize winning play, about a family dispute over a piano, is set in Pittsburgh in 1936. This is the third film adaptation of the playwright’s work that I have seen, and whilst I appreciate what an important voice he was for the black American community, I don’t think that the plays transfer that well to the screen. Whilst it is much better than the overrated Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, it suffers from the same problem as Fences, released in 2017. The plot meanders and too much of the acting is more suited to the stage, big performances when something more intimate is required on film. The exceptions to that are Danielle Deadwyler and Michael Potts.
Rating: 5.5 out of 10

It’s All Over: The Kiss That Changed Football
Ths documentary focuses on the infamous kiss forced on Spanish footballer Jenni Hermoso by the football Federation President Luis Rubiales after Spain won the World Cup, and the extraordinary aftermath. In fact, the team’s triumph despite an incompetent, unqualified, coach, seven key players refusing to take part and Rubialas’ dismissive attitude warranted a documentary in itself. But the attempted cover up that included blaming the player and the horrible pressure put on the players afterwards was extraordinary. It may be too fresh in the mind for close followers of the sport for it to be revelatory but for casual fans, it will be very shocking.
Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Subservience
Set in the near future, Subservience is a sci-fi film directed by S.K. Dale from a screenplay by Will Honley and April Maguire. When Maggie (Madeline Zima) falls ill, her husband Nick (Michele Morrone) struggles to cope with holding down his job and looking after their two kids. So, he hires an android, Alice (Megan Fox) to help with the household chores. Naturally, that does not end well! Alice’s lifeless presence and monotone speaking voice means that this is a perfect part for the terminally untalented Fox. This all feels over familiar, and any elements of the plot that are not, are heavily signposted.
Rating: 4 out of 10

The Six Triple Eight
The prolific but usually terrible Tyler Perry is back with what seemed like a more promising drama about a real life second world war battalion composed entirely of Black women. This is much better made that normal for Tyler and there are undoubtedly some crowd pleasing scenes as Kerr Washington’s captain rails against her racist superiors. But whilst this specific story is not well known, it all felt very predictable and too often lapsed into a soapy storyline.
Rating: 5.5 out of 10

DarkGame
In this thriller, Ed Westwick stars as a cop investigating a game show in the dark web where the contestants have to compete for their lives. Strangely, this was written and directed by people from England, shot in Bristol with a British cast but it is set in Portland, Oregon, with the cast using bad American accents. That, along with a ridiculous plot and a cliché ridden script make this an inauthentic, unsatisfactory watch.
Rating: 2.5 out of 10