It is time for a round up of new, non Christmas, films that I have seen on Netflix this month.
The Great Flood
As great flood engulfs the world., water rises inside a Korean apartment building. With no hope in sight, one person fights desperately to save a child. I am always keen to see a new disaster movie but The Great Flood is a big disappointment. The first problem is that the son of the main protagonist is one of the most annoying characters I have seen in some time. But the main issue that a potentially exciting premise is wasted with a dumb sci-fi plot.
Rating: 3 out of 10
The Left Handed Girl
A single mother and her two daughters arrive in Taipei to open a small restaurant in the heart of a night market in the Taiwanese capital. Each of them must find a way to adapt. A lot of The Left Handed Girl is terrific, mostly the small observations of the family’s every day life, struggling to make ends meet, in the city, particularly five year old I-Jing (Nina Ye) running round the market. Shih-Yuan Ma is very good as the older daughter and I enjoyed her Mum Shu-Fen (Janel Tsai) having a tentative relationship with fellow stall holder Johnny, charmingly played by Teng-Hui Huang. A subplot about human trafficking and a big reveal towards the end do not work as well, though.
Rating: 8 out of 10
Jay Kelly
Noah Baumbach directed and co-wrote this drama with Emily Mortimer. It stars George Clooney in the title role as a famous actor and Adam Sandler as his manager, Ron Sukenick. The pair go on a trip to Europe and have time to reflect on their lives, careers and choices. I am not the biggest fan of Baumbach as I find a lot of his work self consciously quirky and self indulgent. I feared that Jay Kelly would fall into the same trap but it is his best work, apart from The Meyerowitz Stories. A lot of it has a melancholic feel and it is reminiscent of films like 8 1/2 and Wild Strawberries. Although Jay’s estrangement from his daughters features a lot, it was his relationship with Ron that I found the most moving, especially in a great final couple of scenes. Clooney and Sandler are both excellent.
Rating: 7.5 out of 10
Troll 2
2022’s Troll was surprisingly good, so I was pleased to see a sequel appear on the same platform. Like the original, it is directed by Roar Uthaug and written by Espen Aukan, with Ine Marie Wilmann, Kim S. Falck-Jørgensen, and Mads Sjøgård Pettersen reprising their roles. When a giant troll emerges from the mountain, Nora Tidemann (Wilmann), Andreas Isaksen (Falck-Jørgensen), and Kristoffer Holm (Pettersen) reunite to deal with it while befriending another giant troll who helps to fight the new one. Whilst not as fresh as the first film and without as many exciting set pieces, it is fun enough and it was good to re-visit the main characters.
Rating: 6.5 out of 10