Weekly Screen: Week of April 20

For our lovely readers, you may know that “The Weekly Scene” is a regular fixture of the Thresher’s print arts and entertainment section that promotes local arts events both on campus and throughout Houston. However, due to campus and citywide restrictions on public gatherings amid the COVID-19 outbreak and our inability to print issues for the remainder of the semester, the Weekly Scene is sadly discontinued at the moment. Thus, to fill the gap in my heart left by my beloved little column, I’d like to present the Weekly Screen: a short list of TV programs, movies and videos to check out from the socially-distanced comfort of your home.
— Katelyn Landry, A&E editor
“Crashing”
“I'll admit — I've never watched ‘Fleabag’ or ‘Killing Eve,’ the two shows Phoebe Waller-Bridge has won actual awards for (where is my taste?) but maybe that's because ‘Crashing,’ her first show, has a special place in my heart. This hidden gem on Netflix follows six protagonists in their 20s whose situation as ‘property guardians’ in an abandoned hospital is surprisingly a lot like college. If, like me, you miss being two doors away from your closest friends, this show is definitely one to check out.”
Recommendation submitted by Ivanka Perez, editor-in-chief
Season one is now available on Netflix
“The Platform”
“This Spanish Netflix original film begins with Goreng (Ivan Massagué), a man who awakens on level 47 of ‘The Hole,’ a vertical prison with two cellmates per floor who only have two minutes each day to eat from a descending platform of food. He quickly learns that the lower you are, the fewer scraps you and your equally starved cellmate can scavenge from the once-opulent spread of dishes already devoured by those above. Hunger and madness go hand in hand as Goreng wakes up to a new floor and new horrors each month, and the prisoners of The Hole are forced to choose between solidarity and survival. A disturbing dystopian thriller filled to the brim with explicit class commentary, ‘The Platform’ will leave you pondering how long you could honor the laws of humanity before bending to hunger’s will. I highly recommend this one — just don’t make my mistake of watching at dinnertime.”
Recommendation submitted by Katelyn Landry, a&e editor
Now available on Netflix
“Sergio”
Netflix original film ‘Sergio’ tells the story of Sergio Vieira de Mello, former United Nations high commissioner for human rights, whose legacy of international diplomacy echoed worldwide after his tragic death in 2003. The respected Brazilian-born diplomat is played by Wagner Moura (‘Narcos’), who falls in love with U.N. official Carolina Lerriera, played by Ana de Armas (‘Knives Out’), while carrying out peace operations in East Timor and Iraq. Vieira de Mello was killed in a terrorist bombing in Iraq in 2003, leaving him to be remembered as a diplomat who had “‘entered that Pantheon of heroes that the United Nations wishes it did not have.’”
Now available on Netflix
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