Our monthly round-up of the most talked-about Netflix works you should be shortlisting:
Chambers
What it’s about: Chambers is a 10-episode psychological/horror series headlined by heavyweight Uma Thurman. It focuses on a young girl (Rose) who is recovering from a recent heart transplant operation. All seems well but the closer she gets to uncovering the truth behind the sudden death of her heart donor, the more she starts to lose herself and take on sinister traits of the deceased.
Who’s in it: Uma Thurman, Tony Goldwyn and Sivan Alyra Rose
Why watch it: Netflix has typically excelled in horror works and Chambers looks set to be its next star. If anything, the fact that Uma Thurman is headlining the piece seals the deal for us.
Special
What it’s about: Special follows the journey of a gay man living with cerebral palsy, who has led on his colleagues to believe that his disorder was the result of a car accident instead of a congenital disorder. But now, he’s resolved to move out and start chasing after the life that he really wants instead of hiding behind a mask.
Who’s in it: Ryan O’Connell and Patrick Fabian
Why watch it: For the feel-good, comedy factor but also because it’s an easily digestible series – Special consists of only eight episodes, all of which rings in at approximately 15 minutes each.
Our Planet
What it’s about: An eight-part documentary series, it stars none other than celebrated environmentalist Sir David Attenborough and focuses on the diversity of habitats around the world, while also pointing to global environmental challenges and their possible solutions. Filming took more than four years and across 50 countries, so it’s a real mammoth project that by all counts, looks likely to be spectacular.
Why watch it: If you loved BBC‘s iconic Blue Planet and Planet Earth, chances are you’ll do the same for Our Planet — it’s produced by the same team behind the two former documentaries. Besides which, as Attenborough tells The Sun, “The BBC, powerful and pervasive though it is, can’t reach (Netflix’s) 200 million people overnight, simultaneously. This particular ambition — of reaching the vast majority of TV sets in the world — is very important and the message is urgent. The natural world is in crisis. Let’s not mince words. It really is in crisis. We are in trouble. There is no point saying, ‘We will do that or pass that’ or, ‘We will have another meeting’. We want people to know what is happening NOW.”
In other words guys, there is no Planet B if we continue to screw things up. Our Planet launches on April 5.
Unicorn Store
What it’s about: You’ve seen her on the big screen punching up the Krees — now Brie Larson returns with Unicorn Store — her debut directorial gig, in which Larson is once again reunited with her Captain Marvel co-star Samuel L. Jackson. She plays an art school graduate whose fun, glittered-filled works are dimmed when she lands a stuffy corporate job. Desperate to get out of the corporate world (something we can all identify with), she receives an invitation to a mysterious store, where a pink-tuxedo clad salesman (Samuel L. Jackson) promises her a unicorn — but first, she has to work for it.
Who’s in it: Brie Larson and Samuel L. Jackson
Why watch it: While Larson’s turn as Captain Marvel hasn’t seen the best reception (unlike say Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman), Unicorn Store marks a return to Larson’s indie roots — arguably the medium in which she really shines. Besides, who doesn’t like unicorns and glitter?
