All The Great Stuff Coming To Netflix In June
The transphobic offensiveness of Dave Chapelle and Ricky Gervais notwithstanding, Netflix shows its June programming hasn’t jumped completely into the Moms For Liberty camp. The lead character in Dead End: Paranormal Park is transgender. Lesbians and vampires come together once again with the new series First Kill. The first of Todd Stephens’ films about gay life in Sandusky, Ohio makes a welcome return. And let us not forget Elliot Page stars in The Umbrella Academy, which returns with its new season.
But that weird superhero series isn’t the only notable return this month. Also coming back are an acclaimed Danish political drama, Wanda Sykes’ co-created sitcom, a reboot of the king of cooking competition shows, and Rowan Atkinson (unintentionally) trashing a posh mansion.
So check out these and other offerings. And if current events get you down, maybe it’s time to check out Morgan Neville’s wonderful Mr. Rogers documentary.
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Lunana: A Yak In The Classroom–Ugyen has been sent to the remote titular Bhutanese village to teach the local children. He’s less than thrilled about the assignment as he was hoping to leave Bhutan to pursue a music career. But the villagers of Lunana see him as the key to a life bigger than that of yak herders and cordyceps gatherers. The teacher’s reluctance soon gives way to learning to appreciate the village’s environment of communal interdependent happiness.
Now Available
Borgen: Power And Glory–Technically, this is Season 4 of “Borgen.” But since Season 3 came out nearly 10 years ago, it’s a whole new ballgame for this Danish political drama which makes “The West Wing” look like an episode of “Sesame Street.” (Hint: Try political deal-making in a multi-party democracy.) Central character Birgitte Nyborg has gone from being Denmark’s first female Prime Minister to becoming Foreign Minister. As the new series begins, she’s still Foreign Minister but now under younger Prime Minister Signe Kragh. Their touchy working relationship worsens after a huge oil deposit is discovered in Greenland, and Nyborg is forced to publicly disavow her earlier opposition to exploiting the oil. Yet why does Nyborg keep insisting on holding onto power if she’s advancing policies she disagrees with?
Borgen: Power And Glory
Edge Of Seventeen–Todd Stephens (“Swan Song”) scripted this tale set in 1984 Sandusky, Ohio. Teenaged Eric Hunter’s summer is about to become a very hot one. Popular rock acts such as Boy George and Bronski Beat openly flash their gay credentials. He’s gotten a summer job at an amusement park restaurant and soon becomes an item with fellow staffer Rod. But the teenager’s first tentative steps into gay life don’t go as smoothly as he’d hoped. Fortunately, the Universal Fruit & Nut Co., aka Sandusky’s only gay bar, may very well provide the social training wheels Eric needs.
Mr. Good: Cop Or Crook?–Eirik Jensen built a reputation in Norway for being his country’s best cop. But when he gets arrested in 2013 in connection with a drugs scandal, the question that soon grips the country’s mind is whether Jensen is actually Scandinavia’s biggest illicit drugs trafficker.
Two Summers–In this thriller series, a close-knit group of friends on holiday broke apart after one of the group members got sexually assaulted by their fellow vacationers. Now it’s thirty years later, and the group has finally reunited for what’s supposed to be a lavish and relaxing holiday trip. But then a tragic accident results in the death of one of these friends. Then several other members of the group get blackmailed with uncut video footage of that thirty-year-old crime.
June 8
Gladbeck: The Hostage Crisis—This strange but true crime documentary revisits a notorious German hostage crisis that would have made Kiefer Sutherland’s Jack Bauer look like a weenie. In 1988, two armed bank robbers led German police on a chase that ran from a Ruhr valley town all the way to the Netherlands. This 54-hour-long crisis was complicated by the robbers taking hostages: first a couple of teenagers, then a public transit bus filled with passengers. But the cops and the news media shouldn’t shower themselves with glory. They allowed the crisis to escalate until it eventually ended with a shootout that left three people dead.
Keep Sweet Pray And Obey
Keep Sweet Pray And Obey–Self-proclaimed prophet Warren Jeffs led a secretive polygamous sect of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. In this sect, it was held that the more wives and children a (male) member had, the closer to Heaven that member would be. Jeffs himself would have 78 wives, 24 of them underage. (One of Jeffs’ wives was 14 at the time of marriage.) This docuseries tells the story of Jeffs’ sect and features accounts from some of the women who escaped the cult.
June 10
Closet Monster–Oscar’s feelings about his sexuality were warped by his childhood discovery of the impaled corpse of a homophobic hate crime victim. While he knows he’s gay, the artistic young man retreats into himself, with his main companion being his “talking” hamster Buffy (voice of Isabella Rossellini). Co-worker Wilder becomes an object of Oscar’s lust. Yet Oscar’s homophobic douche bro father Peter will probably regard this development with raised fist more than open arms.
First Kill–Teen Juliette has just become the newest addition to a powerful vampire family. However, completing her rite of passage means Juliette must kill her first human. Targeting Calliope, the new girl in town, would fit the bill. Except Calliope: 1) hails from a prestigious vampire killing family; 2) is looking for her first vampire to kill so she can join the family trade; and 3) falls in love with Juliette and vice versa. Big whoops.
Trees Of Peace–From April 7, 1994 to July 15, 1994, Hutu extremists in Rwanda systematically murdered between 500,000 to 662,000 members of the Tutsi minority population. Mutesi, Peyton, Jeanette, and Annick are Tutsi women from four very different backgrounds. They’re forced to hide together for safety in a small room hidden beneath a kitchen floor. Their shared ordeal will lead these four women to form an unshakeable sisterhood. Winner of three jury prizes at the American Black Film Festival.
Trees Of Peace
June 13
Who We Are: A Chronicle Of Racism In America–Former ACLU Legal Director Jeffery Robinson looks at American history and racism in a way that will infuriate an entire GQP convention. His argument is that America is both a great nation and a very racist nation. This film of Robinson’s lecture shows how many of America’s most iconic locations such as Wall Street and the French Quarter of New Orleans have deep ties to the country’s racist roots.
June 14
Jennifer Lopez: Halftime–Will this portrait of J.Lo. as she enters her career’s second half succeed in being more than a puff piece? OOH, it does the usual “following of the star’s rise to fame” as well as her determination to be “taken seriously” by everyone from the media to the film and music industries. (e.g. Lopez’s reaction to her incredible scene-stealing turn in “Hustlers” getting snubbed by the Oscars) OTOH, the film is directed by Amanda Micheli, whose “Double Dare” showed she doesn’t do shallow Hollywood glitz. But yes, there will be footage from Lopez’s memorable Super Bowl Halftime Show with Shakira.
June 15
Front Cover–Openly gay fashion stylist Ryan is still climbing the career ladder to ensure his work appears on the front cover of magazines. His new job is to make Chinese movie star Ning look good for his attempt to break into the American market. However, cultural clashes threaten to sink their working relationship. Ryan is very uncomfortable acknowledging his Chinese roots. Ning is very uncomfortable with Ryan’s openness about his “homo side,” but is that a cover for the Chinese star’s own personal secret?
Iron Chef: Quest For An Iron Legend–Netflix reboots the legendary “Iron Chef” cooking competition show with Kristian Kish, the return of Alton Brown as host, and Mark Dacascos reprising his role as The Chairman. There will be five new trailblazing Iron Chefs (including the series’ first female chef). There will be new Challenger Chefs. Kitchen Stadium will be redesigned. And whichever Challenger Chef is most successful will battle in the finale to become the first Iron Legend.
Web Of Make Believe: Death, Lies And The Internet–Brian Knappenberger’s new docuseries presents several different stories about the effects on unsuspecting people by the intersection of technology and crime. Among the subjects to be covered are: a woman who unwittingly becomes a mouthpiece for white nationalist hate speech; people who harass innocents via fake SWAT incidents; and how Seth Rich’s death was exploited to falsely exonerate Russia of influencing the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
June 16
Dead End: Paranormal Park
Dead End: Paranormal Park–-Hamish Steele’s graphic novel series “DeadEndia” gets an animated adaptation produced by Blink Industries (“The Amazing World Of Gumball”). Transman Barney, Barney’s walking and talking dog Pugsley, and neurodiverse Norma work at the Dead End theme park. Unfortunately for them, Dead End is literally haunted by supernatural and demonic forces. Can this trio along with the sardonic thousand-year-old demon Courtney somehow battle these paranormal entities and maybe save the world?
Won’t You Be My Neighbor?–Director Morgan Neville (“Twenty Feet From Stardom”) presents a biographical portrait of long-running children’s TV show host Fred Rogers. Over the decades, ordained minister Rogers used his show “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood” to show a generation of children what an empathetic adult truly interested in a child’s long term well-being looked like. For those who believe in continually nurturing kindness and grace in everyday life, prepare to weep a lot while watching this film.
June 17
The Martha Mitchell Effect–Martha Mitchell was the wife of former President Richard Nixon’s Attorney General John Mitchell. When she openly talked to the press about the dirty tricks being performed regularly by Nixon’s administration, she was successfully gaslighted and publicly discredited by Nixon’s goons and sock puppets. As a result, Martha Mitchell’s name has been reduced to a quickie phrase for describing a delusional person (who’s actually telling the truth). This short revisits Mitchell’s story, and is bound to bring up disturbing parallels to the present day in such things as the Orange Skull’s impeachments and the Amber Heard vs. Johnny Depp trial.
June 18
Spriggan–David Production (“JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure”) helms this new animated adaptation of Hiroshi Takashige and Ryoji Minagawa’s science fiction action manga. In the last years of the Cold War, Yu Ominae leads an apparently ordinary life as a high school student. However, he’s secretly a Spriggan, an elite covert soldier for the ARCAM Corporation. Ominae’s mission (and that of his fellow Spriggans) is to prevent the present day deployment of superweapons developed by a mysterious ancient civilization. That old civilization may have once ruled the Earth, but it ultimately self-destructed. Can the Spriggans stop history from repeating itself?
June 19
Civil: Ben Crump
Civil: Ben Crump–Maverick civil rights attorney Ben Crump has been nicknamed “Black America’s Attorney General.” He’s made a career of using the justice system to force America to come to terms with what it owes such clients of Crump’s as the families of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, Black farmers, and Banking While Black victims. This verite documentary shows Crump’s life as both a family man and a civil rights leader.
It–It’s the first part of this well-received adaptation of Stephen King’s best-selling novel. In the small town of Derry, Maine, it may be Summer 1989. But for young Bill Denbrough, his mind’s still stuck in October 1988, the month his younger brother Georgie disappeared shortly after Bill made a paper sailboat for him. Bill convinces his friends to help him find out if Georgie is still alive. But Ben Hanscom, one of Bill’s classmates, learns that Derry has been plagued for centuries with unexplained tragedies and child disappearances. Eventually, these kids will learn how the cause of these tragedies is connected to physical manifestations of their worst fears…and that it’s stalking them.
June 20
Philomena–Ex-nurse Philomena Lee (Dame Judi Dench) has a 50-year-old secret. As a teen, she was bullied into giving up her infant son Anthony for adoption because she bore him out of wedlock. Even after the passage of decades, Philomena wants to know of Anthony’s fate. Ex-BBC correspondent Martin Sixsmith (Steve Coogan) hears the ex-nurse’s story and decides to help her out. But what aid can he render when the trail’s been cold for decades and the only direct information source is stonewalling him?
June 22
The Umbrella Academy Season 3–In the new season of this offbeat superhero series, the Brellies must avert yet another apocalypse. This one’s called a kugelblitz, basically a black hole that will destroy all matter in the universe. The only hope is to reverse the time paradox the Brellies created so they can return to their own reality. To do that, help must be obtained from the rival superhero group the Sparrow Academy aka the group who tried to punch them out the last time they met. Hopefully, the Brellies’ power set includes super kumbaya powers as the amount of time they have for paradox reversal is (checks clock) five days.
June 24
Man vs. Bee–When a homeless man (Rowan Atkinson) gets mistaken for a house sitter, he decides to keep up the charade as the house in question is a very posh mansion. But his plans for a week of fancy showers and simple rest soon go out the window. A cunning bee arrives to repeatedly terrorize him. The trashing of priceless artwork is just one of the things that results when the man throws down against this flying pest.
Man Vs. Bee
Money Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area–This Korean remake of the popular Spanish crime series is set in a near future where North and South Korea have finally reunified. To mark the occasion, on the location of the former border between North and South, both a new Joint Economic Area region and a new currency are created. But rather than bringing prosperity for everyone, once again the rich on both sides get richer while the poor get shafted. The mysterious Professor leads a team of robbers in a plot to steal a fortune in this newly minted currency without getting caught.
June 27
Cafe Minamdang–Nam Hoon Joon used to be a police profiler. Now he’s become a fake shaman. He operates out of the titular cafe, which he runs in partnership with Gong Soo Chul and Jonathan. How can this combination cafe and fortune telling outfit be a place for dispensing justice?
June 29
Extraordinary Attorney Woo Season 1–Woo Young Woo certainly has the background and talent to be an extraordinary attorney. She was first in her Seoul National University undergrad class and first again in her law school class. Her memory is incredible and she’s an extraordinarily creative thinker. Her IQ has been measured at 164. However, her Asperger’s Syndrome makes ordinary social interactions something she’s unable to master.
The Upshaws Season 2 Part 1–It’s the return of the situation comedy co-created by comedian Wanda Sykes. The series follows the travails of the titular family, a working class African-American family living in Indiana. Family head Bernie Upshaw is an auto mechanic who wants to do the best for his family. However, like the rest of the clan, that process involves a lot of seat-of-the-pants flying given the lack of a decent blueprint for living life.
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