All The Great Stuff Coming To Netflix In April 2023

For seekers of more intentional entertainment on Netflix, this month has a trio of promising women in politics dramas, one of which stars Keri Russell in the lead role.  A new season of science fiction actioner “Sweet Tooth” makes a long-awaited return.  And because foiling Nazis (or their modern day heirs in the Rethuglican Party) never gets old, there’s a mini-series based on a real-life rescue mission that would help save some culturally significant lives.

Whether a viewer wants to say goodbye to a beloved Canadian comedy or get outraged over a notorious Australian tragedy where the culprits escaped accountability, Netflix in April has much to offer beyond its public linguistic own goal.

Free advice to Netflix:  Maybe next time don’t name your forthcoming “family-friendly” fantasy film with a title that means in its original language “to suck off.”

What to watch on Netflix starting April 1st

American Hustle – image from Variety

American Hustle–The 1970s-1980s Abscam sting operation provided the inspiration for David O. Russell’s outrageous crime dramedy.  Scam artist Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale) specializes in selling fake art and making phony personal loans.  His partnership and romantic relationship with ambitious Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams) takes Rosenfeld’s criminal career to the next level.  Until hotheaded and ambitious FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper) nails the duo.  The FBI agent threatens to expose the duo unless they help him net some bigger criminals.  DiMaso’s plan works at first.  But is his romance with Prosser the real deal?  Or will everything fall down thanks to the complex and unpredictable Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence)…who happens to be Rosenfeld’s wife? 

Friday Night Lights–This is the movie that inspired the beloved TV series of the same name.  For the residents of Odessa, Texas, the successes of the town’s high school football team the Odessa Permians happens to be a little too intertwined with their town pride.  For Coach Gary Gaines (Billy Bob Thornton), the pressure is on from local townspeople to get the Permians to the state championship and win.  But when star player Boobie Miles injures his knee in the first game of the season, more than one person’s future dreams soon become endangered.

Matilda–Danny DeVito directed this faithful cult adaptation of Roald Dahl’s children’s novel of the same name.  Smart and independent book-loving Matilda Wormwood’(Mara Wilson) gets treated incredibly badly by her family at home.  Her used car salesman father (DeVito) makes a deal with odious Crunchem Elementary School principal Agathat Trunchbull to admit Matilda as a student.  But the odds aren’t stacked in the adults’ favor.  Matilda possesses telekinetic powers, and she very much knows how to use them.

The Mauritanian–Kevin Macdonald adapts Mohamedou Ould Salahi’s “Guantanamo Diary,” an account of Salahi’s 14-year imprisonment in Guantanamo Bay.  Salahi gets accused of being one of the 9/11 recruiters despite his involvement being limited to giving one of the hijackers some crash space on his couch.  Nevertheless, he gets thrown into Gitmo without being charged with a crime.  Attorney Nancy Hollander (Jodie Foster), assisted by an associate named Teri (Shailene Woodley), begins a long struggle to get Salahi either charged with a crime or released from Guantanamo.  She faces a U.S. government more interested in covering up its wrongdoing than respecting civil liberties.

Psycho–Yes, there are elements of this Alfred Hitchcock film that can be considered in some circles transphobic.  And yes, somebody truly needs to do a college course on how to appreciate art where either the creator and/or their work possesses incredibly problematic aspects.  This writer doesn’t have any answers.  All he can do is note that the film’s shower sequence cemented this Hitchcock film’s place in horror film history.  After watching the shower sequence, some viewers may need to devise an alternate method for their daily ablutions.

Warsailor – photo from cineuropa.org

April 2

War Sailor–Norway’s Academy Awards submission involves the unjustly forgotten story of the 30,000 Norwegian merchant sailors who were conscripted in the war effort against Hitler.  In 1939, lifelong friends and Bergen dockworkers Alfred and Sigbjorn take jobs on a cargo vessel sailing to New York.  But this supposedly temporary job turns into something far longer after the Germans occupy Norway.  Alfred, Sigbjorn, and their fellow crew members are forced by the Allies to serve on their ship for the duration of the war.  But when their ship gets chosen to take part in the very lethal Murmansk Run, how will Alfred in particular deal with his exposure to the resulting death toll?  

April 6

Beef Season 1–Danny Cho (Steven Yeun, “Minari”) has both a chip on his shoulder and the stress of a failing contractor business.  Amy Lau (Ali Wong, “Always Be My Maybe”) is a self-made entrepreneur living a dream life.  Cho and Lau are strangers to each other…until a road-rage incident brings them together in the worst possible way.  Neither of them can let the incident go, and their antagonistic obsession winds up unraveling their lives and relationships.

Beef – image from stylist.co.uk

April 7 

Holy Spider–Zar Amir Abrahimi won a Best Actress award at Cannes 2022 for her performance in this tale based on the true story of Iranian serial killer Saeed Hanaei.  Journalist Rahimi (Abrahimi) has come to the holy city of Mashhad to cover a serial killer story.  Saeed, the killer, justifies his murders of sex workers by saying he’s doing God’s work by cleaning Mashhad’s streets of sinners.  As the deaths mount, Rahimi gets closer identifying the so-called Spider Killer (Saeed’s public nickname).  What sort of justice for the murder victims can be obtained when this serial murderer becomes a folk hero?

Transatlantic–It’s 1940 in Nazi-occupied France when American journalist Varian Fry and American heiress Mary Jayne Gold covertly arrive in Marseilles.  The duo are there on behalf of the Emergency Rescue Committee, a group formed to save artists, intellectuals, and writers from Nazi extermination.  What happens when they realize choosing to save only 200 such people from the Nazis would be the inhumane choice?  What can they do to save as many people as possible?  Based on Julie Orringer’s The Flight Portfolio.

April 11

Exposed: The Ghost Train Fire–On June 9, 1979, six boys and a man were riding the Ghost Train attraction at Sydney’s iconic Luna Park.  A fire broke out on the ride and claimed the lives of these riders.  The police officially concluded an electrical fault accidentally caused the fire.  But journalist Caro Meldrum-Hanna’s docuseries investigation shockingly reveals that the fire was very much not an accident and that an official cover-up took place.

Miriam Margolyes: Almost Australian Season 1–Follow celebrated film and TV star Miriam Margolyes as she embarks on an epic two-month journey around Australia.  Over the course of 10,000 miles, she hopes to find out from the country’s residents what the Australian dream means to them.  The people Margolyes meets include everyone from an Afghan orphan to a struggling farmer whose land is devastated by drought.  This lesbian actress’ lack of filter means she’ll ask occasionally touchy questions such as one regarding increased homelessness among middle-aged women.

April 13

Qorin–At a rural Indonesian boarding school, Zahra’s considered  a role model student.  She earns good grades and is willing to carry out school leader Ustaz Jaelani’s orders.  Rebellious new student Yolanda gets placed under Zahra’s watchful eye.  Trouble truly erupts after Zahra and the other students perform supposedly ritual qorins.  The girls accidentally release physical manifestations of their individual darker personality traits.  These qorine figures then set about terrorizing the other students.

April 14

Queenmaker–This new Korean drama comes to Netflix in April. It focuses on what might be called a sis-mance between two very different women.  Hwang Do Hee is a specialist in the field of presidential identity consulting.  Her work for the Eunsung Group’s Strategic Planning Office ensures that the family owning Eunsung Group get presented in the best possible public light.  Hwang’s newest project involves the labor rights lawyer Oh Seung Sook.  “Crazy rhinoceros” Oh earned her nickname thanks to her unstoppable drive to protect the weak and help workers and common people.  Somehow, Hwang convinces Oh to run for Mayor of Seoul despite Oh’s lack of love for authority figures.

Queenmaker on Netflix in April – photo from asianwiki.com

April 15

Doctor Cha Season 1—Genius doctor of anesthesiology Cha Yo-Han can diagnose a patient’s illness within 10 seconds of meeting them.  On the other hand, he’s also arrogant and sometimes acts strangely.  Kang Shi-Young’s impressive skills in anesthesiology may be inherited from her mother, but her empathy and listening skills came from her father.  Together, these two pain management doctors act as a team of medical detectives frequently challenged to figure out the causes of a patient’s pain when the standard diagnoses are unhelpful.

April 16

The Best Man Holiday–15 years ago, a group of college friends’ celebration of football player Lance’s (Morris Chestnut) impending marriage to Mia got livened by a forthcoming book by  Harper (Taye Diggs).  In it, the writer presented events involving thinly veiled versions of his friends…including his one-night stand with Mia.  The friends may have separated over the years.  But now the prospect of Lance breaking the football rushing record spurs Mia to bring the friends back together to witness Lance’s accomplishment.  But the eventful get-together that results shows that 15 years is not long enough to totally bury old infatuations or old grudges .   

The Mustang—Roman Coleman (Matthias Schoenaerts) has anger management issues that have resulted in his serving a 20 year prison sentence for a domestic violence incident.  He’s the first to admit he’s not good with people and they can’t help him in return.  When the prisoner gets recruited for an “outdoor maintenance” program, he’s assigned the wildest of untamed mustangs to train for eventual sale at an auction.  Can man and horse build trust and friendship with each other?

April 19

Chimp Empire–This nature docuseries narrated by Mahershala Ali takes viewers to Uganda’s Ngogo Forest.  Residing here is the largest chimpanzee society ever discovered by human beings.  For the last quarter century, scientists and trackers have observed the doings of this chimp tribe.  Their activities have ranged from birthing babies to continual fights for power.  The docuseries follows the tribe over the course of one very eventful year.

April 20

The Diplomat–This political thriller starring Keri Russell (“The Americans”) is set at the US Embassy in London.   Career diplomat Kate Wyler’s (Russell) plans to pursue humanitarian work in Afghanistan take an unexpected left turn when she suddenly gets picked to become the new US Ambassador to England.  Aside from seriously stepping out of her work comfort zone, she’ll have to defuse international crises, adjust to being in the spotlight, and survive her marriage to career diplomat Hal Wyler.  Kate’s husband certainly isn’t thrilled at the rumors of his wife’s ambassadorship being a stepping stone to the U.S. Vice President seat.    

The Diplomat premieres April 20 on Netflix – photo from wcluradio.com

April 21

Welcome To Eden Season 2–In the first season of this Spanish thriller series on Netflix, Zoa and a group of other influencers were invited to a party on the paradise-like island known as Eden.  However, they discovered too late that the island was under the control of a sinister cult led by Astrid and Erick..and that anyone caught attempting to escape Eden dies.  As the new season begins, Zoa is faced with a terrible choice: should she make her escape attempt or stay to do what she can to protect one of Eden’s newest guests, her sister Gabi?  Meanwhile, who receives the signal that’s sent to outer space from Astrid & Erick’s secret transmitter: extraterrestrials or the real masterminds behind Eden?

April 25

The Hateful Eight–Quentin Tarantino’s post-Civil War Western is primarily set at Minnie’s Haberdashery, an out of the way Wyoming stagecoach stop.  Thanks to a blizzard, eight different individuals are forced to shelter here to wait out the storm.  Their numbers include bounty hunters Major Marquis Warren (Samuel L. Jackson) and John Ruth (Kurt Russell), Ruth’s prisoner “Crazy” Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh), and alleged new Red Rock sheriff Chris Mannix (Walton Goggins).  But each of these eight individuals carry some very dirty secrets.  And as those secrets get revealed, it soon becomes clear that not all of them will be left alive once the blizzard ends.

April 26

The Good Bad Mother–Pig farmer and single mother Young-Soon would be the first to admit she was a bad mother to her son Kang-ho.  But she’d justify her strictness with her child as a way to push him to avoid becoming like her.  The grown-up Kang-ho is now a career-minded prosecutor, but he’s also emotionally cold towards Young-Soon.  Thanks to an accident, the prosecutor develops amnesia and his personality reverts to that of a child.  While living with Young-Soon again, he encounters childhood friend Mi-Joo.  Can this kind-hearted woman who hates injustice help her old friend change his life?

Workin’ Moms Season 7–The acclaimed Canadian comedy series about a group of women trying and often failing to have it all is wrapping up with this season.  What was once a semi-autobiographical tale from creator and star Catherine Reitman has expanded to offer the backstories and problems faced by the show’s other working women.   This farewell season will give fans of the show chances to see old series favorites one more time, flashbacks on the emotional journeys these characters have taken, and some final moments Reitman envisions as the show’s proper send off.  And if you haven’t seen a single episode of “Workin’ Moms,” previous seasons of the series are available on Netflix.

Working Moms is back on Netflix – photo credits: CBC

April 27

Sweet Tooth Season 2—It’s the return of this acclaimed adaptation of Jeff Lemire’s titular comic book.  Creators Jim Mickle (“Hap And Leonard”) and Beth Schwartz tell the story of two people making their way through a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by a deadly virus.  Gus is a hybrid deer-boy while Tommy Jepperd is a normal human.  The new season continues from the Season 1 cliffhanger as Gus and his friends attempt to escape their imprisonment in the nefarious General Abbott’s laboratory.  The hybrids in particular will learn more about their origins and even their future.  Then Gus, accompanied by Tommy, sets out on a quest to find his mother.  But will their quest come to an early and fatal end thanks to other hybrid creatures or the unpredictable weather they encounter?

April 28

Wave Makers Season 1–This Taiwanese political drama coming to Netflix this month takes the viewer into the world of an election campaign’s communications staff.  After failing in her re-election campaign bid, political family scion Weng Wen-fang feels she’s taking a career step down by becoming both official spokesperson and deputy director of the Justice Party’s Publicity Department.  Yet she soon learns just how complicated the Publicity Department’s work really is.  Not only is there constant pressure to seize the first opportunity ahead of opposing campaigns, but the Department must constantly create memes and buzz for the campaign.  Can the Publicity Department’s young staffers capture popular support without compromising their idealism?