NOW SHOWING
PICK OF THE WEEK
Inhuman Resources, Netflix
This is something a lot of people have been waiting a long time to see: Eric Cantona in jail. He’s an actor now, having made the rare successful leap from the stadium to the screen, so technically it’s his character who’s in jail, not him. But still. “I was never a violent man,” he says. This coming from the man most people remember for the time he karate-kicked a hooligan in the crowd after being sent off while playing for Manchester United back in 1995. Alain Delambre, his character in Netflix’s timely French drama Inhuman Resources, is basically an alternate reality Cantona, who has worked in HR for 25 years instead of becoming one of the world’s greatest, most controversial football stars. Now he’s approaching 60 and what they call a "senior". On the job market, that makes him “the last guy you hire and the first one you fire when there are layoffs”. How he gets from here to jail is the story.
MOVIE OF THE WEEK
The Farewell, Neon, from Wednesday
For a huge cliche, “you’ll laugh, you’ll cry” is rarely actually true. The Farewell, however, is the real deal, a genuine laughcry proposition. Awkwafina stars as an AmericanChinese woman who returns to China to attend her cousin’s wedding, which is really just a front for the family to say goodbye to her dying grandma (the show-stealing Zhao Shu-zhen), who hasn’t been told she’s dying. It’s warm and funny and beautiful, and you’ll probably sob your eyes out.
WORTH WATCHING
Alex Rider, TVNZ OnDemand
What do you get if you combine the two great modern spy franchises — Mission Impossible and Killing Eve — in a show based on a series of popular young adult novels? The answer may just be Alex Rider. The TV adaptation of Anthony Horowitz’s books follows the adventures of a 14-year-old British lad (Otto Farrant) enlisted by MI6 after learning his spy uncle Ian has been killed in the line of duty. Although he doesn't know it, Alex has been being trained in the art of espionage since childhood — this is his destiny, just as it was Harry Potter’s destiny to become a wizard.