Everything Calls For Salvation (Netflix)
After a night of drugs and alcohol, Daniele (Federico Cesari) wakes up in a psychiatric ward: He has been sentenced to a week of mandatory treatment. The seven episodes chronicle his seven days at the institute, where Daniele—reluctant at first to accept that he has a problem—realises that his five roommates “are the closest to my true nature I have ever met. Found on the same boat....between madness and some other thing that I will maybe able to name one day.” Based on a book by Daniele Mencarelli, this Italian series on mental health is heartfelt and heartbreaking, with some great performances. Vincenzo Crea as the fragile Gianluca is a scene stealer. —Nipa Charagi
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Dwayne Johnson stars as the titular character, an ancient being bestowed with the power of the gods, awakened after 5000 years. Expectations aren’t exactly sky-high but director Jaume Collet-Serra has a way with silly action movies.
Black Butterflies (Netflix)
Adrien Wrinkler (Nicolas Duvauchelle), who writes under the pen name Mody—a rare form of diabetes which he suffers from; also, a word that holds the clue to his past—is approached by the elderly Albert Desiderio to ghost-write his memoir. What follows is a plot so dark and twisted that at one point, Adrien asks: "Where is it going?". You might too. In the 1970s, every summer, Albert and his wife Solange would commit a murder and then have sex at the crime scene. Just when you think it's getting predictable, this French series lands another macabre twist.—NC
Vortex (MUBI)
Apart from the unusual opening credits and the use of a split screen through the film, it would be difficult to guess that Vortex is directed by Gaspar Noe. The enfant terrible of French cinema returns with a meditation on mortality, as unforgiving – though a lot looser – than Michael Haneke’s Amour. Dario Argento and Françoise Lebrun play an old couple who live by themselves. She has dementia, he’s had a stroke, and their son is a recovering junkie. It’s not a sentimental film, but Noe is surprisingly tender towards all three characters. The split screen takes some getting used to, but when, towards the end, one half is replaced by a black void, it’s a jolt.
She-Hulk: Attorney At Law (Disney+ Hotstar)
The first season of this comedy series about an attorney who possesses decidedly unsubtle superpowers has wrapped. She-Hulk is not like most Marvel shows: its weapon is its self-awareness, and its big villain is sexism.
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