Omar (Netflix)
The separation wall, which cuts through West Bank, dividing Palestinian communities, looms large in this film by Hany Abu-Assad. The opening shot shows Omar (Adam Bakri), a baker by profession, scaling the wall to meet his childhood friends Amjad (Samer Bisharat) and Tarek (Eyad Hourani). Omar is courting Tarek's sister Nadia, so is Amjad. The three friends, who want to do their bit for the resistance, kill an Israeli soldier. Someone snitches and Omar is arrested. In jail he is manipulated by Israeli security agent Rami (Waleed Zuaiter) and released after agreeing to work as an informant. Outside, he is no longer feted as a freedom fighter. Even Nadia questions his motives. Who betrayed whom or is Rami turning them all against each other? It's a story of love and betrayal, with several plot twists.
Also read: The adventures of a boy god
Succession (Disney+ Hotstar)
The HBO drama about the warring family of a powerful tycoon returns. We wrote in our review of the first episode: “Created by Jesse Armstrong, Succession is a beautiful morality tale about a family so malicious and vituperative it makes all of ours look swell in comparison. An all-powerful empire with amusement parks and conservative news channels, I find the Roys (and their appeal) rather similar to the Lannisters from Game Of Thrones, a clan of power-hungry and charismatic cutthroats who know their way around an insult. The second season ended two years ago and since then the tribe of Succession has only grown. How we’ve missed these swearing siblings.”
Dune (in theatres)
Frank Herbert's series gets a new screen adaptation from Denis Villeneuve. Starring Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac and Jason Momoa, the film, like the director's take on Blade Runner, is spectacular and serious.
My Brother, My Sister (Netflix)
An Italian family drama about an estranged brother and sister who are meeting after 20 years. Their father, an astrophysicist, named them Nikola (Alessandro Preziosi) and Tesla (Claudia Pandolfi) after physicist Nikola Tesla. He's dead and has left his apartment in Rome to the siblings with a clause that they can sell it only after one year of living together there. While Nik's only passion, on the face of it, is kite surfing, Tesla's life is ruled by anxiety—her 20-year-old son Sebastiano, who is a cellist, is schizophrenic. He has conversations with an imaginary person Kevin and is planning to move to Mars. Tesla's relationship with her daughter Carolina is also strained. As the family dynamics change with the arrival of Nik, secrets are revealed. "This is your family. It's weird, imperfect, fragile, but it's yours," says Sebastiano to his uncle. Save for the soppy ending, it feels like a real family.
Tabbar (SonyLIV)
A slow-burn drama about a family of four forced into making some dangerous but lifesaving choices. Harman Wadala is the series creator and Ajitpal Singh directs. Pavan Malhotra and Surpriya Pathak play a Jalandhar couple who are forced to break bad to protect their two sons and themselves.
Also read: Looking at our lives through a telescope
