Call It Love
Dong-jin (Kim Young-kwang) and Woo-joo (Lee Sung-kyung) are both lonely characters: While Dong-jin lets everything slide—his girlfriend of seven years cheated on him; the other is full of anger because her father left the family for another woman. There are no big gestures here, everything is subtle. Like My Liberation Notes, this K-drama is a slow burn; it’s well into the 10th episode that you see the two start to thaw. While the lead pair share great on-screen chemistry, the supporting cast is equally good, especially Yoon-jun (Sung Joon) and Hye-seong (Kim Ye-won). (Disney+ Hotstar) -Nipa Charagi
Johnny
Robber Patryk (Piotr Trojan) has been ordered community service at a hospice run by priest Jan (Dawid Ogrodnik), who is terminally ill. Based on a true story, it’s about second chances, redemption, and what a dying person needs—our precious time. “A dying person needs to sense that they are allowed to die. You wanted to keep Mrs Hania, for whom? You were supposed to sit there, hold her hand. That’s all,” says the priest to Patryk in this Polish film, when the latter breaks down on the death of a resident at the hospice. (Netflix)-Nipa Charagi
Boston Strangler
Set in the 1960s, this film focuses on how two journalists Loretta McLaughlin (Keira Knightley) and Jean Cole (Carrie Coon) first connected the unexplained murders and broke the story of Boston Strangler, a serial killer who is believed to have murdered 13 women. Directed by Matt Ruskin, this true crime thriller puts the women in focus and follows the reporters as they navigate sexism and workplace politics to investigate the crimes. (Disney+Hotstar) -Aisiri Amin
Ela Veezha Poonchira
A stray dog is digging up something, a dismembered hand turns up. This is a hilly terrain in Kottayam with a wireless police station at an elevation of 3,200ft , manned by two policemen, Madhu (Soubin Shahir) and Sudhi (Sudhi Koppa). The place is beautiful but desolate, often lashed by rains and life-threatening lighting. The two cops spend their days drinking, playing cards, turning away the occasional trespassers, and hearing the wireless crackle. You spend most of the film wondering what the story or suspense is; the bizarre plot twist in this Malayalam film comes too late. (Amazon Prime)-Nipa Charagi
