Catching up on Netflix

I've been able to watch more shows than I usually do on Netflix. Of everything I've seen on this streaming service so far, my favorite is Lupin. This is a French Netflix series that a friend of mine recommended. It's about professional thief Assane Diop who takes inspiration from Arsène Lupin, a fictional French gentleman thief created in the early 1900s and who is featured in dozens of novels and novellas. I don't normally binge watch shows that I hadn't seen yet because it requires me to pay full attention and I often find it hard to stay focused for several hours at a time but this was an exception. Lupin was really right up my alley. It was so smart, slick, and inventive and I enjoyed it tremendously, so much so that I recommended it to my other friends too. If you haven't seen it, I suggest you do. (Netflix says that Lupin will be back for Part 3; I am surely looking forward to that.)

I also recently saw Tick, Tick... Boom! This has been advertised quite a bit so as a fan of musicals, I felt I had to see it. Thankfully, it lived up to the hype. Andrew Garfield has already gotten his fair share of awards and nominations for his performance as Jonathan Larson in this film and I do believe he deserves all the accolades. Prior to watching, I didn't know any of the music from Tick, Tick.. Boom! but I found myself immediately liking a lot of the songs. My favorites have to be Louder Than Words, Therapy, and Sunday. Lin-Manuel Miranda really did a great job directing this movie. If you haven't seen Tick, Tick... Boom! yet, I also recommend it.

One of the films that I had been really interested to see for a while now is Weathering With You (Tenki no Ko). I wanted to see it because it was created by the same people that made Your Name (Kimi no Na wa), which I absolutely love. I finally took the time to watch it. I thought it was good but I prefer Your Name a lot more.

I got to watch another animated film, The Breadwinner. This popped up as a recommendation to me as I was building my initial Netflix list. The description caught my attention: A courageous 11-year-old Afghan girl disguises herself as a boy and takes on odd jobs to provide for her family when her father is arrested. It was a really captivating premise. What I didn't realize was this film was actually quite depressing. It shows the plight of women under Taliban rule where women are forbidden to do a lot of things, including study and go out of their house without a male relative. Despite the heavy theme of the film, it is powerful, evocative, and beautiful.

I've also watched a lot of other shows on Netflix, including Joanna Lumley's Silk Road Adventure (I've wanted to visit Cappadocia in Turkey for a really long time now and this show just made me want to visit it sooner), 72 Dangerous Animals: Latin America, 72 Dangerous Animals: Asia, Wheel of Fortune (there are a few episodes from seasons 35 to 37), and Nailed It!

My List is still really long but it's great that I've gotten to use my Netflix subscription a lot more.