Author: Andres Kabel

An unusual, dramatic, and moving documentary by filmmaker Lucy Walker, Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa centers on the 2022 climb of Mount Everest by Tibetan-born Lhapka Sherpa accompanied to base camp by her teenage daughter (with fascinating juxtaposition with her other daughter back home). Lhapka has the almost unbelievable record of ten Everest climbs, yet works as a dishwasher in Connecticut. The director alternates stunning climb footage, scenery footage, archival material, and interviews, while also telling Lhapka’s life story: her other incredible climbs, her determination to be allowed as a Tibetan woman to be a sherpa; and the traumas of emigration to Connecticut with an American-Romanian abusive alcoholic. This is a tale of soaring triumphs, juddering lows, and the love of the high snowy mountains. Superb scripting maintains tension throughout. A must for fans of climbing and the snow, Mountain Queen is also a rousing adventure of the human spirit.

Jack-Reacher-style thrillers based on the lone protagonist hitting town and enacting justice are as old as the Shane movie. Rarely do they offer much more than diversionary entertainment. Rebel Ridge, written and directed from an aspiring wunderkind, Jeremy Saulnier, is a welcome exception. The film kicks right into action with our hero, an ex-army martial arts tyro, being rammed off his bike by two country cops. From there the action is tightly and splendidly scripted, as the hero is swallowed up and spat out by a corrupt town, and then embarks on a mission of revenge and justice. What makes Rebel Ridge stand out are the relentless pace and superb action staging, and the lead actor’s clever, principled performance by Aaron Pierre. Need to lose yourself for a couple of hours? Sink into this satisfying, mature thriller.

The first season of Kleo introduced a brilliantly portrayed (by Jella Haase) German equivalent of Villanelle from Killing Eve. Trained throughout life as an ultra-secret Stasi assassin, Kleo’s life falls apart at the time of the Berlin Wall coming down when she is betrayed big time, and the season gloried in her violent revenge. That season sparked off Kleo’s increasing confluence with Sven, a hapless West German bumbler whose only virtue is persistence. The first season was plot heavy, stylish, fast-paced, and addictive. Now we have Season 2, in which Kleo continues to pursue the true underpinnings of her betrayal, searching for a red suitcase despite being pursued by the CIA and the KGB, and Sven is still there, less clumsy but more and more fallen for Kleo. The second season adopts a lighter, almost slapstick tone but the underlying plot is as wild and internally logical as ever, and the action scenes remain a treat to watch. The six episodes build in intensity and the climactic outing is incandescent, both violently riveting and emotionally rich. For this reviewer, Kleo is trumping Killing Eve, and that is a high bar to scale, one it scales with vivacious ease and style.

Eric, a six-part series written by Eric Abi, offers an intriguing plot device. When the nine-year-old son of a “genius” TV puppeteer, creator of a much loved kids’ show, disappears in AIDS-era New York city, the asshole puppeteer, his sanity cracking, begins imagining a blue monster puppet walking beside him. The plot, expertly guided by a strong script over the episodes, involves the public, desperate hunt for the boy, a black gay policeman’s search amidst personal traumas, the plight of the New York homeless, and the puppeteer’s search for redemption. The cast is strong enough but is dominated by a mesmerizing lead role performance from Benedict Cumberbatch. Benedict Spence’s cinematography in the streets, and under the streets, of that fabled metropolis is captivating. As the viewer approaches the climactic episode, one wonders if the disparate subplots can be knitted together, but the final half hour is a triumph of plotting, eschewing over-dramatism or sentimentality for a satisfying, fascinating ending. Without Cumberbatch, Eric would have been a capable series; with him, it is a 2024 viewing highlight.

Call it Only Murders in the Building transplanted into rural Irish eye candy if you like, but it works. The seven episodes of Bodkin follow a timid American podcaster (Will Forte is a perfect mix of goofiness and canniness in the role), a hardbitten investigative journalist hiding from British eyes (also a great performance by Siobhán Cullen), and the podcaster’s greenhorn assistant (a role, from Robyn Cara, that grows over the season) as they investigate a cold-case multiple murder years earlier. The plot is wild, the dialogue is nigh perfect, and the scenery just adds to an immersive, sometimes-grisly-mostly-cozy viewing experience. Recommended.

Rumaan Alam’s 2020 literary dystopian thriller impressed many, so my expectations for the movie adaptation, Leave the World Behind, were high despite the lead female role being played by Julia Roberts. The plot is highly charged and enigmatic, with a family of four suddenly seemingly stranded in a luxury rental house that also fills up with the black owner and his daughter. Some form of national calamity seems to have turned off all communications and disaster looms as the six of them variously cope and don’t cope, as they grope toward understanding and action. The novel seemed to be pitched as a literary thriller; the movie adopts mysterious, avant garde stylings. Whilst the underlying plot intrigues enough to drag the viewer through to the enigmatic climax, the execution is execrable. It is hard to choose between Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke (playing the husband) as the more wooden; not that they have much to play with, the script being burdened by terrible expository dialogue. The other actors are nearly as hapless, the only saving grace being a cameo role from Kevin Bacon. Tod Campbell’s cinematography adds a welcome note of spooky mystery but nothing can save this wreck of a film.