News

The perpetual Netflix cull continues, though rather than unceremonious cancellation, the streamer will instead be removing several of its own “original” television shows. The dream of streaming first began with the idea that there would be no ads, and that these new studios could create and license their own projects free of the Hollywood system. Sadly, the dream seems to be slowly dying, with the addition of platforms removing their own TV shows being just the next step in the inevitable demise of streaming.

The first Netflix original on the chopping block is the Hungarian romantic drama On Body and Soul, which boasts a hugely impressive 90% on Rotten Tomatoes. The series will be leaving Netflix on February 2, 2025, (via What's on Netflix) meaning you don’t have long to catch up on this tale of a man and a woman who meet at work and slowly begin to realize that they...

A love story forged at the least romantic place in the world, a slaughterhouse, “On Body and Soul” is a testament to the grit of its writer-director, first-time Oscar nominee Ildikó Enyedi.

Born in Budapest, the 62-year-old emerged on the international film scene almost 30 years ago, winning the Cannes’ Camera d’Or for her feature debut, “My Twentieth Century” (among the top 10 films of 1989, according to The New York Times). Over the next decade, she made four more films; 1999’s “Simon the Magician” claimed the Special Jury Prize at the Locarno International Film Festival. Then she went 18 years without a release.

“Oh my God, I was constantly, constantly working on projects, and they nearly happened,” she told IndieWire at the Hollywood offices of Netflix, which began streaming “On Body and Soul” last week. Five of her original films were scratched, including a story set in 1930s New York, when scientists...

"Is it possible that two people dream the same thing?" Netflix has released a new official Us trailer for the Hungarian romantic drama On Body and Soul, which is one of the Best Foreign Language Film nominees at the Academy Awards this year. It completely deserves this nomination, it's such an outstanding, tender, heartfelt film. Directed by Hungarian filmmaker Ildikó Enyedi, this tells the story of two shy people who work at a slaughterhouse in Hungary. They both have the same dream - where they are deer in a forest - and when they discover this, they try to figure out how to be together, but it's not easy in real life. Alexandra Borbély stars as the woman, Mária, and Géza Morcsányi as the man, Endre. I just watched this recently thanks to Netflix and totally loved it. Please take a moment and see this film, it's good for your heart & soul.

Netflix isn’t exactly known for adventurous film programming, but their February lineup is even more geared toward comfort cinema than usual — not that we’re complaining. The world is a cold place these days, so it’s worth celebrating life’s small pleasures; say what you will about the state of our union, but we now live in a world where you can watch “Ocean’s Twelve” on your watch. Steven Soderbergh’s criminally underrated masterpiece is only one of the reliable standbys coming to the streaming giant this month: the heist sequel is joined by a Martin Scorsese classic, Quentin Tarantino’s two best movies, a current Oscar nominee for Best Foreign-Language Film, and more.

Here are the seven best films coming to Netflix this month.

7. “Mute” (2018)

Full disclosure: We haven’t actually seen Duncan Jones’ new film yet, but anything from the visionary director of “Warcraft” deserves...

Ildikó Enyedi's On Body and Soul (2017) is having its exclusive online premiere on Mubi in the United Kingdom. It is showing from November 17 - December 17, 2017.Sex and violence are probably considered to be the most hotly contested controversial topics in film, from the hand-wringing parent who worries about exposing their kids too soon to blood and gore to governmental censorship boards editing out onscreen kisses. This isn’t to say that extreme levels of gore and gratuitously hardcore sex don’t merit discussions (see anything from the New French Extremity genre to the perennially talked about Baise-Moi). But there is, however, another film “quality” that ignites ire and repulsion faster than a close-up of an exploding head or a cut-to of cunnilingus: whimsy. Whimsy, that which is held to be quaint, playful, heartfelt and sweet, is often derided as superficial, saccharine. And, to be fair, it often is. Having...

A Hungarian love story set in an abattoir uses startling juxtapositions to beguiling effect

Cinema might be guilty of creating many of the cliches of romance, but, occasionally at least, it also destroys them. And this year brings two particularly strong examples of the latter. On Body and Soul, the Berlin Golden Bear-winning account of two outcasts who find love in a Hungarian abattoir, might not have the showy impact of Guillermo Del Toro’s forthcoming The Shape of Water (mute cleaner hooks up with fish monster) but the pictures share two things. Both combine the fantastic and idiosyncratic to beguiling effect; both rewrite the rules that govern who is deemed worthy of love in the movies.

The two main characters in On Body and Soul are Endre (Géza Morcsányi), the reserved manager of a slaughterhouse who hides his emotions along with his useless left arm, and Maria (Alexandra Borbély...

“The Other Side of Hope”

Winsome, sweet, and often very funny, the second chapter of Aki Kaurismäki’s unofficial trilogy about port cities is a delightful story about the power of kindness that unfolds like a slightly more somber riff on 2011’s “Le Havre.” The Finnish auteur’s latest refugee story begins with a twentysomething Syrian man named Khaled (terrific newcomer Sherwan Haji), who escapes from Aleppo after burying most of his family and sneaks into Finland by stowing away in the cargo hold of a coal freighter. His path eventually crosses with Wikström (Sakari Kuosmanen), a newly single restauranteur who could use a helping hand. Part Roy Andersson and part Frank Capra, “The Other Side of Hope” deepens the director’s recognition of how immigrants and refugees are victimized by their invisibility, and its timeliness could help it strike a chord with domestic audiences. “Le Havre” grossed more than...

“On Body and Soul” opens with the tender, lyrical image of a deer and buck wandering across a snow-encrusted landscape. With time, it’s revealed that these affectionate animals represent the shared perspectives of dreamers Endre (Géza Morcsányi), the middle-aged manager of a Hungarian slaughterhouse, and Mária (Alexandra Borbély), his much younger employee. Their inexplicable ability to join together in animal form after hours could easily turn absurd or painfully maudlin in the wrong hands. And it nearly does that, but writer-director Ildikó Enyedi mostly gets away with the outrageous scenario, injecting it with a touching, understated romanticism epitomized by that magisterial opening moment. Despite its otherworldly setup, “On Body and Soul” is grounded in familiar emotions.

Read More: Berlin Film Festival: Golden Bear For Best Film Goes to “On Body and Soul”

Enyedi’s name may not resonate around the world, but she’s been on the scene for quite some time,...