Room 2806: The Accusation — Netflix
It may now seem to be almost another era, but it was only seven years ago that the world’s media was fixed on a hotel room in New York where the head of the IMF, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, was accused of sexual assault by hotel maid Nafissatou Diallo. The case ruined the career of the man known as DSK, once tipped to become the president of France, and threw up a host of ugly allegations against him. This is the story of what happened, who DSK was, and tries to understand why he did what he was accused of doing in Room 2806 of the Sofitel Hotel on May 14 2011.
The Third Day — Showmax
Jude Law and Naomie Harris star in this atmospheric part chiller, part psychological horror series about a man in trouble who saves a young woman and finds himself on her home island Osea — a holiday destination off the Essex coast. Here things get strange and the lines between reality and fantasy quickly evaporate until, like Law’s protagonist, we’re swimming in a sea of mistrust, uncertainty and claustrophobic terror. It’s intriguing and compellingly performed — enough to keep you waiting to find out what the hell is happening.
Kings of Joburg — Netflix
The Fergusons bring their blend of melodrama and crime-world intrigue to Netflix in this series about two brothers whose hold over the Johannesburg criminal underworld is threatened by an ancient curse, family tensions and romantic rivalries. It’s not always as dramatically satisfying or thrilling as it promises but it’s reasonably refreshing to see a familiar story set in a place we can recognise on an international platform.
San Soleil — Mubi.com
Chris Marker’s singular experimental rumination on technology, society, time, place, memory and images is one of cinema’s works of art. It has just as much to say about the human condition now as it did when it debuted in 1983. It’s a masterwork of formal innovation and intellectual rigour that remains unsurpassed, surprising and inspiring.
Minions of Midas — Netflix
This Spanish media world thriller is intriguingly adapted from a 120-year-old story by Jack London. It’s the story of a media baron being blackmailed by a mysterious, mean-what-they-say group called the Minions of Midas. It’s fast paced and full of enough twists and turns to keep watching to find out who’s behind all of this nefarious puppet mastery and why. It also demonstrates that, when it comes to power, money and influence, the more things seem to have changed over the past 120 years, the more so many fundamental aspects have remained depressingly the same.
