Genera+ion (series, created by Zelda and Daniel Barnz)

HBO has been keeping up with the issues of teenagehood for several decades now, with shows like Girls and Euphoria, and Genera+ion is taking a new step in this direction, looking fairly determined to defy new prejudices and taboos. Genera+ion focuses on a diverse group of high school students, and what’s new to this series produced by Lena Dunham (Girls) is that creator Zelda Barnz was actually the protagonists’ age (now she’s 19 years old) when she started writing the screenplay together with her father, Daniel. It looks like Genera+ion might be the series of a new generation, and that parents might need to take a look at it to discover the challenges their teenage children have to face nowadays.
The show premieres on HBO Go on March 11.

Sky Rojo (series, created by Álex Pina and Esther Martínez Lobato)

The creating team behind the phenomen La casa de papel returns with a new project that has the same hyperkinetic approach, brimming in violence and plot twists. Its March premiere is also justified by the fact that the series celebrates emancipation no matter what, introducing three protagonists – Coral (Verónica Sánchez), Wendy (Lali Espósito) and Gina (Yany Prado) – who run away from their pimp and his aides. And the three of them will stop at nothing to reassure themselves that playing nice with men is something that they will never have to do again. The creators’ approach seems to pay homage to the last season of another Spanish hit, Vis a vis, also available on Netflix Romania.
The show premieres on Netflix on March 19.

Mare of Easttown (miniseries, created by Brad Ingelsby)

One of the many productions put on hold due to the global health crisis, Mare of Easttown will undoubtedly gain popularity due to the fact that Kate Winslet plays the main role, a policewoman from a small town in Pennsylvania. The British actress rehearsed for months to master the very specific accent of Easttown (the series was shot in this very town). In Brad Ingelsby’s miniseries, it all starts with the discovery of a child’s body and continues with the police investigation, setting the whole town on fire and threatening the protagonist’s peace which is already hanging by a thread.
Premiering on HBO Go on April 18.

Shadow and Bone (fantasy series, created by Eric Heisserer)

In 2019, The Witcher became the most popular Netflix title – to be dethroned only at the end of last year by Bridgerton, and Shadow and Bone seems determined to continue the long run of fantasy shows revolving around supernatural creatures. Inspired by Leigh Bardugo’s novels, the new Netflix series takes pride in having the first non-Caucasian protagonist: the British actress Jessica Mei Li plays Alina Starkov, a young woman who wakes up in the middle of a phenomenal battle between good and evil after realizing that she possesses a miraculous power that could prevent the terrible danger threatening the magical realm.
Shadow and Bone premieres on Netflix on April 23.

Without Remorse (action, thriller, dir. Stefano Sollima)

Michael B. Jordan is one of the “It” actors who haven’t failed in choosing the right roles for them so far, from the intense Chronicle to Fruitvale Station and from Creed to Black Panther. Although there are few spy movies that succeed in avoiding the trap of the predictable and cliché locations, let’s offer Jordan a chance, as he takes over the character of John Clark (previously played by Willem Dafoe and Liev Schreiber) from Tom Clancy’s novels. After his family is killed in an attack by elite Russian soldiers, Clark will uncover a larger conspiracy that threatens the safety of his own country. And we know all too well that there is no protagonist more dangerous than the one who has nothing more to lose.
Without Remorse premieres on Amazon Prime on April 30.

Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn (black comedy, dir. Radu Jude)

Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn is without a doubt the film of the pandemic, and the Romanian audience is certainly looking forward to seeing it, aroused both by its recent success at the Berlinale (the winner of this year’s Golden Bear) and by the slight scandal associated with the porn clip included in the film.
The decision by the Romanian authorities to close the cinemas overnight, due to a new increase in the Covid-19 cases, makes it impossible for the film’s distributors to schedule a theatrical release anytime soon: we will most likely have to wait for the warmer months to see the film in an open air location. Until then, you can read the Films in Frame review of the film.

Voyagers (Sci-Fi, dir. Neil Burger)

Although it explores the immensity of Space and the soul abyss, the new Sci-Fi by Neil Burger has more to do with Romania than it would seem so: it was shot at the Buftea studios in the summer of 2019, and several young Romanian actors such as Theodor Soptelea, Vlad Popescu, Irina Artenii, Ioana Brumar and Ioana Nimigean make an appearance in some of the scenes, starring alongside Colin Farrell. The film follows the crew of a ship that should colonize the Space, but it doesn’t take long and the young people on board begin to realize that the pressure of their mission and the claustrophobic Space become more unbearable than they initially thought.
We don’t know yet when the film is going to be released in local cinemas (in the US, it premieres on April 9), but its link to Romania makes us believe that we will certainly have a national premiere sometime this year.

Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell (documentary, dir. Emmett Malloy)

Pushed to become a jazz singer, little Christopher Wallace quickly realizes that he wants to do something completely different music-wise. Thus begins the story of soon to become The Notorious B.I.G., whose iconic lyrics will sing of the hardships and lack of endemic opportunities in African-American ghettos. Emmett Malloy’s documentary brings together rare images from the rapper’s childhood and adolescence and the testimonies of his loved ones, showing not only how Biggie came to “tell the story” of his peers, but also how different he was from his public persona.
The documentary has been available on Netflix starting with March 1.