White Lotus
(2nd cycle)
COMEDY (2022)
Creator: Mike White
InterpretationsCast: Jennifer Coolidge, Eleanor Romandini

One of the best and most award-winning HBO series of the past two years is getting a second season, with the first two episodes available on the Vodafone TV platform. Most of the main characters – but not all – change here as we are transported back to the luxurious White Lotus resort, this time in the Sicilian annex. There, in a magical place opposite the erupting Etna, various characters appear. Two American couples with different views on marriage, an old man with a son and grandson, looking for their Sicilian roots, and, of course, the inimitable Jennifer Coolidge, known to us from the first cycle, who begins another week of innocence. romance and paranoia with her last husband. Again, the mix of visitors and locals against the backdrop of an expensive hotel creates all sorts of interesting dynamics. However, the emphasis of observation this time is less on the class part – although it is also present – and more on sexual activities. In general, the Mediterranean atmosphere inflames passions, and in other cases it brings the heroes face to face with their taboos and weaknesses. And all this, of course, with impeccable camera work, venomous humor and an excellent selection of music from Italy and around the world.

Hatching ★★★ ½
FANTASY THRILLER (2021)
Directed by: Hanna Berholm
InterpretationsCast: Spri Solalina, Sofia Heikile, Jani Volanen

From the Cinobo platform, we choose the more than promising debut of Hanna Berholm. An aspiring Finnish director is signing a coming-of-age thriller here, starring teenager Tinia, who is desperate to please her demanding mother. One day, a strange egg comes to her, from which an even stranger hybrid creature hatches. Trying to keep her existence a secret while at the same time coping with her daily life, Tinia gradually embarks on a dangerous path. The strange atmosphere from the very beginning is somewhat reminiscent of Giorgos Lanthimos, as well as other thrillers of a similar texture (for example, Let the Evil In), without copying, however, them. The allegory that this dark story carries with it is mostly about the lack of love and the monsters it can eventually spawn. At the same time, this is a kind of double study of motherhood with its joys, pain, but also the responsibility associated with it, and black humor also does its job where it is needed.