Last year, Netflix came to terms with their Achilles’ Heel. For years, they’d followed a simple algorithm for producing content:
Slate as many releases as possible.
Spend all of the budget on hiring A-listers and famous directors (and none of it on writing, effects, artistic design, etc.).
If it’s a series and doesn’t immediately succeed, cancel it and move onto the next one. If it’s a movie and nobody likes it… oh well. Crack down on password sharing?
Take, for example, Red Notice (2021) and The Gray Man (2022). Both were shiny, well-marketed, $200 million flashes, with enough marquee-worthy names to convince you to click “Add to My List.” But, did either of them make anybody’s top 10 list? It seems not. Some say Netflix is in the empire business, but evidently they’re in the Ryan-Reynolds-in-color-named-movies business.
But last year, they had a Squid Game-induced epiphany: what if we just make… better content? People only have so many hours in the day, and the insect method of production1 isn’t working to keep loyal subscribers interested during the golden age of Darwinist streaming wars. Netflix vowed to shift gears and focus on quality over quantity moving forward… let’s be the judge of that.
1. You People
Directed by Kenya Harris
Language: English
Shaun’s Score: 1.1/5 ★
Before Watching:
Julia Louis-Dreyfus is a titan of comedy.2 It’s hard to dislike anything she’s in… but not impossible. You People is a modern take on Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967), but without any of the wit—a young interracial couple struggles to bridge cultural divides and gain acceptance from each other’s families. The film’s timing was surprisingly auspicious, following Kanye West’s antisemitism scandal. Still, the movie ended up radiating BDE (Big Don’t Look Up Energy), wielding great stars but skipping over quality writing. Jokes are all low-hanging fruit, with predictable plot points and an inability to commit to either good comedy or good commentary.
After Watching:
I have no doubt that Kenya Harris (Black-ish) is a brilliant comedic mind, but he simply didn’t bring it for Netflix. The jokes feel unorganized and jumbled, undershooting anything edgy or funny enough to make up for the lack of plot pacing. Jonah Hill and Lauren London never display convincing chemistry, and the film sinks too deep into cringe to pull itself out. For all of its timeliness, You People manages to turn apropos into apro-“no, I’m not still watching.”
2. Hunger
Directed by Sitisiri Mongkolsiri
Language: Thai
Shaun’s Score: 2.7/5 ★
Before Watching:
The Menu (2022) and Whiplash (2014) had a love child, and it’s… well, it’s at least better than The Menu. Aoy (played brilliantly by Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying) excels as a chef for her family’s Pad See Ew shop, until she’s recruited for a celebrity chef’s private dining operation “Hunger.” Unfortunately, she soon realizes that both Chef Paul’s unconventional tutelage and the high-end culinary industry are spicier than she’d expected. Hunger is crisp, and bakes in enough character development and clever cinematography to deliver satire at least medium rare. It would benefit from pruning self-indulgent clichés, ignoring incident romance, and trimming 30 minutes of runtime, but at least we’re handed a full plate.
After Watching:
The ending could use some work. I’m generally not a fan of cop-out finales that resemble “my true dream was here all along—my family’s Pad See Ew!”, because it seems like either a lazy way of leaving the primary plot unresolved or twisted commentary that Aoy was wrong to wish for something bigger. Additionally, I don’t know why they wasted so much time on Aoy and Tone’s flirtationship; I’ve seen more convincing chemistry from Chris Pratt’s Mario and Anya Taylor-Joy’s Peach. Still, Mongkolsiri deftly highlights the bloodshed of haute cuisine and the obsessiveness of chef culture, while slipping in obligatory caviar-laced class commentary. The distinction of “poor hunger” for survival and rich hunger for actualization also evokes the Great Hunger metaphor of Lee Chang-dong’s Burning (2018). Hey, get rich or Thai trying.
3. AKA
Directed by Morgan S. Dalibert
Language: French
Shaun’s Score: 2.9/5 ★
Before Watching:
Currently the #1 non-English film globally on Netflix, AKA is a cut-and-dry action flick. Is it innovative? Non, but at least the violence is well coordinated with slick camerawork. Adam (Alban Lenoir) is a special ops plant contracted by the French government to take out a Sudanese warlord. He infiltrates an affiliated crime syndicate, only to develop an inadvertent attachment to the boss’s neglected stepson. I always appreciate action done well, but AKA also overlooks character development until it’s too late, leaving Adam a glorified G.I. Jacque. It’s hardly Die Hard, but AKA is gripping, cohesive, and smooth.
After Watching:
The film reminded me of another recent espionage venture—Emmy Award-winner and Netflix breadwinner Lee Jung-jae’s Hunt (2022). Both are built on sound political intrigue, professional cinematography, and novel twists, with the biggest difference being that AKA is easier to follow. Dalibert could have dialed up the suspense a few notches, and the fight scenes border on unbelievable with how lucky one homme can be in dodging bullets.
My final verdict? Netflix evidently hasn’t finished the transition to quality-over-quantity, but they’re making progress—one season of Queer Eye at a time.
That is, lay as many eggs as possible and hope some of them hatch. The mammal method, by contrast, is to have fewer offspring and actually nurture them to adulthood. In my Wall Street day job, the insect method is suspiciously similar to what we call “the analyst program.”