Our Selection of New Miniseries To Watch Today

NEWS | May 18, 2020

The Eddy © Netflix.

While we wait for movie theaters to reopen, we thank our lucky stars for streaming services. Here, Printemps.com's three favorite mini-series for you to enjoy in the meantime.

The most moving: Unorthodox

Released to immediate critical acclaim on March 26, the four episodes of this German Netflix series follow Esther Shapiro, also known as Esty, from her neighborhood in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to Berlin. The role of the 19-year-old Jewish woman is marvelously played by Israeli actress Shira Haas. Esty flees home without breathing a word of her pregnancy to her husband or family. In the German capital, once a theater of the horrors of the Second World War, Esty pursues her freedom and reunites with her long-lost mother along the way. Resolutely feminist and tackling themes like the right to self-determination, Unorthodox is inspired by the life of Deborah Feldman, author of the 2012 biography Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots.

The grooviest: The Eddy

Created by dancer Damien Chazelle, who won an Oscar in 2017 for La La Land, The Eddy is an 8-episode cycle that spins the story of Elliot Udo, a once-adored New York pianist, now running a Parisian jazz club under the table with Farid (Tahar Rahim). Involved in some sinister business and entirely unbeknownst to his wife Amira (Leïla Bekhti), Farid ends up driving the club, "The Eddy," into perilous waters. The drama is only heightened by Elliot's daughter's arrival in Paris — a troubled adolescent played by Amandla Stenberg. One of the most eagerly awaited shows of the year, The Eddy also has a great soundtrack featuring soul songstress Jorja Smith. It's available on Netflix starting May 8th.

The most youthful: Betty

Available exclusively on OCS in France, starting May 2nd, this HBO series is an adaptation of Skate Kitchen, a 2018 feature film by director Crystal Moselle. With the same cast as the film, Betty's six half-hour episodes follow a group of teens who love their skateboards. Treating the streets of New York like their own personal skate-park, they move through adolescence together and along with male alter-egos that are sometimes less than kind. This mini-series can also be read as an allegorical critique of patriarchy, tackling the question of sexism in the skate world ("Betty" is the nickname given to skater girls) and teens discovering their (homo)sexuality.