David Stratton’s best of Netflix: The Land Of Steady Habits, Okja and The Meyerowitz Stories
Three Netflix films, perhaps not widely known, but really worth seeing.
It’s a rainy afternoon and I’m confined to home. I’m fortunate because, when DVDs came on the market, I started collecting them, so I have plenty of movies to revisit, enough to last me a year or two at least. But if I didn’t have this library to hand I would almost certainly go to a streaming service, like Netflix, as my provider of quality entertainment. Three Netflix films, perhaps not widely known, but really worth seeing, come to mind.
Okja. Two years before Korean director Boon Joon-ho gained international acclaim with the multi-award-winning Parasite, he made this exuberant, inventive hybrid of a movie. In essence, it’s about a little girl and her beloved pet — but it’s not a cosy family movie, far from it.
In the opening sequence, Tilda Swinton appears as Lucy, the head of Mirando, a giant agro-chemical corporation. She announces the development of super-pigs that will be reared in 26 countries around the world. Ten years later, in a mountainous part of Korea, Okja, who looks more like a hippo than a pig, is being reared by a farmer and his 13-year-old daughter, Mija (Ahn Seo-hyun), who adores the friendly porker. When her beloved pig is removed by representatives of Mirando, Mija sets out to save the animal from a terrible fate.
Essentially a pro-animal liberation movie, this becomes a pretty wild ride as the Korean child doggedly pursues the pignappers all the way to New York. With Jake Gyllenhaal playing the public face of Mirando and Swinton essaying two roles, that of Lucy and her evil twin sister, this is not a movie that fits neatly into any particular category, but it’s certainly never dull. Australian Daniel Henshall crops up in a small role.
The Land of Steady Habits is a showcase for Ben Mendelsohn, one of Australia’s most talented actors. Written and directed by Nicole Holofcener, and based on a novel by Ted Thompson, the film explores the life of Anders Harris, who is going through a mid-life crisis. Until now he has lived a comfortable life in the town of Westport, Connecticut, working in the finance industry and married to Helene (Edie Falco). But he suddenly decides to give it all up; he leaves Helene, quits his job, and starts all over again, hoping to renew his youthful ambition and drive. But it doesn’t work out that way; Helene quickly finds a new man and Anders, who is estranged from his son, Preston (Thomas Mann), finds himself lonely and isolated, sleeping with strangers.
Mendelsohn gives a superlative performance in this cautionary tale of a man at the crossroads who is prone to making all the wrong decisions. The film is smart, intelligent and one of the best from this always interesting director.
I wrote about The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) in my 2018 book, 101 Marvellous Movies You May Have Missed. Written and directed by Noah Baumbach — who subsequently made Marriage Story — the film is an often hilarious comedy about the world of art. Septuagenarian Harold Meyerowitz (Dustin Hoffman on peak form) is a sculptor who lives in an old New York three-storey apartment with his third wife, Maureen (Emma Thompson).
Harold is bitter because he has never been given the recognition he believes he deserves as an artist. He has three children. Danny (Adam Sandler), once a promising musician, is drifting through life, his one joy being his daughter, Eliza (Grace Van Patten), a film school student. Jean (Elizabeth Marvel) lives alone and never married. Matthew (Ben Stiller) is a success in the world of finance across the country in Los Angeles. Danny and Matthew are both recovering from broken marriages.
Baumbach has often explored the collateral effects of selfish behaviour in his films, and this is no exception — but this time the director’s deft comic touch is more evident than usual. Harold plays one son off against the other. Danny tells Matthew, “he loves everything you do”. “He doesn’t tell me,” complains Matthew. Danny moans: “He tells me!” Sandler and Stiller are excellent in these roles, but the film belongs to Hoffman, who gives one of his finest performances as the self-absorbed, vain, curmudgeonly old self-promoter.
There’s a hilarious scene in which Matthew arranges to meet his father in a restaurant and Harold complains about everything to the point that they leave without eating. Harold has a theory the Republican Party is in power in the US because of the public’s indifference to art. He has an opinion on everything, and his character could be infuriating — but Hoffman and Baumbach instead make him a loveable old fart.
I’d be happy to revisit all of these films on a closeted afternoon at home. And the various streaming services have plenty more to offer.
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