The Watercooler for Netflix

… you might like:

 Hindsight (Trailer)

Unexpectedly pregnant with no means to raise a child, Dina and Ronnie decide to sell their unborn baby over the Internet. Their plan begins to unravel when the couple they’ve chosen have an agenda of their own.

 Vital (Trailer)

After a tragic car accident where his girlfriend died, Hiroshi Takagi suffers amnesia with his memories completely blanked. Becoming a medical student, he explores his grief and the incident. 

 Ab-Normal Beauty (Trailer)

When a young photography student witnesses a woman get hit by a car and bleed to death, she snaps a few shots of the scene, inadvertently discovering that she has a disturbing fascination with death. 

Also: Me and You and Everyone We Know (Trailer)

Who am I? Do you know me? Have we met? In real life? In passing? Have we hung out together? Have you read things I’ve written? Do you know me? Am I the me that you thought I’d me? Am I the me that I think I am? Want to be?

There are no perfect circles in nature, but a thick outline will make it seem perfect.

Maybe because it’s spring but I’ve seen at least a half dozen people post online recently “I want to run away from it all.” I get angry when I read that. Who are you to abandon your responsibilities? Your friends? Me? Do you think I don’t want to run away too? Things would be easier if life had granular control. Running away from things that are dreary, shutting down on things that are hard, following along with things that mollify. Is life something that you can permit in piecemeal, instead of something that you have to live?

Everyone wants to be the flower but not the vase.

Noriko’s Dinner Table, the sequel/prequel to the buckets of blood flick Suicide Club, is billed as a horror but there’s really no more than 5 minutes of gore in this 2 hour and 40 minute movie. In many ways it’s a darker, externalistic version of the romantic, introspective Lost In Translation. Both movies ask “Who am I? What does my life mean?”

She came to Tokyo to be happy, but I knew she’d transcend it.

For a film made in 2004, it speaks to a modern alienation (technological or otherwise). The push/pull that comes with developing seemingly close but ultimately intangible connections with people either across the country or across the dinner table. It’s a stark movie that layers upon itself leaving you questioning the ephemeral nature inherent to all relationships. Talking doesn’t mean you’re communicating, staying doesn’t mean you’re content, and running doesn’t mean you’re blissful. 

Your heart is a small glass, if you pour too much emotion into it tears will spill out.

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Suggest a Netflix streaming movie we should watch for next week’s poll. Then watch it with us and share your thoughts. Click through for poll, open to all.

What should we watch next week?

 Network (Trailer)

In this Oscar winning film, a TV network cynically exploits the outrageous ravings of a deranged TV anchor (Peter Finch) for their own profit. Stars Faye Dunaway, Robert Duvall, and William Holden.

 The Terminator (Trailer)

A human-looking, apparently unstoppable cyborg (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is sent from the future to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton); Kyle Reese is sent to stop it.

 The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (Trailer)

This 1943 Criterion film follows the exploits of pristine British soldier Clive Candy (Roger Livesey) as he battles to maintain his honor through romance, three wars and a changing world.

 Sweet Land (Trailer)

Set in 1920, Inge travels from Germany to rural Minnesota meet the man destined to be her husband. Bureaucracy and social morality cause major complications.

 FLCL (Trailer)

A 12-year old boy named Naota one day meets a strange woman, riding a Vespa and wielding a big guitar. As soon as she appears, mysterious things start happening.

Winner of last week’s poll
(and what we’ll watch this week)

 Noriko’s Dinner Table (Trailer)

Unhappy with suburban life, 17-year-old Noriko spends more and more time on a Web site where she meets and chats with other teenage girls across Japan and eventually runs away from home.

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Suggest a Netflix streaming movie we should watch for next week’s poll. Then watch it with us and share your thoughts. Click through for poll, open to all.

What should we watch next week?

 Jim Henson’s The Storyteller: Greek Myths (Trailer)

Muppet-master Jim Henson’s 1987 HBO series presents stories of yore. In these 4 episodes, The Storyteller (Michael Gambon) narrates Greek tales, acted out by people and muppety creatures.

 Network (Trailer)

In this Oscar winning film, a TV network cynically exploits the outrageous ravings of a deranged TV anchor (Peter Finch) for their own profit. Stars Faye Dunaway, Robert Duvall, and William Holden.

 The Terminator (Trailer)

A human-looking, apparently unstoppable cyborg (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is sent from the future to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton); Kyle Reese is sent to stop it.

 Frontline: The Spill (Trailer)

Focusing on BP’s record of safety violations in light of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, this program paints a scathing portrait of a company committed to profits despite repeated safety pledges.

 Noriko’s Dinner Table (Trailer)

Unhappy with suburban life, 17-year-old Noriko spends more and more time on a Web site where she meets and chats with other teenage girls across Japan and eventually runs away from home.

Winner of last week’s poll
(and what we’ll watch this week)

 Mystery Team (Trailer)

High jinks ensue in this goofy, fast-paced caper comedy. At 18, former childhood crime solves, The Mystery Team, are about to leave those antics in the dust with their latest case: a real murder. 

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