Telemarketers — Showmax
Everyone hates telemarketing and the people who make their living doing it. But — as director Sam Lipman-Stern’s docuseries reveals — it’s not the callers you should hate, but their bosses. Fuelled by greed for profits, the bosses have become ruthless and unethical in their drive to solicit dodgy donations from the ordinary people on the other end of the calls.
Lipman-Stern worked as a telemarketer in the early 2000s and struck up a friendship with an off-the-wall colleague named Patrick J Pespas, who became the on-screen guide through the world of telemarketing and the director’s partner in a quest to unmask the crimes of their bosses. Entertaining, revealing and often righteously angry, it’s a unique documentary that offers valuable and infuriating insight into an industry we’d all rather not deal with.
Lee — Showmax
Cinematographer Ellen Kuras’ directorial debut stars Kate Winslet as the pioneering female journalist Lee Miller, who broke through the male-dominated field of World War 2 war reporting to deliver some of the most memorable reporting and images. It’s a straightforward biopic but it benefits from Winslet’s grittily dedicated performance and offers insight into the life of a woman who was not as celebrated in her own time as she should have been.
Alien: Earth — Disney Plus
Fargo creator Noah Hawley brings his talent for smart adaptation and thematic expansion to the 46-year-old horror franchise. In a future world, where humanity has developed new AI-hybrid creations and society is run by profit-driven tech CEOs, a ship carrying samples of lifeforms from the outer reaches of space crashes to Earth, unleashing xenomorphs, alien parasites and havoc.
As the race to analyse alien lifeforms and use their secrets to increase tech-bro power unfolds, the interaction between humanity and the monsters forces society to take a long, hard look at itself and its future.
Personal Shopper — Mubi.com
Kristin Stewart delivers a complex performance in French director Olivier Assayas’ eerie 2017 drama. Stewart plays Maureen, an American living in Paris, where she works as a personal shopper for a narcissist celebrity. Troubled by personal tragedy and convinced that she may have the ability to communicate with the dead, Maureen’s life begins to unravel when she receives a series of ambiguous messages from an unknown source.
Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time — Disney Plus
Twenty years after the devastation wrought on New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina, Traci A Curry’s documentary patiently unravels the ways in which man-made neglect and ignorance increased the costs of the tragedy. Over three episodes, the film unpacks its case carefully but convincingly with the assistance of community members, survivors, experts and those who lost family members, offering a damning indictment of former president George W Bush’s administration. It also sends a warning to cities that face even greater environmental threats in the era of climate change.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.