THE BEST INTERNATIONAL SERIES OF 2021
As we wrap up our "Best of the Year" lists -- just one to go after this -- we turn our attention to all the great non-English language series that came to streaming services this year. As always, this list is in no particular order.
30 COINS (Spain)
[HBO Max]
One of the very first series I watched in 2021, and also among the most fun, was this extremely Catholic horror series about a tormented priest (Eduard Fernández) who uncovers a Vatican plot to assemble sacred relics that have the power to open a portal to Hell. A lot of horror shows sort of go for creeping dread for most of the running time, building to a grandiose, terrifying climax. So what's perhaps most remarkable about Spanish filmmaker Álex de la Iglesia's series is how it manages to sustain its Grand Guignol tone throughout.
This is a full-out demonic creature feature from minute one that also manages to slow down at times for character development and even occasionally wry comedy. (Megan Montaner and Miguel Ángel Silvestre both do solid work as a couple who yearn to be together but just kept getting interrupted by monsters and demonic possessions.)
SQUID GAME (Korea)
[Netflix]
Everyone has their own pet theory as to the root of "Squid Game's" remarkable international success. Did this become the most popular Netflix series in history worldwide because of its anti-capitalist message? Its eye-catching and aesthetically pleasing iconography? The universality of childhood playground games? Was this just finally the moment that the world wakes up to the great content that's been coming out of the Korean film and TV industry for decades now?
In truth, it's probably all of the above. "Squid Game" does a lot of core things very, very well. It's clearly allegorical on some level, but still specific enough that there can be no doubt as to the show's general perspective, and it's not populated by "types" but well-sketched three-dimensional characters. (The series features several of the year's best TV performances, but I'd in particular highlight Kim Joo-Ryung as unpredictable wild-card Han Mi-nyeo. She's constantly making BIG UNEXPECTED CHOICES in this performance, and they all feel right. She reminded me of a female Korean Nicolas Cage.) It's exceedingly well-designed, transporting us to a candy-colored murder island filled with memorable iconography that was ideal for Netflix thumbnails and ripe for recreation and parody. And it's a perfectly modulated and paced thriller for the binge-friendly Netflix platform, with each cliffhanger episode ending leading you directly into the next chapter.
LUPIN (France)
[Netflix]
As with the BBC's "Sherlock," "Lupin" reimagines the adventures of a classic literary character but restaged in the modern world. I think the French series -- inspired by Arsène Lupin, the "gentleman thief" and master of disguise originally conceived by writer Maurice LeBlanc -- is actually an improvement on the BBC detective show, as it's a more thorough reinvention. Creators George Kay and François Uzan don't feel tied to the source material, but are free to cherry-pick the best bits and ideas while exploring their own, contemporary world.
The real key to the show's success, though, is star Omar Sy, who captures not just the character's style but his joie de vivre. Even when his adventures take a dark or dangerous turn, Sy's Assane Diop -- a modern-day operator who takes his inspiration and many of his ideas from Lupin novels -- always has a bit of a twinkle in his eye. He loves the character of Lupin, and getting away with things in the real world makes him feel closer to his idol, and there's a charm in this that the series never forgets about.
(Also, what a breakout year for actor Hervé Pierre! He plays the "Lupin" heavy Hubert Pellegrini, and can also be seen right now in theaters as Paolo Ricordati in Paul Verhoeven's "Benedetta.")
HELLBOUND (Korea)
[Netflix]
The dark fantasy series "Hellbound" -- from "Train to Busan" director Yeon Sang-ho -- kicks off with quite a premise. Suddenly, all around the world, people begin receiving supernatural messages, in which they're informed of a specific date and time at which they'll die. Once that moment arrives, demonic creatures made of shadows materialize, brutally kill them, and appear to drag their souls down to Hell.
It sounds like the set-up for a supernatural mystery-thriller, or even an action-adventure film. The heroes will have to investigate these strange goings-on, determine the root cause, and possibly even venture into another plane of reality to put a stop to it, or what have you. But "Hellbound" doesn't really explore any of that. Other than the demons, it's set in a fundamentally realistic world, where humans have no ability to actually understand what's happening, and no real power to DO anything about it. Instead, the show focuses on how people react to these new circumstances, despite having no answers. (The primary consequence is the fast growth of a religious order, known as the New Truth, which has its own "explanation" for the creatures and their origin.)
"Hellbound" is a fascinating and meditative series, reminiscent in some ways of a Korean take on "The Leftovers." It's far less about Heaven or Hell or sin or monsters, and more about how people have to somehow make sense of a cruel and at times inexplicable world in order to survive, day-to-day.
THE CHESTNUT MAN (Denmark)
[Netflix]
I have now seen SO MANY "Nordic Noir"-style series, they are all starting to blend together. The genre is the primary export for Scandinavian media companies, and all of our major streaming services are thick with stories set in Sweden or Denmark or Norway, in which troubled detectives must put their chaotic personal lives on hold in order to investigate a string of brutal murders that all have some kind of common thread, and largely link back to some kind of tragedy that happened maybe a generation before or earlier. It's a formula.
When one entry in the genre rises above the others and becomes memorable on its own, I take particular notice, because it's just such a crowded field. This was the case with "The Chestnut Man," a Danish series that plays by all of the Nordic Noir rules, but manages to elevate them, and remix them just enough to feel fresh and satisfying.
This one centers on various crimes taking place decades apart that are connected by the appearance of small figures made out of chestnuts on the scene. (In Denmark, apparently, kids make "chestnut men" like these as a holiday tradition.) Danica Curcic and Mikkel Boe Følsgaard co-star as the initially combative duo of investigators who must work together to crack the case, and they bring a lot of specificity and care to roles that could easily have become tropes. I think most of "Chestnut Man" works because of the charisma of its central duo. It also just has a slightly more carefully drawn resolution than a lot of these mysteries; the solution feels earned rather than just throwing darts at a board with all the character's faces on it and picking a murderer.
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