20/19
In the timeless town of Macondo, seven generations of the Buendía family grapple with love, oblivion, and the inevitability of their past and destiny. This is Netflix’s most expensive Latin American project to date, with Colombian groups and indigenous communities building props and sets for the series. The 100 Years of Solitude is one of the great pinnacles of Spanish-language literature. Its style is unmatched and its scope is beyond imagination. Its characters are so well-drawn that any screenwriter would have no problem writing them for the screen. But the seemingly insurmountable problem in adapting the novel was its length. Compressing a hundred years of family and national history was an impossible task. Almost 60 years after its publication, the novel has found a cinematic home on Netflix. Only streaming can do it justice, and the first 2 episodes are truly promising. Great photography, art direction, and respect for the characters. The voiceover is needed to occasionally bring out Garcia Marquez’s beautiful prose. The plot moves smoothly with richness and depth. I like it, and was a little skeptical that GGM’s magical world could translate to the screen. Wall, so far a success in my book. No need to waste your time endlessly scrolling: here’s the full lineup of new movies and TV shows streaming on Netflix this month.