Besides chocolate, you will also be dining on some streaming entertainment this Easter, courtesy of The Menu-like Thai thriller Hunger, the explosive return of Gangs of London, Zac Efron getting gritty in Gold, and a kiff new South African cartoon!

SERIES

Irma Vep S1

Showmax – 7 April 2023

Acclaimed French filmmaker Olivier Assayas creates, writes, and directs this modern-day miniseries adaptation of his own 1996 feature film of the same name. Oscar-winner Alicia Vikander stars as Mira, a disillusioned American movie star fleeing from a recent breakup who travels to France to star as lead character Irma Vep in a TV series adaptation of 1915 real-life French silent crime serial film Les Vampires. Yes, it’s all very meta. As the production gets more troubled, Mira starts unravelling with the line between herself and her character getting ever more blurry. The 8-episode series had a rare premiere at Cannes Film Festival where it earned rave reviews for Vikander’s performance and Assayas’s direction.

Tiny Beautiful Things S1

Disney+ – 7 April 2023

Based on Cheryl Strayed’s book of the same name and produced by Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern, Tiny Beautiful Things is a comedy starring the always great Kathryn Hahn as Clare, a writer who reluctantly takes on the persona of Dear Sugar, an advice columnist. As her popularity grows though, what Clare’s growing reader base doesn’t know is that despite the reliable advice she doles out, her life is actually falling apart.

Gangs of London S2

Showmax – 10 April 2023

Created by filmmaker Gareth “The Raid” Evans, Gangs of London felt like a sprawling Guy Ritchie British gangster drama only minus the jokey freeze-frame needle drops and a huge mountain of eye-popping violent action added instead. In other words, it was f—ing awesome! Now, following hell of a cliffhanger, the second season is finally back, with ex-undercover cop Elliot Finch forced to work for the shady organization pulling the strings while crime families the Wallaces and Dumanis (what’s left of them) scatter and go to ground, hoping to pick up the pieces of their empire again.

Kiff S1

Disney+ – 12 April 2023

If you saw the name “Kiff” and went “Wait a minute…” you’ll be happy to know your suspicions are correct. Named after the South African slang word for “cool”, Kiff is a new Disney+ animated series developed and executive produced by local creators Nic Smal and Lucy Heavens. The buddy-comedy series follows the titular hyped-up squirrel Kiff Chatterley and her very chilled bunny bestie Barry Buns as they navigate school, relationships, and their often-eccentric community in Table Town, a world where animals and magical oddballs tackle day-to-day life together. Yes, Table Town, because Kiff is inspired by Heavens and Smal’s own personal growing-up experiences in Cape Town (Get it? Cape Town… Table Mountain… Table Town!). Both creators have worked on a number of big American animated projects so they definitely have the experience to make this one work.

Rennervations S1

Disney+ – 12 April 2023

Hollywood actor Jeremy Renner actually features twice on Disney+ in April, I’m just not sure if we’re going to see the first appearance. Airing today in the US is the Marvel star’s interview with Diane Sawyer, the first he’s given since making a harrowing recovery from a potentially lethal accident (he broke more than 30 bones and punctured a lung!) as he was run-over by his own 7-ton snow play while trying save his nephew who had become stuck in a snow bank. Unfortunately, we’ve seen no confirmation if South African audiences will get to see this interview as well. What we will definitely get is Rennervations, a fantastically pun-titled new reality show that sees Renner embrace his “lifelong passion to give back to communities around the world by reimagining unique purpose-built vehicles to meet a community’s needs.”

MOVIES

Boom! Boom! The World vs. Boris Becker

AppleTV+ – 7 April 2023

Some of you youngsters reading this may not know the name Boris Becker, but when I was a kid the German tennis champion was an absolute global superstar. But how did Becker go from teenage Wimbledon champion/number one to being imprisoned in the UK last year? Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney gets unprecedented access into Becker’s life as he details the tumultuous ups and downs of one of tennis’ biggest personalities ever in this thrilling feature film documentary.

Hunger

Netflix – 8 April 2023

If you’re looking for an extra course of foodie-related thrills and chills following the deliciously disturbing The Menu, then look no further than Hunger. The upcoming Thai thriller follows Aoy, a young twenty-something who runs her family’s noodle restaurant in the old quarter of Bangkok who receives an invitation to join Thailand’s number one luxury Chef’s table team, run by an infamously tyrannical head chef. I don’t think you should go into this one expecting the bloodshed and mayhem of The Menu (although, what do I know?!) but it looks like your nerves will be filleted just as much.

American Manhunt: The Boston Marathon Bombing

Netflix – 12 April 2023

If you watched 2016’s Mark Wahlberg-led Patriots Day and wanted to know the real story of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings instead of the fictionalized heroics Hollywood dreamt up, then look no further than this feature-length documentary.

Gold

Showmax – 13 April 2023

Much like peer Robert Pattinson, Zac Efron made his name as a pretty-boy heartthrob in a teen-centric franchise but has since expanded his repertoire massively. And just like Pattinson and the criminally-underseen The Rover, Efron showed off some seriously gritty dramatic chops in an Australian post-apocalyptic drama-thriller. Released in early 2022 but not getting a worldwide cinema release, Gold sees Efron as a desert drifter in the not-too-distant future who stumbles across the biggest gold nugget ever found with a fellow vagabond. With his partner leaving him with their find to go locate the necessary tools for an excavation, Efron’s drifter is forced to endure the harsh desert elements, ravenous wild dogs, and mysterious strangers who may or may not be real.