Turkish Netflix original. While trying to make their beloved teacher fall for a basketball coach so she’ll have a reason to stay with them, four misfits and a model student find friendship, love and the courage to be themselves in 1990s Turkey.
In the US: Mondays, 10/9c, ABC In the UK: Not yet acquired
Does comedy translate? Does romance translate? The answers to those questions might seem obvious, but with The Baker and the Beauty, a US remake of one of Israel’s highest ever rated scripted shows, להיות איתה (Beauty and the Baker), it seems those answers are ‘a little but not really’.
Translation, after all, is an art and the biggest problems with The Baker and the Beauty aren’t so much with the original text as with the way it’s been translated.
The princess and the pauper
The basics of the plot of the first episode are more or less unchanged. On the night of his four-year anniversary with his girlfriend (Michelle Veintimilla), Daniel Garcia (Victor Rasuk) runs into Noa Hamilton (Nathalie Kelley), a famous model, shortly before his girlfriend Vanessa dumps him when he refuses her marriage proposal. Noa, claiming she feels bad for him, picks Daniel up and offers him “three wishes” for the night. Soon, they realise they’re both attracted to one another.
In itself, it’s a classic ‘different worlds collide and find love’ story, which has worked thousands of times over hundreds of years. That’s not the problem.
A temporary replacement for TMINE’s Orange Thursday feature in which I review a readily available movie you’ve probably already seen
If there’s one thing I’ve learnt over the past few weeks, it’s that being stuck indoors all day makes it really hard to watch TV. Not only is there paradoxically less time than normal to watch things, I also have less inclination and focus for it.
Even Wittertainment’s Simon Mayo confesses he’s finding it hard to muster his attention sufficiently to watch movies at home. And he’s paid to do it for the BBC’s flagship film programme.
That’s before we start thinking about the fact there aren’t even any new movies coming out at the cinemas any more. Or cinemas.
As a result, TMINE’s Orange Thursday feature – in which I review a couple of movies every week – has withered on the vine of late. Sorry about that.
But not to worry. Because here’s a replacement: Covideodrome, in which I review (whenever the inclination grabs me) a movie, maybe on a streaming service, maybe on TV, maybe even on DVD, that we’ve all probably seen so can talk about. I might take in a few new movies, too. And it’ll happen when it happens. No pressure.
First up is Sliding Doors (1998), a movie you’ve almost certainly watched, probably when you were younger and maybe even hipper (is that possible?), but which you probably haven’t rewatched since – but probably should.
That’ll be coming up after the jump. But first, the trailer. No ads, because we’re not at the cinema obvs and we’re using streaming services. I’m surprised this whole blog post doesn’t just autoplay.
