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Time Magazine
27-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Magazine
The Best New TV Shows of June 2025
When you think about BritBox, if you think about it at all, it's likely you imagine an endless library of interchangeable cozy mysteries and Victorian costume dramas. But the Anglophile streaming service, backed by BBC and ITV, has much more to offer. To wit: among the very best new TV shows I encountered in June are BritBox titles about the fascinating Mitford sisters and an older gentleman living a closeted double life. Also worth watching this month are a frothy Bravo debut, a speculative drama about the end of Denmark, and a golf comedy starring Owen Wilson. Families Like Ours (Netflix) What if your government made the calm, rational decision that your country must cease to exist, then set about shutting it down in stages, as the currency became worthless and the population scrambled to emigrate? This is the terrifying thought experiment that propels the Danish drama Families Like Ours, which opens with the news that Denmark will be slowly but permanently evacuated before rising waters can swallow the small, low-lying nation. It's a premise that might seem to lend itself to dystopian sci-fi, but, as the title suggests, creator Thomas Vinterberg—a superstar of Danish cinema best known in the U.S. as the director of Another Round, Far From the Madding Crowd, and The Hunt—filters the cataclysm through the sieve of family drama. Amid the panic, we meet teenage Laura (Amaryllis April Maltha August), who's just falling for a classmate (Albert Rudbeck Lindhardt) bound for Finland as she sets her sights on the Sorbonne. While her architect father (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) makes plans to work in Paris, his ex, Laura's mom (Paprika Steen)—a science journalist who is on public assistance following an extremely understandable nervous breakdown—must face the prospect of living dorm-style in Bucharest, among other Danes who lack relocation funds. Vinterberg has convincingly thought through not just the political, environmental, and financial aspects of this near-future crisis, but also how it might strain or strengthen familial relationships. The acting is superb. And although the show avoids preachy comparisons between its well-off, white climate refugees and their less privileged present-day counterparts, there's plenty to notice about the international community's indifference to the plight of the stateless. 'I'm really sorry to hear about your country,' a Frenchman tells new Danish acquaintances, with all the solemnity of someone commiserating over a bad vacation. 'Everybody in my family's talking about it.' Mr. Loverman (BritBox) Barrington Walker has made the most of his 75 years on Earth. Born in Antigua, he immigrated to Britain as a young man, found success in business, raised two daughters with his wife, Carmel (Sharon D. Clarke), and can now afford to pay his grandson Daniel's (Tahj Miles) tuition at an elite private high school. But, for upwards of half a century, Barry (Lennie James) has been keeping a huge secret: his romantic relationship with his lifelong best friend, Morris (Ariyon Bakare). Now, as he realizes he's running out of time to live authentically and Carmel's suspicion that he cheats on her with women strains their already troubled marriage, Barry resolves to get a divorce and spend the rest of his days with the man he has always loved. This is the emotionally layered premise of Mr. Loverman, a tight half-hour drama adapted by Nathaniel Price (The Outlaws) from Bernardine Evaristo's novel of the same name. James, Clarke, and Bakare are spectacular; Carmel may initially come off as a generic church lady, but Price has empathy for each of his characters, and she eventually gets the humanizing backstory she deserves. The series feels grounded in the Walkers' immigrant milieu. And while there are harrowing moments—the closet doesn't always offer Barry and Morris the protections they seek in it—Mr. Loverman balances them out with a massive heart and a wicked sense of humor. Next Gen NYC (Bravo) OK, so Bravo's latest soap doesn't exactly fit the traditional definition of 'good.' If you can't get on board with the Real Housewives franchise, this probably will not be the show that converts you. But for those of us who crave featherweight drama, Next Gen NYC hits a fabulously frivolous spot that the network has been missing amid its increasingly trauma-driven reality programming. Among the 20-somethings at its center are the Bravo-famous offspring of breakout Housewives Kandi Burruss, Kim Zolciak, Meredith Marks, and Teresa Giudice. Their wider 'friend group' consists mostly of influencers (Emira D'Spain) and nepo babies (Damon Dash and Rachel Roy's daughter Ava); crypto bro Charlie Zakkour's claim to fame is his tangential connection to a notorious crypto-related kidnapping. In early episodes, the storylines have been supremely silly: Charlie taunts Brooks Marks about wanting to sleep with Brooks' sister! Contrarian New York native Georgia McCann scandalizes the group by refusing to wash her hands after going to the bathroom! (When will the NYC slander end?) The struggle to find an apartment for under $6000 a month is real! If the idea of spending time with these people makes your skin crawl… fair. But if immersing yourself in rich-people problems is your idea of a summer vacation, don't miss it. Outrageous (BritBox) If you think your family gatherings have been poisoned by political polarization, imagine being one of the Mitford sisters. In the 1930s, these six young women of irrepressible spirit, noble birth, and in some cases deranged beliefs claimed historic roles at opposite ends of a spectrum stretching to unprecedented extremes. Glamorous Diana left her husband for British fascist leader Oswald Mosley; her younger sister Unity went full Nazi, moving to Germany and insinuating herself into Hitler's inner circle. Inspired by the Popular Front in the Spanish Civil War, Jessica became a communist and, later, a journalist. Eldest daughter Nancy wrote incisive comic and romantic novels about her social set—as well as a sendup of fascism, Wigs on the Green. (Pam and Deborah also lived fascinating, if not quite as public or politicized, lives.) An adaptation of Mary S. Lovell's book The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family, the lively and thoughtful Outrageous dramatizes life on the cash-strapped Mitford estate in the '30s, when Europe was ablaze with conflict and the girls—then teenagers and young adults—burned to be a part of it. Fittingly, it's Nancy (Bridgerton's Bessie Carter, excellent) whose wry voice narrates her family's fracturing, as she navigates her own romantic woes. Icy yet impulsive Diana (Joanna Vanderham) blows up her relationship with Nancy over the satirical novel. Jessica (Zoe Brough, suitably intense) and Unity (Shannon Watson, persuasively selling her character as an unhinged fangirl) start out as oddball kids play-fighting in their shared bedroom but soon find themselves at war over Unity's very real antisemitic vitriol. Few true stories could be more timely than this one, which asks whether it's possible to keep loving a close relative whose beliefs you find appalling. And creator Sarah Williams does a remarkable job transitioning from early storylines about a big, warm, eccentric family to later episodes that weigh Diana and Unity's monstrous choices without succumbing to doom and gloom. Stick (Apple TV+) The third episode of the new Apple TV+ golf comedy Stick is called 'Daddy Issues,' but that might as well be the title of the show. Created by Ford v. Ferrari writer Jason Keller, it stars Owen Wilson as a former top golfer, Pryce Cahill, who publicly flamed out 20 years ago. He's been mired in the past ever since, from his job at a sporting goods store to his refusal to finalize the divorce initiated by his long-suffering wife (Judy Greer), move out of their old house, and accept that he's no longer a husband, a father, or a pro athlete. When he spots a surly teen at a driving range, Santi (Peter Dager), who has the makings of a major talent, Pryce sees in this potential protégé a shot at redemption. But Santi, whose now-estranged dad used to push him too hard on the golf course, doesn't exactly relish the prospect of having a new father figure to satisfy. It sounds hackneyed and heartstring-yanking—another comedy that uses sports as a cover to talk about men's feelings and relationships from the platform that brought us Ted Lasso. There are indeed elements of Stick that come off as pandering…Yet within the limitations of its formula, Stick works. [Read the full review.]
SBS Australia
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- SBS Australia
When an entire country is evacuated: the unthinkable is reality in 'Families Like Ours'
What would happen if a seemingly stable country faced the prospect of having to evacuate all of its citizens? In seven-part series Families Like Ours , that's the situation facing Denmark in a not-too-distant future. Rising water levels as a result of climate change have reached the point where there is only one, previously unthinkable, option. The entire country must be evacuated. Property becomes worthless. Some citizens can afford to travel to affluent countries but others will have to depend on government-funded relocation to other destinations. Families and friends are torn apart. Who will struggle and who will find a way to make a new beginning? "What would happen to people from my own life? Who would fit into my 'lifeboat'? Where would we go?," says Danish director Thomas Vinterberg (whose stellar CV includes The Hunt , Far from the Madding Crowd , and the film for which he won an Academy Award, Another Round ) of the thoughts this scenario provoked. "What if our country as we know it was to be evacuated? If, slowly but steadily, the population of our well-functioning civilised society was to be divided in two: those who can finance their own fare and those who depend on welfare. What would happen to ourselves and our families? What would it feel like to be refugees on the outside? How would we cope? If it was our turn to say goodbye to all we know and take for granted? How strong is our love for the homeland once we are forced to leave it? How strong is our solidarity?" Difference choices, different experiences At the centre of Families Like Ours is Laura (Amaryllis August, making an impressive acting debut), a happy, intelligent high school student from a wealthy Copenhagen suburb. She lives half the time with her mother Fanny (Paprika Steen) and half with her father Jacob (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) and his new wife Amalie (Helene Reingaard Neumann). At school, there's a flirtation with fellow student Elias (Albert Rudbeck Lindhardt). As the news of the evacuation spreads, others also face hard choices as the nation prepares to leave, including Fanny's brother Holger (Thomas Bo Larsen), Nikolaj (Esben Smed) the deputy head of the Migration office at the Ministry of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, his partner Henrik (Magnus Millang) and Henrik's brother Peter ( Prisoner star David Dencik). (L-R) Amalie (Helene Reingaard Neumann), Elias (Albert Rudbeck Lindhardt), Laura (Amaryllis August), Fanny (Paprika Steen), Jacob (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) and Nikolaj (Esben Smed) gathered for a family meeting. Credit: Per Arnesen / Zentropa Entertainments " Families Like Ours is, in all modesty, meant to be an epic family saga inspired by the great European stories of emigration," Vinterberg says. "The story is set in a reality that much resembles our own ...In focusing deeply on individual characters, the world feels huge, irrational, and wonderful all at the same time. Families are shattered to pieces and new lives emerge. Love blooms as unexpected reunions and reconciliations take place. "Resonance is important. The close psychological drama is important. It is not a tale of disaster or of nature's revenge on mankind, but an examination of human themes: farewells, separation, and survival. ... At worst, a look into the future. At best, an expression of our shared fears and reflections of what we all want to hold on to." Elias (Albert Rudbeck Lindhardt) walks with Bartek (Stanislaw Linowski) in 'Families Like Ours'. Credit: Julie Vrabelova / Zentropa Entertainments The idea came to him in late 2018. 'It was a Sunday and I was bored,' he says. 'I was missing my family, thinking about my children and their generation and the world they're growing up in – their perception of it and their sense of responsibility for all of it. Then this thought experiment began.' As he considered the rapidly changing planet, contending with drought, hurricanes, floods, he started to wonder what today's teenagers might encounter in their lifetimes. Then the premise of the show struck him. 'What would happen if we had to evacuate our country?' Vinterberg's home country, Denmark, has been experiencing higher levels of rain in recent years. He pondered what could happen if that rain didn't stop, if the flooding got so bad that it never went away. How long could people continue to live there? As he did some preliminary writing with Bo Hr, Hansen, the pair realised the story was too big for a film, which lead to Vinterberg taking on his first television project. I couldn't fit it into a feature film. I thought now was the chance to try television. 'I've definitely considered television before,' Vinterberg says. 'When I made my film Festen , I remember the sort of sad feeling of ending the shoot with all these characters and actors – this family that I'd really enjoyed spending time with. I had a lot more to tell about them. That's when I first felt a desire to make a TV series. I wanted to further unfold this slice of life we'd made.' He laughs. 'Then a lot of years went by and a lot of films happened.' As he thought about the characters in his plan for Families Like Ours , 'I couldn't fit it into a feature film. I thought now was the chance to try television.' Laura (Amaryllis August) with her mother Fanny (Paprika Steen). Credit: Sturla Brandth Grøvlen / Zentropa Entertainments A story across borders The international nature of Families Like Ours took Vinterberg and his cast and crew to five different countries, for a shoot that lasted almost a year. When the people of Denmark are told they're going to be evacuated, those with money and connections are able to pick and choose where they go, but many are sent to Romania to live with strangers in crowded rooms. As the show's characters are split, trying to find new homes as comfortable as those they left behind (and rarely succeeding), the action travels across Europe. Shooting took place in Denmark, Romania, France, Sweden and the Czech Republic (the UK and Poland are also depicted but were not shooting locations). 'It was a constant learning process and a very humbling one,' says Vinterberg. 'You have to come from a very curious place and do lots of research. You don't want to do an outsider's version of showing these places.' Events take characters to Paris, where they experience both the most luxurious side of the city and the polar opposite; and sequences in Poland where deserted towns and stern military are encountered. 'How do you properly dig into Parisian life? What does a shabby Parisian hotel look like? And when you meet Polish soldiers, what would they be like? How would they behave with a young refugee? There was so much research.' Jacob (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) and Amalie (Helene Reingaard Neumann) arrive in Paris. Credit: Manuel Clkaro / Zentropa Entertainements The series includes some of the largest scale sequences Vinterberg has ever directed. One breathtaking scene has Laura desperately racing through the streets of Copenhagen to get to her mother. The city is overwhelmed by thousands of citizens trying to escape, and people protesting against the evacuation. Another takes place on the dock next to a huge refugee ship transporting countless refugees to a new life overseas. The scale didn't faze Vinterberg. 'I have to say, it's a lot harder making a small movie,' he says. 'On a huge production day, with lots of extras and all sorts of stuff going on, there are a lot of people there to help you do your job. On a small film you basically have to do everything yourself, so in some ways working on a large scale is easier.' The challenge was in maintaining the intimacy of his narrative on a bigger canvas. 'The thing I'm always focused on is how the story comes through. Even when there is a lot going on around the character, it has to still be all about the character and what they're experiencing.' Even after all these years, every film shoot is nerve-wracking ...There's always fear. Part of the reason none of the scale, or globe-hopping, intimidated Vinterberg is because this is the part of filmmaking he loves: the leap into the unknown and figuring out things that initially seem impossible. 'Even after all these years, every film shoot is nerve-wracking,' he says. 'There's always fear. Will I achieve my ambitions? Will I get everything we need on the day? There are always obstacles and always worries, but you surround yourself with great people, you shoot, and you get creative. There are times when you think your head is going to explode from all the decisions, but you find ways over every obstacle, you make decisions in the moment that suddenly make everything better. You find new moments you could never have planned for. " Paprika Steen in 'Families Like Ours'. Credit: Per Arnesen / Zentropa Entertainments Hope, always As much as this is a story of incredible drama and people living through unthinkable horrors, it is also about hope and compassion. Vinterberg seeks to ask questions about different relationships. How do we behave as communities and nations when other people are facing disaster, and how far can our family bonds stretch? 'I didn't start this as an environmental shout-out,' says Vinterberg. 'This is about asking existential questions. What happens if only a finite number of people can fit in the lifeboat? Who will you allow in? And what happens to those of us from privileged Western societies when we become the refugees? This isn't about being political. It's about what's happening to all of us.' 'This story is a lot about love," he says. "...'But I think the main theme of it, which only came through while I was working on it, is that this is about resilience. Human beings have an incredible ability to adapt, even in the worst circumstances. I think there's such dignity in that. And hope. In resilience there is hope.' This is an edited version of material supplied by Zentropa Entertainments / Studiocanal. Families Like Ours is streaming at SBS On Demand. Stream free On Demand Families Like Ours series • drama • Danish MA15+ series • drama • Danish MA15+ Thomas Vinterberg's award-winning film Another Round is also streaming at SBS On Demand.
Sydney Morning Herald
17-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
Your country is sinking. This alarming Danish drama asks what you would do
FAMILIES LIKE OURS ★★★★ Denmark is sinking. That's the alarming – and not entirely implausible – premise of this seven-part, Danish-language drama that imagines a new kind of climate refugee for the privileged First World: families, as the title implies, like ours. Conceived by Thomas Vinterberg, whose 2020 black comedy Another Round earned him the honour of becoming the first Danish director to score an Oscar nomination, Families Like Ours premiered at last year's Venice International Film Festival. It's an absorbing pre-apocalyptic study in how an impending national crisis affects people on a macro level. What happens to the relationships within one extended family placed under this kind of existential panic is at once fascinating and disturbing, prompting self-reflection on the hypothetical limit of one's own loyalties when faced with the imminent prospect of survival. The impending doom is signalled up front, with the opening scene flashing forward six months to the Copenhagen docks, where a sea of mostly flaxen-haired people jostle for position on vessels evacuating their homeland, soon to be underwater due to melting ice caps. Following 'Danish due diligence', it is wryly noted, the nation is taking pre-emptive action following the economic collapse of another low-lying country, the Netherlands. So we know full well what is coming when, transported back to the brink of this catastrophe, the whispers begin. Laura (Amaryllis August) and Elias (Albert Rudbeck Lindhardt) embody the tragedy of such a life interruption on the youth. Part of the last graduating class of Gammel Hellerup High School, they are the innocent victims of circumstances beyond their control, of a war with nature they didn't start that is destroying their hopes and dreams at the very moment the world should be their oyster. Theirs is a different time, and their enemy is environmental forces, but there are echoes of similarly cursed sweethearts throughout literature and history, in their connection and optimism, when circumstances could not be more hopeless. Through Laura's uncle, Nikolaj (Esben Smed), a government official married to Henrik (Magnus Millang), a select few in the family are forewarned. Henrik's odious and homophobic brother represents the worst of panicky desperation, his initial response casting him as an early villain. Laura's architect father, Jacob (Nikolaj Lie Kaas), scrambles to secure work in Paris, becoming one of many respected professional Danes suddenly stripped of credentials and confidence. Loading As the inevitable shutdown of the country nears, life goes on as normally as possible. The final summer in Denmark bathes the characters and their homes in a thin light. A young boy with a talent for soccer sees something more in the puddles on the pavement. In line with Vinterberg's commitment to cinematic realism, surreal sequences are restricted to Laura's dreams in soft focus, of Elias, and of water gently flowing across the carpet.
The Age
17-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
Your country is sinking. This alarming Danish drama asks what you would do
FAMILIES LIKE OURS ★★★★ Denmark is sinking. That's the alarming – and not entirely implausible – premise of this seven-part, Danish-language drama that imagines a new kind of climate refugee for the privileged First World: families, as the title implies, like ours. Conceived by Thomas Vinterberg, whose 2020 black comedy Another Round earned him the honour of becoming the first Danish director to score an Oscar nomination, Families Like Ours premiered at last year's Venice International Film Festival. It's an absorbing pre-apocalyptic study in how an impending national crisis affects people on a macro level. What happens to the relationships within one extended family placed under this kind of existential panic is at once fascinating and disturbing, prompting self-reflection on the hypothetical limit of one's own loyalties when faced with the imminent prospect of survival. The impending doom is signalled up front, with the opening scene flashing forward six months to the Copenhagen docks, where a sea of mostly flaxen-haired people jostle for position on vessels evacuating their homeland, soon to be underwater due to melting ice caps. Following 'Danish due diligence', it is wryly noted, the nation is taking pre-emptive action following the economic collapse of another low-lying country, the Netherlands. So we know full well what is coming when, transported back to the brink of this catastrophe, the whispers begin. Laura (Amaryllis August) and Elias (Albert Rudbeck Lindhardt) embody the tragedy of such a life interruption on the youth. Part of the last graduating class of Gammel Hellerup High School, they are the innocent victims of circumstances beyond their control, of a war with nature they didn't start that is destroying their hopes and dreams at the very moment the world should be their oyster. Theirs is a different time, and their enemy is environmental forces, but there are echoes of similarly cursed sweethearts throughout literature and history, in their connection and optimism, when circumstances could not be more hopeless. Through Laura's uncle, Nikolaj (Esben Smed), a government official married to Henrik (Magnus Millang), a select few in the family are forewarned. Henrik's odious and homophobic brother represents the worst of panicky desperation, his initial response casting him as an early villain. Laura's architect father, Jacob (Nikolaj Lie Kaas), scrambles to secure work in Paris, becoming one of many respected professional Danes suddenly stripped of credentials and confidence. Loading As the inevitable shutdown of the country nears, life goes on as normally as possible. The final summer in Denmark bathes the characters and their homes in a thin light. A young boy with a talent for soccer sees something more in the puddles on the pavement. In line with Vinterberg's commitment to cinematic realism, surreal sequences are restricted to Laura's dreams in soft focus, of Elias, and of water gently flowing across the carpet.
New York Times
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
‘Families Like Ours' Review: Emptying Denmark
The mini-series 'Families Like Ours' on Netflix has an attention-grabbing premise: An entire country, Denmark, decides to shut itself down before climate change can do the job for it. Six million Danes start looking for new homes. Relocation plans are drawn up with Scandinavian efficiency, but European neighbors look upon waves of relatively well-off white refugees with the same distaste they show for Africans and Middle Easterners. The seven-episode series is the first from the Danish filmmaker Thomas Vinterberg, known for founding the no-frills Dogme 95 movement with Lars von Trier and, 26 years later, being nominated for a best director Oscar for 'Another Round,' which won best international feature in 2021. The handsomely appointed 'Families Like Ours,' which Vinterberg wrote, with Bo Hr. Hansen, and directed, breaks just about every rule in the Dogme manifesto, as his films have all along. It is a high-class consumer item, deliberate and hushed. It does, however, have something in common with his one true Dogme film, 'The Celebration' from 1998. It subjects an extended Danish family to pressure and traces the fissures of guilt and dependency, the outbreaks of bad behavior and gallantry, that result. 'The Celebration,' released when Vinterberg was 29, did this via transgressive, occasionally puerile black humor; 'Families Like Ours' offers restrained, tasteful domestic drama. The contrast is startling, but the underlying satisfactions are similar. The new series (it premiered Tuesday on Netflix) will be categorized as a climate-change drama, and it is that. The story appears to take place in an unspecified but near future when waters have risen and efforts to hold them back have met with varying success. But the evidence of danger is mostly offscreen; the crisis is suggested through newscasts and ominous puddles. Vinterberg imagines that the climate crisis will arrive not in floods and heat but in bureaucracy and confusion — endless lines, indecipherable rules, arduous journeys, a constant assault on hope. His vision may not be easily dramatic, but it is convincing. (The overall premise is a more difficult sell. Would the Danes, as disciplined and regimented as they might be, really leave their country as obediently as the series portrays? Wouldn't many congregate on high ground and fight to stay? The show's failure to take on that possibility is a problem.) The show is also defined, in part, by the obvious reversal it plays on our expectations for stories about refugees. It is formerly comfortable white people who are standing in the lines, yelling across bank counters and nakedly pleading for handouts and favors. They are shocked by the conditions they face once they make it to Paris or Bucharest. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
