Just out of the blue, “Asura,” a new series from Palme d'Or winner Hirokazu Kore-eda (“Shoplifters”), is now playing on Netflix. Wait, what? There’s a new Kore-Eda?
No promo. No word of mouth. Nothing. Netflix just dumped this one on their algorithm-driven platform, and called it a day. Not just that, but the reviews — and there’s been barely any of them — are great. The Daily Beast calls it “the year’s first great new TV show.”
Here’s the synopsis:
Four sisters have their world turned upside down after discovering their elderly father's affair — forcing them to confront their differing worldviews and exposing their own struggles and secrets.
Kore-eda is no spring chicken, he’s been in the game now for almost 30 years, releasing well-regarded films such as “After Life,” “Still Walking,” “Like Father Like Son” and “After the Storm,” but he never truly hit the big time until he won the 2018 Palme d’Or for “Shoplifters.”
The fact that he has a new project out, whether it’s TV or cinema, doesn’t matter, should be an event in of itself, but Netflix seems to have made sure that absolutely nobody knows about it.
For months, people close to CEO David Ellison had hinted that he would leave if state AGs didn't drop their antitrust suit against the $111 billion Warner Bros. Discovery merger.