A scene from 'Leonor Will Never Die'

Two new drops on your favorite streaming services for today. One is an indie-favorite film feature that hails from our own shores; while the second is a film that depicts a grisly true crime from the 1960s.

Leonor Will Never Die (Netflix Philippines) - This was an audience favorite at Sundance 2022, and it’s easy to see why given the originality of the premise and execution. Wisely, the producers opted to roadshow the film at festivals abroad and merely had special campus and film circle screenings here in the Philippines. It’s obvious that the strategy was to elicit plaudits abroad and create a buzz locally for when it would be exhibited. There’s no established popular film star in sight, and the storyline is carried by the titular Leonor as portrayed by Sheila Francisco - a proven Thespian more known within theater and stage communities. She plays a washed-up Director and writer of action films of the past, and she’s barely eking out a living with her son, not even paying electricity bills on time.

Working on her long-lost screenplay, the best way to describe this film that merges elements of magical realism with social realism is how when a TV falls onto her head, while recuperating in the hospital, she enters the world of her screenplay. While that sounds simple enough, it’s in the depth and wisdom of the film that several themes come to life. Love of the action films of the past as a genre well-missed, extra-judicial killings that became a trademark of the last Administration, local politics as power brokering, the Filipino family, of identity and purpose, and that of self-fulfillment and expectation. All these swirls in the course of the film, as couched in a narrative that avoids clichés, and keeps us guessing as to where this will all lead to. Kudos to writer/director Martina Ramirez Escobar.

The Boston Strangler (Disney+) - Best described as an American historical crime drama, this 2023 version, written and directed by Matt Ruskin, would have us rethink what we know about the Boston Strangler case of the 1960s, when up to 13 women were killed by the strangler, in seemingly unconnected incidents. And what this film brings to the table that’s different, is that of shining the light on two women reporters, Loretta McLaughlin (Keira Knightley) and Jean Cole (Carrie Coon). Chris Cooper and Alessandro Nivola also have major roles in the film. In Ruskin’s version of the events leading to the capture of the Strangler, Ruskin would place more importance on the work of McLaughlin and Cole, which a previous film adaptation (1968), that starred Tony Curtis, downplayed.

That’s all well and good as a premise for why one is bringing this new account to life. But with such films as Seven and Zodiac by David Fincher having come out in the intervening years, it is funny to note that how this Boston Strangler is so devoid of drama or suspense. You’re talking true crime, and yet the approach is so genteel and reserved. We’re all waiting for sparks to fly, or for Knightley to go beyond her smoldering stare, and it never quite happens. That you’re chronicling something in the past, and that we know how it was resolved; and yet, you can’t provide any suspense, is a poor mark on how this film will be received. Fans of Knightley may rejoice, as she’s still great; but don’t blame me if you’ll be nodding off before the end credits roll.