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The Arts Intel Report

A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler

Criminal: United Kingdom

Love police procedurals? Miss being able to travel? Then check out Criminal, a Netflix anthology that follows intense police interrogations in four different countries. Each binge-worthy season, all filmed in the local languages, is only three 40-minute-episodes long. Twisty cases take up most of the narrative, with occasional subplots adding microbursts of characterization. Start with the U.K. version to get a feel for the series and to watch Doctor Who’s David Tennant, tightly wound, not to mention the usually prim Hayley Atwell playing very much against type. Then bounce over to the Continent: France, where Truffaut and Godard alum Nathalie Baye gets grilled; Spain, where Almodóvar vets Eduard Fernández and Carmen Machi chew the scenery; and Germany, where Black Panther’s Florence Kasumba watches from behind a one-way mirror. —H. Scott Jolley

“Criminal,” 2020. Film still. Courtesy of Netflix. Credit: Colin Hutton.