North American streaming service MHz Choice has set its Euro TV and Aussie TV slate for February 2024.
There’s a lot of good stuff headed to MHz Choice in February, including four brand-new series from Finland, Germany, and Italy, a new season of an Austrian series, new titles under the “Movie of the Week” umbrella, and several Euro TV additions to the streaming service. Check ’em out!
The Bridge: Season 4 (Bron/Broen) (Sweden-Denmark)
Set two years after the Season 3 finale, the fourth and final season of hit Nordic noir crime drama The Bridge sees Swedish detective Saga (Sofia Helin, Limbo, Atlantic Crossing) and Danish detective Henrik (Thure Lindhardt, Seaside Hotel, Flame & Citron) going their separate ways, but not before he brings her onto the Danish police’s investigation into what turns out to be a series of execution-style murders, as she continues her investigation into the disappearance of his wife and daughters.
Both the original Swedish-Danish and English-dubbed versions of The Bridge: Season 4 begin streaming Tuesday, February 6.
Divided We Stand (ZERV – Zeit der Abrechnung) (Germany)
Set in 1991 in the recently-reunified Berlin, crime drama Divided We Stand follows Kara Schubert (Nadja Uhl, Line of Separation), an East German homicide detective who’s now a chief detective in reunified Germany, and Peter Simon (Fabian Hinrichs, Tatort), the newly-appointed Western Superintendent of ZERV, a special task force that investigates crimes committed by the former GDR (German Democratic Republic) regime. The murder of a high-ranking minister of the Ministry of Disarmament, who was charged with scrapping East German military weapons, prompts Kara and Peter to claim the homicide case for their respective department, but ultimately they are forced to work together. As they investigate, they begin to uncover a wider web of crime and find themselves embroiled in a battle against old networks. And when Karo stumbles across the files of her missing father, she finds a new piece of the puzzle of both her family history and the case.
Costars include Imogen Kogge (The Nordic Murders), Thorsten Merten (Babylon Berlin), Fritzi Haberlandt (Babylon Berlin), Rainer Bock (Das Boot), Peter Schneider (Line of Separation), and Max Hubacher (Sisi: Austrian Princess), amongst others.
Divided We Stand premieres Tuesday, February 6.
Movie of the Week: The Diva of the High Rises (Les sandales blanches) (France)
This biopic about Malika Bellaribi Le Moal, born a young Algerian girl in the slums outside Paris, who grows up to be a famous singer. When Malika is five years old in the early 1960s, she is so mesmerized by the brand-new pair of white sandals her mother bought for her that she doesn’t see the truck coming. So begins years of hospital stays, operations, suffering, struggle, and time away from her family — during which the little Muslim girl, in the hands of Catholic nurses and nuns, discovers music and singing at mass. From this point on, while fighting the racism of French society and the prejudices of her own community, Malika follows her dream and moves mountains to become the woman everyone will one day call “the diva of the high rises.”
Starring Amel Bent (Validé, Scènes de ménages), The Diva of the High Rises premieres Tuesday, February 6.
Movie of the Week: The Jangling of Keys (Le bruit des trousseaux)
Based on the eponymous novel by Philippe Claudel (I’ve Loved You So Long), who wrote and directed this film, The Jangling of Keys is a drama that centers on Alexis Pasquier (Cyril Descours, A French Village, Laetitia), a teacher who, on the same day that he starts his new job at a detention center in Nancy, meets Lea (Déborah François, Saving Lisa, The Paramedic), with whom he falls in love. But the often brutal nature of the prison environment where he works impacts their burgeoning relationship.
The Jangling of Keys premieres Tuesday, February 13.
No Place Like Home: Season 1 (A casa tutti bene – La serie) (Italy)
In this reboot of the 2018 film There’s No Place Like Home, Ristuccia family patriarch Pietro (Francesco Acquaroli, Suburra: Blood on Rome) dies and leaves his beloved restaurant in Rome to his sister and nephews as well as his own three children, forcing the family to manage the eatery together. Amongst the clan are overlooked siblings, multiple black sheep, and control freaks, not to mention tense family dynamics, the roots of which get revealed as the season toggles between the present and past.
The drama series’ ensemble cast includes Laura Morante (Christian), Francesco Scianna (Mafia Only Kills in Summer), Silvia D’Amico (Christian), Simone Liberati (Petra), Paola Sotgiu (Suburra: Blood on Rome), Alessio Moneta (Freaks!), Valerio Aprea (Boris), Laura Adriani (Makari), Euridice Axen (An Astrological Guide for Broken Hearts), and Antonio Folletto (The Bastards of Pizzofalcone), amongst others.
No Place Like Home premieres Tuesday, February 13.
State of Happiness: Season 1 (Lykkeland) (Norway)
Set against the backdrop of the birth of Norway’s oil industry, this period drama follows four young adults whose lives are forever changed by the discovery of black gold in the country. It opens in the summer of 1969 in the small coastal town of Stavanger, where the international oil companies that have been test-drilling but coming up empty-handed for years are pulling out. With the North Sea being fished out, the exodus of oil companies is leaving the town in a desperate state. But then, on the night of Christmas Eve, the gas flare at the oil rig Ocean Viking is lit, and everything is about to change.
Starring Anne Regine Ellingsæter (Rede), Amund Harboe (Salsa), Malene Wadel (Evy & Alltid), and Bart Edwards (The Witcher), State of Happiness: Season 1 begins streaming Tuesday, February 13.
Tatort: Vienna: Season 3 (Austria)
This long-running crime drama series, another in the Tatort franchise, centers on the criminal investigations of Moritz Eisner (Harald Krassnitzer, Murder by the Lake), a rather rough and gruff but intuitive detective, and his sensitive, alcohol-dependent partner, Bibi Fellner (Adele Neuhauser, Donna Leon’s Commissario Guido Brunetti Mysteries). (Video is from Season 2)
Tatort: Vienna: Season 3 premieres Tuesday, February 13.
Bordertown: Season 1 (Sorjonen) (Finland)
Ville Virtanen (The Truth Will Out, Rebecka Martinsson) stars in this crime drama as Kari Sorjonen, a top investigator with a brilliant mind and exceptional deductive skills in Finland. With his wife barely surviving brain cancer, Kari moves with her and his teenage daughter to a seemingly idyllic town near the border of Russia for a more peaceful life. Soon after arriving, though, Kari, as the new police chief, is forced to dive into the investigations of several murder cases and a serial killer that’s on the loose, discovering bit by bit that the crimes aren’t just linked to each other but to his family, as well.
Bordertown: Season 1 begins streaming Tuesday, February 20, 2024.
Lambs of God (Australia)
Adapted from Marele Day’s novel Lambs of God, this dark, Gothic tale centers on three nuns and a man of the cloth who enters their lives and changes their world forever. Sisters Iphigenia (Essie Davis, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, Faraway Downs), Carla (Jessica Barden, The End of the F***ing World, Pieces of Her), and Margarita (Ann Dowd, The Handmaid’s Tale, The Leftovers) — each a generation apart — are the last remaining members of the enclosed order of St Agnes. Basically forgotten by the Catholic Church, the cloistered women live in an isolated, rundown convent on a remote Australian island, where they tend to a flock of sheep that they have named after nuns who have died.
One day, young Father Ignatius (Sam Reid, The Newsreader, Interview with the Vampire) arrives on the island to survey the supposedly abandoned abbey for a new project. Feeling threatened, the nuns take him prisoner, prompting inquiries on the mainland about his absence and lack of communication. Meanwhile, Iphigenia puts in motion a plan to thwart Ignatius as Carla becomes attracted to him. When all is said and done, all of their lives, as well as the convent and island, will have been forever changed.
Costarring Kate Mulvany (Hunters), Daniel Henshall (Mystery Road: Origin), John Bell (Deadline Gallipoli), and Damon Herriman (The Artful Dodger), Lambs of God begins streaming Tuesday, February 20.
Movie of the Week: Planet 5000 (Planeta 5000) (Spain)
This drama, the first Spanish “Movie of the Week” title on MHz Choice, is of a love story in a dangerous cult. When 18-year-old Sergio (Itzan Escamilla, Elite) meets a group of young people who use their love of sports to evangelize and spread the word of God, he sees in them a way to escape his unhappy reality. At their commune he meets Iris (Kimberly Tell, Hierro), a 25-years-old woman who has known only life inside the sect and a way of life taught by its dogma. While Sergio dreams of entering the cult, Iris dreams of leaving it — just like in the chorus of the song “Planet 5000″…
Planet 5000 premieres Tuesday, February 20, 2024.
Movie of the Week: Repercussions (Répercussions) (France)
In this drama, a group of friends sees their lives turned upside down after one of them, Sébastien (Charlie Dupont, The Traveller), dies on the road after a drunken party. His widow, Salomé (Marie Denarnaud, Black Butterflies), can’t understand why Paul (David Kammenos, Murder in Orleans), Julie (Sophie de Fürst, Under Law and Grace), and Ethan (Lannick Gautry, Murder in Contentin) would let him get behind the wheel if he was plastered. Feeling she has no choice, Salomé files a lawsuit against them, creating a shock wave in the group that will have serious repercussions on their friendship.
Repercussions premieres Tuesday, February 20, 2024.
Six Women (Sei donne) (Italy)
Set in the city of Taranto in Puglia, mystery drama Six Women stars Maya Sansa (Irma Vep, Redemption) as Anna Conti, an alcohol-dependent prosecutor investigating the disappearance of a 16-year old girl named Leila. During her inquiries, Anna crosses paths with five women who have links to Leila and uncovers new mysteries in the process.
Costars in the six-episode limited series are Alessio Vassallo (The Young Montalbano), Isabella Ferrari (Baby), Piergiorgio Bellocchio (Imma Tataranni), Maurizio Lastrico (Don Matteo), Denise Tantucci (The Red Band Society), Giulia Fiume (Suburra), Silvia Dina Pacente (Gerri), Giulia Fiume (Don Matteo), Cristina Parku (Petra), and Ivana Lotito (Gomorrah).
Six Women premieres Tuesday, February 20, 2024.
A Good Family (Musta Valo) (Finland)
Psychological crime thriller A Good Family stars Maria Sid (All the Sins, Before We Die) as Anna Valli, a criminal investigator who is looking into the disappearance of the son of Lefa Halme (Tommi Korpela, Shadow Lines, Deadwind), the city’s most feared crime boss, who happens to be her ex-lover. To her horror, Anna realizes that the tracks lead to her own son, Niko (Elias Salonen, Bordertown, Man in Room 301). Parental instincts quickly take over, so both Anna and Henrik (Samuli Edelmann, Look of a Killer, Johan Falk: National Target) do everything they can to cover their son’s tracks — but on their own and without the other’s knowledge. When both the police and the underworld begin to find out the truth, Anna and Henrik get deeper and deeper into a cycle of lies and secrets, leaving each of them to decide how far they are willing to go to protect their family and future.
A Good Family premieres February 27, 2024.
Movie of the Week: Robin (France)
Set in the south of France, this drama centers on Robin (Yoann Zimmer, Return to Seoul), a 23-year-old guy who babysits 11-year-old Victor (M’Barek Belkouk, Chefs) to earn a bit of cash while living with his aunt and training for his passion: parkour. After Victor films him getting revenge on a local crime boss and posts online the video of him using his climbing skills, Robin becomes an internet sensation. Now he must assume his new role as a vigilante, live up to the status of superhero, and face his destiny.
Robin premieres Tuesday, February 27.
All of the above titles are set to stream in the US and Canada on MHz Choice and its digital channels, including MHz Choice on Amazon, starting on the dates shown above. (Note that scheduling changes can occur at any time and without prior notice.)
__________________
As an affiliate of Amazon and other cos, affiliate links on this blog allow us to earn income from qualifying actions (at no extra cost to you).
