slick yet empty generic sci-fi actioners such as “The Electric State,” but it’s also responsible for exposing viewers to international film and TV which they’d otherwise never encounter. 2024 saw Mexican drama series “The Accident” gain worldwide success on Netflix and an Indian crime drama that demanded attention climbed the streamer’s rankings the year prior. In other words, Netflix isn’t all forgettable Russo Brothers fare, and the latest international hit on the service is a good reminder of that fact.
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Spanish series “The Gardener,” or “El jardiner,” is a crime thriller with some romance sprinkled in, and seems to have struck a chord with Netflix viewers. Álvaro Rico stars as Elmer, a gardener who was left unable to feel emotions following a car accident when he was a child. Naturally, Elmer’s mother, La China Jurado (Cecilia Suárez), did what any caring parent would do and capitalized on her son’s inability to feel by turning him into a hitman. While the mother and son pair are running a garden center, they’re also running a murder-for-hire business that sees Elmer killing various victims and burying them amid his impressive blooms. Unfortunately for his mother, after Elmer is tasked with murdering nursery school teacher Violeta (Catalina Sopelana), he instead falls in love with her, suggesting his feelings aren’t quite as dead as they seemed. This prompts his mother to do all she can to fulfill the contract despite her son’s newfound ability to form a human connection.
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Filmed in the Spanish locales of Pontevedra, Toledo, and Madrid, “The Gardener” certainly has the premium sheen we’ve come to expect from these Netflix series, and while that silky bokeh can often feel like an attempt to distract from the fact that the show itself isn’t actually any good, this one has managed to not only hit the charts in the U.S. but become a worldwide success.
