The Beat Asia’s Guide to New Netflix Releases for January 2023

This coming January, Netflix isn’t hiding their ambitions: they want eyeballs on their exclusive releases. To say that they have a packed lineup to begin the year doesn’t do it justice. As a global streaming platform, the company has content coming out from every corner of the world. You could go from funny romantic adventures in metropolitan Seoul to something gritty based in South America. Netflix really has it all.

Let The Beat Asia help you sort through the new content from the streaming platform. Netflix has that suffering-from-success syndrome, and they tend to release a lot of fresh IPs. But in terms of the good stuff, we suggest you mark your January with these releases in mind.

Films

‘Jung_E’

Yeon Sang-ho is a man who puts a heart in blockbuster movies. Under his direction, “Train to Busan” became an iconic tale of family love in a zombie action setting. It takes singular vision to do that kind of thing, and with “Jung_E,” he’ll be bringing that style to the dystopian sci-fi space.

Not much else is known about the film, but its synopsis on Netflix is as follows: “In a post-apocalyptic 22nd century, a researcher at an AI lab leads the effort to end a civil war by cloning the brain of a heroic soldier — her mother.” It’s a riveting plot in the same vein as his now-classic zombie film, and more than that, if recent Asian sci-fi productions are to go by, this will be a different experience than most western-based futuristic flicks

Expect action, heartbreak, and science in this production. We can’t wait!

When: Jan. 20

The Pale Blue Eye

Another absorbing January release from the American streaming giant will star Christian Bale as Augustus Landor, an investigator on the trail of a murder case. Set in upstate New York in the 1830s, “The Pale Blue Eye” is an American gothic film that has the potential to be a timeless true-crime period piece.

Not only that, but the godfather for American gothic stories will be a major character in the flick. Edgar Allan Poe, played by Harry Melling, will be helping Bale’s Landor in solving this case set in the dead of the cold.

Time to revisit “The Murders of the Rue Morgue?” We think, and say, yes.

When: Jan. 6

‘You People’

Ben Stiller walked so Jonah Hill can run in this “Meet the Parents”-type film. In “You People,” Hill and Lauren London face societal and generational difficulties of simply being a mixed-race couple. With a cast that calls on, among other A-listers, Eddie Murphy, Nia Long, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and David Duchovny, this is a Hollywood-level comedy flick that doesn’t come around often.

Kenya Barris (“Black-ish, “Are We There Yet?”) is helming the film, which is going to make this one full of hilarious confrontations. We all know Hill is good for the comedy but knowing that he’ll be with a few legendary comedians in the film, this is going to be a riot.

When: Jan. 27

Series

‘Kaleidoscope’

“Kaleidoscope” is a heist series unlike anything that’s ever seen in either the old TV tradition or in the streaming era. It’s going to be an interactive, non-linear presentation—you can watch any episode in any order, and it will lead to the same finale—and won’t be version-locked like its predecessor, “Black Mirror: Bandersnatch.”

If you’ve been missing “Money Heist,” this is the thing that is in every bit a step up from that series. Giancarlo Esposito will lead the cast, and if you’re not excited about Gustavo Fring trying his hand on the biggest heist ever attempted, we don’t know what to tell you.

When: Jan. 1

‘Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre’

There is no one on this earth that combines horror and animation better than Junji Ito. His panels are a work of terrifying art, so mesmerizing in their horrific imagery. It has been a long time coming, but the works of the legendary Japanese artist is finally getting an screen adaptation. Imagine this: the Hanging Balloons, Caterpillar of Ancestors and Cannibal Boy all moving and animated. It’s nightmare fodder. To top it all off, Tomie Kawakami will be let loose in the world. Scary, but exciting.

“Junji Ito Maniac” will be one of the animated events of the coming year. A master-caliber animator like Ito doesn’t come around often, and this is as much a crowning achievement as it is a bone-chilling presentation of some of the best horror iconography of modern times.

When: Jan. 19

‘Ginny & Georgia’

“Ginny & Georgia” made the headlines during the run of its first season due to wrong reasons. Taylor Swift, after all, is not one you diss without consequence. It dominated the conversation about the show, which was not bad at all. The ending was even juicy enough to leave viewers hanging. But, a good ending and controversy aside, this series left too many questions not to have a second season.

“Ginny & Georgia” has the potential to be your popcorn flick for January. It’s soapy, it’s funny, and the creators of the show know how to squeeze the good stuff in this rarely occupied field of mother-daughter soapy drama.

When: Jan. 31