Thursday Movie Picks - TV Edition: Non-English

Written as part of the weekly blogathon hosted by Wandering Through the Shelves. Join the fun by picking three movies (or, on the last week of the month, TV shows) that fit the week's theme, and writing a bit about them!

UGH. I was feeling back on track and inspired, and then I got sick. Massively sick. And all that momentum just disappeared. Ah, well. I'm feeling back to 100% now, so let's dive back into the swing of things!

Except that this week is REALLY hard, because I just don't watch non-English language TV shows. Except one. So, I guess I'll write up that one! Here goes nothing...

VELVET TRAILER - ENGLISH SUBTITLES - from Bambú Producciones on Vimeo.

Velvet (2014-2016) Young Ana's parents have died, and so she is shipped off to live with her uncle, the manager of Velvet, the most prestigious women's clothing store in Madrid. She is allowed to live with him in his quarters in the store, but she must also work to earn her keep as soon as she's old enough. Before then, though, she meets Alberto, the son of the store's owner, and they become inseparable. That is, until Alberto's father decides he cannot have his son in a relationship with a lower class orphan girl and ships him off to London to learn the business of fashion. Years later, in the 1950s, Alberto returns to learn the business of the store itself... and shortly thereafter his father commits suicide. With the store in desperate need of money. Yes, Velvet is a primo modern-day telenovela set in the '50s, and it is addictive as all hell. One of my co-workers turned everyone in the office on to it, and we all became obsessed immediately. The pilot episode fully sells you on the mean-to-be star-crossed romance between Ana and Alberto, and the sprawling cast of characters in the Velvet store. There are so many lovable, enjoyable, and love-to-hate-them characters that it's impossible to list them all. All four seasons are on Netflix, along with the sequel series Velvet Colleccion. That doesn't sound like a lot, but each episode is a little over an hour long, so it takes a while to get through. I'm only halfway through season one myself. But I don't hesitate in recommending this to anybody willing to read subtitles. It's SUPER romantic, super twisty, and the production and costume design are absolutely to die for.