December holidays have kicked off which means every day until next year is a Saturday.
The perfect way to enjoying this is with a good watch list of both local and international productions that were released this year.
Speaking to Drum about the top productions that are worth watching during these holidays, filmmaker, director and film commentator Nqanawe Shangase says the storyline and casting carries the most weight in the quality of a production.
"The storyline is the creativity behind the overarching story/premise, the interesting twists & turns, the way in which the audience is kept engaged and the characterisation of the core characters of the story. Casting is the execution of casting the most suited actor for said specific role and how their performance enhances the production and keeps the audience interested," he explains.
Based on this, here is a list of Nqanawe's top productions from this year.
1. Yoh! Christmas (Netflix)
This is Netlfix's latest romantic comedy for the Christmas season. Replacing the award-winning series, How To Ruin Christmas, Yoh! Christmas made a debut on 15 December 2023. The six-part series follows perpetually single Thando (Katlego Lebogang), who’s lucky and successful in everything - but love. This is a detail her family and society never let her forget.
After one too many Christmas Eve family dinners relegated to the kiddies’ table, Thando is determined to change her fate. Things will be different this year, as she announces she’s bringing a boyfriend home. The only snag is she doesn’t have one…yet. With only 24 days left for her to find her man, Thando is forced to reckon with a muddy and ever-shrinking dating pool.
The new series stars an ensemble cast of industry titans such as Sthandiwe Kgoroge, Hlomla Dandala, Lerato Mvelase, Dorothy-Ann Gould, Tiffany Barbuzano and Sello Motloung. It also puts a global spotlight on talents Siya Sepotokele, Siv Ngesi, Altovise Lawrence, Ntobeko Sishi and Didie Makhubane, among many others.
Read More | ‘A walking manifestation of a dream realised’ – Katlego Lebogang describes new role on Yoh! Christmas
2. Kleva-ish (Prime Video/eVOD)
It is a coming-of-age film about a by-the-book university geek who turns to the neighborhood bad girl to learn how to be a tough guy after he was dumped by his long-time girlfriend, who cheated on him for being too soft. Dimakatso is an aspiring spinner but is about to lose her place in the best spinning crew in town, because she doesn't have a driver's license. No driving school will take her as she is too rough on the cars, they call her 'Clutch Killer'. Thulani, whose father owns a driving school, sees how rough Dimakatso is, and he offers her to her to get her licensed in exchange for her to be his new mentor "roughneck".
Armed with Dimakatso, and bad advice from his BFF friend Pule, Thulani adopts a roughneck identity of Maleather, who is actually a real person and the baddest gangster in Soshanguve. It takes his roughneck transformation, that ends up costing him his friends, dignity and identity for Thulani to realise that "being yourself is actually not a bad idea". Thulani is forced to face off with the Real MaLeather and races as himself, beating Maleather. Showing that human beings are dynamic and can have more than one identity.
3. Runs in the Family (Netflix)
An Indian father takes his transgender son on a road trip across South Africa to rescue his son's long-lost mother from a rehab clinic in eSwatini. The film follows Bhatti (EastEnders, Line of Duty) playing a reformed con artist and good-hearted single parent to a transmasculine son on a road trip across South Africa to break his son’s estranged mother out of rehab. Their trip soon morphs into them pairing up to compete as a father and son drag team in a national competition that could win River his gender affirming surgery.
4. The Consultant (Prime Video)
The Consultant is an American thriller television series created by Tony Basgallop, based on the novel of the same name by Bentley Little and starring Christoph Waltz as the titular character, with Nat Wolff, Brittany O'Grady, and Aimee Carrero in supporting roles. The series follows the employees of a mobile gaming company whose leadership is taken over by a sinister consultant, played by Waltz.
In the first season of this series, a mysterious consultant, Regus Patoff blows into town and takes charge after an unspeakable tragedy at CompWare, a games studio based in downtown Los Angeles.
Read More | Actor Lemogang Tsipa on playing Shaka, keeping fit and his love for snakes
5. Tetris (Apple TV)
This is a biographical thriller film based on true events around the race to license and patent the video game Tetris from Russia in the late 1980s during the Cold War. It was directed by Jon S. Baird and written by Noah Pink. The film stars Taron Egerton, Nikita Efremov, Sofia Lebedeva, and Anthony Boyle.
6. Shaka: Ilembe (Showmax)
Shaka ILembe retells the story of the greatest African warriors to ever live King Shaka and his quest to fight for his throne. It stars Nomzamo Mbatha as Queen Nandi KaBhebhe and Senzo Radebe, as King Senzangakhona kaJama
7. Spinners (Showmax)
This one is more of a pulsating, high-octane South African drama. Ethan, a 17-year-old driver trying to escape gang life, discovers a possible way out via spinning, an extreme motorsport. But the looming gang war jeopardises his hopes.
