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If you are sensitive to extreme heat, we recommend a good dose of “True Detective” season 4 to cool you down.
Summer is not yet here, but the heatwave arrived much in advance this year. With this first heat wave in France and record temperatures for the month of May, the need to cool off is more than pressing everywhere in France.
When the thermometer easily exceeds 30 degrees and parks and terraces in the shade are no longer enough, there is still a possible solution: that of a good film or series to devour with the shutters closed and a cold drink in hand. But what’s even better is when the chosen program also helps you refresh yourself. Fortunately, there is no shortage of snow and ice in cinema and television.
HuffPost therefore offers you a non-exhaustive list of frosty content to watch without moderation during this period of high heat. The advantage is that it will still be relevant when summer really comes around.
Snowpiercer
The planet has entered a new ice age. In this lifeless world due to the extreme cold, the only survivors live aboard a train in perpetual motion to escape freezing. Organized like a society, this locomotive is sectored: the elites at the front, the poor and the illegals at the back. In this unequal context, a resident at the back of the convoy, played by Chris Evans, will lead the revolt in an attempt to shake up the established order in the last habitation of humanity.
Post-apocalyptic science fiction concept adapted for the screen by South Korean Bong Joon-ho, Snowpiercer is an eternal headlong rush where the cold is a permanent danger which will make you immediately forget the current heat wave, at least for the duration of a film.
Snowpiercer by Bong Joon-ho is available on Paramount+.
Frankenstein
From the ice floes of the North Pole to the snowy and isolated countryside of Liechtenstein, the settings of this film are chilling and will make you feel all the tragedy of the Creature’s tale, the fruit of the experiences of the famous Baron Victor Frankenstein.
When Guillermo del Toro tackles the famous story of Mary Shelley, it’s difficult to miss it. Carefully repeating the structure of the novel, this film starring Jacob Elordi, Oscar Isaac and Mia Goth will make you shiver, but watching it also promises to make you go through a lot of other emotions. The Oscars made no mistake in awarding three statuettes to the Mexican director’s latest work.
Frankenstein by Guillermo del Toro is available on Netflix.
A murder at the end of the world
Darby, an apprentice detective, is invited with eleven other people by a billionaire to an isolated, immaculately white place for a retreat. But like in any good Agatha Christie novel, one of the guests is quickly found dead. Darby then begins her investigation, drawing on her experience which has already allowed her to solve a case about a serial killer.
Filmed in magnificent Icelandic landscapes, where the main setting where the protagonists of this mini-series meet comes to life, this captivating investigation will keep you in tension (but always at low temperature) during its 7 episodes carried by Emma Corin, Harris Dickinson and Clive Owen.
A murder at the end of the world is available on Disney+.
Fargo
In the snowy settings of Minnesota, where the cold is everywhere, a used car salesman is about to have his wife kidnapped. The goal of the maneuver? To receive the ransom and hope to pocket a nice jackpot, once his debts have been paid off. But that was without counting on a pregnant police officer with very keen senses.
This dark crime comedy from the Cohen brothers is the perfect combo for a moment of humor as dark as it is icy. Moreover, the success of the film gave birth to an excellent anthology series taking place in different eras, but always in this frozen atmosphere of the Midwest.
Fargo by Joel and Ethan Cohen is available on VOD. The series is available on Netflix, Prime Video and on Canal+ in its entirety.
Everest
The temperature drops to -40°C, the oxygen level drops by 60%. At the top of the highest mountain in the world, climbers fight against the cold for their survival.
Inspired by a true story, this film starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Josh Brolin and Jason Clarke traces an attempt to climb Everest while the most violent snowstorms known to man fall on them. The force of the winds, the fog and the ice encrusted on their faces are enough to make you shiver.
Everest by Baltasar Kormákur is available on TF1+.
Star City
Back in 1969, in the heart of the City of Stars, in the USSR and in the middle of the Cold War. Behind closed doors in the open air in a mini-city lost in the middle of the forest and ultra-controlled by the military, the series Star City is inspired by the real cosmonaut training center created at the start of the space age to set the scene for its gripping plot.
Just like the series For All Mankindfrom which it is derived, it is a uchrony rewriting the space race, imagining a world in which the Soviet Union is the first nation to have set foot on the Moon. Star City follows in eight episodes the not really enjoyable daily life of these engineers, cosmonauts and Soviet intelligence personnel engaged in the real star wars.
Star City is currently broadcast on Apple TV at the rate of one episode per week. The first two episodes have been available since May 29.
A Bear in the Jura
Christmas is coming. In a small village in the Jura, Michel, a fir tree producer and seller, narrowly avoids a bear while driving his car. In this moment of panic, he avoids the animal but hits a car located below this mountain road. In this abandoned vehicle, two lifeless bodies, as well as a nice jackpot in the trunk.
This is the starting point of this black comedy by Franck Dubosc in which the actor and director will try to hide the bodies with the precious help of his wife, played by Laure Calamy. Winner of best original screenplay at the last César ceremony, this subtle blend of comedy and thriller is ideal for having a good time, while enjoying the magnificent snowy settings of the Jura. What more could you ask for?
A Bear in the Jura by Franck Dubosc is available on Netflix.
Snow Therapy
What would you do if an avalanche arrived? Would you run for your life or try to protect your loved ones? To this question, Tomas, patriarch of a Swedish family who came to spend vacation in the French Alps, has his own answer. And that is really not to the taste of his wife, Ebba.
Brilliant comedy from filmmaker Ruben Östlund, twice winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes, Snow Therapy offers not only a reflection on the individualism of men, but also a breath of fresh air with its images of snow-capped mountains.
Snow Therapy by Ruben Östlund is available on Netflix.
True Detective
Direction Alaska. For its fourth season, the HBO anthology series takes us on a dark hunt for a murderer across the snowy landscape of this American state in the northwest of Canada. Its particularity? In the heart of winter, it is plunged into permanent darkness for several weeks.
For once, there are two heroines who jointly lead the investigation, played by Jodie Foster and Kali Reis. If this viewing in six episodes has convinced you, we advise you to continue with The Thing by John Carpenter. Taking place in a scientific base in Antarctica, this film at the crossroads of horror cinema and sci-fi released in 1982, clearly served as inspiration for season 4 of True Detective.
True Detectiveseason 4, is available on HBO Max. The Thing by John Carpenter is available on VOD.
The Snow Circle
Inspired by the true story of Fuerza Aérea Uruguaya Flight 571 which carried a Uruguayan rugby team to Chile in 1972, this film by Juan Antonio Bayona recounts the plane crash in the Andes and the survivors’ struggle to stay alive. Even if it means crossing certain red lines to survive in a particularly hostile environment.
Very harsh and therefore not to be shown in front of everyone, this film on the famous fate of the passengers of this air flight will put your nerves to the test, to the point of making you put into perspective the harshness of the intense heat that we are experiencing before summer.
The Snow Circle by Juan Antonio Bayona is available on Netflix.
