It’s certainly a difficult time for living and breathing people all over the world. For a majority of the population (including India), a pandemic is something that we haven’t witnessed in our lives until now. We may have even gone to wars with neighboring countries in the last couple of decades, but this sort of a battle with a virus is unheard of. That’s not entirely true, though. Every now and then, mankind comes across a new disease and somehow gets used to its malignant presence, albeit slowly. Yet, COVID-19 has taken us all by storm. And since I’m not a health expert by default, I’m going to list five new releases that you can watch on Netflix. (These movies belong to varied genres. You may pick the ones that float your boat!)`

Lost Girls: When a young sex worker goes missing, her mother leaves no stone unturned to look for her. What’s really baffling here is that this is based on a true story. It’s not just a movie that’s made to push the boundaries of the mystery genre. It is, in fact, a gritty drama that’s been picked from our own backyard. The mother yells at the cops to search for clues and make arrests, but the police officers don’t seem to be too interested to nab the killer.

The Platform: What do you think is going to happen when there’s more greed than food? This Spanish horror-thriller works on many levels, just like the platform that goes down in the film. While prisoners housed in the top floors get the choicest of foods, the people below them have to make do with leftovers. The situation keeps getting worse as the numbers increase from double digits to triple digits. This film holds a mirror to the world in which the rich are treated with respect and the poor are treated with negligence.

Happy Old Year: Is it hard to get rid of all the things that you once purchased, or used? Of course, it is! Most of the products you own have memories associated with them. A t-shirt that’s been curled up in a corner of your wardrobe might remind you of the person that gifted it to you! In this movie, a young woman finds it difficult to throw away the things that she has collected over the years. It’s a bitter-sweet piece of cinema that takes you through her journey by showing the many facets of love and friendship.

To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You: The sequel to the super hit romance film, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, isn’t always bubbly, but you get a picture of all the doubts that Lara Jean (Lana Condor) builds up in her head. Her relationship with Peter (Noah Centineo) struggles to stand the test of time. She questions his motives and feels that his prolonged friendship with his ex-girlfriend is poisonous. The movie isn’t on par with the first part, but if you want to learn more about Lara Jean, then this is the portal that you need to enter.

Horse Girl: You may not really understand the title of the movie for the first few minutes. Ah, you may not understand many of the things that happen in the first half hour either. And, no, this Horse Girl isn’t the female version of BoJack Horseman. The protagonist’s somber life as a saleswoman at a craft store gets a twist in the third act and that’s where the film shifts its genre. From showing her lacklustre mornings and evenings to revealing her inner workings, Horse Girl does something splendid and phantasmagorical in a limited time.