The criminal genre in cinema has always piqued the viewer’s curiosity. In the 1930s, audiences embraced the Mafia genre with protagonists who were actually the villains of the story. Already in the 1970s and 1980s, the police genre grew exponentially, merging with the action genre and saw heroes like Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman, Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger relentlessly hunt down criminals. Not to mention the great directors who took on the criminal genre in cinema making some of the greatest masterpieces of the seventh art, see Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese and Brian De Palma. Today, the remodeling of this type of production for the audience is the “based on true crimes” form. Today’s public has shown an increasing appetite for biographies, whether musical (with singers) or criminal. Maybe because they create a stronger link with real life. The fact can still be considered an extension of the investigative series documentaries that also address such crimes. Incidentally, many fiction series with Hollywood actors playing real figures, have their counterpart in the form of documentary series.
With that in mind, we decided to bring you no less than 13 programs released only in the year 2022, which address some of the most famous crimes of recent years and which have become series with renowned artists for you to check out on the most varied streaming platforms – all already properly available in Brazil. Check it out below.
Read too: ‘Brutal Pact: The Assassination of Daniella Perez’ and the documentary series about crimes in streaming
This is one of the newest to arrive in Brazil, having recently debuted on Star+. Young Jessica Biel continues her role as a producer after the series The Sinner and returns to invest in a criminal production, this one based on a true story. Biel also stars in the 5-episode show in the titular role of Candace ‘Candy’ Montgomery, a godly housewife, married, and mother of a family, who stabbed her lover’s wife to death with 41 axes – finding herself freed from jail by claiming self-defense. The curious thing is that the same story will win yet another series, this time with Candy played by Elizabeth Olsen in love and death for HBO Max.
where to watch: Star+.
Enjoy watching:
In Brazil, one of the platforms that has been most interesting for adult series is Star+, which receives productions from Hulu, for example. This, however, is the work of Blumhouse Television and NBC. Starring here is the two-time Oscar-winning actress Renee Zellweger buried under pounds of makeup to play Pam Hupp, convicted of murdering at least two people, and who lied in court incriminating another person who almost paid for her crimes. This was the star’s first job after his second Oscar win for Judy – Over the Rainbow (2019).
where to watch: Star+.
Following the Hulu series that came to Star+ here in Brazil, this was one of the biggest hits of the first half of the year. Much vaunted due to the incredible physical transformation that the actors lily james and sebastian stan suffered to become Pamela Anderson and Tommy Leethe show chronicles the troubled ‘lol life’ relationship of the duo who were at the height of their fame and left a scandal involving an intimate videotape that went public (becoming the first large-scale case of its kind) to throw a bath cold water in their careers (especially hers).
where to watch: Star+.
Perhaps the biggest hit of popularity on this list, now comes a miniseries from Netflix in 9 episodes, which served to demonstrate all the versatility of the young still underestimated Julia Garner. In the plot, she plays Anna Delvey, a con artist posing as a millionaire German heiress in order to benefit from the contacts of New York’s high society – with several “free lunches”. A journalist is suspicious of the story, begins to pursue it to unmask it. This is a creation of Shonda Rhimesone of the greatest showrunners of our time.
where to watch: Netflix.
Here we have one of the most lauded miniseries of the first half of 2022, based on one of the most heinous and recent crimes in US history. The sordid plot had already given rise to a famous documentary series and this year it finally got its fictional version. Who plays the main players here is the Oscar winner Colin Firth and the indicated Toni Collette. They play the passionate and above suspicion couple Michael and Kathleen Peterson. When tragedy strikes, the woman is found dead after allegedly falling down the steps of her home. Still grieving, the writer has to deal with the fact that he is now the prime suspect in his wife’s death. The program also has the names of Juliette Binoche, Sophie Turner and Dane DeHaan.
where to watch: HBO Max.
One of the most recent to debut, this Apple+ miniseries had its world premiere on July 8th. Creation here is Dennis Lehaneauthor of the books that gave rise to the great About Boys and Wolves (2003) and Fear Island (2010). Who stars this true story is the talented Taron Egerton in the role of James Keene, a young man sentenced to 10 years in prison without parole, who ends up making an incredible and dangerous deal with the FBI: withdrawing the confession of another inmate, Larry Hall (the also great Paul Walter Hauser), accused of being an infamous serial killer in order to lessen his sentence.
where to watch: Apple+.
Another very famous story in the USA, which has already won its own documentary on HBO Max. But here, we talk about the “fictional” version brightened by the talent of the young Elle Fanning in the lead role of Michelle Carter – and the physical resemblance between Fanning and Carter exists all by itself without the use of makeup, and with makeup then it gets haunting. Carter was accused of inciting via cell phone text messages the suicide of a highly depressed young friend/boyfriend. For the crime, the morbid young woman was imprisoned for a year.
where to watch: Starz Play (Not to be confused with Star+).
We’re back to a Hulu original series. The item above is also original from the same platform, but for some reason in Brazil it didn’t fall on Star+ streaming like this. Here we also have another young blonde actress starring – this time the show is from the Oscar nominee Amanda Seyfried. She plays Elizabeth Holmes, founder of Theranos company, which aimed to revolutionize the healthcare industry with its innovative technology. The show’s title refers to Holmes dropping out of chemical engineering college. Holmes was convicted of fraud after claiming breakthrough discoveries for the industry, which never existed.
where to watch: Star+.
Who star here is the young Ansel Elgort, who has his own personal problems with criminal charges. But returning to the series, he plays the American journalist Jake Adelstein, who ventured into a challenging endeavor, winning the difficult spot in the most renowned Japanese newspaper in the country. He knows that story of how difficult it is to learn Japanese, well, the guy not only learned, but passed the test to write in the language in one of the most requested jobs by the Japanese themselves. He begins to investigate a murder, receives help from the police and begins to clash with the Yakuza criminal organization, one of the most feared mafias in the world.
where to watch: HBO Max.
Another police series focusing on criminal investigation. Who stars is the truculent Jon Bernthal as Wayne Jenkins, a police officer leading the Baltimore Department’s Gun Tracking Task Force. Based on the journalist’s book Justin Fenton, the 6-episode show depicts the rise and fall of this division. The miniseries received rave reviews from critics.
where to watch: HBO Max.
Having the muse of cinema Julia Roberts as a protagonist, we could only expect a show involving one of the greatest crimes in US history, which rises to the very last level of the upper echelon of power. The focus here is the Watergate political scandal in the 1970s, when then-President Richard Nixon gave his go-ahead for illegal wiretaps to be implanted at the opposition’s campaign headquarters. The series takes a modern approach to telling one of the stories that was forgotten during the case and focuses on Roberts’ character Martha Mitchell, a famous socialite at the time, wife of Nixon’s loyal attorney general John N. Mitchell (played by an unrecognizable Sean Penn). The woman “goes with her mouth on the trombone”, secretly denouncing the scandal.
where to watch: Starz Play.
Here, we put this series as a bonus due to the fact that it has not yet premiered in Brazil. The miniseries arrives very soon on Star+, on August 10th, after having been successful in the US. Starring Oscar nominee Andrew Garfield, who plays a detective investigating a murder that took place within his congregation. The crime will put your faith to the test, shaking it. This is one of the most anticipated series of the second half of the year, especially for having talented names in its cast, which include (in addition to Garfield) Daisy Edgar-Jones, Sam Worthington, Rory Culkin and Wyatt Russell.
where to watch: Star+.
Bonus 2: Phoenix Rising – Reborn from the Ashes
The idea of the list was to have only fictional productions that represented real crimes, but here I decided to cheat a little and include a documentary. But not just any documentary, but one that gives voice to one of Hollywood’s young stars, reporting firsthand a horrendous crime suffered by her. Who stars in this brave story in two episodes is Evan Rachel Woodstar of the hit HBO Max series, Westworld. The young actress uses the space to recount her experience as a surviving victim of domestic abuse and encourage other women not to suffer in silence, taking their place of empowerment.
where to watch: HBO Max.
Don’t forget to watch:
