Adapted from the JM Coetze novel by Coetze himself, WAITING FOR THE BARBARIANS (2019) serves up a political parable about imperialism, distinguished by its beautiful cinematography and strong performances by Mark Rylance, Johnny Depp, and Robert Pattinson.

The Magistrate is a compassionate governor of a fort on the desert frontier of a fictitious European empire. He respects the locals, who see the Europeans as temporary occupants of their land and whom the Europeans call “the barbarians.” Colonel Joll visits with police from the capital, intent on finding trouble, and eventually produces “evidence” of plans for a local uprising after torturing two men into confessing. Joll then forces one of them to take his soldiers to his tribe, where he takes prisoners to torture. This sets in motion a conflict between the Magistrate and the Colonel and an even larger conflict between the Europeans and the “barbarians.”

The moral of the story is simple: you reap what you sow, and you will sow the wrong things if you lack understanding and compassion. The Magistrate is presented as a Christlike figure between these two sides, valuing harmony while Colonel Joll values order.

This film has not gotten much love from critics and only a little more love from audiences. On the downside, the pacing is a bit slow, and the Magistrate can be a little frustrating in that he appears way too naive for somebody of his position. The conclusion sort of slams down suddenly and makes its point a little too neatly on the nose. Overall, though, I quite liked this one–it was a nice surprise and very different from what the trailer, jury-rigged to be sensational, suggested. The performances are terrific, the cinematography is beautiful, the world building is utterly immersive, the message is important, and the whole is strangely compelling.

Created by Mike Judge (BEAVIS AND BUTT-HEAD, OFFICE SPACE, IDIOCRACY) and with a fantastic cast of comedic actors, HBO’s SILICON VALLEY is a fantastic comedy series about a group of coding nerds who claw their way through trials and tribulations to launch the next big thing in tech.

Richard Hendrix is an insecure, dweeby coder working at tech giant Hooli, which he considers a soulless dead end. Silicon Valley seems awash in cash, and he wants in on it. Along with some other coders, he lives in a house owned by Erlich, who earned a few million after selling his company and now finances budding app coders as an incubator. Richard produces a horrible music app, but at its heart is an amazing compression algorithm, which could dramatically speed up content transfer speeds and thereby revolutionize the Internet. Soon, the game is afoot, with everybody wanting a piece of it, Hooli trying to claim ownership, venture capitalists trying to control it, and Richard and his pals struggling to learn how to build and run a rapidly growing business.

The comedy isn’t thick or knee slapping, but it’s constant and smart. You don’t have to be in business or a coder to understand the show, but it feels like an education nonetheless. Anything and everything that can go right or wrong in the development of a business happens to these guys. What makes it work is every pivot in the show is attached to human emotion–Richard’s insecurity, Danesh’s desire to be loved, Erlich’s need to be aggrandized, the Hooli CEO’s massive billionaire ego–which shows how ridiculous all this is as well as cool.

I’m on to season 4 now and loving every minute of it. SILICON VALLEY is one of the most entertaining, intelligent, and again, honestly educational things on TV right now. I love a show that treats its audience like grownups, finds the heavily flawed humanity in a lionized, highly glamorized business, and pulls no punches.