Netflix’s most popular non-English movie of 2023 is a Spanish survival thriller

The bleak, intense Nowhere rules the waves and the internet streams too

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Nowhere, the unbearably tense new thriller fromNetflix, has turned out to be a huge hit. As ifour recommendation earlier this weekwasn’t enough of an accolade, the film has just become Netflix’s most viewed non-English title of 2023.

With 77.9 million views so far, it’s the second most viewed non-English film thebest streaming servicehas ever streamed. It’s already racked up more than half the views of the current most viewed non-English film,Troll, and that one’s been streaming for a year.Nowherehas only been streaming since the end of September.

The film is a genuine phenomenon, and that’s all the more impressive when you consider that it’s hardly a feel-good romp.Nowherestarts off bleak and then somehow manages to get even bleaker.Barbieit isn’t.

What is Nowhere about?

Set in a near-future Spain,Nowhere’sworld is a dystopian one. An extreme shortage of essentials across Europe has led to a terrifying situation where the very old, the very young and the very pregnant are considered a burden that everyone would be better off without. Desperate to escape, one couple pays a smuggling gang to get them out – but they end up separated, and the heavily pregnant Mia finds herself lost at sea in a shipping container full of apparently useless trinkets. You’ll never think of rubber ducks in the same way again.

The film is currently gathering mixed reviews because it’s often a very tense and even difficult watch. Praise for Anna Castillo in the lead role is almost universal, but the nail-biting claustrophobia means that for some viewers it’s a film to endure rather than enjoy. But it’s safe to say that the somewhat ambiguous ending will be making Netflix happy. It leaves enough room for a sequel, and given the numbers thatNowhereis currently doing that’s something I’m sure Netflix and the filmmakers will want to explore.

Nowhere is streaming now on Netflix.

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Writer, broadcaster, musician and kitchen gadget obsessive Carrie Marshall has been writing about tech since 1998, contributing sage advice and odd opinions to all kinds of magazines and websites as well as writing more than a dozen books. Her memoir,Carrie Kills A Man, is on sale now and her next book, about pop music, is out in 2025. She is the singer in Glaswegian rock bandUnquiet Mind.

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