The Japan Times - Stream It Or Skip It: 'Cunk On Cinema' on Netflix, Seeing the History of Film Through a Foolish Lens

Netflix has released "Cunk On Cinema," a six-part mockumentary series that adapts the original three-episode BBC Two format into what the promotional material describes as "Five Easy Pieces." The series stars Diane Morgan as Philomena Cunk, a fictional expert who explores the history of cinema through a lens of deliberate misinformation and linguistic confusion.

The show opens with Cunk standing on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, addressing the camera directly. She asserts that while humanity has achieved significant feats such as conquering landscapes, building the Great Wall of China, discovering the Mona Lisa, and inventing global warming, none compare to cinema as "our finest creation." This introduction sets the tone for a series that follows the history of film roughly chronologically.

The first thirteen minutes cover the origins of cinema and the silent era. Subsequent episodes delve into serious topics such as Soviet Montage Theory, German Expressionism, and stop-motion animation. The narrative also addresses specific filmmaker quirks, including Michael Bay’s preference for explosions and the circumstances surrounding a fan falling into the Death Star during a "Star Wars" event.

Morgan, known for her roles as Liz in the BBC Two sitcom "Motherland" and Kath in Netflix’s "After Life," brings her character Philomena Cunk to the screen. The character has previously earned an Emmy nomination for writing and two BAFTA nominations following appearances in "Cunk On Earth" (2023) and the film "Cunk On Life" (2025). In this installment, Cunk’s malapropisms and general befuddlement are designed to unsettle her interview subjects.

The series features a montage of iconic film clips, including footage from "Superman" (1978), "Mutiny on the Bounty," "Hello, Dolly!," "Star Wars," "Independence Day," "Mr. & Mrs. Smith," "The Good, The Bad And The Ugly," "Spider-Man" (2002), "London Has Fallen," and "White Eagle." The sequence concludes with a reference to the 1902 film "Le Milles-Pattes Humain," directed by the fictional Monsieur "Pois de Merde."

Cunk’s approach involves asking academics and celebrities questions based on false premises. She asks why "Birth of The Nation" is considered worse than her aunt’s racist comments on Facebook and reminds viewers that before movies, people did not have easy access to see beautiful individuals. In a segment demonstrating Buster Keaton’s famous falling house stunt in "Steamboat Bill, Jr.," she provides a comedic explanation of the mechanics involved.

Her most common tactic is employing malapropisms to confuse her guests. She asks Michael Bay why directors frequently use a specific profanity and attempts to get academics to explain classic films with misnamed titles such as "Metro Police" and "The Jizz Slinger." In previous mockumentaries, Cunk might have fooled some interview subjects or the audience into believing she had succeeded. This time, however, it is evident that British celebrities such as Benedict Cumberbatch and Gordon Ramsay are aware of the joke.

Despite their awareness, the actors serve effectively as straight men, delivering laughs through their brief scenes. Morgan’s performance includes a segment discussing Al Jolson’s use of blackface in early Hollywood. She describes it as a "shocking reminder" of the industry’s casual and endemic racism, noting that such cultural insensitivity today would likely lead to cancellation or an hour-long Netflix stand-up special.

The series includes brief full-frontal scenes in a montage during one episode. It concludes with a tease for the next installment, where Cunk asks Benedict Cumberbatch about Alfred Hitchcock’s quote that actors should be treated like cattle. She relates this to her friend Paul’s job on a farm, describing the process of collecting semen from bulls using an electric probe. Cumberbatch responds with stunned silence as the credits roll.

The series is recommended for film scholars and comedy enthusiasts. It offers a stark contrast to Nicole Kidman’s AMC Cinemas tribute, which featured the line, "Somehow, heartbreak feels good in a place like this." Instead, Cunk boasts, "Outside this palace of dreams, your life is so meaningless, you might as well be a smudge on a bathroom tile."

S.Yamamoto--JT