The sequel to one of the most controversial Netflix films of all time is one of the latest titles that's new on Netflix this week. 365 Days: This Day is the followup to 2020’s 365 Days, and it looks set to receive a similar backlash to its predecessor. And it doesn't look like it's going to be going on our list of the best shows on Netflix, either.
For the unaware, 365 Days is a Polish erotic thriller based on a novel by Blanka Lipińska. It follows a young woman named Laura (Anna-Maria Sieklucka) who is imprisoned by a member of the Mafia, named Massimo (Michele Morrone), and given exactly one year to fall in love with him. At launch, the film drew comparisons with the popular 50 Shades of Grey series for its focus on sexually explicit scenes and problematic behavior.
The film received an overwhelmingly negative reception from critics, scoring a rare 0% on Rotten Tomatoes, and was heavily criticized for its depiction of sexual violence and its glorification of organized crime. A petition asking for the film to be removed from Netflix amassed more than 95,000 signatures. The British singer Duffy, herself a victim of kidnapping and sexual assault, wrote an open letter to Netflix CEO Reed Hastings condemning the streamer for allowing the film onto its platform.
Despite the significant backlash, and the many critics who labeled the film as “softcore porn,” the film shot up the Netflix most-watched charts and became the number one film in multiple countries including the U.S. and the U.K. Unsurprisingly, a sequel was quickly greenlit, and after some production delays due to Covid-19, 365 Days: This Day is now available to stream.
So, should you commit two hours of your time to watch this smutty sequel? Well, the early critical reception doesn’t look to be any more positive than for its predecessor. There are only a few reviews out there right now, but almost all of them are pretty brutal. Not to mention, the audience score on RT hasn’t started out strongly either with 365 Days: This Day currently sitting at a frankly awful 25% (the first settled with a shocking 29%).
There are plenty of new movies to stream this week, and we’re fairly confident in saying that 365 Days: This Day won't earn a spot on that roundup. Plus, when you factor in the problematic and highly controversial nature of this film series as a whole, we’d be quite pleased if Netflix iced any plans to complete the trilogy.
