July’s recommendations
The Bear, Fancy Dance, America’s Sweethearts and other things to enjoy this month ✨
Hello angels,
I thought I’d got away with being a week late until I got a message saying ‘where are my marvels’ 😂 so I’m sorry, but they’re here now and I’ve got lots of treats for you.
📺 TO WATCH - TV
The Bear - One of the best shows to grace our screens over the past few years is back for its third season and is as chaotic and stress inducing as ever. We pick up where we left off, after the less than ideal opening night of Carmy and the team’s new high-end restaurant, The Bear. It’s perhaps not as peppy as the first two seasons, but I disagree with the critics that it’s lost its spark and instead think it feels like a show that’s settling into itself as it delves deeper into its main characters. The performances from Jeremy Allen White, Ayo Edebiri and Ebon Moss-Bachrach are once again fabulous. On Disney+.
Tour de France: Unchained - another show that’s featured on the Marvs before is back for another season. This ‘Drive to Survive’ type documentary follows the teams and personalities involved in the 2023 Tour de France. As a show it’s definitely given me a newfound respect for cycling as first and foremost a team sport, and is a pretty exhilarating watch. On Netflix.
America’s Sweethearts - ok speaking of respect for team sports, let’s talk about CHEERLEADING. I was expecting this to be trashy but it’s not and I got properly hooked. This is a new docuseries following the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders, the best cheer team in the NFL. The amount of talent and training these girls put in, whilst also having day jobs, is insane. I also found the whole culture and management of the team fascinating. On Netflix.
🍿 TO WATCH - film
I’ve enjoyed two films recently that haven’t seemed to make much of a bang, at least in the UK, but are definitely worth a watch.
Origin - the latest film from writer and director Ava DuVernay. It’s an adaptation of the book, Caste: The Origin of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson. Instead of making it a documentary, Ava did the unexpected and decided to adapt the book into a feature film. It follows Isabel’s journey as she develops her thinking about race and caste and writes the book that will end up being an international bestseller, whilst navigating traumatic personal losses. On Amazon Prime.
Bonus - I enjoyed listening to Ava’s interview with my all time favourite podcast host, Scott Feinberg on Awards Chatter. Her entrepreneurial spirit is very inspiring. Link here.
Fancy Dance - this is a really beautiful independent film. It stars and was produced by Lily Gladstone, who last year was nominated for an Oscar for her performance as Mollie Burkhart in Killers of the Flower Moon. It follows Jax (Lily), a Native American woman who takes over responsibility for looking after her sister’s daughter, Roki (Isabel DeRoy-Olson) after her sister goes missing. Jax tries to take care of Roki in spite of the authorities’ attempts to place her in the care of her white grandparents instead, who though well-intentioned, don’t understand her culture. No spoilers but I thought the final scene was stunning. On AppleTV.
📚 TO READ
Close to Home by Michael Magee - oooh it didn’t take me long to get through this at all, which is always a good sign. Jane Eyre on the other hand 🤣 still going with that one… This is a debut novel from Belfast born writer Michael Magee. Originally written as memoir, now fiction, it follows Sean, a recent English graduate from a working class background, back home in Belfast and living in a city and a past he thought he’d escaped. It paints quite a bleak portrait of post-Troubles Belfast, with a backdrop of poverty, addiction and unemployment. Not a light read but very necessary and beautifully written.
💜 Marvels from the community
Sam recommends Great Britain? How We Get Our Future Back by Torsten Bell
✨ Sam says: “An accessible and precise diagnosis of Britain’s economic situation and remedies for how to improve it. Packed with interesting policy ideas.”
Jess recommends The General and his Laberinyth
✨ Jess says: “Absolutely mad book. Completely charming and entertaining. You’ll find yourself reading ornate sentences out loud to friends. My vocabulary has been vastly expanded. However, basically nothing really happened in the story. It’s a journey of a man’s long twisting physical journey from one town to the next while also being a gentle biography of one of the most influential men in history (who I’d never heard of) contemplating life and processing his own forthcoming death.
Marta recommends Agatha Christie’s Poirot series
✨ Marta says: “I’ve challenged myself to read all of Agatha Christie’s Hercules Poirot stories, I’ve just finished book 3 and haven’t guessed the killer IN ANY OF THEM. I’m starting to doubt my intelligence at this point… She was a queen of crime for sure! Also if you fancy a light, yet bloody read, I recommend The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, The A.B.C. Murders and Five Little Pigs.”
Priya recommends Bad Dates (podcast)
✨ Priya says: “The title is self explanatory but it has had me cringing and laughing out loud.”
That’s it. Have a great July 🌞🌞
Thank you for your amazing insights and crisp, delicious epression ;-) Pauline