MONDAY MARVELS #17: All of Us Strangers, Masters of the Air and more
Things to get you through February 💥
Hello you marvel-lous people 😏
Well done for surviving January. Here are some of the things that got me through this month, plus an awards season update and some recommendations from the community.
Enjoy 💚
🍿 ALL OF US STRANGERS
This film very nearly broke me. Why is nobody making happy films anymore?? But it’s a beautiful performance from Andrew Scott and so worthy of a shout out. All of Us Strangers is the latest film from writer/director Andrew Haigh that follows the character of Adam (Scott) as he enters into a relationship with his neighbour Harry (Paul Mescal). Adam is a screenwriter and when he attempts to write about his own past it brings up a lot of unresolved childhood trauma. He returns to his family home to have conversations with his parents (Claire Foy and Jamie Bell) who died in a car crash when he was young. It’s beautiful but heartbreaking so don’t say I didn’t warn you.
All of Us Strangers is out now in cinemas.
Fun fact… I once waited at the stage door for Claire Foy to come out like a massive weirdo and then got a pic and cried immediately afterwards 🫠
🍿 ANATOMY OF A FALL
I couldn’t pick just one film this month, saarrry. Shout out to Marta for recommending this one. This is the latest film from French writer/director Justine Triet. It follows Sandra, a writer trying to prove her innocence whilst on trial for the murder of her husband, Samuel. Samuel fell out of a fourth story balcony whilst at home with Sandra and their son, Daniel, who is blind and is the only witness. It’s an extremely clever exploration of the complexities of relationships and memories and Sandra Hüller in particular is fabulous. Will also make you have P.I.M.P stuck in your head for days. IYKYK.
Anatomy of a Fall is available to rent or buy on AppleTV+ and Amazon Prime.
🎬 MASTERS OF THE AIR
I’ve been looking forward to this for ages and it’s finally here, but annoyingly coming out in weekly episodes. From the producers of Band of Brothers, this limited series tells the story of some of the men in the 100th Bomb Group of the US Air Force during WW2, as they risked their lives bombing over Nazi Germany. It has a star studded cast including Austin Butler (Elvis), Ncuti Gatwa (Sex Education), Barry Keoghan (Saltburn) and others and new episodes are coming out every Friday.
Also wtf how is Austin Butler THAT FIT IT’S OUTRAGEOUS!!!!
Masters of the Air is available to stream on AppleTV+.
📚 THE BEE STING
The Bee Sting is written by author Paul Murray (Skippy Dies, The Mark and the Void). Described by The Guardian as a ‘tragicomic triumph’, it tells the story of an Irish family in financial and emotional crisis, through the eyes of each family member - dad Dickie, mum Imelda and kids Cassie and PJ. It manages to do the amazing combination of being both incredibly sad and incredibly funny at the same time and asks: can a single moment of bad luck change the direction of a life?
The Bee Sting is available to buy in all good bookshops.
🎧 THE RUNAWAY PRINCESSES
This is a fascinating podcast about Princesses Latifa and Shamsa, daughters of Dubai ruler Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, and their numerous efforts to escape. It uncovers the attempts the daughters have made over the past twenty years, the people who have helped them, the lengths the Sheik has gone to to keep his daughters under his control and the international governments who have not only let it, but enabled it to happen. One episode is out on podcast platforms already, or you can get a free trial subscription to The New Yorker to listen to them all at once.
The Runaway Princesses is available to listen to wherever you get your podcasts.
🏆 Awards season update 🏆
We all know awards aren’t everything and sometimes the choices are PUZZLING (as Erin Carlson in You’ve Got Mail asks, did Barbie direct itself?).
BUT if you want some ideas for what to watch then this is what the powers that be behind the Oscars, Emmys, Golden Globes and BAFTAs think are the best things to have graced our screens last year. I’ve added a trumpet (why not) next to the ones that I’ve enjoyed too.
Films
Anatomy of a Fall 🎺
Barbie 🎺
Killers of the Flower Moon 🎺
Maestro 🎺
Oppenheimer 🎺
Past Lives 🎺
Rye Lane 🎺
Scrapper 🎺
The Holdovers (haven’t seen but looks great)
American Fiction (haven’t seen but looks great)
How to Have Sex
Poor Things
The Zone of Interest
Nyad
Docs
American Symphony 🎺
20 Days in Mariupol
Bobi Wine: The People’s President
TV
The Bear 🎺
Succession 🎺
The Morning Show 🎺
Beef
The Last of Us
Only Murders in the Building
Abbott Elementary
Marvels from the community
💚 Andy recommends Jury Duty, an American reality series that follows the workings of a jury trial through the eyes of a juror who is unaware that the entire case is fake and everyone except him is an actor. Available via Amazon Prime or Freevee.
That’s it 😊 hope you have an amazing month and if you have a spare minute why not share this with a culture loving friend?? 💖
Finally got to see Dear England via a live-stream from the National Theatre. It is really good and Joseph Fiennes is unbelievably good as Gareth Southgate!