#4 Culture Fix
Films galore, British fashion of the 90s, record-breaking Flowers, and Victorian artists
The Culture Fix is the place where twice a month I share the books, films, music, articles, interviews, plays, exhibitions, places, and even food, I’ve enjoyed recently.
Recommendations may refer to content in either English, Spanish, French or Italian and sometimes not available in English. But since this is a publication called Abroad written by a multilingual foreigner in London, and hopefully appealing to those curious to explore beyond their own borders, this shouldn’t come as a surprise.
When I started to define the content for this newsletter the only thing I was sure of, among the million of ideas and topics, was that I wanted to do a regular round-up of cultural highlights for three reasons.
First because in a very different newsletter I did for work I always included a cultural recommendation as the closing bit and this was the part that elicited most responses. Second, because I have discovered so many great films, series, books, foods and places thanks to others sharing them that I thought I’d do the same. And finally because by having a regular section to write about things I am doing anyway I can make sure I write regularly.
And that’s the problem: I was so committed to doing things I could write about for this section that I overbooked myself and didn’t have time to actually write. Classic me.
In my defence I’ve somehow managed to write about the subscription economy and how it thrives by putting people into a creative box in the name of helping them find an audience (which is as fickle as your tinder matches…) for which creators will have to produce and market their own content non-stop. A day after publishing that piece I found this article about being a sellout by Rebecca Jennings via Emma Gannon and her inspiring Sunday Scroll and a couple of days later Leigh Stein wrote as well about the creator economy and Jennings’ article as she was interviewed for it.
And without further ado I’m all yours now, at least for a few moments before I need to leave for the next thing I’ve booked. But before I share with you all the things I’ve loved in the past couple of weeks, please allow me to share this advertising gem:
Short Reads
— Muriel Spark and the Whole "Art Monster" Thing
— Ann Kennedy Smith writes Lost in the Archives, a fantastic newsletter on the hidden stories of Cambridge women and I’ve really enjoyed learning about Elsie Duncan-Jones, the inspiration for Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own.
— News Corp and New York Times buck the trend of revenue decline and look at AI companies future partners.
— The Oscars will add a new category for best casting for 2025 films.
— One for my fellow multilinguals: Should one lose their accent? Daria makes the case for no.
— Could this $200 device replace your iphone?
— Business of Fashion on why some designers are creating their own dupes
— Your friends don’t really have to be the same age
— Andrey Kurkov on writing fiction in a time of war
— To save museums, treat them like highways
— Before Bridgerton there was Alessandro de’ Medici, the first Black duke of Europe and Daphne di Cinto is telling his Oscar-nominated story
Books
— I have finished Erasure by Percival Everett, the novel on which American Fiction is based.
What a treat this has been and how much I have enjoyed it. The novel is an exploration of creativity but also on the expectations placed on Black artists in regards to their creative output. But it is also about a man finding his way in life as both his professional and personal lives take a turn and he has to leave the cocoon he’s been living on and embrace what it means to be a son, a brother, a man and a writer. A great satire on the conumdrum of creating work that aligns with our creative vision but is not popular or becoming a sellout in the process of having our work seen and liked by people because it is a representation not of us as artists, but of what the public expects of us based on who we are.
— I’m two thirds into Poor Things by Alasdair Gray and it doesn’t escape me that I’m reading books based on movies I have really enjoyed.
In fact, I’ve watched twice both Poor Things and American Fiction and I believe they’re very good adaptations, so good that after watching them I wanted to read the source material they were based on. As I make progress with Gray’s novel I can’t help but admire even more the work of Yorgos Lanthimos in conveying on the screen this work, which is told through multiple points of views in the novel. Gray’s text is funny, contains very strong political and social critiques (mostly left out in the movie) and it is above all an exploration of one woman’s road towards emancipation -intellectual, sexual, emotional and social- and deciding her own destinity.
— Have also started Dune by Frank Herbert and hope to finish it before I go to see Dune Part II in March.
I’m not a sci-fi person but ever since I watched this interview of Thimotée Chalamet and Denis Villeneuve promoting Dune Part I I was sold. I love the chemistry between the two and how Denis loved the novel as a teenager and bringing the complex Dune world to the screen has been a dream come true for him. Especially because this has been a notoriously difficult book to adapt and the novel has long divided the science fiction world.
— I am behind with my War & Peace read along and need to catch up but I’m not beating myself up about it. There are so many hours in the day and they’re not enough for everything I’d love to read and watch and do.
— Samsara
Lois Patiño has created a visual mediation (which includes a 15 minute interlude intended to represent the transition from death to the afterlife and back to life) that invites us to exploration our beliefs about life and death. Most reviews highlight the sensorial elements of the film and how well-fitted it is for the big screen and I agree. Watching this at home may in part remove that immersive aspect as the sounds and images on this film are intended to be experienced at a larger scale, but the message still remains: What is to die? And do we ever do? As this review put it, this is a film unlike anything you’ve seen.
— The Civil Dead
What would you do if you could be seen only by one of your old acquaintances? And what would them do if they realised they’re stuck with you after your death and against their will? The Civil Dead ventures into ghost territory but it is a deapan comedy that follows the unmet dreams of two old high school friends that came to LA to succeed but never got around it. And now one of them is dead and can’t accept it.
—All of Us Strangers
And from one ghost story to another, but this time one based on yet another novel (Strangers by Taichi Yamada) and with a focus on love, lost and longing and superb (and I mean SUPERB) acting from everyone, but in particular Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal. I watched this film over two weeks ago and I’m still processing all the ways in which it destroyed me in a good way. I believe the first tear appeared 20 minutes in and although I never went into full sobbing mode I couldn’t keep my eyes dry either. When something provokes a very strong emotion in me I usually cry as a response, in particular when I’m overcome by intense beauty. This film is both beautifully intimate and overwhelming in the most positive sense I could ever use these words.
I can see why Greta Lee was paired with Andrew Scott in a recent Actors on Actors interview as both their films are part of what I’ve defined Life Romances: films that capture the emotions of different key love phases throughout life from falling in and out of love, losing those we love and trying to find new ways of loving others as well as longing for the presence of loved ones when we’re apart. And sometimes all of this can occur at the same time because complex feelings are part of being alive. If you loved Past Lives, please go and see All of Us Strangers if you haven’t yet. You’ll be grateful you did.
—The Zone of Interest
Can happiness flourish at the doorstep of carnage? Apparently it can and it does, as we see in Jonathan Glazer’s loose adaptation of Martin Amis’ novel of the same title. We are invited to observe the bucolic life and luscious garden commandant Rudolf Höss and his wife Hedwig have built at the gates of Auschwitz.
—The Holdovers
If I had to define this movie in one sentence I’d say it is like being given a warm coat and a hot drink when you’ve been out in the cold for far too long. I absolutely enjoyed witnessing the blossoming bond between the classics teacher played by Paul Giammatti and his student played Dominic Sessa, two misfits that find in each other someone who finally accepts them for who they are. Stellar performances by the two of them as well as Da’Vine Joy Randolph and very much deserved Oscar nominations.
—American Fiction
I’ve mentioned this movie above when talking about Erasure, the novel on which is based, so I’ll just tell you that since the moment I saw the trailer at the cinema I knew I’d love it. I watched it once, read the novel, watched the movie again and I am glad this little gem exists and it’s a comedy with depth on one of my favourite topics: can you really mantain your creative integrity if it is the cause of your lack of commercial success? As with The Holdovers well deserved Oscar nominations. This year is a tough one, I wish everyone could win.
—Argylle
This movie has terrible reviews but it also has Henry Cavill (at least for a few minutes) so when I saw the trailer I knew I’d be buying a ticket no matter the one-star reviews, which I find a bit harsh and at odds with the experience I had. Everyone in my session laughed several times throughout and overall enjoyed the film, which is meant to be lighthearted and not a mindblowing take on the spy genre. The movie could have done with a bit of editing and more polished visual effects, but that’s my only criticism. The story has twists and turns (some more predictable than others) that keep you interested and it achieves what Hugh Grant thinks is the ultimate goal of any movie: it entertains and helps you forget about the world for a bit.
—Dune Part I
The first time I heard about Dune was via someone I followed on Instagram who was reading the novel. It sounded totally uninteresting and weird sci-fi stuff so I forgot about it and I was therefore oblivious to the hype around a new movie adaptation. But fast forward to that interview I’ve mentioned above and the passion from Denis Villeneuve and something shifted. I then got a copy of the novel, read the first 20 pages and I thought “This shit is real good.” And that’s how I ended up super excited to be able to watch Dune Part I at the cinema as it’s been re-released for special screenings ahead of Dune Part II in March.
What did I think of Dune Part I? I was obsessed about the cinematography and the detail that has gone into the visual effects, which are both extraordinary. Hardly surprising Dune won Oscar awards in both categories. I was mesmerised by the world of Dune, into which I was immersed whithin 5 minutes thanks to the performances (that upcoming Oscar cast award should be retroactive and Dune should get one), the excellent choice of an ancient future setting to ground the sci-fi narrative into familiar spaces and the brilliant and otherwordly score by Hans Zimmer (Oscar winner for Best Score).
Everything in Dune works in a way I hadn’t anticipated and I walked out of the cinema thinking of The Iliad (apparently I’m not the first one) as this is a story of epic scale. Glad Dune Part I was newly added on Netflix so I could watch it all over again when I got home.
— I’ve been to the Royal Opera House for a performance of La Bohème with Angela Gheorghiu, whom I’ve seen previously in Tosca and La Traviata as well as in the role of Mimi along with ex-husband Roberto Alagna. Despite her fame as a diva she captured the audience as she sang the first notes of Sì, mi chiamano Mimì and we forgot about the opera superstar and could only see the poor seamstress whose most treasured possession is the first April sunlight.
— The other Puccini opera I’ve been to see at the ROH recently is Tosca. Everything as expected although I noticed the public was a bit cold and there was no ovation after E lucevan le stelle, which usually gets a round of applause even if there’s not a pause for it. Perhaps the audience wasn’t as enraptured as I was that day. In any case, it remains one of the most beautiful odes to life and love ever composed.
— I’ve been listening to Bob Marley’s classics ahead of going to see Bob Marley: One Love today and as a result I’ve discovered a new favourite song:
— Last but not least, Flowers by Miley Cyrus has received the Record of the Year Award at the Grammys. A much deserved accolade as Flowers became the highest earning song on Spotify in 2023 as it was the most streamed song of the year, the first solo song by a female artist to have topped the UK charts for 10 weeks, and the song’s video was the most watched music video of 2023.
I loved Miley’s power look and performance during the award ceremony. Her voice is so rich and full of character (and great for rock). Since I can’t find a video of the Grammy’s performance, here’s Miley from the comfort of her home with another killer live performance of Flowers:
—I managed to see the exhibition Rebel: 30 years of fashion at the Design Museum, which closed on 11th February.
It was a great retrospective on the birth of modern British fashion and how the New Generation programme was instrumental in supporting emerging fashion designers such as Alexander McQueen (whose Taxi Driver collection was on show) but also ROKSANDA, ERDEM, Labrum London and Simone Rocha. There were iconic pieces on show, such as the Björk swan dress (it has its own Wikipedia entry)
The exhibition highlighted how the London cultural scene (in particular the clubs of the early 90s) attracted young designers and influenced some of their early creations. Once in London, many designers found themselves gravitating towards each other, living and working in close proximity in East London as a way to nurture and feed off that creative energy that had lured them to follow their dreams here.
—I’ve finally visited Leighton House, the studio-home of eminent Victorian painter Frederic Leighton, who was president of the Royal Academy until his death.
Like the British designers of the 90s, Victorian artists also liked to live in close quarters and so Leighton House happened to be at the epicentre of the Holland Park Circle. To say this place is a work of art is an understatement. It is the perfect home I’d love to have if I ever could aspire to such a thing, but the most I can afford is a toy Barbie Dreamhouse so I’d have to make do with looking at the pictures I took during my visit. Leighton’s home reminded me of the Moroccan riads which are built to look modest from the outside so no one can imagine the riches on the inside. Standing in the Arab Hall I found myself transported to the harem rooms in Topkapi Palace despite being fully aware my immediate surroundings were those of Holland Park.
Leighton’s studio is simply breathtaking and, following a recent renovation, the winter studio is now also accessible, which is flooded by natural daylight and it offers a great view over the garden. And while we’re on this note, Leighton’s masterpiece Flaming June is returning to London for a limited time and it will be exhibited at the Royal Academy from 17th February.
— Merely a 10 minute walk from Leighton House there’s Sambourne House, former home of Punch magazine illustrator Linley Sambourne, who relocated to the area to be close to the nascent artist community around Holland Park.
If Leighton House is an ode to beautiful and luminous spaces, Sambourne house verges on Victorian horror vacui. The house contains a number of Sambourne’s illustrations plus a very informative display on how Sambourne later became interested in photography and how the bathroom doubled as a dark room. There were some elements of the house -especially the entrance hall- that reminded me of my great-grandmother’s home (built in the early 1900s and therefore with a similar aesthetic) and I became quite nostalgic thinking how that house had been demolished to build a new home, more functional and in line with contemporary living, for one of my aunts.
On my way out of Sambourne house, a place that has remained stuck in time in a street lined up with identical terraced houses on the outside but which have undergone expensive renovations on the inside according to contemporary living and tastes, I thought about how difficult it is to understand the importance of preserving the past for future generations when we are condemned to live in the present.
Abroad is an independent publication about identity and belonging, living in between cultures and languages, the love of books, music, films, creativity, life in London, and being human in the age of artificial intelligence.
Wow! Such great suggestions, cultural news and insightful reviews here Cristina- I feel very honoured to be included in your reading list.