#6 Culture Fix
Excellent women, a lot of drug dealing and Ryan Gosling's Oscar-worthy performance
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.
This edition of The Culture Fix is packed with recommendations, or as Substack calls it “too long to read on email” so you may want to open it on the Substack app or website.
Since the last edition of The Culture Fix a lot has happened.
To begin with I’ve been ill (mounting stress that led to a cold that culminated with feeling like shit for the best of the last ten days) which accounts for why The Culture Fix didn’t go out last week. Or any other writing for that matter.
Luckily for you, and for me, also other things have happened since the last issue of these cultural round-ups. To begin with, it’s been World Book Day, International Women’s Day and the Oscars. And if that weren’t enough, there are a few new subscribers to Abroad (hello, welcome and thanks!) as a direct result of the last edition of my cultural ramblings.
With that in mind, I thought this issue of The Culture Fix should be a belated celebration of International Women’s Day and International World Book Day, two occasions I reflected on here before stress and viruses took hold of me.
Before getting the proceedings started, let me take a moment to share with you my favourite bits from the Oscars ceremony:
Cillian Murphy winning Best Actor for Oppenheimer (now the Peaky Blinders movie will say “with Academy Award Winner Cillian Murphy”)
Ryan Gosling and that extraordinary “I’m Just Ken” performance that stole the show and proved 1) Barbie has already become a modern classic 2) Ryan Gosling is an incredibly committed actor and a true comedy master 3) We are ready for more of Ken. Looking forward to seeing him and Emily Blunt in the upcoming The Fall Guy after seeing the two presenting at the Oscars and put an end to the Barbenheimer era.
Da’Vine Joy Randolph’s Best Supporting Actress acceptance speech about being seen and accepting yourself for who you are. A moving message that was both personal and universal like all great speeches are.
Short reads
— Please read and share Mia Freedman excellent Why can’t we go for a f***ing run? a piece that rings too close to home as I’m tired of reading that every time a girl or a woman is raped (and possibly murdered afterwards) it’s somehow their own fault.
— Some great recommendations on books and women writing on Substack courtesy of haunting the staircase
— I’ve enjoyed reading lyz take on Poor Things in her piece Building a woman from scratch
— In between coughing and sneezing, Alex Dobrenko` account of the time he was hired to play in a murder mystery has offered much needed comic relief
— Is Substack really 'The Great Escape' from social media? by Nicola Washington
— How choreographer Mandy Moore harnessed the Kenergy for “I’m Just Ken” Oscars performance
— Theo James on fame, Guy Ritchie and the actor’s hustle
Books
— Un Amor by Sara Mesa
It took less than a day to devour Sara Mesa’s acclaimed novel about Nat, a woman that relocates to a small village in the middle of nowhere hoping to find peace of mind, and the people that she crosses paths with and how she ends up entagled in mysterious power plays that make her question who she really is at her core. I’m also intrigued by Isabel Coixet’s adaptation, which I hope it makes it to the UK soon.
— How to Think Like a Woman by Regan Penaluna
Penaluna weaves memoir with history of philosophy and biography to highlight the work of four women: Mary Astell, Damaris Cudworth Masham, Catharine Cockburn and Mary Wollstonecraft. During her graduate studies Penaluna started to wonder why she was never taught about the works of any female philosophers and why, even in a discipline that she presumed put intelligence above all else, women were considered inferior to men, not only by almost every philosopher in history but also by her own professors.
This book is Penaluna’s attempt at righting that wrong and proving that women have been great thinkers and just as concerned, if not more than men, about the purpose of one’s life perhaps because historically they have faced more limitations to realise their potential.
“To imagine that our Souls were given us only for the service of our Bodies, and that the best improvement we can make of these, is to attract the eyes of men. We value them too much, and our selves too little, if we place any part of our worth in their Opinion.”
Mary Astell already slayed back in the XVII century.
Series
— The Gentlemen. I wondered whether this series was necessary when the movie it’s based on it’s a) very good and b) very new. Considering that I’m on my third rewatch, it’s safe to say I’m glad it exists and can’t wait for season 2. Think Peaky Blinders meets Saltburn and wrap the mix in dark humour and a good dose of violence. The main criticism I’ve read is that it’s more of what Guy Ritchie has already done, but not having seen many of his films, The Gentlemen feels fresh and ticks all the boxes for me: great leads (Theo James and Kaya Scodelario shine), great dialogue, great setting, great supporting characters. I love that Susie Glass (played by Scodelario) is the one who wears the business trousers in this criminal underworld where she rules with intelligence and empathy but without sentimentality. As a side note, I’ve realised Theo James looks a lot like an ex-boyfriend. The resemblance is uncanny but probably also the reason why I’m on my third rewatch.
— Griselda. I told you this edition had a feminist twist, so enter Sofia Vergara and Griselda, a fearsome drugladay of the 90s that even Pablo Escobar was intimidated by. Powerful, intelligent and fearless, Griselda is ready to do what it takes to provide for her family and keep her cocaine empire afloat. This is a very gripping series thanks to Vergara’s command of the lead character and I loved seeing her act in Spanish as well as her producing the series to be able to give opportunities to fellow Spanish-speaking actors to help them get ahead in the industry.
— Family Business. I can’t talk about drug-dealing series withoug mentioning a favourite of mine that came to mind as soon as I finished the first episode of The Gentlemen. This French comedy sees a Parisian butcher and wannabe entrepreneur and his family become unexpected weed dealers when the matriarch of the family turns out to have a talent for cultivating a powerful blend that sells like fire. Add in the mix the French bourgeoisie in the form of the aloof and emotionally unstable daughter of the Health Secretary and the fun is served for three seasons.
Films & Documentaries
— Red Island. This coming-of-age story directed by Robin Campillo is inspired by his own childhood in Madagascar in the 1970s. Although the island had declared independence in 1960, France still had military bases on the ground, making it a dream destination for France army officers and their families, like the protagonists of Campillo’s Red Island. Quim Gutiérrez and Nadia Tereszkiewicz play the protagonist couple and the parents of Thomas (interpreted by Charlie Vauselle), a curious eight-year-old through whose eyes the story is mostly told. Through Thomas we get to spy on the lives of the adults that surround him as well as on his family life, but most importantly we’re let into the high emotions that run across the island when the French residents’ time in Madagascar comes to an abrupt end as the country is embracing its newfound independence and transitioning towards its own version of adulthood.
— Drive-Away Dolls. Was this very chaotic? Yes. Was it good fun? Also yes. The trailer of this film, directed by Ethan Coen, is already quite telling but if you venture to the cinema to watch the whole 84 minutes of it, don’t go with any high expectations. During the last 25 minutes the story starts getting so improbable in reaching its conclusion that you can’t help but laugh out loud because by then you’re already too deep into it. And truth be told I really enjoyed that this is a female take of the same weirdness and absurdity we’ve been fed for decades by male-led casts and that we finally get to see that girls just wanna have fun in all sorts of ways. And shapes.
— Shirley. Regina King leads this biopic on Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman to run for president. The film focuses on her 1972 campaign and the different hurdles Chisholm faced, including. While the storytelling of Shirley is a bit formulaic, and given the complexity of the historical period and the character this could have worked better as a limited series, the end of the film includes real footage and short clips from people who both opposed Chisholm and worked alongside her in the campaign and who recognised the impact she had on them to go after their own dreams and political ambitions.
— Robot Dreams. Robot Dreams entered my radar when I watched an interview with Pablo Berger at my favourite film/series podcast. His adaptation of Sara Varon’s comic has won him a Goya for Best Animation Film and an Oscar nomination in the same category. It’s a very moving and heartwarming story about loneliness, friendship, loss, the fragility of relationships and being happy for others finding their own happiness. By the end of this film I shed a few tears. And I wasn’t the only one.
— Four Daughters. Director Kaouther Ben Hania weaves in dramatisation with memories to great effect to tell the story of how the lives of Olfa Hamrouni and her four daughters, two of which joined the Islamic state. We learn how their lives have been impacted by patriarchal structures in conservative Tunisia, the Arab spring and finally the rise of fundamentalism, leading to Rahma and Ghofrane becoming radicalised and the impact this has on Olfa and her younger daughters, Tayssir and Eya. Heartbreaking, highly emotional but at times also unexpectedly very funny, this is one of my cultural highlights of the year so far.
— High & Low: John Galliano. Kevin Macdonald sets the tone of this excellent documentary by opening with the anti-semitic episode that saw Galliano fired from Dior. An incident that gets explored at length, as well as his rise to fame thanks to his extraordinary creative genius and the high-pressure environment in which Galliano operated when he was at his peak as creative director at Dior.
But Macdonald also pays attention to how the bubble in which the designer lived burst when his right-hand and longtime friend Steven Robinson was found dead in 2007, which accelerated the downward self-destructive spiral into which Galliano seemed to be living. In the era of cancel culture, this documentary reminds us of the importance of redemption and forgiveness but also of the role loved ones play in supporting a person in a challenging time when the rest of world has turned against them.
Theatre
— The Motive and The Cue. Broadway, 1964. Sir John Gielgud is to direct Richard Burton in Hamlet… except the rehearsals are not going as planned. Directed by Sam Mendes with Mark Gatiss as Sir John Gielgud, Johnny Flynn as Richard Burton and Tuppence Middlenton as Elizabeth Taylor, the play focuses on the behind-the-scenes mounting tensions and creative differences between Gielgud and Burton during the rehearsals of the Broadway production of Hamlet in 1964. Gielgud and Burton butt heads over their vision of theatre, why they do what they do, whether it has any meaning and whether they can make any difference to reinterpreting a character and a play that has been played and directed thousands of times before.
Eventually the characters find common ground and put their differences aside when they realise they both want the same thing: to imprint their personal mark on posterity.
I saw the play at the Noëll Coward Theatre, where Sir John Gielgud played his famous Hamlet in 1929 -which is referenced throughout the play- but if you live in the UK you can enjoy The Motive and the Cue through National Theatre Live.
— Thanks to my friend Miguel -who has complained that a) I’m not very critical as I like most movies and b) he’s not yet made an appearance in these cultural roundups- I’ve discovered the NYT Book Review podcast as he shared with me this episode as I really enjoyed American Fiction as well as Erasure, the novel on which the movie is based.
— A couple of weeks ago The Guardian did one of its usual “10 best songs of…” This time it was the turn of Gwen Stefani and No Doubt.
I have a soft spot for both as I knew by heart No Doubt’s first album and Stefani’s solo music was the soundtrack of my time in the US. To my surprise, The Guardian’s ranking has left out a classic among classics that was played at every radio station, frat party, sorority party, regular house party, car, bar, coffee shop, gas station and anywhere where music could be played in 2007.
Because I was in the office at the time of reading the ranking, I felt I had to play the Sweet Escape as I left for a bit of fresh air and a taste of freedom.
Besides singing along to the very catchy “woo hoo” of the Sweet Escape chorus for the past two weeks, I’ve also been revisiting of all my favourite Gwen Stefani’s tracks and I can’t believe What You Waiting For? was written 20 years ago. It feels as fresh and relevant today as it did when Stefani penned the lyrics about the uncertainty of starting a solo career and the fear of being a fraud.
If you’re being afflicted by the same creative doubts, do yourself a favour and play on repeat this song. If needed watch the full extended video for further stimulation.
— An Afternoon with Sayaka Murata | 8th April at Foyles, Charing Cross
Calling all fans of Japanese contemporary fiction: Sayaka Murata, one of Japan’s most interesting writers in my humble opinion, will be discussing her work with writer and critic Max Liu in London next week. Tickets are still available through Foyles’ website.
— The Cult of Beauty at The Wellcome Collection | Until 28th April - Free
I pass in front of the Wellcome Collection every week on the bus on my way home from the office so this exhibition has been on my radar for a while and I’m planning to visit it over Easter. I’ve been to some previous exhibitions at the Wellcome Collection and it’s incredible that given the thought and curation they are free, so if you happen to live in London or be around before 28th April it can be a great free plan.
— Angelica Kauffman Exhibition at the Royal Academy | Until 30th June
On my “cultural to-do list” there’s also this exhibition on one of history’s most prominent female painters who found fame in London and was one of the founding members of the Royal Academy.
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.
ah thank you for the mention!! <3 <3