Our first love may have been the written word, but the People of LWON are also avid watchers of film and television. Here’s what has been flickering across our screens this year:
Jessa: My most moving television experience of 2019 has been the BBC and HBO co-production Years and Years. The inciting incident is that in his last days in office, an embattled and nihilistic Trump fires a nuclear weapon, precipitating an entirely believable dystopian near future. This drama series includes the amazing Rory Kinnear, whom I would watch in anything, as well as Emma Thompson in the role of a populist UK prime minister. I found the whole thing disturbing in a useful way. Do persist beyond the first episode, which feels a bit didactic.
Jenny: I’ll admit it: I love the whodunits, but I find the most popular police shows to be trite and painfully tidy (I’m looking at you, Law & Order. Dun Dun.). Recently I clicked on CRIMINAL (Netflix) and was pleased to find a short interrogation-room psychological drama, really interesting and well-acted stuff, messy like real life. And the show happens to come in four languages with four casts. The little series of 3 episodes–one in English, one in German, one in French, one in Spanish–use the same story template, and even take place on the same set. But each is its own narrative, and each lets dribble some behind-the-scenes messiness that paints the “good guys” gray. Take one miniseries as a slice of pie–nibble at it, savor it–then move on to the next for a very different flavor.
Meanwhile, if you never got around to watching Fleabag, get to it.
Cameron: I went on a cross-country airplane flight by myself this year for the first time in . . . ah. . . a decade? And I would basically recommend watching any movie, by yourself, on an airplane. It was truly delightful. I loved Booksmart, about two girls on their last night of high school. The truth is, I loved everything. I loved Yesterday, because I do remember the Beatles even though I don’t know who Ed Sheeran is. I loved The Biggest Little Farm, a documentary about a couple starting a sustainable farm. I loved The Imitation Game, which about Alan Turing (who is played by Benedict Cumberbatch). And then I also loved Mamma Mia, Here We Go Again! Seriously, I liked it so much I cried at the end. Because I was alone! On an airplane!
Emma: I like space shows, and The Expanse on Amazon is a really good one. It is set in the future and is more ‘realistic’ than the average. In particular, I love their loving attention to the physics of spaceflight and zero-gravity environments. Early seasons focus on political tensions between Earth, Mars, and the outer planets. The casting is excellent, and I live for the wardrobe of UN politico Chrisjen Avasarala. I also recommend Russian Doll on Netflix. Natasha Lyonne is wonderful as a selfish, confident, lovable woman stuck in a time loop, and the supporting cast are all compulsively watchable. Plus the entire show clocks in at less than four hours, so it is perfect for those, like me, who are basically stuck in our own time loops.
Cassie: Fleabag. Fleabag Fleabag Fleabag. Best thing I’ve watched. So I’ll enthusiastically second Jenny’s recommendation on that. (A warning: it did take me a few episodes to get over the raunch and into the show.) And then I’ll second Emma’s Russian Doll recommendation. SO GOOD. And I’ll add one original recommendation: GLOW. This Netflix series about lady wrestlers in the 1980s is so smart and entertaining. I binged. And then I finished the most recent season. And now I will remain in mourning until they release Season 4. And one final note: they released Deadwood: The Movie this year. It’s unfortunate timing. Deadwood (the series) ended in 2006. Watching the movie, I struggled to remember all the characters and their various rivalries and grievances. It made me want to re-watch the series and then re-watch the movie. So if you DO want to watch and enjoy the movie, maybe watch at least some of the series first to refresh your memory. That will also give your brain time to re-accustom itself to the odd Shakespearean dialogue.
Michelle: Almost as brilliant as Fleabag and Russian Doll is The End of the F***ing World, another coal-black comedy with a hidden sweet heart. It stars Alex Lawther’s microexpressions. May there never be a third season—the end of the second is perfect. I also really enjoyed the Criminal series: three episodes in each of four countries, all set in the same interrogation room and in front of the same coffee machine, add up to twelve very satisfying one-act plays. Right now, though, my family is passing the time before the final episode of His Dark Materials by wondering how each of our daemons would settle.
For more recommendations, here are the previous five years’ film & TV lists:
Also, Merry Christmas, LWON readers! We appreciate you.
Ooo, there are some good recommendations here. I would also add “Undone”. This tight little series is about loss, mental health, and the sci-fi(ish) plot device which I won’t discuss because SPOILERS. Don’t be put off by the fact that it is animated. The animation appears to be based in part on scans of the actors’ faces and the art style actually adds to the plot. Trust me.
One we have just started and are not yet sure about but are still intrigued by is “Better than Us” – a near-future sci-fi series on Netflix from Russia. The production values are high and the acting is superb – even the 5 or 6 yr old main character is hitting it out of the park. We’re 6 episodes in and still don’t know what’s going to happen or where the plot is going to end up.
Happy holidays, everyone! Hope you are enjoying your time with family and friends.