Friday Five: TV I've Been Watching

Here is the latest in the sporadic round-up of TV programs I've been watching. I've got a running list for the past 18 months or so, so here is a list of a few of them over in alphabetical order. 

Five TV Shows I've Been Watching:

1. Beckham (Netflix) - You simply couldn't avoid the hype for this Netflix documentary about the golden couple. As it was aimed at an American audience, I was concerned that it wouldn't cover the actual football, which was the part in which I was interested. David Beckham was a global star because he was attractive, married a Spice Girl, and had an uncanny ability to advertise in all the right places. I knew him as a phenomenal footballer, for whom the category of 'most assists' was invented, who went from a louche kid reviled by the English press for 'losing us the World Cup' to the much-beloved captain of the national team two years later, and who, with his absolutely magical Man Utd. 'class of '92' team of  dominated the local pitch when I lived in Manchester. It's all there. The words of wife Victoria, as she deals with his obsessive behaviour and passion (she claims that she still doesn't like football) are an added bonus, giving great depth to the analysis of an icon. 
2. Brassic (ABC iview) - Originally filmed in Bacap, a bunch of friends in a fictional Lancashire town, sort of led by Vincent 'Vinnie' O'Neill (Joe Gilgun - also co-creator), a disturbed young man with bipolar disorder who lives alone in a shack in the woods. His quick-witted confidence, eccentric intensity and great depth of compassion leads to a number of friendships with an odd collective including Dylan (Damian Molony) and Erin (Michelle Keegan). The group commit various petty crimes to get a bit of cash, but many of them begin to wonder if there may be more to life beyond the town. Dominic West has a great cameo role as Vinnie's GP with the worst professional manner you've ever seen. Lucy Mangan of the Guardian wrote, "It is a hilarious, warm, brutal mélange that works because it has heart without sentimentality and authenticity without strain."



3. La revolución (Netflix) - It's based around the time just before the French Revolution where the aristocracy have literally got blue blood and have to drink the blood of the peasants to stay alive, thus upsetting the social order. They range from glamorous and conflicted to cruel and twisted. Fortunately, Joseph Ignace Guillotine, discovers the virus and has a potential cure up his sleeve - he just needs to keep his head on his shoulders (other puns are available). Total preposterous nonsense with glorious period costumes and a gothic/ noir style cinematography. I really enjoyed, but Netflix apparently didn't as it was cancelled after one season.
4. Super Pumped (Stan) - The story of American rideshare start-up company Uber is not pretty. There is rampant capitalism, pursuit of growth at all costs, a vile frat-boy misogynistic culture, and a complete lack of empathy for anyone or anything that gets in the way of making millions. It is narrated by Quentin Tarantino and the part of CEO and slime on a stick, Travis Kalanick, is played to perfection by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Uma Thurman has a star-turn as the right-wing mentor, which makes a change from the men in polo necks and loafers trope. The whole thing is flashy and entertaining and so crammed full of macho-bullshit that it makes me happy to be a peasant.
5. The Virtues (Stan) - I really think it's time that Stephen Graham got to play a happy role - one where he isn't an alcoholic with a deeply troubled past who loses his kids because he's an unreliable parent. Meanwhile, he's in this miniseries drama from 2019 co-written and directed by Shane Meadows in which he plays Jospeh, an alcoholic with a deeply troubled past who loses his kids because he's an unreliable parent. It also features Niamh Algar, Helen Behan, Frank Laverty and Niamh Cusack. After a horrifically-well directed drinking binge, Joseph uses the last of his money to return to his estranged sister in Ireland, thereby unearthing traumatic incidents which he has repressed from his memory. The Virtues is a powerful and bruising story that examines the sacrosanctity of the parent/child relationship and the horrific effects that abuse can cause for many years to follow, like the ripples caused by a stone thrown into a stagnant pond.

Entry-Level Feminism by the Book: A Month of Sundays

Four people who have met as part of an on-line book group take a month to go to a cottage in the Blue Mountains to talk about books – what bliss! When the club set out ten years ago, there were more members, but over the years the numbers decreased, leaving these four women who still had their regular meeting via Skype. Although they have been part of the book club for ten years, they have never met in person before, so this is the perfect opportunity to get to know each other.

Adele, who has organised it (and everything else), suggests they each chose a book, “that will tell us all something significant about you. Be prepared to be honest about why you have chosen it and why it matters to you. This makes it more than just a suggested read, it is an invitation from each one of us to the others to get to know each other better.” They will then discuss the book, but of course, “it’s true that we all bring something of ourselves to what we read” so they learn more about each other as the book progresses.

They are all reaching retirement age so they have the luxury of time, and they can indulge in self-reflection and learn more about female friendship and feminism, which they might not have thought was right for them when they first encountered its concepts. In that regard, it is frustrating to read, like listening to a group of grandmothers explaining how it was not like that in their day.

Judy runs a knitting shop but feels overwhelmed with the business; Ros comes with a dog called Clooney and a dead husband, James, who died jumping off a bus and she has yet to come to terms with it. She also has Parkinson’s disease, about which she is in denial. Lastly Simone does yoga and seems to have it all together, until she discovers she has a long-lost sister who was the result of a hitherto unknown relationship of her father.

Other reviewers have been coy about mentioning the books discussed in case it ruins the suspense of the story. It doesn’t. They are Tirra Lirra by the River by Jessica Anderson, Sacred Country by Rose Tremain, Truth and Beauty by Ann Patchett, and Unless by Carol Shields. These are all celebrated and acclaimed novelists. They are also all white, Western and middle class. That’s definitely the territory in which we find ourselves. For all that the characters have their dramas and personal experiences, there is little variety or plot in this novel. They plod on and hopefully find friendship, learning better late than never that women can support each other and they don’t have to fit into society’s expectations. Their reference points are Helen Reddy’s I Am Woman and Julia Gillard’s misogyny speech.

Society has changed a lot more than they know, and if they take refuge in a cutesy Blue Mountain town to talk to like-minded people about their social epiphanies, they will probably never develop past the pages of a book. Maybe they don’t want to, and that’s fine, but it’s not a journey on which most women would choose to embark, having been past the point way before.