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Storythings Media Buffet 2021
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Hi All,
For the final newsletter of 2021, we wanted to share with you a selection of the films TV, books and podcasts the team at Storytings has feasted on this year.
I noticed a few things about my habits whilst writing this. When I don't go to the cinema I don't tend to watch many films. Also, a lot of the documentaries I watch or listen to are about people who do smart things with music. A lot of the books I read are about people who do smart things with words. It's been fun putting it together and I hope you enjoy it.
Thanks to all our readers, subscribers and clients for your support this year. If you'd like to speak about working with us in 2022 we'd love to hear from you.
Have a fabulous Christmas,
Hugh, Matt, Anjali, Darren, Emily, Eden, Grace and Emma.
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Films
Hugh's viewing:
Promising Young Woman (A)
Carey Mulligan is excellent
The Velvet Underground (B+)
Beautifully made and a great soundtrack of course
Tina (B)
Great life story and a sensational comeback. Totally forgot the role Heaven 17 played in her comeback.
Mauritanian (B)
Gripping stuff.
Billie Eilish: The World's A Little Blurry (A)
Got to know more about her and her family, which made me love her, and them, even more.
Coming 2 America (C+)
C’mon. It was lockdown.
Matt's viewing:
The French Dispatch
Because I am that cliche of a Wes Anderson fan. But so are my family, and we went to see it together in a lovely indie cinema in Lewes that only had about 50 seats. So that makes me even more of a Wes Anderson fan cliche. But who cares - there's so much love and craft in the film, you can't not like it.
Billie Eilish: The World's A Little Blurry
Again, I watched this with my family, in particular my youngest daughter, who loves Billie. I love music docs in general, but this is a particularly good insight into what modern fame actually feels like for the people caught up in it. And she's still only 19. I hope she stays strong and keeps good people around her.
Grace's viewing
The pandemic has massively increased my media intake, but it has also warped my sense of time. Did we first meet Joe Exotic this year, or — more likely — has he always been with us? How is it that new seasons of Selling Sunset arrive like plates on a sushi conveyor belt? Nobody ordered it, but I will keep eating it.
The French Dispatch (C)
I’m a Wes Anderson fan from way back, but I was so bored!
Promising Young Woman (A+)
This movie surprised me so many times, and I want to see it again!
Emily's viewing
Barb and Star go to Vista Del Mar (C)
This is a total (and in some ways totally awful) fluorescent riot of a film. The plot’s terrible but the comedy is great. Jamie Dornan sings to seagulls. There’s a brilliant sketch about a woman called Trish. There’s killer mosquitos, banana boats and fishbowl cocktails. It’s exactly the weird escapism about friendship I needed this year.
Joan Didion: The Centre Will Not Hold (B)
This was made in 2017, but I only got around to watching it this year. It’s a great documentary about one of America’s stars of journalism and letters. I’ve always loved her writing, if sometimes feeling conflicted about it, so it was about time I made time for this.
Tove (A)
I’ve always loved Tove Jansson and this is a quiet and beautiful imagining of her life, friendships and relationships.
TV
Hugh's viewing:
Landscapers (A+)
Not what I was expecting. Huge respect for finding a new way of doing true-crime drama. It could have easily rested on that star talent to carry this but opted to try something different. It really paid off.
Below Deck Mediterranean Season 6 (C-)
Disappointing season considering such a high benchmark set by previous seasons. Malia and Sandy are too good.
Morning Show, Season 2 (C)
All over the place but somehow found myself unable to not enjoy it.
Impeachment: American Crime Story (B)
Better than the OJ series. Not quite as good as the Versace series. Still watching.
Mare of Easttown (B+)
Good to see Kate Winslet with dirt under her fingernails.
It’s a Sin (A+)
Everything about it was brilliant. Except for the odd casting of Neil Patrick Harris.
Ted Lasso Season 2 (C-)
Doesn't quite do it for me. I know it’s nice and kind and the world needs that. But it's really cheesy, right?
Stath Lets Flats Season 3 (B)
It’s not for everyone. But I do love it.
Get Back (A+)
I'm still looking forward to a time when I can watch it again.
Lovers Rock (A+)
Part of Steve McQueen's Small Axe collection, this stayed with me for days after watching it. The full 9 minutes of 'Silly Games' was one of my favourite pieces of TV this year.
Matt's viewing:
The Great
Absolutely filthy and riotous 'almost true' story about Catherine the Great's rise to Empress of Russia. Everyone involved in this series looks like they're having the best time, and there are at least two laugh-out-loud moments and two utterly gruesome moments in each episode. Which is probably quite an accurate depiction of life in Russia at the time.
Dickinson
A bit like The Great, this takes a historical character, and runs wild with the truth, giving you instead a more intimate and visceral sense of what her life would be like. Haille Steinfeld is fantastic as Emily Dickinson, but the whole series is great.
Taskmaster
If you aren't already a fan of Taskmaster, go to All4 and binge the entire lot. It's difficult to overestimate how hard it is to keep a good format like this running, especially one that demands such high levels of creativity with the tasks every season. But the real magic is not just the tasks, but the casting - they have to make sure the dynamics between the contestants, the Taskmaster and Alex Horne are finely balanced every series, otherwise it would fall flat by week two. The fact they manage to curate such great teams is a testament to the really difficult skills involved in making TV.
Loki and Wandavision
I'll lump these together as part of Marvel/Disney's expansion of the MCU into tv series as well as films. It could have backfired, and 'Falcon and the Winter Soldier' wasn't a good start, but these two series took the whole universe into new realms. Quite literally. More than just 'fan service' TV, these two series stretched the formats of TV drama into completely new shapes. Especially Wandavision, which literally used US TV history as a location.
Succession (A++)
I resisted watching Succession when it first came out, as I didn't think I wanted to watch horrible rich people being horrible to each other. How wrong I was. You don't need someone else telling you how good the writing and acting are, but I'm going to tell you again anyway. It is THAT good. I thought Season 3 was a bit slow to start, but the payoff at the very end of the last episode was like watching a grandmaster play chess. Utterly superb.
Anjali's viewing
Squid Game (C)
In theory this encapsulates everything wrong with the world and people: income inequality, violence, mind games, greed. But for someone like me who last watched Battle Royale as a teenager, Squid Game was strangely compelling. It's not wholesome viewing at all though.
The Bold Type (Seasons 1-4) (A-)
This isn't a new show, but I finally got down to watching the whole thing and found myself binging on it. Leave aside the sex and relationships, and it actually tackles in a decent manner a fair few themes, through the lens of three best friends working in a New York women's magazine: breast cancer, sexual identity, political affiliations, cancel culture, the relationship between parent and child, the power of a strong career mentor, religion in a polarised America (and world). I hear Season 5, already out in the US, isn't as good, but I'll bide my time.
The World's Most Amazing Vacation Rentals (B)
I do love a travel show, like most people. This show has a slightly different take from most: it sends three people (a real estate agent, a travel writer/content creator and a DIY designer and YouTuber) as a team to three places linked by a theme (think treehouses, gourmet stays, boats) in each episode. Each house suits a different budget: the budget backpacker, people who love unique stays, and the luxurious, get-out-of-your-mind rich option. Apart from the stunning scenery in each episode, I waited to see how different the options would be, and usually they didn't disappoint. At the end of each, the three hosts would choose their favourite - but boringly, they usually chose the luxurious option (because who will say they don't like their own beachfront villa on a private island with liveried staff in the middle of an azure blue sea?).
Grace's viewing
Selling Sunset many seasons (B+)
Having watched “The Hills” in my younger years, I’m exactly the right audience for this show. Browsing Zillow is how I travel in the pandemic; this is beautiful, silly escapism.
The Queen’s Gambit (B+)
For one weekend, we all thought about picking up chess. I enjoyed seeing all the Berlin filming locations standing in for Paris, Moscow and Cincinnati.
You, Season 3 (B)
This show is so deranged, but I love it, especially after visiting Los Angeles for the first time this summer.
Emily's viewing
Below Deck (C)
Yeah thanks Hugh for introducing me to this through Formats Unpacked and now I’ve lost count of how many hours I’ve wasted at sea. Actually, not wasted, I’ve loved every minute and it just proves how utterly addictive good formats can be.
The Pursuit of Love (A)
I love the Nancy Mitford book so I was destined to love this Emily Mortimer scribed adaptation. It’s visually stunning, paced brilliantly, brilliantly cast, so sad (I cried even though I knew what was going to happen), and the clothes are to die for. And it’s about friendship again. This seems to be a bit of a theme with me this year.
Podcasts
Hugh's listening:
The Skewer (A+)
Weekly news stories twisted and remixed in the most brilliant way. How they turn this around in a couple of days is beyond me.
Sideways (B)
Matthew Syed’s podcast on ideas is always an interesting listen.
Sodajerker (B+)
Two scouse lads somehow get to interview the world's greatest songwriters about their process.
Rockonteurs (B)
Similar to the above only they don’t get as good guests, despite one of the hosts being in Spandau Ballet and in Pink Floyd.
Eden's Listening
Everyday Decisions with Jo Firestone
This podcast recently came to my attention and I just love Jo’s enthusiasm and deep concern for the choices her guests make in the 24 hours before the filming of the podcast and the routines they keep. There’s something very comforting in getting to know who is a good sleeper and who eats not one, but two packets of instant oatmeal (the maple brown sugar flavour) every single morning without fail.
Grace's Listening
Maintenance Phase (A)
This hilarious duo debunks the junk science behind health and wellness fads like Olestra, celery juice and snake oil.
Bad Blood: The Final Chapter (A+)
John Carreyrou, who broke Theranos scandal in the Wall Street Journal, revisits the whole story while following Elizabeth Holmes’ trial.
Bad Bets (A)
This compelling reported podcast from WSJ digs into the fall of Enron, which fits perfectly in the modern library of scams.
Emily's listening
Hattie Crisell’s In Writing (A)
I don’t listen to many podcasts unlike the rest of Storythings. But this one I love. It’s all about the craft and joy of writing and Hattie is a brilliant interviewer. I’ve listened to the episode with George Saunders about five times.
Books
Hugh's reading:
I Wanna Be Yours - John Cooper Clarke (B+)
The Mancunian poet’s autobiography is long. But lots of hilarious stories and brilliantly written. "I've often been compared to Dylan - 'Compared to Dylan you're not very good.'"
How to Make the World Add Up - Tim Harford (B+)
Tim doing what he does so well - making statistics interesting, clear and useful.
The Status Game - Will Storr (B)
Will is a great writer and this really made me look at status in a new way, particularly how we crave it in so many aspects of our lives.
And Away - Bob Mortimer (A)
A lovely book. A little sad at times. Bob’s journey from solicitor to national comedy treasure is a great story.
Everything I Know About Life I Learned From Powerpoint - Russell Davies (A+)
Just read it.
Legendary Children - Lorenzo Marquez and Tom Fitzgerald (B)
One of 4 books I read on the subject of drag this year. This is probably best for the casual reader though.
365 Ways to Have a Good Day - Ian Sanders (B)
I'm still working my way through this one day at a time. But so far, very good.
First You Write a Sentence - Joe Moran (B+)
As regular readers will know, I need all the writing advice I can get. You may in time thank me for reading this. As the book says "A sentence should be a labour to write, not read." I'm still working on it.
Before and Laughter - Jimmy Carr (C)
I bought this hoping for insights on how he structures jokes and ended up with a load of self-help platitudes.
Conflicted - Ian Leslie (B)
A good read on where conflict goes right and wrong.
Anjali's reading
Poles Apart - Alison Goldsworthy, Alexandra Chesterfield and Laura Osborne (A+)
Full disclosure: Alison is a friend, but her debut book with co-authors Alexandra and Laura about the increasing polarisation we are seeing across the world is really worth a read. The authors have significant experience in politics, academia, campaigning, communications and behavioural science between them, so getting an insight into how human behaviour, economics and politics affects how polarised we can be, and how that then affects everything from our friendships to our health, feels like being spoken to by people who really care about outcomes.
Grace's reading
Girl A - Abigail Dean (A)
Highly inspired by the Turpin case, where siblings were imprisoned and abused by their parents for years, this book was heartbreaking.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - Taylor Jenkins Reid (A+)
I love Reid’s way of building fully believable cultural worlds — her newest, “Malibu Rising,” exists in this same universe.
Several People Are Typing - Calvin Kasulke (A)
This entire book is told in Slack messages — I found it absolutely hilarious, though people in corporate jobs might find it triggering.
Crying in H Mart - Michelle Zauner (A)
Can’t tell you how many times I cried reading this memoir of a woman examining her relationship with her Korean mother.
Carrie - Stephen King (A+)
I am not into horror and had never read King’s work before. Everybody knows how Carrie ends, just like “Titanic,” but the suspense was incredible! This King guy really seems like he’s going places.
Emily's reading
Not Quite Right for Us (A)
This is a fantastic collection of essays, stories and poems about the sense of being on the outside, and a celebration of otherness. It’s from Speaking Volumes, one of the best literature organisations in the UK in my opinion.
Nadifa Mohamed ‘The Fortune Men’ (A)
Brutal, shocking, uncomfortable, necessary. It’s about a Somali seaman wrongfully imprisoned and executed in 1950s Cardiff. It’s about race, injustice, broken societies, poverty but also love. This Booker-shortlisted novel has sat with me since I read it. I just can’t shake it off. Take a deep breath and read it
.Nell Dunn: Talking to Women (A)
I return to this collection once every couple of years. First published in 1964, the author Nell Dunn interviews a group of women such as the writers Edna O’Brien and Ann Quin, and the artist Pauline Boty, over cups of tea on sofas. They talk about their lives as artists, as mothers, as wives, as feminists, as friends (there we go again - friendship). I’m underselling it. It’s one of the best collections of quiet and impactful interviews that I’ve ever read.
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We hope you've enjoyed this year's newsletters. If you've received this from a friend you can subscribe here and get it direct to your inbox every Friday.
Thanks for reading and see you all next year,
Hugh, Matt, Anjali and the team at Storythings
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