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Marvelous Mrs Maisel
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THE MARVELOUS MRS MAISEL
Wordle might have upset British players with the occasional Americanism, so humble apologies for anyone offended by that adjective bestowed upon a 1950s housewife-standup played by Rachel Brosnahan. Now in its fourth season (or series if you’re not happy either with the transatlantic derivation of that term), Amy Sherman-Palladino’s comedy-drama already has its characters trying to cope with more change while trying desperately to cling on to their own identity. Music-hall comic Sophie Lennon (the redoubtable Jane Lynch) is in a mental-health facility after flopping with her serious-acting career; Abe ‘Papa’ Weissman (the equally brilliant Tony Shalhoub) has ditched his life as a maths teacher to become a flighty member of the New York commentariat; and comedy manager Susie Myerson (again, a peerless turn from Alex Borstein) is looking to expand her portfolio while not losing her best pal. Mrs Maisel herself has just about come to terms with being dumped from a life-altering tour for performing material that was deemed too close to the bone. It’s all simply (sorry) marvelous . . . (Brian Donaldson)
n Amazon Prime, new episodes on Fridays. STAYING IN
In which a married couple record themselves while walking to and from the cinema. Katherine McLaughlin hears from this award-winning pair about bad Oscar choices and good wedding decor
Married couple Cathy Cullen and Dave Corkery started their multi award-winning podcast in 2017 and since then have been attracting listeners who appreciate their enthusiasm and informed opinions on the latest film releases. They chat on the way to the cinema discussing their expectations, and on exiting the film record their reactions as they walk home. The resulting podcast is utterly charming and often hilarious.
The pair met through friends while studying at University College Cork nearly 20 years ago and were married ‘quite a while back’, according to Corkery. At their wedding, each table featured a quote related to love, from movies such as Dirty Dancing, Ghostbusters and Back To TheFuture. Speaking to them following the Oscar shortlist announcements (which Cullen says they ‘take with a huge grain of salt’), the couple talk of how happy they are for Danish animated docudrama Flee’s three nominations. ‘It’s beautiful,’ says Dave, ‘a powerful and personal story with broader implications on how we as a society can dehumanise people.’
They’re both perplexed at Don’tLookUp’s inclusion in the Best Picture category. ‘Is the Oscars trolling us?’ jokes Cullen. ‘We enjoyed it but I don’t think it deserves to be there. Tick, Tick…BOOM! isn’t up for Best Picture, but Don’tLookUp is? It’s madness!’ Meanwhile, Corkery chips in: ‘I don’t understand all the hate it received; I agree that it shouldn’t be on the list, but isn’t it the most important movie to talk about due to its subject matter?’
During lockdown, the couple had to adapt their format, watching films at home and adding TV into the mix, but they say the essence of their podcast will always be about a cinema experience. ‘Our podcast is a cinema podcast, it’s not a movie podcast,’ says Corkery. ‘It’s trying to capture that anticipation of walking to a movie, and then it captures that feeling when we leave the cinema with a partner or friends and instantly dissect it on your walk home.’
They’ve recorded episodes with the likes of performance poet and actor Scroobius Pip, as well as Chris Hewitt and Helen O’Hara from TheEmpireFilmPodcast, emphasising a real community spirit at The Cinemile’s heart. ‘They said nice things about the podcast, so we invited them on and met for the first time at the cinema’, says Cullen. ‘We’re really excited to get back to that this year.’
Episodes are available at thecinemile.com
podcast s •podcast s •
t v •tv • t v •tv• BINGE FEST
Our alphabetical column on televisual viewing marathons returns with programmes beginning with the letter D
Sometimes the simplest concepts make for the best telly. Such as: let’s get some comedians tipsy and record them while they talk endless drivel about the past. Obviously, D runkH istory (NOW TV) had to be the title and among those nding their loose tongues can’t quite keep up with the truth are Romesh Ranganathan on Tutankhamun, Diane Morgan on Florence Nightingale and Joe Lycett on the Kray Twins. D eadwood (Amazon Prime) is one of those dramas that people will, from time to time, muse on whether it ended too abruptly or went out with a bang before it got stale. Either way, it’s an undeniable bundle of fun (apart from the bits that are unwatchably ghastly) with Ian McShane practically inventing cursing as the all-too perfectly named Al Swearengen while Timothy Olyphant’s Seth Bullock attempted to be a justice-abiding sheriff. (Brian Donaldson) O ther D binges: D erry G irls (All4), D aily Show (NO W TV), D etectorists (BBC iPlayer).
In this Q&A, we throw some questions about ‘firsts’ at debut authors. This month we feature Dantiel W Moniz, author of Milk Blood Heat which has been longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize
What’s the first book you remember reading as a child? Besides picture books like The Very H ungry Caterpillar or The Rainbow Fish, I think it was something by Roald Dahl. Maybe The Big Friendly G iant.
What was the first book you read that made you decide to be a writer? I think I’ve always been a writer because that’s how I engage with my own interiority and the surrounding world, but I don’t think there was one book that made me decide to be a writer, because that pathway hadn’t been reflected as a real possibility for me. I had to find support systems that allowed me to give myself permission to pursue my writing seriously. But W hite O leander by Janet Fitch did make me realise how it was possible to write, and what about.
What’s your favourite first line in a book? I don’t like to get hung up on favourite anything (colours, books, moments), but a first line that really struck me and has stayed with me is this one from Antonya Nelson’s Female Trouble, from the first story, ‘Incognito’: ‘You can live a second life under your first one, something functioning covertly like a subway beneath a city, a disease inside the flesh.’
Which debut publication had the most profound effect on you? Getting a story into Tin H ouse magazine was really a moment when I thought ‘oh, you might actually be really good at this’. Or that it was possible for other people to think that way about my work.
What’s the first thing you do when you wake up on a writing day? Take as long as possible to get to the desk, haha. That’s the day I decide I need to dust and that the floorboards are dirty and maybe I want to rearrange the furniture. It’s the day I get done all of the other work I’ve been putting off. I have to get through a certain amount of resistance before I’m ready to face the blank page, but once I’ve made the tea or coffee and lit the candle, and selected my playlist, and read a bit, then I can get going and sink into the work.
What’s the first thing you do when you’ve stopped writing for the day? Read it back to see if the sentences are sitting right in their rhythms.
In a parallel universe where you’re a tyrannical leader in a dystopian
civilisation, what’s the first book you’d burn? Oh dear god, this is an uncomfortable question because I hate the idea of being such a small, fearful person that I’m threatened by other people’s expansion or growth. Yuck and yikes to all that. That being said, I’d happily torch anything with Trump’s face on it because I hate to look at him.
What’s the first piece of advice you’d offer to an aspiring novelist?
Lean into your own interests. So what if someone’s already written whatever you’re trying to write? They can’t do what you do. And that doesn’t need to come from a place of arrogance, but confidence. Write what you’re called to.
Milk Blood Heat is published in paperback by Atlantic Books on Thursday 3 March.
GAMES
PICTURE: MARISSA PILOLLI
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games mes •ga b• ooks ok s o • b
GRAN TURISMO 7
These days there’s so little difference between the latest Xbox and PlayStation that consoleexclusive releases are even more critical to either system’s long-term success. And so, following a delay from last year, racing simulation game Gran Turismo 7 could be one of Sony’s most important releases in 2022.
Since its debut 25 years ago, Gran Turismo has remained loyal to PlayStation, building an army of fans dedicated to its complex driving physics, its vast roster of licensed cars, and its extensive customisation and tuning options. While some players find its famously sleek presentation to be aloof and sterile, every edition has pushed its respective console to the limits, and GT7 is gearing up to be one of the best-looking racing games around.
Famously, the downside to the series’ collection of real cars is that damage simulation has always been heavily neutered (it’s long been rumoured that car manufacturers licence their vehicles to Sony on the condition that they’re not depicted as vulnerable). Proper damage physics is one of the series’ most requested features but Sony remains tight-lipped about this and many other details. However it turns out, here’s hoping that PS5 production can somehow keep up with demand. (Murray Robertson)
Released by PlayStation 4/PlayStation 5 on Friday 4 March.
