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Teevee

Ali van Wyk's recommendations:

Mini series: Drops of God (9 episodes)
Platform: Apple TV
Director: Oded Ruskin
Actors: Fleur Geffrier, Tomohisa Yamashita, Tom Wozniczka, Stanley Weber

A French wine expert, Alexandre Léger (Stanley Weber), one of the world's best, is dying in Tokyo where he has lived for decades. He calls his estranged daughter Camille (Fleur Geffrier) in Paris to tell her to come to Japan, he wants to see her. A private jet is ready that same evening and she leaves, but upon her arrival in Japan it is too late.

Camille realises that besides her mother, Léger's estranged wife, she is the only heir to the lovely modernist house in Tokyo and the world's most valuable private wine collection. But when she goes to see the estate's attorney, a surprise awaits her.

The series is in French and Japanese, with English here and there. Granted, the storyline requires a bit more suspension of disbelief than most series, but the acting is great and it's so nice not to see a familiar face. The characters are delightful, the scenes a balm for the eyes. If you're interested in fine wine, you'll probably enjoy it even more.

Movie: Promising Young Woman
Platform: Netflix
Direction: Emerald Fennell
Actors: Carey Mulligan, Bo Burnham, Chris Lowell

Promising Young Woman was released in 2020 but it is streaming again on Netflix in South Africa. This was the debut of writer and director Emerald Fennell, who shot from just known-about to famous last year with the release of her second film, Saltburn. Promising Young Woman strongly reminds us of the themes that dominated public conversation in 2020, when rape culture and the #MeToo movement gained a lot of attention.

Cassie (Carey Mulligan) is an attractive and slightly peculiar 30-year-old who still lives in her parents' home. She is happy on the surface but it soon becomes clear that she is struggling with trauma and anger stemming from an incident of sexual violence against a friend during her years as a high-performing medical student. However, she never became a doctor.

During the day she works in a coffee shop but at night she hangs out in testosterone-filled bars where she pretends to be almost in her drunkenness, whereupon an apparent good Samaritan will step forward to offer her a lift home and then try to abuse her sexually. But Cassie is actually dead sober and every time has a nasty surprise for these scoundrels. She is on a revenge campaign against predatory weaklings.

One day, Ryan, a handsome and charismatic young paediatrician, walks into the coffee shop. He recognises Cassie from their college days and begins courting her enthusiastically. The memories of university and characters from that time unlock the trauma in Cassie's past and set a series of dramatic events in motion.

Promising Young Woman is a feminist film but not preachy or pedantic. Mulligan delivers another powerful performance.

High-Fivers

Toast Coetzer shares five audiobooks he has listened to recently:

#1 The Colour of Magic, by Terry Pratchett
#2 Prophet Song, by Paul Lynch
#3 The Making of the Modern Middle East, by Jeremy Bowen
#4 Permanent Record, by Edward Snowden
#5 Origins, by Lewis Dartnell

And two pasella:

#6 Otherlands, by Thomas Halliday
#7 On Writing, by Stephen King

Apple has announced its top 10 albums of all time:

#1 The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998), Lauryn Hill
#2 Thriller (1982), Michael Jackson
#3 Abbey Road (1969), The Beatles
#4 Purple Rain (1984), Prince & The Revolution
#5 Blonde (2016), Frank Ocean
#6 Songs in the Key of Life (1976), Stevie Wonder
#7 Good kid, m.A.A.d city (2012), Kendrick Lamar
#8 Back to Black (2006), Amy Winehouse
#9 Nevermind (1991), Nirvana
#10 Lemonade (2016), Beyoncé

♦ VWB ♦

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