A low-budget surprise and a Cumberbatch triumph

Teevee

Ali van Wyk's recommendation this week:

Movie: Minari
Platform: Showmax
Director: Lee Isaac Chung
Actors: Steven Yeun, Han Ye-ri, Noel Cho, Alan S Kim, Youn Yuh-jung, Will Patton

Minari is a Korean herb similar to parsley. Traditional Koreans are crazy about it. The movie Minari is about the connection between the old Korea and modern America, old traditions and new customs. It's a semi-autobiographical retelling of writer and director Lee Isaac Chung's 1980s upbringing on a smallholding in Arkansas.

Jacob Yi (Steven Yeun) moves with his wife, Monica (Han Ye-ri), and their two children, Anne (Noel Cho) and David (Alan S Kim), from California to Arkansas, where Jacob hopes to grow Korean vegetables, which he wants to sell in Dallas. Monica is upset when she finds they have to live in a mobile home on an abandoned tract of land. In addition to farming, she and Jacob have to work at a chicken hatchery where they have to determine chicks' sex.

Little David has a chronic heart condition and they are far from a hospital. To help with the children, Monica has her elderly mother, Soon-ja (Youn Yuh-jung), come from Korea. The family is in trouble. Besides, Soon-ja is not the kind of grandmother who bakes gingerbread and clucks. She swears, watches wrestling on TV all day long and lets David play rough games despite his heart condition.

One of the nicest surprises is to start watching a low-budget indie film out of curiosity and with low expectations, only to find that it unfolds into a wealth of lovely characters, stories and sensitive detail. Many people will know the movie, since it was nominated for an Oscar in 2020. But if you haven't seen it yet, you'll know what to do tonight.

Laureen Rossouw's recommendation:

Mini-series: Eric
Platform: Netflix
Director: Lucy Forbes
Actors: Benedict Cumberbatch, Gaby Hoffman, McKinley Belcher III

If you watch this series just to see the versatile Benedict Cumberbatch in action, that's already enough. One can hardly believe that the British Shakespearean actor can so convincingly transform himself into a highly unbalanced, traumatised yet talented puppeteer.

The series takes place in New York in the 1980s against the backdrop of the HIV/Aids epidemic. Vincent's nine-year-old son, Edgar, disappears and the puppeteer desperately clings to his drawings of a blue monster puppet, Eric. Vincent is convinced the imaginary doll that lives under his son's bed will lure him back. In his search for the truth surrounding Edgar's disappearance, he explores the underworld of the city, which is steeped in crime and corruption — with Eric as his brooding companion.

Here and there things are a little stretched, but the highlights outweigh the weaknesses. I recommend it to anyone interested in this genre.

High-Fivers

Creative producer and director at Pop24 Hein Scholtz's top five cookery books:

#1 Cape Mediterranean — Ilse van der Merwe
#2 Damhuis — Dirk and Reinet Nagtegaal and Stèfan Meintjes
#3 Plenty — Yotam Ottolenghi
#4 Knuppeldik aan Koningskos — policewomen's recipes collected by  Joey Pienaar
#5 Charcuterie — Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn

Laureen Rossouw's top five South African jewellery designers on Instagram:

#1 @erricocassar — for his Fabergé-style and old-world regal jewellery
#2 @philippagreenjewellery — for her bold, simplistic and contemporary approach
#3 @pichulikafrica — for their symbolic and handmade rope designs
#4 @russelandrose — for their pendants and upmarket trinket look
#5 @kirsten_goss — for her use of gemstones in handmade pieces

KykNET presenter Misi Overturf's top five interior designers:

#1 Sarah Ord of Sarah Ord Interiors
#2 Etienne Hanekom of Etienne Hanekom Interiors
#3 Renée de Waal of Xperiencemakers
#4 Salome Gunter of Salome Gunter Interiors
#5 Sam Lurie of Sprout Design

♦ VWB ♦

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