Time for some escapism
I think we all could do with a laugh right now
There can be no denying that this week has been a rollercoaster. For all we know, anything learned about the USA from last week’s newsletter may soon all come to nought depending on how the next four years go…
This week on Like This Love This, it’s time for some escapism, comfort and a little bit of silliness: mostly fiction, all fantastic, all fun.
TL;DR
Watch the movie Harvey, if you like this you should read DallerGut Dream Department Store by Miye Lee. If you love this then listen to Dead Eyes and finally if you like this, sit down with Detectorists, Twenty Twelve and The Marvellous Mrs Maisel.
WATCH
I discovered this film about twenty five years ago when a friend turned up for a movie night with it under his arm. When he explained it was not only from 1950 but in black & white, my teenage self was so wildly unimpressed I think my eyeballs almost rolled right out of my head.
He convinced me to give it a go and, while I hate to be wrong, it was wonderful. Jimmy Stewart stars as Elwood P. Dowd, a rich eccentric outcast whose social-climbing sister, Veta, & niece, Myrtle Mae, seem to sponge off him while living in his enormous estate. His best friend is Harvey who he introduces to everyone he meets. Nothing out of the ordinary, right? Well, as it happens Harvey is a 6ft 3½ white rabbit. Who only Elwood can see. We think.
Look, it sounds weird and to be honest, it probably is weird…but wonderful weird. As only a Jimmy Stewart movie can be.
READ
DallerGut Dream Department Store was recommended to me in my local bookshop a few months ago and it was its cover that appealed to me, as I don’t ‘do’ fantasy. I find the admin of learning how it all works and remembering the cast list etc too much for me. However I was completely engrossed in its magical world almost immediately.
Written by Korean author, Miye Lee, the story centres around a multi-storey department store (in case you hadn’t picked that up from the title) where animals & humans go to once they fall asleep to purchase their dreams. The main character, Penny, interviews with the eponymous store owner (spoiler alert: she gets the job) and learns to deal with the various personalities of her colleagues, clients and the rockstar dream designers whose works the shop sells.
The sequel Return to the Dallergut Dream Department Store was released this week and is already in my grubby little mitts as I ordered it as soon as I finished the first one: no higher recommendation that I guess.
LISTEN
And now for something completely different. Whenever I have an long drive ahead of me, I try to squeeze in some time to hunt around for podcast recommendations in the hope of a show I haven’t heard of but will love. I managed to do just that a few years ago when I found Dead Eyes, the product of one actor’s paranoia and inability to let things go.
Back in 2000, Connor Ratliff successfully auditioned for a role in the HBO series Band of Brothers. Until he didn’t. Ratliff was asked to read for the role again as the director was having second thoughts. Upon re-auditioning, Ratliff lost out and later discovered the director’s feedback was that he had “dead eyes”. He was devastated at losing what could have been a career-defining role - so much so that twenty years later, he decides to find out why that particular director used that particular phrase about him. And that particular director? Tom Hanks.
Ratliff bounces around Hollywood speaking to friends & former colleagues (from Seth Rogen to Judd Apatow & Elijah Wood) about whether he does in fact have ‘dead eyes’, why Hanks might have said that about him and with one ultimate goal: tracking down Tom Hanks himself to ask.
Neurotic and humorous, the show is a fun jaunt with a real build-up of suspense as to whether Ratliff will be successful in tracking down one of the world’s most famous actors.
WATCH
For the television portion this week, I had a list as long as my arm of TV that envelops you in the warm embrace of brilliant story-telling and wonderful comedy. I’m sure you’ll have heard of them, if not already seen them, but they’re all worth a re-watch:
The first offering is the BBC’s Detectorists.
Written by & starring Mackenzie Crook alongside Toby Jones, the show is about Lance & Andy, both wholly obsessed by their shared hobby of metal detecting & the fortunes of the Danebury Metal Detecting Club. There are three series and two Christmas specials: just go watch.
Another British gem is Twenty Twelve (NOT to be confused with 2012 - the Hollywood blockbuster disaster film) and still found (thank God) on iPlayer.
A mockumentary about the team supposedly preparing for London to host the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, it stars Hugh Bonneville (back then coming into the height of his Downton Abbey fame), Jessica Hynes (Spaced - that’s another perfect bit of escapist telly) and pre-The-Crown & pre-Oscar-win Olivia Colman. The writing is perfection, the delivery a masterclass and the follow-up about the inner machinations of the BBC W1A should be played immediately upon completion of this little gem.
Finally: The Marvelous Mrs Maisel (note: sic, the Yanks spell ‘marvellous’ differently to us - who knew?) on Amazon Prime.
Rachel Brosnahan is Mrs Maisel: a 1950s New York housewife whose husband keeps trying & failing to be a comedian. One night she finds herself onstage and is a hit. What follows is hilarious whilst also a depressing reminder of the limitations on the lives of women who, mere decades ago, wanted to do something other than being a full-time domestic engineer.
The fashion is ‘50s fabulous and the comedy is razor sharp - a delightful piece of escapism on these suddenly longer, darker nights.