The SLMan Culture List: July

THE SCI-FI MYSTERY: Sunny

Sunny stars Rashida Jones as Suzie, an American woman living in Kyoto, Japan, whose life is upended when her husband and son disappear in a mysterious plane crash. As a consolation, she’s given Sunny, one of a new class of domestic robots made by her husband’s electronics company. At first Suzie resents Sunny’s attempts to fill the void in her life, but gradually they develop an unexpected friendship, as together they uncover the dark truth of what really happened to Suzie’s family.

Visit TV.Apple.com

THE STYLE INSPO: How Directors Dress

How Directors Dress – a fresh tome from indie film company A24 – uses clothing to tell exciting new stories about directors, their lives, their movies, and the times in which they were made. Along with pieces by some of the best style writers, the book features hundreds of incredible photos of what directors wear to work, including Sofia Coppola in her signature button-up shirts, Hayao Miyazaki in his aprons, and Spike Lee in his sports caps and varsity jackets. The book features a foreword by director Joanna Hogg, plus an introduction by fashion writer Charlie Porter.

Visit Shop.A24films.com

THE SCI-FI COLLAB: The Book Of Elsewhere By Keanu Reeves & China Miéville

Mr John Wick has a new venture – writing sci-fi novels. Keanu Reeves has teamed up with author China Miéville to create a world inspired by the BRZRKR comic books. There have always been rumours of a warrior who cannot be killed. He has had many names: Unute, Child of Lightning, Death himself. These days, he’s known simply as B – and he wants to be able to die. In the present day, a US black-ops group has promised him they can help with that. All he needs to do is help them in return. But when an all-too-mortal soldier comes back to life, the impossible event ultimately points toward a force even more mysterious than B himself. In a collaboration that combines Miéville’s singular style with Reeves’s haunting narrative, these two artists have created something unique, sure to please existing fans and create scores of new ones.

Visit Amazon.co.uk

THE DOCU-SERIES: Sprint, Netflix

Ahead of this year’s Paris Olympics, Netflix’s new documentary follows athletes from all over the world and discovers what sets them apart from the rest. Through behind-the-scenes footage and interviews, it documents the journey and psyches of those who devote their lives to being the fastest across the finish line, where a split second separates glory and failure. This season will follow some of the top sprinters in the world including Noah Lyles, Shericka Jackson and Sha’Carri Richardson.

Visit Netflix.com

THE FILM EVENT: MUBI Fest Manchester

Indie film champion MUBI has announced that the inaugural MUBI Fest in the UK will take place at Manchester’s Aviva Studios, home of Factory International, on 12th-13th July. It will feature a hand-picked selection of feature films and shorts to watch in innovative screening spaces, as well as stage talks, Q&As, workshops, installations and DJs. It will be the first event in a worldwide programme of MUBI FEST events that will feature stops in Mexico City, São Paulo, Chicago, Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Santiago, Istanbul and Milan before the end of the year.

Visit FactoryInternational.org

THE EXHIBITION: Solid Light, Tate Modern

Solid Light is a new exhibition dedicated to the immersive works of Anthony McCall. Occupying a space between sculpture, cinema, drawing and performance, McCall is known for his leading-edge installations of light. In 1973, his seminal work ‘Line Describing a Cone’ redefined the possibilities of sculpture. In this immersive collection of work, beams of light are projected through a thin mist to create large 3D forms in space, which slowly shift and change. As visitors move through these translucent light sculptures, they will create new shapes and discover their own mesmerising perspectives. The show is on until April 2025.

Visit Tate.org.uk

THE HISTORY BOOK: Paris '44: The Shame & The Glory By Patrick Bishop

This is a fresh new account of Paris’s liberation in 1944 – one of the most dramatic hinge moments of WWII. Bestselling author Patrick Bishop has packed it with revelations, as he tells the story of those heady days of suspense, danger, exhilaration – and vengeance – through the eyes of participants from all sides of the conflict: Americans, French and Germans; resisters and collaborators. Among them are famous names like Ernest Hemingway, JD Salinger and Pablo Picasso, but also some fascinating unknowns including a medic-turned-Resistance-gunwoman, an androgynous Hungarian sculptor and a French bluestocking who quietly set about saving the nation’s art treasures from the Nazi looters. Paris ’44 looks behind the mythology to tell the real story of the liberation and expose the conflicts and contradictions of France under the occupation – the shame as well as the glory.

Visit Amazon.co.uk

THE RED-HOT FINALE: MaXXXine

MaXXXine is the third instalment in the American slasher film series directed by Ti West – and a direct sequel to the A24 cult-favourite X. Mia Goth (Suspiria, A Cure For Wellness) reprises her role as Maxine Minx, an adult film star and aspiring actress, who finally gets her big break in 1980s Los Angeles. But her rise to stardom is jeopardised when a mysterious killer starts picking off starlets. Fresh additions to the cast include Elizabeth Debicki (The Night Manager, The Crown), Lily Collins (To The Bone, Emily In Paris) and Kevin Bacon (Footloose, Leave The World Behind).

Visit Picturehouses.com

THE BIOGRAPHY: Ease My Troubled Mind By Ted Kessler

In 1977, 17-year-old Steven Hamper was a stonemason in the dockyards of Chatham, Kent. His heart, however, beat in sync with the punk rock sentiments of the era. In a gesture of revolutionary defiance, he took a 3lb club hammer and smashed his hand, vowing to never work again. In doing so, Steven metamorphosed into Billy Childish, a true renaissance man. Childish has since remained steadfastly true to punk's DIY cred, becoming one of the most recognisable and authentic voices in whichever artistic endeavour he undertakes. He has released over 150 albums of raw rock ’n’ roll, punk, blues and folk, written volumes of searing poetry, as well as several autobiographical novels. But what he is perhaps best known for in recent years is his painting, for which he is now critically, commercially and internationally feted. To Ease My Troubled Mind is a portrait by former Q editor Ted Kessler, collated over a year of interviews with Childish, as well as with close family, ex-girlfriends, bandmembers past and present, friends, foes, collaborators – even his therapist. It is an unflinching yet frequently spiritual and funny portrait of an artist whose obstacle-strewn upbringing formed the backbone of his work.

Visit Amazon.co.uk

THE GALLERY: Paradox Museum London

Launching on 17th July, Paradox Museum London is a new entertainment venue designed to astound visitors of all ages with its mind-bending mental and visual illusions. Boasting over 50 exhibits and 25 immersive rooms, visitors can attempt to defy the odds of gravity in reverse rooms, unravel the mysteries of the paradoxical sofa, step inside a giant kaleidoscope and navigate the intricate twists of the mirror maze. Promising to fill gaps in the summer holidays and beyond, Paradox Museum is an entertaining and educational experience for families, inspiring children to question reality and open their minds to a world of infinite possibilities. With numerous mind-bending backdrops to explore, the experience promises to create lasting memories.

Visit ParadoxMuseumLondon.com

THE NOVEL: Resolution By Irvine Welsh

Ray Lennox is determined to move on from his darkest days. The ex-detective has left Edinburgh for a fresh start in Brighton, replacing fixations and addictions with quiet evenings and a rigorous fitness regime. Then Lennox meets Mathew Cardingworth. Rich, smooth-talking and immaculately dressed, he presents himself as a successful, and respectable, property developer. Yet their encounter reawakens memories that have haunted Lennox for decades, sending him into a spiral of confusion and rage. Lennox has no choice – he must confront the events of his childhood. But the more he identifies the links between Cardingworth, the disappearance of a group of foster-care boys, and the violence of his past, the more he finds himself asking: what will he sacrifice to achieve resolution at last?

Visit Amazon.co.uk

THE NOIR-ISH THRILLER: Lady In The Lake

Lady In The Lake is a seven-part limited series starring Natalie Portman. When the disappearance of a young girl grips the city of Baltimore on Thanksgiving 1966, the lives of two women converge on a fatal collision course. Maddie Schwartz (Portman), a Jewish housewife seeking to shed a secret past and reinvent herself as an investigative journalist, and Cleo Johnson (Moses Ingram), a mother navigating the political underbelly of Black Baltimore while struggling to provide for her family. Their disparate lives seem parallel at first, but when Maddie becomes fixated on Cleo’s mystifying death, a chasm opens that puts everyone around them in danger.

Visit TV.Apple.com

James Bryant

THE GIGS: Somerset House Series

Somerset House Summer Series returns with a new line-up of shows in its central courtyard. Over the last couple of decades, the series has become a hallmark event for music lovers, serving as a launchpad for emerging acts. R&B rising star Pip Millett opens this year’s run on Thursday 11th July. Multi-platinum-selling DJ, producer and label boss DBN Gogo is in on Saturday 13th July, with an afternoon and evening featuring special guest DJs and live full band sets. Smino, the self-proclaimed hip-hop laureate of St Louis, is a neo-soul rapper who deals in whimsical wordplay and will play on Monday 15th July. Then The Amazons join the bill on Tuesday 16th July and Brighton-based The Big Moon will be performing hits from their Mercury-nominated debut Love In The 4th Dimension on Thursday 18th July.

Visit SomersetHouse.org.uk

THE FOLLOW-UP: The Penguin

The Penguin continues where an unrecognisable Colin Farrell left off in the 2022 Robert Pattinson-starring The Batman film. This eight-part series – focused on the DC Comics villain – will also star Cristin Milioti, Rhenzy Feliz, Michael Kelly, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Deirdre O’Connell, Clancy Brown and Michael Zegen. While there’s no plot or run date as yet, we have spied many adverts for the show while we’ve been tuning into the summer of sport on Sky, so we suspect this one will land later this month.

Visit NowTV.com

THE CAREER HELPER: Great Chat By Josh Smith

Whether it's starting out in a new industry, navigating digital dating, or trying to make friends later in life, many of us struggle to connect. During his childhood, Josh Smith was too afraid to speak because of his speech impediment. In adulthood, uncovering the power of conversation that transformed his life. As a celebrity interviewer, Josh has spoken with people of every background, mood and personality. He believes there's an art and a science to a good chat, and understanding that can unlock a whole world of connection. His new book Great Chat includes seven key lessons that will help you have more meaningful conversations and show you how they can improve your wellbeing.

Visit Amazon.co.uk

THE 90S REBOOT: Twisters

We’ll say it: Twister was one of the best natural disaster films of the 90s (and there were many). And this summer, the producers of the Jurassic Park, Bourne and Indiana Jones series are bringing it back. Directed by Lee Isaac Chung (writer-director of Minari), Twisters stars Daisy Edgar-Jones (Where the Crawdads Sing, Normal People) and Glen Powell (Hit Man, Top Gun: Maverick) as opposing forces who come together to try to predict, and possibly tame, the immense power of tornadoes. Kate Cooper is a former storm chaser haunted by a devastating encounter with a tornado during her college years who now studies storm patterns on screens safely in NYC. She is lured back to the open plains by her friend Javi to test a ground-breaking new tracking system. There, she crosses paths with Tyler Owens, the charming and reckless social-media superstar who thrives on posting his storm-chasing adventures with his raucous crew. As storm season intensifies, the competing teams find themselves squarely in the paths of multiple storm systems converging over central Oklahoma…

Visit Picturehouses.com

THE MUSIC MUST-READ: Hip-Hop Is History By Questlove

If you’ve ever seen Questlove as a talking head in a music documentary, you’ll know he knows his stuff. When hip-hop first emerged in the 1970s, it wasn't expected to become the cultural force it is today. But for a young Black kid growing up in a musical family in Philadelphia, it was everything. He stayed up late to hear the newest songs on the radio. He saved his money to buy vinyl as soon as it landed. He even started to try to make his own songs. You guessed it, that kid was Questlove, and decades later, he’s a six-time Grammy winner, Oscar winner, New York Times bestselling author, cofounder of one of hip-hop's defining acts (the Roots), and the genre's unofficial in-house historian. In this landmark book, he skilfully traces the creative and cultural forces that made and shaped hip-hop, highlighting both the forgotten but influential gems and the undeniable chart-topping hits, and weaving them all together with the stories no one else knows. Questlove approaches his subject with not only the encyclopaedic fluency and passion of an obsessive fan but also the expertise and originality of an innovative participant.

Visit Amazon.co.uk

THE SEASON WARM-UP: Receiver

It’s long been said there’s no more difficult position in the NFL than the quarterback. But throwing the pass is only half the story. After the success of Netflix’s docu-series Quarterback, Receiver follows five of the NFL’s best pass catchers throughout the 2023 season on and off the field: Davante Adams, Justin Jefferson, George Kittle, Deebo Samuel and Amon-Ra St. Brown. It's just the series to get you settled in ahead of the start of the NFL season in September...

Visit Netflix.com