The SLMan Culture List – February
THE THRILLER: Constellation
This eight-part conspiracy-based psychological thriller stars Noomi Rapace and Jonathan Banks (we’ll say it, our favourite actor from Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul). The space adventure lands on 21st February with three episodes, followed by weekly drops on a Wednesday. Constellation focuses on Jo – an astronaut who returns to Earth after a disaster in space – only to discover that key pieces of her life seem to be missing. An exploration of the dark edges of human psychology, the series follows one woman's desperate quest to expose the truth about the hidden history of space travel and recover all that she has lost.
Visit TV.Apple.com
THE FILM-BUFF BOOK: Quint by Robert Lautner
Jaws fans will already know the end of Quint’s story. Now you can find out where it all began. So much more than a fisherman, Quint is a survivor, a fighter, a man who has left three wives in his wake. From his time as a young sailor facing the horrors of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis to a deadly night-long showdown with a frenzy of sharks years later, this new book reveals how the iconic shark hunter came to settle on the island of Amity.
Visit Amazon.co.uk
THE CRIME SERIES: Poacher
This is the first TV series produced by QC Entertainment, the Oscar-winning production company responsible for Jordan Peele’s Get Out and Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman. Poacher is a compelling crime series about the largest ivory poaching ring in Indian history. Drawing on court documents and testimonials, Poacher dramatises events that transpired in the dense forests of Kerala and the concrete jungle of Delhi. The series showcases the immense contributions made by Indian forest service officers, NGO workers from the Wildlife Trust of India, police constables, and good samaritans who risked their lives.
Visit Amazon.co.uk
THE MUST-WATCH DRAMA: The New Look
More than a fashion retrospective, The New Look is a gripping historical drama series starring the ever-brilliant Ben Mendelsohn as Christian Dior and Juliette Binoche as Coco Chanel. Inspired by true events and filmed exclusively in Paris, the series follows the fashion designers and their contemporaries as they navigate the horrors of World War II. As Dior rises to prominence, Chanel’s reign as the world’s most famous fashion designer is in jeopardy. The ensemble cast is rounded out by Maisie Williams, John Malkovich, Emily Mortimer, Claes Bang and Glenn Close.
Visit TV.Apple.com
THE DEBUT NOVEL: Pity by Andrew McMillan
The first novel from award-winning poet Andrew McMillan explores community, masculinity and post-industrialisation in northern England. Brothers Alex and Brian have spent their whole lives in the town where their father lived and his father, too. Now in middle age and still reeling from the collapse of his personal life, Alex must reckon with a part of his identity he has long tried to conceal. His only child Simon has no memory of the mines. In his 20s and working in a call centre, Simon derives passion from his side hustle in sex work and his weekly drag gigs. Set across three generations of a South Yorkshire mining family, McMillan’s debut is a lament for a lost way of life as well as a celebration of resilience and the possibility for change.
Visit Amazon.co.uk
THE FOOTBALL DOC: Messi’s World Cup
Messi’s World Cup: The Rise of a Legend is a four-part doco tracking the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner through a sensational career culminating in a World Cup win at Qatar 2022. In his own words, the GOAT tells the definitive story of his time with Argentina’s national team, providing an intimate and unprecedented look at his quest for a legacy-defining victory.
Visit TV.Apple.com
THE FILM: The Iron Claw
The Bear’s Jeremy Allen White is joined by Zac Efron, Harris Dickinson, Maura Tierney, Stanley Simons, Holt McCallany and Lily James in The Iron Claw. It tells the true story of the inseparable Von Erich brothers, who made history in the intensely competitive world of professional wrestling in the early 1980s. Through tragedy and triumph, under the shadow of their domineering father and coach, the brothers seek larger-than-life immortality on the biggest stage in sports – and, if the trailer is anything to go by, their quest plays out against one of the best 80s soundtracks we’ve heard in ages.
Visit Picturehouses.com
THE CINEMA EVENT: Perfect Days
Legendary German director Wim Wenders' Perfect Days is a tender, shimmering film that celebrates the beauty of the everyday. Nominated for Best International Film at this year’s Oscars, it focuses on Hirayama, a man who’s content with a simple life cleaning toilets in Tokyo. Outside of his structured routine, he cherishes music on cassette tapes, books and taking photos of trees. As the film progresses, unexpected encounters reveal more of his story in a deeply moving and poetic reflection on finding beaty in the world around us.
Visit Picturehouses.com
THE GRIPPING NOVEL: The Last Yakuza by Jake Adelstein
Here’s a chance to get stuck into the first novel from the man behind Tokyo Vice, investigative journalist Jake Adelstein. Makoto Saigo is half-American and half-Japanese in small-town Japan, with a set of talents limited to playing guitar and picking fights. With rock stardom off the table, he turns towards the only place where you can start from the bottom and move up through sheer merit, loyalty and brute force – the yakuza. Soon nicknamed ‘Tsunami’, he quickly realises the internal politics of the yakuza are dizzyingly complex. Stuck between an ever-shifting web of alliances and the encroaching hand of the law that pushes the organisation further and further underground, Saigo finds himself in the middle of a defining decades-long battle that will determine the future of the yakuza.
Visit Amazon.co.uk
THE MUSIC-BASED COMEDY: The Vince Staples Show
Who is rapper Vince Staples? That’s a tricky question. By his own admission, he’s kind of famous, but he’s not. He’s kind of rich, but he’s not. He’s also kind of a criminal. But he’s… not? This new Netflix series follows him on his daily adventures, where anything that can go wrong usually does.
Visit Netflix.com
THE NFL ESSENTIAL: The Dynasty
Once the Super Bowl’s done this Sunday, there are seven long months until the new NFL season. Fill the void with The Dynasty: New England Patriots – a ten-part documentary showcasing the rise of the most dominant sports dynasty of the 21st century. From 16th February, the series brings together former quarterback Tom Brady, coach Bill Belichick and owner Robert Kraft to give the definitive story of the team’s remarkable reign. The docuseries explores the franchise’s 20-year journey, from the unique chemistry that fuelled six Super Bowl wins to the internal strife that sparked a turf war. From the owner’s suite to the locker room, this is an insider’s look at the road to – and cost of – greatness. Based on a bestseller by author Jeff Benedict, this goes deeper, drawing on thousands of hours of never-before-seen video footage and audio files from the Patriots’ archive.
Visit TV.Apple.com
THE COMPANION PIECE: Masters Of The Air by Donald L. Miller
You’re watching the Apple TV+ series – now read the book that inspired it. This is the riveting history of the American Eighth Air Force in World War II and the young men who flew the bombers that helped beat the Nazis and liberate Europe, as told by historian Donald L. Miller. With the narrative power of fiction, he takes readers on a harrowing ride through the fire-filled skies over Berlin, Hanover and Dresden, describing the terrible cost of bombing for the German people. Drawn from recent interviews, oral histories and archives on both sides, Masters of the Air is an authoritative, deeply moving account of the world's first and only bomber war.
Visit Amazon.co.uk
THE EXHIBITION: Legion at The British Museum
This looks set to be one of the exhibitions of the year. By promising citizenship to those without it, the Roman army – the West's first modern, professional fighting force – became an engine for creating citizens, offering a better life for soldiers who survived their service. Expansive yet deeply personal, this exhibition at the British Museum transports guests around the empire, while tracking the life and service of a real Roman soldier, Claudius Terentianus, from enlistment and campaigns to enforcing occupation then retirement. What did life in the Roman army look like from a soldier's perspective? What did their families make of life in the fort? How did the newly conquered react? Legion explores life in settled military communities from Scotland to the Red Sea through the people who lived it.
Visit BritishMuseum.org
THE ADAPTATION: Shōgun
Based on James Clavell’s classic 70s novel, Shōgun is set in Japan in the year 1600 at the dawn of a century-defining civil war. Lord Yoshii Toranaga is fighting for his life as his enemies on the Council of Regents unite against him, when a mysterious European ship is found marooned in a nearby fishing village. Its English pilot, John Blackthorne, comes bearing secrets that could help Toranaga tip the scales of power. But Toranaga’s and Blackthorne’s fates become inextricably tied to their translator, Toda Mariko, who is a mysterious Christian noblewoman and the last of a disgraced line…
Visit DisneyPlus.com
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