Carrie on with the Coen brothers
Fargo, Season 3 10 episodes, available Saturday
When this series was first announced a few years ago people had trepidations. Adapting the Coen brothers’ classic 1996 movie always seemed like a risky proposition — would the brothers (who serve as executive producers on the series) alienate the fans of the film, or was this kind of thing simply a logical development of the golden age of binge-watch series?
In fact the first two series won a slew of awards and one of Netflix’s biggest audiences and this season, premiered last year on American TV to Emmy nominations for all three of the stars.
Set in 2010 it deals with the tribulations of Ray Stussy (Ewan McGregor, who won a Golden Globe on Sunday night) and girlfriend Nikki Swango (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) who dream of riches which they hope to secure by stealing a valuable vintage stamp from Ray’s more successful older brother, Emmit (also played by McGregor), the self-proclaimed “Parking Lot King of Minnesota”. However, their plans backfire, and the couple soon have to hide their involvement in two deaths, including the stepfather of former Eden Valley police chief Gloria Burgle (Carrie Coon).
Much of the enjoyment is watching how the yarns are spun so we won’t issue any more spoilers, but McGregor’s clipped Minnesotan twang is perfect.
Manolo: The Boy Who Made Shoes For Lizards (2017)
Available tomorrow Manolo Blahnik has been beloved in the fashion industry and by well-heeled ladies since the 1970s. He exploded even bigger in the pop culture stratosphere with the brand’s role as Carrie Bradshaw’s favourite footwear in the Sex and the City book, television series and film adaptations.
This film, a mix of interviews and recreations, purports to reveal the Spanish designer’s creative process. Blahnik’s childhood in Santa Cruz de la Palma in Spain’s Canary Islands is lushly illustrated in the documentary by the first of many sepia-filtered re-creations with actors.
The designer’s own recollections paint the most vivid pictures throughout the film, as do his sketches and the extraordinary parade of shoes that go by like models on a runway. There are interviews with lots of fashion royalty (interestingly, not Sarah Jessica Parker or Sex and the City wardrobe queen Patricia Field).
Blahnik himself remains guarded. We emerge from this film still not knowing much more about him beyond the mythology, and the film overall feels as though it might be a big budget infomercial for the brand.
Grace and Frankie, Season 4
12 episodes, available Thursday “So, did you sign up for that dating site I signed you up for?” Lily Tomlin’s Frankie asks Grace (Jane Fonda) in the new series of this comedy hit. “Yes — and oddly I didn’t find the love of my life on hippie-round-updot-com,” Grace replies.
While last season ended on a cliffhanger about whether the pair would stick together, this season sees the women stronger than ever — through “co-independence”.
It also sees the now-husbands Sol and Robert (played by Sam Waterston and Martin Sheen respectively) navigate the notion of an open relationship.
Lisa Kudrow joins the cast in a recurring role for season four. She plays Sheree, a manicurist who threatens to drive a wedge between Grace and Frankie as a result of her budding friendship with Grace.
The series reunites Kudrow with Marta Kauffman (who created both this series and Friends). Kauffman said this new season will “be about the women coming to terms with age, coming to terms with how old they are, where their minds are at this point and what does that imply, what does that mean?”
Homeland, Season 6
12 episodes, available tomorrow Now in its sixth season, after having covered crises in Iran, Pakistan and Germany, Homeland arrives in Brooklyn.
The setting suits the more modest scope of this once indispensable, now reliably watchable series. Homeland was once controversially button pushing and dealt with mental illness in the central character.
Somehow though, it has evolved into something comfortingly familiar, while its star, Claire Danes, remains as intense and compelling as ever.