PODCAST OF THE WEEK
Modern Love
Amazon Prime Video, from Friday You know the Vince McMahon reaction meme, right? The series of four screenshots of the professional wrestling promoter looking increasingly amazed, an escalating scale upon which to rank any four related things? I want you to imagine a Modern Love specific version of this meme.
In order from least to most amazing, it goes: David Bowie song (just to meet the format criteria), New York Times column, New York Times podcast, Amazon Prime Video television anthology.
This is one of those very rare instances where an adaptation actually manages to enhance upon the original — and now it’s happened not once but twice. The original, extremely popular column began in 2004; every Sunday a new personal essay from a different writer on the theme of love in all its endless forms.
In 2016, this was expanded into an equally popular podcast, in which a different famous actor would read an essay from the archives, and sometimes afterwards catch up with the original writer to see how they were getting on.
This week we reach full "Vince McMahon eyes rolling back in his head in pure ecstasy" mode with the release of the TV version on Amazon Prime Video: an anthology of half-hour episodes based on the podcasts based on the column, starring some very famous and handsome (Dev Patel, Hot Priest from Fleabag Andrew Scott) faces.
The first episode, about a young single woman’s unspoken love for the stoic, deeply perceptive doorman who guards her apartment building (and her heart?), takes a couple of light flourishes of dramatic licence and turns a 1500word essay into as rich and emotionally satisfying a half-hour of television as you could hope for.
If you liked the column, or the podcast, you’re going to love this.
MOVIE OF THE WEEK Ingrid Goes West
Netflix
Many who read The Cut’s viral feature about “grifter” Instagram influencer Caroline Calloway, written by her former best friend, who claimed to have ghostwritten most of her posts, noted the similarities the story shared with the 2017 film Ingrid Goes West. As luck would have it, that film is now available to stream on Netflix. Aubrey Plaza stars as the socialmedia-obsessed Ingrid, who blows her inheritance to travel to Los Angeles and pursue an intense, unhealthy friendship with narcissistic Instagram celeb Taylor Sloane (Elizabeth Olsen). It’s at the dark end of the comedy spectrum.
FROM THE VAULT Sophie’s Choice (1982)
Netflix
Like a Catch-22, Sophie’s Choice is one of those things where the title has transcended whatever it was originally attached to and become a common saying in its own right. The original Sophie’s Choice was faced by Meryl Streep in this heavy adaptation of William Styron’s 1979 novel about three people from different backgrounds living together in a Brooklyn boarding house. Spoiler Alert: it’s about as heavy as a choice can get!
BROKEN: Jeffrey Epstein
There are currently no fewer than three — probably more — podcasts about Jeffrey Epstein. Remarkable considering his deeply suspicious death was only a couple of months ago and that his criminal case still seems far from being resolved. The waiting period between “breaking news story” and “in-depth podcast series” is getting shorter by the day. Sometimes it pays to stop and ask the question: is this a good thing or a bad thing?
Look, it’s probably a bad thing. But also, I just really want to know everything about what this Epstein creature was up to. Don’t you? Of course you do. But how do we choose which one to listen to? I’ve gone for the one with the biggest names attached: BROKEN is produced by filmmaker Adam McKay (The Big Short, Vice) and features input from Miami Herald investigative reporter Julie K Brown, whose years’ long investigation into Epstein blew the lid off the whole story in the first place.
We may never find out what actually happened the night the prison security cameras mysteriously stopped working, but rest assured that this is just the start — the TV documentaries and miniseries adaptations will be here any minute now. there was a series in the 1980s but that was more of a sequel. Weirder yet, now there are two being made at once. While the other is a modern-day reboot, this three-part BBC miniseries is the genuine article, set in Edwardian England and starring posh-sounding actors like Eleanor Tomlinson and Rafe Spall.
Living With Yourself
Netflix, from Friday
What could be better than a new show starring Paul Rudd? Duh, a new show starring TWO Paul Rudds. That’s the frankly irresistible hook of Living With Yourself, the most existential Netflix series since Russian Doll. Rudd plays a classic depressed office worker type who pays a mysterious spa a lot of money to fix his terrible life and make him a better person. It works, but only because they just clone him, leaving the new Good Paul Rudd and the old Bad Paul Rudd to figure it out for themselves. Funny Irish actress Aisling Bea also stars as Paul Rudd’s wife.