Category: Film

Happy young woman watching TV

2020 in TV: My Favorites

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When I went back through my blog posts for 2020, I was surprised at how many TV series I had watched, particularly since March. I have listed only a selection, but these are the ones I thought were the best or enjoyed the most. In several cases, the categories are in order of preference rather than alphabetically. Happy viewing!

TV MINISERIES

DETECTIVES, CRIMES & SPIES 

Acceptable Risk (Acorn)

An Irish series set in Dublin and Montreal, this pharmaceutical puzzler involves the murder of a high-level drug company executive and the investigation that follows, initiated by his wife, a lawyer for the corporation.  One of the best series we viewed this year!

DCI Banks (Amazon Prime)

Helen, Alan Banks, Annie (tv.eiga.com)

Complex series set in Yorkshire with fully developed characters based on the novels of Peter Robinson.

The Night Manager (Amazon Prime)

A suspenseful series based on the novel by John le Carre.  Hotel manager Jonathan Pine is recruited to spy on wealthy businessman Richard Roper who is suspected of illegal arms deals.  Hugh Laurie is perfect as Roper.

The Sommerdahl Murders (Acorn)

Danish detective Dan Sommerdahl works with his crime technician wife Marianne and his best friend, who’s very friendly with Marianne.  A lively series from Scandinavia.

Inspector Vivaldi Mysteries (Amazon Prime)

Wonderful Italian detective series set in Trieste.  Frederico Vivaldi is the lead detective and his son Stefano is also a police officer.  Their relationship is strained while Stefano’s mother, Laura, tries to ease the tension.

(pbs.org)

Flesh and Blood (PBS Masterpiece)

Her three grown children are distraught when their widowed mother, played by Francesca Annis, takes up with a retired doctor.  A fascinating thriller with a twist!

Mystery Road (Amazon Prime)

Detective Jay Swan is sent to help find two missing boys in Australia’s outback.  Great portrayal of the mistrust and suspicion between the indigenous people and whites.  

DOCUMENTARIES

Lenox Hill (Netflix)

Dedicated NYC hospital neurosurgeons and their patients in an emotionally charged and incredibly candid series. The lead doctors are graduates of Penn’s medical school.

Soldier Father Son (New York Times)

Single father, a soldier, raising his two sons, one of whom follows in his footsteps.

HISTORICAL DRAMAS

Belgravia (Epix)

London, 1840, striving middle class family vs. upper class toffs in a tangled story of love, marriage and ambition. Based on Julian Fellowes’ novel of the same name.

The English Game (Netflix)

A most absorbing series about the game of soccer and the rivalry between the mill workers’ teams and those of the arrogant rich.  This is Julian Fellowes at his best!

DIVERSITY AND DIFFERENCE

Self-Made (Netflix)

Madam CJ Walker was a Black cosmetics entrepreneur, a success story in an earlier and more difficult time for women and minorities.

A Secret Love (Netflix)

A documentary about a lesbian couple who lived together in Canada for six decades.  Most of that time they were closeted and presented themselves as simply close friends.

FAMILY DYNAMICS

The Restaurant (Our Time is Now) (Amazon Prime, Sundance)

This Swedish series follows restaurant owners Helga and her adult children, Gustaf, Peter, and Nina, from 1945 to the early 1970’s.  A social history of the era midst the trials and tribulations of love, marriage, and career.  Excellent!

Unorthodox (Netflix)

This semi-autobiographical series follows Esther Shapiro, a Hasidic Jew, through marriage and flight from her home in Brooklyn to refuge in Berlin.  

From Father to Daughter (Amazon Prime)

The coming of age of the daughters in an Italian winemaking family.  Documents these females’ evolving role in the family and the business over several decades.

LONG-RUNNING SERIES

Endeavour (PBS)

(radiotimes.com)

This year was Season 7 of the adventures of Morse and Inspector Thursday, and it was as good as ever!

Grantchester (PBS Masterpiece)

Season 5 was the second season with Will Davenport as the new vicar replacing Sydney.  While it took some adjustment for us, Will has settled in. These episodes with his sidekick Geordie were both deeper and darker in character.  

NOTEWORTHY FILMS

(vulture.com)

Since we haven’t been in a movie theater since Covid-19, we’ve seen relatively few films. Nonetheless, these several stood out and are in order of preference.

1917

A grim, painful, and gripping focus on one particular battle during WWI.  

On the Basis of Sex

We viewed this after Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death.  It’s a marvelous testament to how she advanced equal rights early on in her career.

Radioactive (Amazon Prime)

This is a biographical film based on the graphic novel of the same name by Lauren Redniss.  Some interesting special effects and a sometimes strange juxtaposition of modern-day events with those of Marie Curie’s life. Still worth watching.

The Return (Acorn)

After serving ten years in prison for the killing of her doctor husband, Lizzie returns to her small hometown in Ireland.  Poignant and moving with Julie Walters in the lead role.

Note: Header image of young woman watching TV from vectorstock.com

Yellow orchid blooms

Tidy Tidbits: Tropical Blooms & Exotic Settings

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When you can’t travel to new destinations, then it’s best to enjoy what’s local and watch or read about other times, other places. We did some of both this past week.

ORCHID SHOW—LOCAL COLOR

For their 45th annual orchid show, Selby Gardens honors founder Marie Selby and celebrates the 100th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote.  Entitled, Women Breaking the Glasshouse Ceiling, the displays in the conservatory feature purple, white, and gold, the colors most closely associated with the suffrage movement.  The orchids are beautiful as always, and this year, some of the arrangements revolve. There’s even a mobile of orchids and cut-outs.

Gold orchids

 Music from the 1920’s and period furnishings provide an appropriate backdrop. It’s all quite stylish.

The show runs until November 29 and is definitely worth a visit. There’s much more to see besides this exhibit.   For a a video preview, click here.

Creamy white orchids
Everyone must wear a mask!

EXOTIC LOCALES—VIEWING AND READING

The White Countess (Amazon Prime)

With a star-studded cast including Ralph Fiennes and Natasha Richardson as the principals, plus Lynn and Vanessa Redgrave, this is Merchant Ivory’s last film.  It’s set in Shanghai in 1936, and former American diplomat Todd Jackson is a recluse.  Now blind, his life marred by tragedy, he aimlessly whiles away his nights in sleazy clubs.  He’s well off, but a displaced family of Russian emigres lives crowded together in the ghetto.  

Among them is former countess Sofia, who works as a dancer and prostitute to support her young daughter Katya.  Sofia becomes Todd’s muse and inspiration for creating his own elite nightclub.  Watching these lost souls cautiously connect before the Japanese invade is a long drawn out process.  The overall great cast makes this an enjoyable escape from the everyday. Thanks to my friend Mary for recommending it!  

Singapore Sapphire by A. M. Stuart

Set in Singapore in 1910, this is the first in a series of mysteries featuring Harriet Gordon, a young widow and former suffragette, and Inspector Robert Curran.  Harriet is a relatively recent arrival in Singapore.  She volunteers at the English-style boys’ school headed up by her brother and takes on freelance typing jobs.  

When Harriet goes to retrieve her typewriter from a recent client, Sir Oswald Newbold, she finds him dead and his study ransacked. Curran, a former military policeman and cricket star, is assigned with his team to find the killer.  Other suspicious deaths and disappearances follow and Harriet, both curious and restless, gets involved too.  Add into the mix, art and artifacts, ruby mines, and gem dealers and you have an engaging, even exciting, plot.   (~JWFarrington)

Note: Photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved).

Diversions: Other Lives on Screen & Page

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RECENT READING

EVOCATIVE MEMOIR

The Farmer’s Son:  Calving Season on a Family Farm by John Connell

(irishcentral.com)

I had read good reviews of this work and since we were originally going to Ireland this month, I was doubly attracted to it.  Connell’s account of the months from January to June working on his father’s farm in County Longford delivering calves and lambs is both precise and brooding.  The work is hard, physical and unending, the winter weather cold and damp, the unexpected expected, and the life isolating.  His father is a difficult man with a temper and they often argue and then go for long periods without speaking. 

One feels initially that Connell only reluctantly returned to the farm to deal with personal issues and to grapple with his writing.  The farm is a stark contrast to his previous life in Toronto and only gradually do his ties to the land and his connection to nature return to the fore.  His plain prose often surprises with its literary references while he conveys the details of delivering an animal, the evolutionary history of the cow, and shares his thoughts on his faith and his few friendships.  It’s chock-full of the endless round of daily farm chores and what they entail, but what remains with me is Connell’s journey to a fuller understanding of who he is and where he fits in.  Almost haunting.  Highly recommended!  (~JWFarrington)

ILLUMINATING BIOGRAPHY

What Stars Are Made Of:  The Life of Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin by Donovan Moore

(nymag.com)

Like too many scientific fields, astronomy was a closed circle of men until well into the 20th century, open just a sliver for smart women (known as “computers”) whose job was to collect data.  Cecilia Payne was an exception.  Brilliant, driven, and not deterred by social mores or niceties, she barreled through, or navigated around, the hurdles designed to keep women in their place.  And, she was responsible for discovering the primary element found in stars.  

An English woman who studied at Cambridge, England, she was urged to come to the U.S., specifically to Harvard, where opportunities for women scientists were marginally better.  Intending to stay just for the duration of her fellowship, she ended up spending her entire career at Harvard, becoming the first chair of the astronomy department and ultimately, being granted the rank of full professor.  

Cecilia came of age in the 1920’s and, in the U.K. academic world, women were strictly governed by rules of dress and conduct.  From being heckled on the way down the lecture hall to the front row seats, to not being able to work alone with a male student or scientist in the observatory, learning required persistence and boldness.  Moore’s biography is engaging and accessible, and while focused on Payne-Gaposchkin, is a lesson in astronomy and a history of notables in the field, both men and women.  Thanks to my friend Suzy for the recommendation. (~JWFarrington)

CHOICE VIEWING

PHARMACEUTICAL PUZZLER

Acceptable Risk (Acorn)

(rte.ie)

This is one of the best crime/mystery series I’ve watched recently.  When an executive for global pharmaceutical firm leaves his home in Dublin for a meeting in Montreal, he never returns.  Lee Manning’s violent death raises alarms in Sarah, his lawyer wife, and sets her on a trail for answers to what all his international travel entailed.  Sarah worked for the same firm, Gumbiner-Fischer,  and has two children.  Probing close-mouthed company officers and getting nowhere, she teams up with police detective Emer Byrne, who later is officially removed from the case.  What was really going on at the firm and why all the secrets?  Intriguing, fascinating and totally absorbing!

ESCAPE FROM THE MIDWEST

The Chaperone (Amazon Prime)

(pbs.org)

This film is adapted from a novel of the same name by Laura Moriarty.  It’s the early 1920’s and 16-year old Louise Brooks from Kansas City, has been selected to spend the summer with the Denishawn School of dance in New York.  It’s a long train journey from her home to the city, and she needs a chaperone.  Her mother recruits an acquaintance, Mrs. Norma Carlisle, to accompany Louise and stay with her during the auditioning process.  Louise is feisty and bold and challenges the very proper, straitlaced Norma at every turn, as they both explore a new world of experiences.  Louise Brooks is a real person who eventually became a popular silent screen star.  This is light fare, a pleasant diversion for a summer afternoon, and fans of Downton Abbey will enjoy seeing Elizabeth McGovern blossom as Norma.

Note: The header photo seen in a restaurant run by women, “Behind every successful woman is HERSELF” seemed appropriate for this blog which is mostly about determined women.

At Home: Diversions

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NOVEL OF THE WEEK

The Mountains Sing by Nguyen Phan Que Mai

(Saigoneer.com)

Nguyen Phan Que Mai was born in North Vietnam in 1973, and when she was six her family moved to the South.  She received parts of her education in Australia, the UK, and Hong Kong and then returned to Vietnam to work on sustainable development.  A published poet and nonfiction writer, this novel is her first work written in English.  

Ranging back and forth in time between the present, the 1950’s, and the 1970’s, The Mountains Sing, is a collection of stories told by her grandmother, Tran Dieu Lan, to her now teenaged granddaughter Huong, nicknamed Guava.  Her grandmother was well off and residing on a farm when she was forced to flee with five of her six children during the Land Reform of the 1950’s.  Later, both of Huong’s parents and her uncles went off to fight in the American War, as the Vietnamese call it, and Huong stayed with her grandmother.  Tran relates these accounts of hardship, hunger, violence and suffering gradually as Huong awaits the return of her relatives.

 I found the book a bit hard to get into and had to adjust to the shifting time periods and different relatives, but eventually I got caught up in Huong’s life.  This is a different perspective on the Vietnam War than many of us may have.  The fierce fighting between South Vietnamese forces and those in North Vietnam was devastating for families when siblings were on opposite sides.  While fiction, it is based on the experiences of the author, her family and others.  Linking the story to her native language, she peppers conversations with a selection of Vietnamese proverbs.   

RECENT VIEWING

Michelle Obama: The Story (Amazon Prime)

(radiotimes.com)

I happened upon this hour long documentary, somehow thinking I was going to be watching the new film based on Obama’s memoir. But this was another work entirely and very talk heavy.  

I enjoyed seeing all the images of her dressed up, with Barack, with her girls, and hearing her heartfelt words.  She comes across as relatable and engaged, a point the film reiterates.  It’s also how the Chief Penguin and I felt when we met her in San Francisco for ten minutes with her and just us.  

On the minus side, the grating voice of the lead spokeswoman, an entertainment reporter, is annoying, and I didn’t learn anything I didn’t already know.   The second commentator, who mostly echoes the first one, is another female, a professor in England who is much easier on the ear.  Is this worth the investment of time? No, in my opinion, since there isn’t enough of Michelle in her own words.

Much better to read Becoming, the memoir and then consider watching that film on Netflix. The memoir is noteworthy for her candor, the insights into her growing up years and her marriage, and her revelations of feeling that she didn’t ever fit in at Princeton.  

PROJECTS:  Journals & Photos

The Chief Penguin is into organizing photos from our various trips and creating a document for each that includes them along with appropriate text.  He took lots of photos in the early years, and I not as many.  But I have always been a judicious recorder of the details of our travels and have journals from the international trips we’ve made.

The current focus is on Corsica.  He was invited to give a talk at a NATO scientific conference in Ajaccio in 1975. We spent two weeks in Corsica and then went on to Florence and Vienna with a few other stops ending in Zurich.  We were gone for four weeks, the longest we’d ever been away.  

I’m now transcribing my handwritten journal into a Word document and marveling at some of our adventures.  Everything from almost missing our charter flight from Paris to Ajaccio (we had to get from Charles de Gaulle to Orly airport quickly since our overseas flight was hours late); having his suitcase fall out of the trunk of the car on the way to the train station in Ajaccio; and standing in the back of the train car for the first 2 hours of the 12-hour journey from Florence to Vienna!  Believe it or not, but TWA gave us cab fare to get to Orly, and we arrived at what we thought was only 15 minutes before the flight and were dropped off right outside the gate.  No elaborate security then! 

 I also recorded the menus for almost every lunch and dinner we ate—the beginning of becoming a foodie.  Since we are stuck in Florida for now, it’s a fun armchair adventure to re-live that long-ago journey! 

Note: Header sunset photo ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved).