So you wanna watch something...
Move to Heaven: In this K-drama, a young man with Asperger’s syndrome works for a company that handles the homes and belongings of the recently departed, labeled as ‘trauma cleaning’—and then he loses his own father. This could be a potentially moving series about life, loss and grief. Available on Netflix.
Cinema Bandi: In this Telugu film, an autorickshaw driver finds an expensive camera left behind by a passenger and uses it to make a movie with his fellow villagers. It promises to be a film that uses gentle humour to reveal the realities of rural life. The Hindu has a piece on the filmmakers. It drops on Netflix today!
The Underground Railroad: This is a 10-part series based on the incredible novel of the same name by Colson Whitehead. Directed by Barry Jenkins—of Oscar-winning ‘Moonlight’ fame—it tells the story of Cora, a young slave girl, who flees with her friend Caesar from a Georgia plantation—chased by a slave catcher named Ridgeway. BBC News says “the visible and the invisible, realism and fantasy, meet in this beautiful and searing series.” Streaming today on Prime Video.
Reminder: ‘Minari’—which won the Oscar for best supporting actress—is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.
A list of good reads
- Los Angeles Times explains why we’re all so excited about Bennifer 2.0—the great reunion of JLo and Ben Affleck.
- The Print has an astonishingly scathing and eloquent takedown of the PM by a former Modi supporter. Scroll offers incisive analysis of Modi’s declining popularity (h/t subscriber Anita Rao Kashi)
- A very good read: Vice on how the personal computer broke the human body—long before Zoom came along.
- Washington Post has a fun piece on the generational showdown over… jeans?
- Speaking of fashion, BuzzFeed News asks a timely question: Why are Crocs a thing again?
- Sonia Faleiro in RestOfWorld looks at the rise of the Indian fact-checker—whose job is more important and perilous than ever.
- New York Magazine dives into the ever uglier war between journalists and Silicon Valley.
- The Cut looks at what a year of isolation during the pandemic does to the brain of a child.
- Ganesh Vancheeswaran in Scroll has a lovely essay on the ‘other’ Bappi Lahiri—whose true talent has been overshadowed by all those flashy disco songs.
- New Yorker looks at why we’ve been so much better at finding ways to prolong life—than ways to end it in a good way.
- Joanna Greenberg in Narratively writes about her life as a personal assistant to one of America’s most eligible bachelors.
