5 cultural gems you may have missed lately (the November edition)

There has never been a better time to be a culture vulture, but the sheer volume of stuff out there makes it all too easy for some gems to slip through the cracks.

Perhaps you've simply been meaning to tackle that series, or listen to that album, or move that book at the top of your 'to-read' pile; maybe you’re just in the market for some solid cultural recommendations.

Here are five cultural gems that you may have missed lately…

The Wild Robot (in cinemas now)

If you've been reading the stellar reviews for this DreamWorks animated feature and thinking about going, but perhaps thinking that you need to borrow a kid to bring along - think again. This is one of the best and most beautiful films I’ve seen all year; it’s sweet, gorgeously designed and with a message that hammers home the importance of family, belonging and being proud of who you are. The plot is simple: Roz is a single-minded robot who has washed up on a deserted island and becomes the inadvertent adoptive mother of an orphaned goose called Brightbill, and together they must learn how to co-exist as outsiders amid a community that doesn’t quite understand them. Directed by Chris Sanders and featuring the voices of Lupita Nyong’o, Pedro Pascal and more, the story is based on Peter Brown’s sci-fi trilogy of books, first published in 2016, while Studio Ghibli fans will recognise a big Miyazaki influence, both in animation style and in theme. If you do happen to bring the small person/people in your life along, they’ll love it too - and the good news is that a sequel is already in the works. (Incidentally, my other favourite film of 2024 is about a robot, too - the superb Robot Dreams. Stream it immediately)

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Notes from New York by Aisling Marron

Substack seems to be the go-to platform for an increasing number of writers these days, but this is a newsletter that I always relish dropping into my inbox. I’ve been a fan of Aisling Marron’s writing since first reading her hilarious parenting column in The Irish Times many moons ago. She has a knack of describing things with just the right level of self-deprecation and enjoyable cynicism - it’s an Irish thing, maybe. Since departing Dublin for the glam surrounds of New York with her husband and two young kids a few years ago, however, her writing has been much missed. Thankfully she launched a free (for now, at least) Substack a couple of months ago that offers snippets of her life in the Big Apple viewed through an Irish lens - from reviews of restaurant brunches, to negotiating the parents at her kids’ school, to her experiences in a Brooklyn Bathhouse. So much has been written about NYC, but you probably haven’t read it through the eyes of a quick-witted Irishwoman dealing with the often ridiculous nature of American society. Importantly, though, it’s funny but never sneery. Fans of writers like Maeve Higgins will definitely enjoy this.

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The Louis Theroux Podcast - Season 3 (wherever you get your podcasts)

Hurrah! The new season of one of my favourite interview-based podcast dropped at the end of September and I’ve been gleefully working my way through the weekly episodes. Season 3 sees our favourite self-deprecating and somewhat neurotic journalist go head-to-head with some intriguing characters, including our own Barry Keoghan - who discusses his childhood, his career and his relationship with fame with a frankness I don’t think I’ve heard him plunder in the past. There are also revealing chats with Katie Price, with artist Tracey Emin and with 'bad boy’ tennis star Nick Kyrgios that are well worth a listen. Listening to Theroux, who admirably manages to make being extremely nosey sound professional (his penchant for long pauses and letting questions percolate in silence is masterful, to be fair) is always a joy. It’s also what separates him from many of his contemporaries, which is why he often mines new information from his guests.

The Elementals (published by Valancourt Books)

I first came across Valancourt Books, a small American publisher based in Richmond, Virginia who specialise in "the rediscovery of rare, neglected, and out-of-print fiction" a few years back with this astonishing book. It has stayed with me ever since and remains one of the most underrated (and ergo unknown) horror-themed books I’ve probably ever read. Given the season, it felt timely to revisit it just before Halloween. Written by the late Michael McDowell - best known for writing the screenplay for Beetlejuice, as well as various other novels and episodes of George A. Romero’s Tales from the Darkside anthology TV series - it’s a deliciously creepy Southern Gothic horror following two wealthy families, the McCrays and the Savages, over the course of a summer at their isolated Alabama coastal retreat. Two houses on their land lie inhabited, but a third is being engulfed by a mound of sand for reasons no one can explain. It soon becomes apparent that a malevolent force, i.e the titular ‘Elementals’, which has plagued their families for generations, is not yet finished with them. Not only would this book make an incredible mini-series or film (if I win the Lotto tomorrow, etc…), it’s a remarkable read in its own right. Be warned, though - it may well give you nightmares…

Bad Sisters - Season 2 (Apple TV+)

I have a confession to make: I liked the first season of Bad Sisters well enough, but I didn’t quite love it. Despite the fact that there was much to admire, not least the fact that there were brilliantly-drawn female characters, great actors, a female-led team and a story that swung (perhaps a little too) wildly between comedy and tragedy, not all of it fully landed with me. Perhaps it was a little encumbered by its source material, the Flemish TV series Clan. However, I’ve been lucky enough to see the entirety of Season 2 and I loved it; it feels like Sharon Horgan and her on-screen sisters have settled into their roles, and there’s a lot more tension in the mix this time around - not to mention several gut-punches, twists and turns. We all know (spoiler alert!) that the odious JP dies at the hands of his wife, Grace at the end of Season 1. The second season begins with a much happier event two years later: Grace’s second marriage to newcomer Ian (Owen McDonnell) but of course, it seems that happiness amongst the Garvey sisters is usually short-lived. The addition of the likes of the wonderful Fiona Shaw (aka ‘The Wagon’) as the sister of Roger (the excellent Michael Smiley, who has much more to do here) breathes new life into the story, too. And Dublin and Wicklow residents will once again have fun spotting the various locations the series was filmed in.