Join us every week for a trip into the weird and wonderful world of trailers. Whether it’s the first teaser for the latest instalment in your favourite franchise, an obscure preview for a strange indie darling, whether it’s good, bad, ugly or just plain weird – your favourite pop culture baristas are there to tell you what they think.
What do people think about when they hear Switzerland? Cheese? Watches? Lax bank laws? Or is it Heidi? Though, as Sam wrote in this week’s Six Damn Fine Degrees, it’s by no means the case that Heidi is purely Swiss – in some ways, she’s the whole world’s Swiss girl.
And that’s when she isn’t leading a rebellion in 2022’s grindhouse pastiche Mad Heidi, of course.
This week also saw the release of our March espresso podcast, in which Julie talked to Sam about the recent stage production of The Women he directed at the Swiss school where he teaches. (See? It’s Switzerland all the way.)
And let’s finish this week’s trailer post with a Netflix double bill.
Matt: I know that I’m not the audience for this. I stopped watching Black Mirror years ago. Watching this trailer, I don’t particularly think that this is something I need to remedy – while I’m sure these stories are well acted and directed, the spark seems to be gone, and Black Mirror has become less of a promise and more of a brand. Ooh, technology gone bad! When, really, Black Mirror was always strongest when the technology was the context but the themes were deeply human: why do these technologies bring out the worst in us? What rankles the most, perhaps: that Netflix gives this a seventh season while cancelling other series well before their time.
Matt: On the other hand, from what I’ve heard, Netflix should be praised for this one: Adolescence, created by Jack Thorne (who also co-wrote This is England) and Stephen Graham (who, incidentally, acted in This is England, but also in Snatch, Boardwalk Empire, Boiling Point, and many other films and series). Apparently, it’s not just a technical tour de force, with all its episodes being filmed in a single continuous shot, it’s also compelling, startling, relevant drama about the eroding influence of the online ‘manosphere’ on adolescent males.
A Damn Fine Cup of Culture 