It’s getting to be the time of year when it’s dark at 4pm, no one has any motivation to study, and it's pretty much always raining. So, if you’re looking for things to do at home so you don’t have to go outside, or need some help in procrastinating uni work, The Edi Mag is here to help. Grab a blanket and a hot water bottle (because who’s putting the heating on right now?) and enjoy The Edi Mag’s Winter Streaming Recommendations:
Artwork by Sophie Pywell (IG: @S.louise.pywell).
Films:
See How They Run
Disney+
A loving satire of murder-mysteries, See How They Run is based around a film adaptation of Agatha Christie’s play, The Mousetrap. When the director is murdered, Sam Rockwell’s world-weary detective and Saoirse Ronan’s wide-eyed constable are brought in to investigate. The film winkingly makes fun of the tropes of Agatha Christie, but makes sure we know it’s also a love letter to them. It’s twisty, funny and the best kind of satire.
Falling for Christmas
Netflix
Cheesy, Christmassy, and full of epic knitwear, what more could you want from a film? Lindsay Lohan stars as a rich brat who gets amnesia in a skiing accident. She is taken in by the owner of the local ski lodge and his daughter, and well … you can pretty much fill in the blanks. It’s not exactly reinventing the Christmas movie, but we love to see Lindsay back on top, and her physical comedy is adorable. SoHow fetch!
Enola Holmes 2
Netflix
Millie Bobby Brown is back as Sherlock Holmes’s little sister, solving crimes in Victorian London. She investigates the disappearance of a match factory-girl, and in the process, uncovers a massive corporate conspiracy. It’s extremely wholesome, but also incorporates true events surrounding the first ever female-led industrial action. It’s easy to see where the conspiracy leads, but there’s still plenty of fun to be had running over the London cobblestones with Enola and her gang.
Catherine Called Birdy
Amazon Prime
Directed by Lena Dunham, and adapted from Karen Cushman’s novel, Catherine Called Birdy tells the story of Birdy, a fourteen year-old girl in medieval England. She is fierce, wild and innocent, there’s just one problem: she’s about to be sold into marriage. It’s charming, witty, with a wonderful heroine. Birdy narrates this coming-of-age story through her diary, which is full of funny observations about her family, friends, and the series of suitors who come to call.
Documentaries:
Time
Amazon Prime
Documentary following the journey of a husband and wife kept apart for 20 years through a disproportionate jail sentence. It’s raw and intimate but potently political, using their story to highlight the wider injustice of institutional racism within America’s criminal justice system.
Dick Johnson is Dead
Netflix
Think The Father but with more edge and personality, Dick Johnson is Deadthis film similarly explores a father and daughters process of coming to terms with his dementia diagnosis and the inevitability of death. Director and writer, Kirsten Johnson, portrays the imagining and re-imagining of her father’s death in true Hollywood fashion, including his funeral and afterlife (complete with fluffy clouds and confetti), in order to understand the absurdity and grief of a complex and painful process. You will cry, so be sure to have some tissues handy but there are also some moments of pure joy and comedy; and with a 100% rating on rotten tomatoes, this film is really a must-see.
Immigration Nation
Netflix
An expose on every aspect of the institutional racism pervasive within the immigration along the politically symbolic US-Mexico border. Follows individuals from both sides, from the ICE officers conducting deportation dawn raids, to the struggles of immigrants separated from their families in detention centres. It’s deeply shocking whilst conforming your worst fears about one of the most highly politically charged issues under Donald Trump’s presidency.
Wild, Wild Country
Netflix
Documentary series exploring the Indian Ashram-come-cult which relocated to a rural part of the Midwest, becoming neighbours with a tight-nit conservative community. It’s a shocking exposée on a project which had the best intentions but ultimately ended, (without giving too manyany spoilers), in violence and devastation.
TV:
Only Murders in the Building
Disney+
When someone in their New York apartment building is murdered, neighbours Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez team up to solve the mystery, and narrate their investigation by starting a podcast. If you’re not a fan of true crime, you’ll enjoy how the show pokes fun at the genre. Even though it’s about a murder, it definitely has cosy autumn vibes, thanks in no small part to Selena Gomez’s truly epic coat collection.
The Empress
Netflix
The Crown, but make it Austrian. This German-language period drama follows Empress Elisabeth of Austria, a free-spirited, fiery young woman as she struggles against the oppressive court life she has just married into. Don’t let the subtitles put you off; full of love triangles, palace intrigue, fabulous dresses and exquisite set design, The Empress is every bit as soapy and dramatic as its British counterpart.
Unbelievable
Netflix
Based on a horrific true story, this gripping series explores the pattern of sexual assualt cases across the US in 2008, headed by two women detectives trying to make the survivors’ stories believed and killer brought to justice. A bright spotlight highlighting the effects of the ongoing toxic cycle of victim blaming on women’s emotional and mental health. It can be hard hitting at times, but it is fast paced and highly engaging, making for a perfect binge- worthy fix.
Delhi Crime, season 1
Netflix
Gripping drama which follows Delhi detectives in their efforts to solve a brutal gang rape and murder in 2012 which rocked the nation and the wider world. It’s effortlessly immersive, with stand-out acting, stunning cinematography and extremely talented and witty writers that will blow your slipper socks off! Hands down, one of the best TV series on Netflix.
Made in Heaven
Amazon Prime
Another Delhi based drama, this time following two wedding planners navigating personal modernising relationships and a society full of complex and rigid social customs along themes of gender, religion and caste. It’s got politics, romance and a lot of weddings, all the ingredients for the perfect box set fix.
SAS Rogue Heroes
BBC iPlayer
This show is definitely up there with the best of the BBC Autumn Sunday night watches. Although it is all available on BBC iPlayer now, it is shown each Sunday night at the moment. It has big names, such as Dominic West and Connor Swindells, and recounts how the SAS came into being during the Second World War.
Starstruck
BBC iPlayer
A charming rom-com split into half-hour episodes, Starstruck is the perfect companion for a wholesome evening in. It’s a gender-reversed Notting Hill, in which New Zealand writer/creator Rose Matafeo plays Jessie, unknowingly has a one-night stand with a movie star. It’s funny, romantic, and the writing and acting are wonderful- a perfectly cosy cure for freezing Edinburgh evenings.