The year continues to get its bearings, to establish itself. Right now, it’s still a collection of post-holiday weeks, getting-going weeks, weeks for planning the year to come. An on-ramp where we get up to speed. Soon we’ll be properly in the flow of traffic, soon we’ll really be on our way.
Last week I wrote about seasonal ambivalence, about trying to be comfortable in the cold in-between. My mood was as dark and icy as the weather and I wanted to change it decisively, so I turned to my cultural diet. What would it look like to create a syllabus for optimism? I had a scene in mind: Jill Clayburgh dancing to Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake in her New York City apartment in Paul Mazursky’s “An Unmarried Woman.” I haven’t seen the 1978 film since I was a teenager, but that scene stayed with me: exuberant, silly, creative, full of possibility.
“An Unmarried Woman” is, disappointingly, not available to stream, and I found myself scrounging for YouTube scraps, looking for other movies that would inspire the same mood. I hit the Criterion Channel, thinking perhaps an escape into French cinema would do the trick. I struck out in the hot sun of Roger Vadim’s 1956 “And God Created Woman” and Jacques Deray’s 1969 “La Piscine,” neither offering the complex characters or the coziness I was seeking.
Back to New York City in 1978: I hadn’t seen Claudia Weill’s “Girlfriends,” which stars Melanie Mayron as a photographer sorting out her life after her roommate moves out and gets married. I loved it. I tried more movies about women on their own, figuring things out: Ellen Burstyn in Martin Scorsese’s “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” (1974), Parker Posey in Zoe Cassavetes’s “Broken English” (2007). These films were good company, movies about people who are blue but taking measures not to be. They are moody movies, wherein geography figures as largely as the characters, where a change in location occasions a change in perspective.
The on-demand availability of (almost!) everything allows us this kind of highly tailored viewing, whereby a restless viewer can fastidiously craft the perfect diet to treat whatever yen or malaise they’re experiencing. This is both wonderful and terrible. Streaming invites a kind of snacking, a standing-in-front-of-the-fridge asking oneself “What am I hungry for?” The result is often a chaos meal, consisting of bites of whatever looks appealing, which don’t always add up to nourishment.
I realized in the midst of my selective viewing that I wasn’t going to get what I wanted from the plot points of any particular movie I called up on a streaming service. What I wanted was a nostalgic, real-world experience: wandering in out of the cold of a midwinter’s afternoon, breathing in the stale popcorn-scented air of, say, the Angelika, or any of the city’s independent theaters, buying a ticket to whatever matinee is on, stumbling out afterward, changed. I didn’t want to watch a movie about people with interesting, complicated lives. I wanted to live my own.
I want to say that I hurried to the Angelika and took in the next screening, that I vowed to abandon my home viewing for the inimitable splendor of the silver screen. No, I stayed in and rented “Anatomy of a Fall” on a too-small screen with finicky subtitles. It was a new release that I rented for 48 hours — not a selection from the always-on streaming buffet — so I watched it from start to finish, the way the director intended, the way one takes in a film in the theater. I sat down, I engaged with a story, I stayed until the story was complete. This was more satisfying than my scattershot attempts to find the perfect cinematic salve had been. I wasn’t looking for a particular movie or genre, I was looking for simplicity, for an escape from the infinity and loneliness of all this choice.
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THE WEEK IN CULTURE
CULTURE CALENDAR
📺 Masters of the Air (Out now): This nine-part Apple TV+ show follows a unit of the U.S. Air Force known as the “Bloody Hundredth,” who flew dangerous daytime missions in Nazi territory during World War II. The show is executive produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks who also worked together on the miniseries “Band of Brothers” and “The Pacific.” Spielberg told The Times that the show is an exercise in keeping the memories of World War II veterans alive: “I see it as a consistent recognition of the courage and sacrifice of the greatest generation,” he said.
📽️ Argylle (Friday): In this movie from Matthew Vaughn, the director of “Kingsman,” an author named Elly Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard) is pulled into the world of espionage when the plots of her spy novels seem to start unfolding in real life. The movie is based on a very recently published book by an unknown author, who also goes by Elly Conway. This fuzziness caused some to speculate that Conway was, in fact, Taylor Swift. (In this particular case, however, all roads do not lead to Taylor Swift.)
RECIPE OF THE WEEK
Extra-Crispy Parmesan Potatoes
Kenji López-Alt is a master at tweaking classic recipes to make them even better. For his extra-crispy Parmesan-crusted roasted potatoes, he boils the potatoes with baking soda and herbs until tender, then coats them with a slurry of finely ground Parmesan and melted butter. As the potatoes roast, the starch on their exterior binds with the butter and cheese, creating a golden shell with a frico-like crunch. Versatile and irresistible, you can serve them with just about anything — a side dish that’s likely to steal the show.
REAL ESTATE
The hunt: A young family chose to move to Denver with a budget of up $1.2 million. Which home did they choose? Play our game.
LIVING
Sex drive: The pill lowers testosterone levels. What does that do to the libido?
“Aging like milk”: Some members of Gen Z say they fear their generation is aging more quickly than others. They may simply be getting older.
In the spotlight: Influential rappers like Nicki Minaj and Cardi B are destigmatizing motherhood for hip-hop performers.
Travel: The Paris Olympics this summer promises to be stunning. The prices already are.
ADVICE FROM WIRECUTTER
For better drinking water
If you’re concerned about the quality of your tap water, there are plenty of ways to improve it. Almost all pitcher-type filters remove the chlorine disinfectants that can give water an off flavor, and some also reduce lead and industrial compounds. Under-sink filters work faster, last longer, can treat a far wider range of contaminants — including microplastics and so-called forever chemicals — and don’t require advanced plumbing skills to install. Our first suggestion, though, is to test your water with an accurate at-home kit. You may learn (as I did) that your water is already pristine. Or you may uncover a serious problem that takes more than an off-the-shelf filter to solve. — Tim Heffernan
Detroit Lions vs. San Francisco 49ers, N.F.C. Championship: Let’s get this out of the way, because you’re going to hear it a lot on Sunday: The Lions have never been to the Super Bowl. Three years ago, when the team traded away its franchise quarterback, then went 3-13-1, it didn’t appear that streak would be broken anytime soon. But Dan Campbell, Detroit’s head coach, has turned this team around. The Lions defense is the best in the league at stopping the run, while the offense excels at running the ball. And though he isn’t flashy, Jared Goff has been the most accurate passer among all quarterbacks this postseason. Suddenly, a Super Bowl seems within reach. Sunday at 6:30 p.m. Eastern on Fox
