Recommenadtion list - Matilda Forss

If you’re anything like me, you dislike that all the movie recommendations for autumn automatically include horror. Well, no more! Sometimes you just want to see people wearing fashionable sweaters do romantic things. Sometimes you just want to watch stories unfold tidily, residing under a blanket, not out of fear but out of comfort. Here is a list for the girlies who curl up with some hot cocoa – seven things, new and old, to watch this October.

Copyright: Buena Vista Pictures Distribution / Photo: IMDb.

Dead Poets Society (Disney+ / Apple TV / YouTube / Viaplay, 1989)

Starting us off with some dark academia we have, of course, Peter Weir’s Dead Poets Society from 1989. Robin Williams, the leaves, the passion, boys acting like boys (in the way we all wish teenage boys would behave), and did I say Robin Williams?

The characters intoxicate themselves with the feeling of being alive for the first time in their lives and it’s infectious. The laughter, the sound of a saxophone in the cave, a tune that holds, the vision of smoke passing from their lips, laughter that stops and the silent noise of awe that replaces it… What’s not to love?

Copyright: Lilies Films / Website: Filmgrab

Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Apple TV / YouTube / Viaplay, 2019)

While we’re at it we might as well humour the other period dramas that shaped or altered our image of love, might we not? Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) depicts the relationship between a female artist and the woman she is commissioned to paint as a wedding portrait.

Filled chock-a-block with long silences, glances, symbolism and mythology, this film is a stroke of genius that only seems appropriate to view in a darkened room, lit up by candlelight, or moonlight if you can afford it. The ending, where Marianne sees Héloïse again, a vision accompanied with Vivaldi’s “Summer”, is sensual and intelligent, unlocking for us the rest of the film. It is a remembrance of past love, the illusionary gloss of summer, in darkened days, suitable for October.

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (Netflix, 2023)

The recent Roald Dahl frenzy has taken an interesting turn with the Wes Anderson Shorts Collection, based on four Roald Dahl novels. The four stories, Poison, The Ratcatcher, The Swan, and The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, were released late September this year on Netflix.

Out of this collection The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar is the longest of the bunch, and at twice the length of the other films it tells the story of a man who tries to learn how to see without using his eyes. The sets, the colours and the dialogue are bright and quick, peculiar, and theatrical. The film is perfect for one of those nights where you want something short and sweet. Well suited for the shift from breezy September to gloom are also the more eerie and spooky stories, such as The Swan or The Ratcatcher.

Copyright: Warner Bros / Photo. New York Times

Gilmore Girls (Netflix, 2000-2007)

Another evident autumn suggestion, I know, but these episodes fit the type of cloudy-and-chilly-but-not-quite-that-cold-but-cold-enough-to-wear-a-scarf-weather we’ve been having lately perfectly. The show ran from 2000-2007 and can today be found on Netflix.

The tension in a small town runs hot, while everything else slowly cools, ah! The juxtaposition of new and old, Jess and Dean, brains and brawns! Nowhere is autumn as fully realised as in Stars Hollow. Here is therefore a list of episodes to watch for the vibes, and to keep watching for the drama:

Kiss and Tell, season 1, episode 7.
Eight O’Clock At the Oasis, season 3, episode 5.
Take the Deviled Eggs…, season 3, episode 6.
They Shoot Gilmores, Don’t They?, season 3, episode 7.
Let the Games Begin, season 3, episode 8.
A Deep-Fried Korean Thanksgiving, season 3, episode 10.
The Fundamental Things Apply, season 4, episode 5.
Ted Koppel’s Big Night out, season 4, episode 9.
Twenty-One Is the Loneliest Number, season 6, episode 7.

Copyright: Two Brothers Pictures / Photo: IMDb.

Fleabag (Prime, 2016-2019)

I have a short answer and a long answer for this one. The short answer is that one must restrict how much one views certain things. Certain films and shows need to act as treats, so as to not spoil one’s appetite. Well, I hereby declare that the time has come to indulge! Fleabag ran from 2016-2019 and can today be found on Amazon Prime.

The long answer is that I was out for a walk last night, and I saw a woman sitting in the park, humming for herself and her dog, I saw a man riding a bike, mumbling to himself, and I saw couples holding hands. The dark weather is gloomy, sure, but the privacy of darkness is upon us again. To welcome this, instead of fearing it, means to return to a bubble of solitude. For many introverted Norwegians this can feel quite reassuring. In this time of introspection, I believe it quite fundamental to have a good cry. And the specific and delightful oddness that Fleabag embodies, and the way we get to know her, and fall in love as she falls in love, is a story so rich with odour, layer, and texture, that it, to me, doesn’t fit any other season as it does autumn.

Copyright: Columbia Pictures / Photo: Filmgrab

Little Women (Viaplay, 2019)

And once you start indulging in your female Roman Empires it’s a bit hard to stop, isn’t it? So why not rewatch Greta Gerwig’s Little Women (2019) as well? The latest film adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s novel stars so many lovely actresses (Saoirse Ronan, Florence Pugh, and Emma Watson), and it nails you to your seat.

If you watched Barbie in July, it feels almost mandatory to watch Little Women before December. Jo’s novel and Barbie’s life both end deliciously ambiguously, making a statement that love and marriage isn’t everyone’s obvious answer. The love here is instead scorching, obvious, and tender, all at once. As you sit there, nailed to your sofa, you do little else than wish the four sisters well.

Copyright: 20th Century Studios / Photo: IMDb.

A Haunting in Venice (Cinema screenings, 2023)

If you, after all this, then find that you might be ready to take the next step - to widen your horizons and face something spooky, I suggest the third film in which Kenneth Branagh plays a Belgian detective, A Haunting in Venice (2023). The film is loosely based on the 1969 Agatha Christie novel Hallowe’en Party following Hercule Poirot’s retired life, which of course still leads to some Halloween murder. The film is a snack with an all-star cast, wonderfully “old” - it is fun with a dark streak. What happens when good old fashioned logic meets the superstitious? Only one way to find out… I suggest catching it at Frogner Kino, where the rustic elegance matches the mood of the film.

In this image of fall as a time of introspection that I’ve painted, we often stumble upon some questions we cannot answer, and this is always frustrating. To realise that we have skeletons in the closet, things still unresolved, tensions about ourselves is tiring. Our own mysteries, however different they may be from murder mysteries (and I do hope they are), become most clear in the hustle and bustle of autumnal routine. What greater fun is there then than to see someone else solve everything for us, lay answers bear, presenting their work? It might seem too simple of an answer, but sometimes the mess of summer, the fragmentation of plans that deviate from habits, the uprootedness of friends, creates a need for simple answers, clearly cut from the one cloth. Thus, I present to you a tale assembled neatly like a knot, a mystery that shall be solved as my last addition to this list.

This list is of course very biased. It is based on my comfort things to watch and the belief that autumn doesn’t have to be a scary time. It can be romantic, poetic and flimsy, goofy and mysterious. May this list serve you well, in the journey of revisiting old loves, in finding new ones, and in your expedition of things that bring you as much peace as some of these bring me. May the leaves’ vibrant colours and the darkness of the evenings act only as a backdrop in the much more interesting life that I am sure you lead in your own little bubble, this time of year.

New week, new recommendations #40 - Autumn bonanza