Binge-r #167: Catastrophe + The Irishman
Disaster Relief: Sharon Horgan (Sharon) and Rob Delaney (Rob) in Catastrophe
CATASTROPHE S1
Streaming Service: Stan
Availability: All six episodes now streaming, plus S2 + S3
“You don’t have a hairy back.” “Neither do you.” Falling into shared laughter, mutual attraction, and bed, American advertising executive Rob Norris (Rob Delaney) and Irish primary school teacher Sharon Morris (Sharon Horgan) have a “six night thing” while he’s in London on a business trip. But when Sharon subsequently finds herself pregnant, Rob returns to be a husband and a father, a decision that like so much in this decisive comedy is made through a lens that appears to be back to front but somehow might work. Working through issues both profound and insignificant, often with the opposite amounts of solidarity and sympathy required, the pair try to make sense of being thrown together at a time when they should be getting to merely know each other.
Created by Horgan and Delaney and studded with hysterically misjudged exchanges and sardonic banter, this terrific transatlantic sitcom has been one of the best comedies on offer since it debuted in 2015. Previously flitting between cable television and the ABC iView, the first three seasons can now be found on Stan. In many ways the show is about a relationship in reverse, with the lesser introductory moments such as meeting friend and respective families coming after a commitment has been made. Frank admissions and deceptive reassurance are in close proximity here, as the duo’s belief that they’re both “good people” is sorely tested and sometimes simply shattered.
You can believe the fictional characters are attracted to each other despite the issues their relationship faces, including Rob relocating to London and Sharon going through a pregnancy at the age of 40, and there’s a similar complementary connection to the screen persona of Horgan and Delaney; they’re equally attuned to sharp truth-telling and genuine affection. The story scoots forward, adding a supporting cast that includes frenemies, friends, and family – the late Carrie Fisher steals every scene she’s in as Rob’s mother Mia. Love is sidelined in this union, but Catastrophe is a show about figuring things out. Thankfully that rarely happens without comic ructions and the hilarity of life’s very recognisable foibles.
Child’s Play: Robert De Niro (Frank), Joe pesci (Russell) and Lucy Gallina (Peggy) in The Irishman
NEWLY ADDED MOVIES
THE IRISHMAN (Netflix, 2019, 209 minutes): Throughout Martin Scorsese’s meticulous and masterful crime saga, Joe Pesci’s Philadelphia mob boss Russell Buffalino harbours lingering suspicions about the intent of a close associate. But it’s not a fellow goodfella he can readily have whacked, rather it’s the disapproving daughter of his close friend, contract killer Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro). First as a child (played by Lucy Gallina) and then an adult (Anna Paquin), Peggy Sheeran watches these gangsters with quiet disapproval, and the intimacy of that judgment is emblematic of a film where modern American history’s cut is told through the flawed bonds of men and their willingness to ultimately turn on each other. Based on interviews the ageing Sheeran gave for a 2004 memoir, the movie is defined by restraint, from the quiet negotiations of bosses to the elegiac cinematography by Rodrigo Prieto. For much of this lengthy, engrossing story Frank tries to balance his friendships with Russell and determined union boss Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino), and the regret from failing to maintain that unforgettably leaches into the very bones of The Irishman.
New on SBS on Demand: A complex – if sometimes schematic – outline of childhood fantasy and science-fiction possibility, A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001, 146 minutes) was begun by Stanley Kubrick before it passed to Steve Spielberg, who gives Haley Joel Osment’s humanoid robot, serving as a true Lost Boy, a hunger for maternal love and risks imbued with the wonder of fairy tales.
New on Stan: Shutter Island (2010, 139 minutes) is Martin Scorsese’s take on horror, a jittery descent into psychological identity that revolves around Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo as FBI agents investigating an ominous institution for the criminally insane; better with the crafty action set-pieces than emotional sustenance, Colombiana (2011, 108 minutes) stars Zoe Saldana as an orphaned child who grows up to be an assassin.
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