My essentials: Charlie Cauchi’s cultural picks

1. Book

I’ve just finished Vladamir, Julia May Jones’s debut novel. Female sexual desire and ageing are at the heart of this work. I found it to be extraordinarily compelling and uncomfortable at times, and I think it found a rather arresting way of unpacking the generational tensions that exists around debates on sex and power, especially in the wake of the MeToo movement.

2. Film

I finally managed to see The Banshees of Inisherin. I absolutely adored Martin McDonagh’s debut In Bruges, and Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson had such great chemistry in that film. It’s nice to see that that hasn’t changed at all. The film is set on the fictional titular island in 1923. It’s such a simple film but also manages to do so much. It’s got a melancholic, fable-like quality to it, yet it also manages to be a rather grisly and tragic film, while also being tender and quite funny. There are some hysterical lines. The cinematography is breathtaking.

3. TV/Internet 

I’m just finishing the last season of Atlanta. I’m taking my sweet time with it because I don’t want it to end, and there won’t be another season after this fourth season. Donald Glover has created a work so dark and surreal, but he has still managed to make something that still incredibly funny. Some episodes still give me goosebumps.

4. Music

I just went to see Genn play live, and I’m so glad I did because they were terrific! Actually, it’s been so great to see live music again. I made my teenage self very happy this year by seeing both the Pixies and Pavement live. I have a habit – once I hear a song I connect with for whatever reason, I play it on repeat. One of these has been ‘Catastrophe’ by Yumi Zouma. Though my friend Romeo recently played me ‘B.O.T.A.’ by Eliza Rose and Interplanetary Criminal, and I think it just might beat it.

5. Place

There are so many places, but this one is a bit nostalgic. There’s a restaurant in Saint-Paul de Vence, France, called La Colombe d’Or. It’s got such a wonderful art collection and the place is stunning. I went right after the Cannes Film Festival one year for a long and lazy lunch. It was one of the most perfect afternoons I’ve ever spent. But generally, any long and boozy lunch makes me happy – as long as I’m surrounded by those that I love.