AMAV VICDOC SUMMER 2023 - Magazine - Page 8
I N R EV IEW: REA D | WATC H | L IST E N — BY FRAN C ES MO RE L L
SONGS FOR OUR
DAUGHTER
TRAVEL MAN
48 HOURS IN
WHEN BREATH
BECOMES AIR
Laura Marling
SBS On Demand
Dr Paul Kalanithi
Through the fever dream of the
past 2 years, Laura Marling’s
seventh studio album ‘Song
for our Daughter’ was released
and was another revelation. A
troubadour of the early 2000s
quasi folk scene of England,
Marling emerged, as the
most talented, immense, and
genuine. This album, written
in her words about “trauma
and an enduring quest to
understand what it is to be
a woman in this society” is a
triumph. Having taken a hiatus
to move to Los Angeles to
escape recognition and become
a yoga instructor, Marling made
a triumphant return to music,
and we are all the better for
it. Influenced by the likes of
Mitchell, Dylan, Young, Reed
and Cohen, she has also been
newly influenced by McCartney.
The title track, ‘Song for Our
Daughter’ lacks the typical
sentimentality one might
expect of such a theme,
but is exquisite and haunting,
and just like the overall album,
full, melodious, stirring,
and hopeful.
With borders open, you might
be wondering where to take
your next trip? Join Richard
Ayoade (actor, comedian,
broadcaster, filmmaker) for
inspiration as he presents the
definitive guide to 48-hours
away. Each episode is presented
with a different celebrity and
depicts travel for what it really
is: the best and the worst of
anything you could do. Get
ready for wit and hilarity
in this engaging television
show. And if you have not
seen Richard’s 2010 debut
feature film that he wrote and
directed, ‘Submarine’, I also
highly recommend this sublime
coming of age comedy-drama.
After being diagnosed with
inoperable lung cancer at
the age of thirty-six, Dr Paul
Kalanith wrote an exquisite
memoir reflecting on his life
and wrestling with the question,
“What makes a life worth living?”
The extraordinary generosity
and intimacy of this novel is
breath taking, as Dr Kalanithi
journeys from a medical student,
“possessed by the question of
what, given all organisms die,
makes a virtuous and meaningful
life” into a neurosurgeon at
Stanford studying the very
home of identity in the brain;
and then finally as a patient,
father and husband confronting
his mortality with grace and
stoicism. It is a moving and life
affirming read; both a generous
legacy, for Dr Kalanithi’s
daughter, and a gift for us all.
––
––
––
After being diagnosed with
inoperable lung cancer at the age
of thirty-six, Dr Paul Kalanithi
wrote an exquisite memoir
wrestling with the question,
“What makes a life worth living?”
When Breath Becomes Air
8
AMA VI C TO RIA