So, here’s a first sum up of two series I watched recently on Apple TV. Let’s start with the better one:

« HOME »

In this documentary series every episode shows a new dream house somewhere in the world. I started with season two. In the first episodes we discover a beautifully restored french farm house owned by two architects and inhabited by them and their children. All the windows have sliding panes / doors and there’s a web hanging from the ceiling, a bit like a hammock in which the kids can hang out and read or nap.

Another episode shows a house, more an ensemble of buildings, that perfectly integrates in the Australian Bush. The owner, a doctor and her family, was facing a life threatening disease – I believe it was cancer – and that gave her the motivation to realize her dream house. Her son, a failed architect (as he says himself) built it and the result looks rather fancy. The grandmother lives next door in her own unit and says she especially enjoys her outdoor shower directly facing the bush.

Yet another episode takes us to Amsterdam, where real estate is totally rare and overpriced. An architect and his family camped for days around a free lot on the harbor side to be able to buy it and build a house on it. The multi-storey house has a double staircase dividing it in two: on one side lives the architect’s family and on the other side his parents in law. As the future of housing in Amsterdam doesn’t look any better the house and its units can be rearranged to separate apartments, so that when the kids grow up they can live more independently.

My favorite episode so far is the one set in Barcelona showing us an antique house that was renovated by a couple of two architects. He was a famous Catalan architect and passed away in his late thirties from a brain tumor. She raised their two children and took all the projects over that her diseased husband couldn’t finish. Now in her fifties, she is a successful (Italian) architect in Barcelona and although she seems to be somehow forcing her smiles a little, the house she and her daughter live in is really beautiful and bears a huge library (a bit like in the Mexican episode: A concrete palace with a huge public library in the center).

This is just a quick overview of a lot of houses you can discover whilst watching this very well made documentary series. Its aesthetic resembles the style of Netflix’s “Chef’s Table” somehow. A very polished and graded style, let’s say with dramatic turning points (the lives of the homeowners). “Home” is of course the perfect match for Apple TV as it shows top designed interiors in which you can imagine all the Apple products even though there’s – as far as I recall – no product placement of MacBooks & Co. But anyways, the aesthetics and the topics are the perfect fit for the producing company… That being said it’s enjoyable to watch even if you are not an Apple freak (like I am;).

« wecrashed »

I’m not fully through with this series but after watching 4 episodes in a row my ears are glowing (from my AirPods, didn’t want to wake the neighbors). It’s an entertaining series with two high class actors: Jared Leto and Ann Hathaway in the roles of Adam and Rebekah Newman. Adam is the founder of WeWork, a co-working company that buys and furnishes new office spaces in NYC for young professionals to rent and work in. Starting by investing his wife’s wedding dowry in the renovation of a Manhattan building he puts a lot of effort in the growth of his company. First successful, WeWork soon starts to lose money and the fight against total collaps starts. Adam (the real one) was born in Tel Aviv. As he says during a Start Up India event in Mumbai, his parents divorced when he was 7 and he moved 13 times with his mother. First to the States then back to Israel and a Kibbutz. There he first felt a sense of connection between people that he wanted to recreate in the very individualistic work environment he discovered when he moved to New York City. Rebekah is American-jewish and from a wealthy family. Her dad supported her after graduating in her pursuit of a career as an actress. When she and Adam meet she’s actually a Yoga teacher.

All these facts are drawn from the real characters and Jared Leto, who is in his fifties now, plays the young Adam (he must be in his late twenties) perfectly. Even the Hebrew tainted English is quite accurate I think and more realistic than his Italian accent in “House of Gucci”. Ann Hathaway is brilliant as well and skinnier as ever. Her voice seems quite low (maybe the real Rebekah talka like this) and her previois roles in “The Devil Wears Prada” or “The Intern” make her the perfect cast for this role.

“We Crashed”is a very up-to-date portrait of today’s and future work visions in particular and of start ups and their well-known volatility in general. I highly recommend giving it a try!