Flicks in the Sticks 2

What a success the Border;lines Film festival was! We saw eight films in two weeks, including Up in the Air, The Road, Frozen River, In the Loop, Nowhere Boy, and the great Ian Dury film, Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll to finish. Films are good for me at the moment, as I can't seem to get back into reading novels, and just browse on newspapers. A two hour film is just right. Unfortunately, i can't really manage to write about the films either, but they were all well worth seeing. And watching films in a cosy venue not too far from home, often with a bar that will let you take a drink in, with people you are on first name terms with, is great. one venue even shows supporting programmes of old newsreels and has an interval with choc ices on sale! Brilliant!

Flicks in the Sticks

As if guided by an unseen hand, i entered the Little Pub with the Big Brewer, in order to partake of a little refreshment, and my eye was drawn to a pile of leaflets. The Borderlines film festival offers a tempting programme of films, in locations that do not require motorway travel or train journeys. In village halls and local independents, we can see them all - well, lots of them. Come to the Welsh borders and see the films your multiplex won't be showing.

Up In The Air

Oscar nominations announced today, including one for Up In the Air as best picture. Good for them! It richly deserves it, in my opinion. Corporate America is the main course, with a side order on love, romance, commitment and the devastating effects of unemployment upon the individual. So not bad then. George Clooney was great, and the two female leads equally good, in different ways, with Anna Kendrick having the edge as the naive psychologist way out of her depth in the world of big business. No-one would believe the cameo role given to Sam Elliott, but I just love listening to his voice, even for just a couple of lines. Lots of brilliant touches by Reitman, using real life talking-head interviews with unemployed American workers to hammer his points home. Right at the end of the credits is a song sent in to the director by an unemployed man who thought "perhaps you might be able to use it in your film".

We thoroughly enjoyed it, but watched it in an almost empty cinema on a Thursday night. several of those leaving were scratching their heads and muttering. When I read the caption in the listings mag produced by the cinema, I could see why; "a comedy drama about a man who is obsessed with getting ten million air miles". Did the person who wrote this watch the film first?

Moans on TV news about the fact that there are ten films nominated for Best Film, including some that "hardly anyone will have watched". It helps if the film is properly publicised so that people can make informed choices about what they are watching; not everyone soaks up all the radio and newspaper reviews like us. And it helps if the film is on somewhere near where you live; to see Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll I would need to travel to Bath or Leicester (over one hundred miles); to see The Road I face travelling to Birmingham or Cardiff (about eighty miles). Yes, I will see them eventually, in an independent, or in great digital projection in a local village hall in about twelve months time. Is that really 21st century cinema at its best?

January cinema

Going to see the George Clooney film "Up In the Air" tomorrow. I don't think I've seen a film with GC that i didn't enjoy. Especially "O Brother Where Art Thou?" and "Michael Collins". "Perfect Storm" was good. We watched it in Stratford while on a boating cruise of the River Avon. I like Jeff Bridges films too, especiallt "The Fisher King" and the wonderful "The Big Lebowski". Good to see him pick up a gong at the Golden Globes. But "Best Drama" for "Avatar"? Nah!

Avatar 3D

Thanks to Second Son for the freebies to see Avatar. Pity it was, on the whole, a disappointment. 3D is amazing of course, and the glasses are quite cool (We wore them in the pub afterwards too; it was amazing; as if the people opposite were in the SAME ROOM!), but the film is so derivative; what happened to a decent plot and script? Every cowboy film, every space adventure, every eco-warrior movie you've seen is in there somewhere. As with Roger Rabbit and a number of other "firsts", one wishes that the same dazzling creativity that was applied to the special effects had been applied to the story. Did they say this when they first heard Al Jolson sing, I wonder?

Mind you, we did watch it with someone considerably younger than ourselves, who commented that some who would never watch news, documentaries or history just might make some connections with experiences such as Vietnam, Iraq, the rainforests, etc? Let's hope so.

Revolutionary Road

Finally saw this great film by Sam Mendes tonight. Not one of his funny ones. The claustrophobia of suburbia. All the principal players are good, with a surprisingly (should I be surprised?) good performance from Leonardo di Caprio. Not a comfortable watch, but very worthwhile. Beautiful soundtrack. As is often the case, the crazy guy sees what's really going on. Sad, sad, sad.

Sleep Furiously

This last film in our “summer season” didn’t get a good review from Philip French in the Observer, but I liked it. In fact, if a film gets a review from me, it’ll be because I enjoyed it. Like dovegreyreader (link on the right) I see no point in trashing other people’s best efforts.

The film is a documentary by Gideon Koppel chronicling a year in the life of the Welsh rural community of Trefeurig, which is not too far from here, though I don’t know it. It’s beautifully filmed; long still shots of changing weather patterns and landscape; time lapse; delicate and beautiful close-ups of men and women at work doing ordinary tasks, baking, woodwork, weaving; ravishing colours and textures. Gideon Koppel is not afraid to let the camera linger, as on one shot of a departing tractor and the sheepdog who stands and watches it go. There is no commentary. The music is sparingly applied, unobtrusive piano-based themes by the band Aphex Twin. Koppel clearly loves the community and the landscape, and offers this film as an elegiac tribute to a way of life under threat. Some of the issues are the same ones that we have tackled here in the past six years. Some of the conversations are word for word the same as exchanges I have had with local people.

The locals are only too well aware of the precarious nature of the community. This is especially true of the small primary school. We see scenes of the school. We see the community meetings held to try to dissuade the authorities from closing it.

Koppel’s mother appears throughout the film. Towards the end he quotes her; “It is only when I sense the end of things that I have the courage to speak; the courage, but not the words”.

One is left with a strong sense of the grandeur of the landscape as well as the strength, dignity and patience of ordinary working people. Many will watch and enjoy the television series “Victorian Farm” (also filmed not far from here in the other direction). This is an accurate and affectionate documentation of a real contemporary rural community. I wish more people were likely to see it.

O'Horten

A Norwegian film, about a train driver, Odd Horten, O’Horten, who retires after nearly forty years of timetables and routine, and finds life opening up before him; not, initially, an inviting prospect, but eventually, after a series of funny, bizarre, sad episodes, some inconsequential, some more significant, he embraces his future and its possibilities. So something that can help with preparation for retirement then, but only if used as part of a carefully planned diet of films. If in doubt, seek medical advice.

It’s beautifully filmed, though, to English eyes, quite, well, odd. For example, the hero sits in his train cab, in a restaurant, on a tram, always puffing contentedly on his pipe; something we all know is illegal. There is a whole shop dedicated to pipes, cigarettes and tobacco. His flat is plainly furnished, in a style most older Brits would know as “utility”. With the exception of the trains and cars, and the occasional household appliance, this could be the nineteen fifties. And there are dreamy sequences of sleek trains speeding through snowy landscapes; something all British people know to be a preposterous fantasy – trains cannot work in such conditions. Also, everywhere seems to be unlocked, even at night; swimming pools, other people’s homes, ski jumps, airports, engine sheds, all open at all times. And it’s very dark all the time.

The experience of the film was enhanced by the experience of the auditorium. A Georgian building, the theatre is very tall, with what would have been shuttered windows, high above the floor, and about ten feet high. The entrance and exit doors are also tall, each one about eight feet high. The seating is basic, but with quite a lot of leg and aisle space. As I sat there looking up at the screen I began to feel rather small, and to wonder if I’d be able to reach the door handle on the way out.

A lovely film, the humour is gentle and sly, some may not like the upbeat ending after all the dark, but, yes, good.

Looking for Eric

The world probably divides on Eric Cantona, into those who think of him as the (only) intelligent footballer, and those who think he’s a pretentious twerp going on about Rimbaud and philosophy and coming out with impenetrable aphorisms. Then there’s another group who are saying “Eric who?”. To his credit in this film he allows gentle fun to be poked at his image, while using it to help Ken Loach create a rather good film that is part social realism and part knock-about comedy. The postman hero and his mates are all great characters, and the climax great fun, but there is depth behind it too. A real feel-good movie, especially on a wet night in Tewkesbury. And remember; when seagulls follow ze boat, it is because they expect zat sardines will be thrown in ze sea… zat is all.

Fugitive Pieces

Excellent treatment of the Anne Michaels novel, written more than ten years ago now. It’s the story of Jakob Beer, from his childhood experiences seeing his family killed by the Nazis in a Polish massacre; found by an archaeologist hiding in a bog; taken to a new life in Greece, and then to Canada. The story ranges over Jakob’s life in an disjointed episodic way, rather like the novel, which flashes back and forth in a series of short paragraphs. Is the film more upbeat than the novel? It’s a long time since I read it and I can’t really remember it. Good, thoughtful, well made film dealing with the themes of memory, understanding and the acquisition of wisdom.

Summer films

You'll get an idea of the standard of summer weather we experienced this year when I tell you that we went to the cinema quite a lot. In various locations, with often small groups of people also sheltering from the rain, watching interesting but obscure movies. I also think that watching more films is a replacement for not being able to read much at the moment (I read one very short novel in three weeks). Some reviews will follow.

Happy Now

I'm reading Charlie Higson's novel, "Happy Now", which is a generally unpleasant read, but may ultimately, I hope, prove satisfying, exploring as it does the search for happiness and fulfilment (and the false hopes along the way). Despite all that has happened, I stopped the "happy pills" ten days ago (just when everything kicked off) and have stayed off them. So that's good. I'm feeling positive about my work in the town. So that's good. And I'm thinking about the things that I think are good. So that's good too.

Table Manners

We have a eucharist in church on Friday mornings. it's market day, and people are arou nd , and seven or eight of us usually gather in the prayer chapel. This Firday there were two visitors in church. he introduced himself as a retired minister. He asked if there was a service and I said yes, do please join us. I didn't say that it wasn't me taking the service.

When we began, as soon as they saw that a woman was presiding, their demeanour changed, and when it came to communion, they stayed seated with arms resolutely folded and refuksed to receive. As the celebrant left, the woman said, audibly, "Well that was disappointing!"

What sort of people are these, to be so rude, to be offered the fellowship of our table, and then refuse it? Do they go to people's homes and refuse to eat what is put in front of them? Do they want to know in advance who has prepared it? Shame on you both.

How good is that!?

How good is that!? My everloving second son sent me the DVD of the Reggis Perrin remake! Now I can watch it and give you all my considered opinion. Thanks son!

Is the new Reggie Perrin any good?

While I wonder how my lump sum is going to last me until I'm ninety when the same sum would keep Fred Goodwin in the manner to which he has become accustomed for about half an hour ... the question i'm really wrestling with is, "Is the new Reggie Perrin any good?" and following from that; why did David Nobbs feel the need to remake it, apart from the need to boost his lump sum to something more like Goodwin proportions; and is Martin Clunes REALLY Reggie? I'm still not sure, and I've missed a couple of episodes, so may have to buy the DVD and do some serious study.

Mr Golightly's Holiday

Just finished my first book in three months. Mr Golightly's Holiday, by Salley Vickers. I had to read much of it several times, and my short term memory is a bit shot, so couldn't remember from one night to the next where I was up to, but it was a good read, and the right book to, hopefully, set me back on track to read, and to do a little writing; hence this post. If there's anyone still out there - hello again.

New Links

Also used the sleepless time to take a blue pen (or pair of scissors? which simile?) to the Blog Roll and Book Shelf lists. Some of the blogs I haven't looked at for a bit; several have disappeared (!?);some new ones on writing, particularly Stella Duffy, might be interesting. I lurve Lucy Mangan's stuff! An eclectic/eccentric collection, i agree. Don't make too many assumptions about me from these lists (like, I'm not gay, or blonde, or have small children, or am a member of a Catholic religious order or anything). And I enjoy reading them; I don't necessarily agree with them; they make me think. Try one and see what you can find.

W

Missed a private showing of the Oliver Stone film of Dubya’s life and times, set up by Number Two Son. Boo, hiss! I had to get back for a funeral. Mrs Demon and various friends attended. He tells me that I shall probably miss “Frost/Nixon”, because it will get pulled, as only 20 people turned up on the first night, as opposed to 300 for some Hollywood rubbish next door, and “Revolutionary Road” might not stay long either. What is wrong with these people? Got the novel from Waterstones, plus a copy of “Q & A”, Vikram Swarup’s original novel which became “Slumdog Millionaire”, so look forward to reading that.

The Darjeeling Limited

Another film about India that we watched on DVD. The title is the name of one of India’s long distance trains, and is the story of three brothers finding their mother, each other and themselves. Wes Anderson is a super director, and this is one of those films you immediately want to rewind and watch again, because more will be revealed on the second and third viewings. Great stuff.

Slumdog Millionaire

Wow. What a good film. Go see it if you can. If you liked Oliver Twist, you'll love this! Superbly scripted and plotted. Even though, I have to say, I got many of the plot constructions and twists, it was exciting and entertaining. Beautifully filmed in Mumbai and other parts of India. We watched it with a friend who has spent time in India traveling by train and motorcycle, and it urged us on to go and do the same when we have more time from next year.