Beautiful Feet

It's been a long time since I've had time to write here, aside from some notes to jog my memory and make some recos. Now that we're in the Pandemic of 2020, I don't exactly have more time, but I do have more creative energy busting at the seams with few outlets. So I asked a film-critic friend for some recos and, knowing my wont, he suggested Threads  (dir. Barry Hines, UK, 1984, the internet archive) with the caveat that it was "FUCKING depressing," which I gladly took on. And indeed he was right.  However, I think the aesthetic of 35+ years ago took away somewhat from the effect—not that I wasn't affected; I was—but I've been more wrecked by (somewhat) more current films, such as The Book of Eli and The Road (or the OG book by Cormac McCarthy ). Also did not love the suffering cat part... However, I had asked him for a timely reco, and that I got. There were two parts that struck me as too close to home. One was the beleaguered NHS with no r

Holy crap—so much in this film! Despite some flaws, there is lots to admire and wonder    at in this slow-build sci-fi. The colour palette, camera focus, sets, costumes (what is with the earrings?!?), the unexplained and the unshown... And of course the whole virus thing is timely. If you like reflecting both during and after a film, you'll find lots to chew on. I've asked my local video store to hold back a poster for me.

Only because I love black and white film, I have recently seen two films set at the seaside, both done in B&W. Bait was interesting but ultimately failed IMHO, whereas The Lighthouse was much more successful (even though I don't like scary movies), in part due to Willem Dafoe's and Robert Pattinson's performances. The build-up was slow but crazy-effective. Check out these reviews by Bowler or Fez . I met Mark Campbell over Bait and went to The Lighthouse based on his comments when we chatted. This week we're going to see Little Joe , which looks like my kind of sci-fi. We'll see if it earns a bowler or fez...