Three films.

 

Scenes from London.

I was away in London and Dundee. Busy in London but a bit more relaxed once I got to Dundee where Younger Daughter and I watched a couple of films.  I then watched one more when I got home as I was too knackered to do much else! These were all available on Netflix.

His House was advertised as a horror film, which it isn't, but it does engage some of the artefacts of that genre. It's a film about refugees to the UK and has a focus on the trauma of their experiences and the impact of those experiences on their mental health when they arrive here. The film makes its point powerfully, with an additional plot twist which in some ways undermines it's central message, IMHO. It's well acted, filmed and produced and worth seeing.

Next up, a period biography, Benediction, about the life of the poet Siegfried Sassoon. A film full of sparkling language, intertwined with brutal images of the First World War brilliantly written and directed by Terence Davies. Mark Kermode reviews it for The Guardian, here https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/may/22/benediction-review-siegfried-sassoon-biopic-terence-davies-jack-lowden if you want to read a knowledgable analysis of this very good film. There is much humour, but ultimately the film is about Sassoon's disappointment with his own work and his life, both his writing and his disappointment at how he had navigated his sexuality. There are many threads and themes here, but the complexity would make it worth watching again. It is worth finding the poem Disabled by Wilfred Owen and reading it before watching this film, I think, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/57285/disabled Owen being the greater poet, and sadly, the greater tragedy, being killed in the last week of the war.

Finally, I watched The Forgotten Battle, a Dutch film set in the Second World War. I don't usually watch war films, mostly because they're usually rubbish (1917 being a case in point), although I did enjoy Dunkirk, and TFB works in some ways in a similar fashion, focussing on three main characters whose paths cross and intertwine over a few days. This is brutally realistic, terrifying, not corny, not fantasy and ultimately tragic. Not "enjoyable" as such but very much worth watching.

Spice.

Drama of the Week - this is the link to the programme (until it isn't).

In recent years laboratory-made drugs originally designed to mimic the effects of cannabis, synthetic cannabinoids, have hit the UK's streets and prisons with profound consequences. Writers Helen Monks and Matt Woodhead gathered testimony from some of those affected to create their powerful verbatim drama telling the story of Spice. With strong language.

Helen Monks and Matt Woodhead are co-artistic directors of LUNG, a verbatim theatre company working closely with different communities to create work that shines a light on political, social and economic issues in modern Britain, using people’s actual words to tell their stories. (BBC text.)

This harrowing and highly original piece of drama/documentary is a hard but engaging and essential listen, it's only available for a few more days, highly recommended.

(Image and text - LUNG.) Link to LUNG - https://www.lungtheatre.co.uk/