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Not being one for mainstream cinema on the whole I watched this for the first time the other day, mostly because family want to watch the next one but couldn't really remember this. Good things, if the allegory was intended, European invaders destroying the stable, animistic lives of Native Americans. Mostly, they destroyed them by introducing European diseases I  believe, but there was also brutal oppression and murder. The world created in this film is pretty amazing, hugely imaginative, some of the details are just lovely. Bad things; the writing and plot are abysmal, corny, just embarrassingly so; far to much violence, oh, it's just dross. What a wasted opportunity. There is a wonderful film lurking in here, if the studio and director had employed some decent writers and edited it properly there could have been something truly magical. Instead we sadly have a James Cameron ego trip, well that's how it seems to me. Family may watch the newer version but I'll be strategically absent, I have better things to do with three precious hours of my life!

Tiny Desk Concerts.

If you've never found the Tiny Desk Concerts on NPR you've been missing a treat. There is so much fabulous music here. The musicians all seem to enjoy this tiny, tiny venue, everyone gets happy and the music is often very different from albums or more formal gigs. The gigs are also tiny, with the sets being around 20 minutes, like about an album side. Of course, it's a big deal being invited these days so, there's a certain nervous energy in the mix too. I particularly love the Raye set, but you could pick almost anything here, Kenny Garrett, Ezra Collective, Fred Again, Allison Russell, Theo Croker, Mama's Broke....

Here's the link - https://www.npr.org/series/tiny-desk-concerts/

The Report

I'm a bit of a fan of Adam Driver, of course he starred in Paterson, which might be my favourite film of all time. He played a bus driver. Paterson is based on the epic poem Paterson by the "beat" poet William Carlos Williams. Anyway, back to the point.

The Report, or The Torture Report (the word Torture redacted) is the story of how the CIA instigated a series of tortures of prisoners - there is a review from The Guardian here - https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/jan/27/the-report-review-adam-driver-annette-bening-cia-torture 

 A serious topic, outstanding performances, and a well crafted movie that is always interesting and holds the attention. Free on Amazon Prime.

I've been gripped by a medical drama, unusually. Not my favourite genre, but Lifelines on Radio 4 (available on Sounds) is excellent. I was struck by the skill of the call centre staff in dealing with 999 calls. Something I'd never thought of before is that they often don't know the end of a harrowing story that they have been part of, that must be extraordinarily stressful. Recommended.

The Menu (spoilers included).

It's difficult to know what to make of this film. The posh end of the restaurant market is a huge target, and a very easy one. The film is billed as a thriller, or horror and it has some jokes, more towards the beginning, and they're not that funny to be sure. Critics favour The Menu as a crude allegory of the eternal struggle between the privileged and the rest of us. If this is what the film is, then it's beautifully shot, well acted tosh with a very unpleasant, irresponsible use of suicide as a dramatic device. In which case 2/10. However, perhaps the film is better than that, could our chef be Putin? Could the allegory be about despots and their cynical misuse of power?

Photo Searchlight Pictures.

And are such despots prepared to destroy themselves as well as everyone and everything in their and our worlds in a final grand gesture? If this is the allegory then I like this film a whole lot more, surely this must be what was intended?

The Corrupted

I've sadly come to the end of this series on BBC Sounds https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b050z5cf

Fifty eight episodes aiming squarely at those in power, both in the larger political sense; in individual institutions, like prisons and The Met; and in personal relationships. The series pulls no punches. GF Newman, the author of the original book, The Corrupted, cleverly interweaves his characters through real political and historical events, so Joey Oldman (or Lord Olinska as he eventually becomes) meets historical characters we all know as he corruptly, without scrupples, with no morality, makes his way to the top, or near it any way.

The story begins in 1953 and ends just after Goron Brown took over from Blair. The series is not for the faint hearted, so if you you have difficulty with very offensive racist and sexual language and a large dose of violence, avoid. But if you are interested in the underbelly of British society and in corruption in high places (and low ones) you won't be disappointed. Personally, I thought it was brilliant. There are some fab performances, as usual Toby Jones is excellent but Joe Armstrong and Ross Kemp are super as the "hero" of the piece, Brian.

Austerity.

These poems about the cruelty of the UK Tory Government are well worth a look, and a link. The website is called austerity, https://thisisausterity.uk/

 Best read about the poems and the project there. But here's a short example:

01 she was not ill enough

Posted on July 29, 2022

She died of a lung condition.

Her husband agreed the life support machine be turned off.

The same day

the Department declared

she was not ill enough

to receive benefits.

[Daily Mirror, 08/01/2016, Dead mum not ill enough for payouts]

https://thisisausterity.uk/about-this-project/

Shaun Gardiner

CDs all over the kitchen table.

 

Now, everyones' music is invisible, so no longer, when you go to their house can you have a nosey through their LPs, CDs or tapes. Musical tastes are hidden, tucked up in the cloud. And to make matters work everyone listens on headphones, inaudible, you can't even hear what folk like. 

I did dispose of a few CDs today, although I might go back through the box before we head to town tomorrow, perhaps I'll "forget" to pick the box up for the car, but they'll be charity shop bound sooner than later.

Treasures were unearthed, old friends revisited, or at least queued up.

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/

North and South

North and South is a novel published in 1854 by Elizabeth Gaskell. The book has been dramatised a few times in the past but I stumbled upon this radio version and listened to the whole thing, three episodes at an hour each, in a single sitting (whilst decorating the back kitchen/boiler room). The book works very well as radio drama, exploring class and morality in 19th century Britain. Set in a fictional northern town, Elizabeth Gaskell lived in Manchester, the book documented the tensions between mill owners, workers and the changing economic dynamic of the time. A story for our times, but with a difference in that resolution is found through finding common ground with both workers and masters compromising to find some sort of acceptable peace. A contrast with the Truss government embarking on a full-on class war.

There is a certain cornyness in the story, and an inevitability about the ending, but there are poignant moments and a well described contrast between poverty and affluence, privilege and the grinding, dangerous work in the mills. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001brj0

 

Finding Vivian Maier.

A film about an almost lost photographer. The photographs are a wonder. The determination of John Maloof admirable. Well worth your time.