Monthly culture: January 2020
Tuesday, February 4th, 2020 09:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tamaranth04JAN20: Teenage Dick, Donmar Warehouse
AU of Richard III set in an American high school, with the lead roles of Dick and his best friend Buck being played by actors with disabilities. (Buck has pinups of Chris Evans -- to whom Dick's rival Eddie bears a considerable resemblance -- in her locker.) Dick's liaison with Anne-Marie, Eddie's former girlfriend, is a delight, culminating in the school dance: but then Dick's machinations get the better of him.
Marvellous acting, with a script that was hilarious and often very moving. Daniel Monks' Dick is an excellent 'Richard', desperate for simultaneous love and power. However, the line 'my kingdom for some horsepower' made me wince.
10JAN20: Little Women, Greenwich Picturehouse
Astonishingly, I had never actually read Little Women. However, one of the challenges in the Reading Women 2020 Challenge on Goodreads was 'read a book and watch the movie', and I had heard good things about Greta Gerwig's film.
Which is a delight: lots of interesting female characters, well-acted: I was especially impressed by Meryl Streep as Aunt March and Laura Dern as the mother, and Saoirse Ronan's Jo was bursting with thwarted energy. I've written elsewhere about my book-vs-film experience: suffice to say that I thought this was an excellent, thoughtful and sympathetic adaptation.
12JAN20: 1917, Greenwich Odeon (IMAX)
Interesting to see this the same weekend as Little Women: I certainly wouldn't reduce the two to 'a woman's film' and 'a man's film', but 1917 has a single female role, and focuses on a single male lead. It's a stupendous achievement cinematographically -- the impression is of a single-shot film though there are definite 'joins' -- and the palette and detail are stunning and often beautiful. The soundtrack was unsettling: was that constant bass note the sound of distant shelling?
It is also full of dead bodies.
1917 doesn't glorify war or suffering: it is the story of one man trying to prevent one massacre. I'm not sure I liked it but I found it very powerful.
17JAN20: Jojo Rabbit, Greenwich Picturehouse
The third 'war' film in a row. This was hilarious, and the fact that I found it so funny is deeply unsettling. Taika Waititi plays Jojo's imaginary friend, Hitler, in the mode of a favourite uncle -- it's constantly jarring that his idea of 'fun' is book-burning and blind fanaticism.
Scarlett Johansen is very good as the mother sheltering a Jewish girl in her attic; Roman Griffin Davis as the 10-year-old Jojo, all afire with Aryan fervour, is astonishing.
There are acts of heroism and of pettiness: very little black-and-white morality, just shades of grey. Excellent soundtrack (leading in with the Beatles' 'Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand') and intriguing design.
26JAN20: A Tale of Two Women Painters: Sofonisba Anguissola and Lavinia Fontana, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid
"I want to see this exhibition in Madrid," said my art-historian friend: so we did. I was not as excited as she was, but the commentary on the art -- by two female Renaissance painters -- and on the broader context of their lives was interesting. (Sofonisba's family members were named after Carthaginian war heroes -- Amilcare, Asdrubal -- because the family lived near the site of the Battle of Trebia.) We also found nice cafes and tapas, an appalling tourist-trap pasta restaurant, and a political demonstration.
31JAN20: A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood, Greenwich Picturehouse
I liked this more than I'd expected. It's a classic tale of a cynic meeting a good man -- the good man, in this case, being beloved children's TV host Fred Rogers. Can Mr Rogers' puppets, plain talking and overwhelming niceness make bilious journalist Lloyd Vogel into a better person? Place your bets.
As a non-American, I have zero familiarity with 'Mr Rogers' Neighborhood', so I probably missed a lot of references to the show. Tom Hanks' portrays a deceptively simple, almost childlike man who is simply Good. (And Hanks is a sufficiently nuanced actor to show the occasional moments of anger or unhappiness that Vogel likely misses.)
Part of the plot revolves around Vogel's relationship with his father, and the father's terminal illness. I found this very affecting and rather upsetting. But I came away from the film feeling better about humanity, which frankly on Brexit Day was a heck of an achievement.
"... to die is to be human.
And anything human is mentionable,
anything mentionable is manageable."
AU of Richard III set in an American high school, with the lead roles of Dick and his best friend Buck being played by actors with disabilities. (Buck has pinups of Chris Evans -- to whom Dick's rival Eddie bears a considerable resemblance -- in her locker.) Dick's liaison with Anne-Marie, Eddie's former girlfriend, is a delight, culminating in the school dance: but then Dick's machinations get the better of him.
Marvellous acting, with a script that was hilarious and often very moving. Daniel Monks' Dick is an excellent 'Richard', desperate for simultaneous love and power. However, the line 'my kingdom for some horsepower' made me wince.
10JAN20: Little Women, Greenwich Picturehouse
Astonishingly, I had never actually read Little Women. However, one of the challenges in the Reading Women 2020 Challenge on Goodreads was 'read a book and watch the movie', and I had heard good things about Greta Gerwig's film.
Which is a delight: lots of interesting female characters, well-acted: I was especially impressed by Meryl Streep as Aunt March and Laura Dern as the mother, and Saoirse Ronan's Jo was bursting with thwarted energy. I've written elsewhere about my book-vs-film experience: suffice to say that I thought this was an excellent, thoughtful and sympathetic adaptation.
12JAN20: 1917, Greenwich Odeon (IMAX)
Interesting to see this the same weekend as Little Women: I certainly wouldn't reduce the two to 'a woman's film' and 'a man's film', but 1917 has a single female role, and focuses on a single male lead. It's a stupendous achievement cinematographically -- the impression is of a single-shot film though there are definite 'joins' -- and the palette and detail are stunning and often beautiful. The soundtrack was unsettling: was that constant bass note the sound of distant shelling?
It is also full of dead bodies.
1917 doesn't glorify war or suffering: it is the story of one man trying to prevent one massacre. I'm not sure I liked it but I found it very powerful.
17JAN20: Jojo Rabbit, Greenwich Picturehouse
The third 'war' film in a row. This was hilarious, and the fact that I found it so funny is deeply unsettling. Taika Waititi plays Jojo's imaginary friend, Hitler, in the mode of a favourite uncle -- it's constantly jarring that his idea of 'fun' is book-burning and blind fanaticism.
Scarlett Johansen is very good as the mother sheltering a Jewish girl in her attic; Roman Griffin Davis as the 10-year-old Jojo, all afire with Aryan fervour, is astonishing.
There are acts of heroism and of pettiness: very little black-and-white morality, just shades of grey. Excellent soundtrack (leading in with the Beatles' 'Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand') and intriguing design.
26JAN20: A Tale of Two Women Painters: Sofonisba Anguissola and Lavinia Fontana, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid
"I want to see this exhibition in Madrid," said my art-historian friend: so we did. I was not as excited as she was, but the commentary on the art -- by two female Renaissance painters -- and on the broader context of their lives was interesting. (Sofonisba's family members were named after Carthaginian war heroes -- Amilcare, Asdrubal -- because the family lived near the site of the Battle of Trebia.) We also found nice cafes and tapas, an appalling tourist-trap pasta restaurant, and a political demonstration.
31JAN20: A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood, Greenwich Picturehouse
I liked this more than I'd expected. It's a classic tale of a cynic meeting a good man -- the good man, in this case, being beloved children's TV host Fred Rogers. Can Mr Rogers' puppets, plain talking and overwhelming niceness make bilious journalist Lloyd Vogel into a better person? Place your bets.
As a non-American, I have zero familiarity with 'Mr Rogers' Neighborhood', so I probably missed a lot of references to the show. Tom Hanks' portrays a deceptively simple, almost childlike man who is simply Good. (And Hanks is a sufficiently nuanced actor to show the occasional moments of anger or unhappiness that Vogel likely misses.)
Part of the plot revolves around Vogel's relationship with his father, and the father's terminal illness. I found this very affecting and rather upsetting. But I came away from the film feeling better about humanity, which frankly on Brexit Day was a heck of an achievement.
"... to die is to be human.
And anything human is mentionable,
anything mentionable is manageable."
