Monthly culture: July 2020
Thursday, August 19th, 2021 04:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tamaranth01JUL21: We Have Always Lived in the Castle (Passon, 2018) -- Netflix
I like the Shirley Jackson novel very much, and had meant to see this when it came out, though reviews were not positive. I was pleasantly surprised: the atmosphere was suitably unsettling and there was a very medieval energy to the story. (I'd always assumed the novel, published in 1962, was set earlier in the 20th century, but the setting here was definitely at least 1960s.
Excellent cast, including Sebastian Stan as slimy Cousin Charles, Taissa Farmiga as Merricat (with a rather Greta Thunberg vibe), Alexandra Daddario as Constance, and Crispin Glover as Uncle Julian. There were a few 'dramatic enhancements' which I shall not spoil but which worked very nicely.
Jonas was awesome too, though not as tuneful as in the book.
06JUL21: Bad Nights and Odd Days (Caryl Churchill) -- Greenwich Theatre
First -- and to date last -- theatre-going since early 2020. Greenwich Theatre has good social distancing and did not open the bar.
And how was the play? It was four short plays. Seagulls is about a telekinetic who loses her talent; Abortive is about a married couple in the aftermath of an assault on the wife; Three More Sleepless Nights is about three different couples arguing; and Not Not Not Not Not Enough Oxygen is about pollution and fame in a dystopian future London. The sound design was great, the actors were excellent, the dialogue was precise and witty: I found all four plays rather depressing, and 'Sleepless Nights' made me very tense and unhappy.
But live theatre!
07JUL21: Black Widow (Shortland, 2021) -- Greenwich PictureHouse
Fulll of reflections and misdirections: significant female characters outnumber significant male characters. (Rachel Weisz and Florence Pugh were especially excellent.) Awesome makeup is definitely on the Red Room syllabus. Psychological vs chemical brainwashing. And still not really as awesome as I'd hoped, or as Natasha Romanoff deserves. This did not stop me seeing it twice, so far.
08JUL21: The Dance of the 41 (Pablos, 2020) -- Netflix
Not especially cheerful, but cinematographically gorgeous, film about homosexual society in Mexico in 1901.
15JUL21: Hotel Artemis (Pearce, 2018) -- Netflix
Noirish SF thriller set in a future Los Angeles; Jodie Foster steals the entire film as an agoraphobic nurse running an underworld hospital. Watched this just before the end of lockdown and wondered if the violent, alienating city was predictive.
22JUL21: Florence Foster Jenkins (Frears, 2016) -- Netflix
I was trepidatious because of the high risk of the film poking fun at a good-hearted, if deluded, music-lover. It doesn't: the portrayal of Jenkins is warm and affectionate, and shows how she improved the lives of others while indulging her fantasies of being a star-quality opera singer. (Meryl Streep's singing was ... frightful. She is an amazing actress.)
24JUL21: J'Ouvert (Joseph) -- iPlayer
Three young women -- Nadine, Jade and Nisha -- trying to make a space for themselves, literally and figuratively, during the Notting Hill carnival. Themes of intersectionality, feminism and middle-class left-wing activism (Nisha reminded me of people I knew at university, and not in a good way). Echoes of the origins of carnival -- the Notting Hill carnival was founded by activist Claudia Jones in 1959: Jones is channelled by Nadine at various points during the play. Not super-cheering. Guardian review.
29JUL21: Anna and the Apocalyse (McPhail, 2017) -- Netflix
A Christmas zombie rom-com musical, with some excellent songs, a horrendous headmaster and some surprise survivals. Very enjoyable, though weird to experience the festive vibe in July. And very topical with the news reports of a terrible plague, and the young folk blithely duetting as terrible things happen in the backgrounds of scenes. "This is why I don't like earbuds," noted one viewer. "I mean, not zombies specifically ..." Also, zombie penguins. And a peroxide lesbian saviour.
31JUL21: The Suicide Squad (Gunn, 2021) -- Greenwich PictureHouse
Immense fun, plays games with the characters and the viewer, many cartoonishly creative ways to kill people. I especially loved the scene where Harley Quinn is rescuing herself -- hallucinated flowers and very real blood-splatter. Some splendid cinematography too, and a delightful cameo from Taika Waititi. There are two distressing scenes featuring cruelty to birds, but subsequent to one of these a bird of similar species achieves a satisfying vengeance.
I don't think I've enjoyed any of DC's other superhero/supervillain films as much as this.
I like the Shirley Jackson novel very much, and had meant to see this when it came out, though reviews were not positive. I was pleasantly surprised: the atmosphere was suitably unsettling and there was a very medieval energy to the story. (I'd always assumed the novel, published in 1962, was set earlier in the 20th century, but the setting here was definitely at least 1960s.
Excellent cast, including Sebastian Stan as slimy Cousin Charles, Taissa Farmiga as Merricat (with a rather Greta Thunberg vibe), Alexandra Daddario as Constance, and Crispin Glover as Uncle Julian. There were a few 'dramatic enhancements' which I shall not spoil but which worked very nicely.
Jonas was awesome too, though not as tuneful as in the book.
06JUL21: Bad Nights and Odd Days (Caryl Churchill) -- Greenwich Theatre
First -- and to date last -- theatre-going since early 2020. Greenwich Theatre has good social distancing and did not open the bar.
And how was the play? It was four short plays. Seagulls is about a telekinetic who loses her talent; Abortive is about a married couple in the aftermath of an assault on the wife; Three More Sleepless Nights is about three different couples arguing; and Not Not Not Not Not Enough Oxygen is about pollution and fame in a dystopian future London. The sound design was great, the actors were excellent, the dialogue was precise and witty: I found all four plays rather depressing, and 'Sleepless Nights' made me very tense and unhappy.
But live theatre!
07JUL21: Black Widow (Shortland, 2021) -- Greenwich PictureHouse
Fulll of reflections and misdirections: significant female characters outnumber significant male characters. (Rachel Weisz and Florence Pugh were especially excellent.) Awesome makeup is definitely on the Red Room syllabus. Psychological vs chemical brainwashing. And still not really as awesome as I'd hoped, or as Natasha Romanoff deserves. This did not stop me seeing it twice, so far.
08JUL21: The Dance of the 41 (Pablos, 2020) -- Netflix
Not especially cheerful, but cinematographically gorgeous, film about homosexual society in Mexico in 1901.
15JUL21: Hotel Artemis (Pearce, 2018) -- Netflix
Noirish SF thriller set in a future Los Angeles; Jodie Foster steals the entire film as an agoraphobic nurse running an underworld hospital. Watched this just before the end of lockdown and wondered if the violent, alienating city was predictive.
22JUL21: Florence Foster Jenkins (Frears, 2016) -- Netflix
I was trepidatious because of the high risk of the film poking fun at a good-hearted, if deluded, music-lover. It doesn't: the portrayal of Jenkins is warm and affectionate, and shows how she improved the lives of others while indulging her fantasies of being a star-quality opera singer. (Meryl Streep's singing was ... frightful. She is an amazing actress.)
24JUL21: J'Ouvert (Joseph) -- iPlayer
Three young women -- Nadine, Jade and Nisha -- trying to make a space for themselves, literally and figuratively, during the Notting Hill carnival. Themes of intersectionality, feminism and middle-class left-wing activism (Nisha reminded me of people I knew at university, and not in a good way). Echoes of the origins of carnival -- the Notting Hill carnival was founded by activist Claudia Jones in 1959: Jones is channelled by Nadine at various points during the play. Not super-cheering. Guardian review.
29JUL21: Anna and the Apocalyse (McPhail, 2017) -- Netflix
A Christmas zombie rom-com musical, with some excellent songs, a horrendous headmaster and some surprise survivals. Very enjoyable, though weird to experience the festive vibe in July. And very topical with the news reports of a terrible plague, and the young folk blithely duetting as terrible things happen in the backgrounds of scenes. "This is why I don't like earbuds," noted one viewer. "I mean, not zombies specifically ..." Also, zombie penguins. And a peroxide lesbian saviour.
31JUL21: The Suicide Squad (Gunn, 2021) -- Greenwich PictureHouse
Immense fun, plays games with the characters and the viewer, many cartoonishly creative ways to kill people. I especially loved the scene where Harley Quinn is rescuing herself -- hallucinated flowers and very real blood-splatter. Some splendid cinematography too, and a delightful cameo from Taika Waititi. There are two distressing scenes featuring cruelty to birds, but subsequent to one of these a bird of similar species achieves a satisfying vengeance.
I don't think I've enjoyed any of DC's other superhero/supervillain films as much as this.
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Date: Thursday, August 19th, 2021 11:22 pm (UTC)