Monthly culture: February 2022
Friday, March 18th, 2022 02:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tamaranth03FEB22: Werewolves Within (Ruben, 2021) (Netflix)
Residents of an isolated community hole up in a lodge after a weather-related power outage, only to decide that one of their number is actually a werewolf. (I would use the word 'deduce' rather than 'decide', but that implies some logical process which did not occur.) They are right. Some excellent scenes here, and several strong female characters. I blame nominatively-determined scriptwriter Mishna Wolf.
This film (based on a video game) had a Knives Out ambience in places: can't pinpoint why, unless it was something to do with the palette of the interiors.
Great fun, anyway.
05FEB22: Henry IV Part 1 (Shakespeare: Doran) (BBC)
Anthony Sher is an awesome Falstaff, and managed to balance the comic turn with an upper-class contempt for the poor. (He is a knight, after all.) Alex Hassell was a good Hal, but outshone by a highly excitable and somewhat dickish Trevor White as Hotspur. I studied this play for O level and disliked it: wish I'd had this calibre of performance to watch.
12FEB22: The Glow (McDowell: Featherstone, 2021) (Royal Court Theatre)
My second theatre visit in two years: much less stressful than the first. And the play was amazing: it's so rare to see SF / fantasy on stage. Time-travel, immortality, memory, love. Splendid performances and an unnerving soundscape. I loved it and also loved the experience of seeing a play on its first run, a non-classic, a genre piece. Guardian review has good plot summary.
14FEB22: Peru: a Journey in Time (British Museum)
A mild case of panpipes on the soundtrack (why must exhibitions have soundtracks, again?) but otherwise very pleasant, if a little rose-tinted. There's a marvellous selection of ancient textiles (some are two millennia old) preserved by dry desert air, including a piece with a multitude of little figures, each brandishing a severed head. The focus is on pre-Conquest Peru though there were some more recent pieces.
Guardian review has pictures.
21FEB22: La Belle Sauvage (Hytner, 2021) (Bridge Theatre)
My third theatre visit in two years, inspired by the success of the second (see above) and also the fact that it's cheaper to see this in the theatre than to watch the NTLive broadcast at the cinema!
I remember seeing His Dark Materials at the National Theatre and being massively impressed by the daemon puppets. If anything, the puppetry in this production is even more impressive, especially the hyena. Marvellous lighting throughout, and a great sense of motion -- easy to forget that everything is taking place on a smallish stage.
Fabulous performances all round. Ayesha Dharker plays Mrs Coulter very much in the Priti Patel mould of villainy: Wendy Mae Brown is awesome as the Reverend Mother.
Guardian review.
24FEB22: The Silver Skates (Lockshin, 2020) (Netflix)
Perhaps not the best idea to watch this Russian film, made by Russians in Russia, on the day that war broke out in Ukraine ... It was a reminder, though, that not all Russians are Putin. Set in 19th-century St Petersburg and based on a novel first published in 1865, it's a romantic tale of glittering parties, street crime, sorrow and true lurve. Features famous Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev, whose wallpaper features repeated radiation symbols... The original film has heroine Alisa being taught English: in the English dub (replete with comedy accents), she is being taught French. I wasn't 100% happy with the subtitling: for instance, one line was rendered as 'ask me for something' in English dialogue, but 'ask me about something' in subtitles. These are not the same thing. Also, dialogue 'pour la France', subtitle 'back to England'.
Very pretty film, if somewhat too long and inconsistently dubbed / captioned.
26FEB22: All About Eve (Ivo van Hove) (National Theatre at Home)
Stage adaptation of the film, with Gillian Anderson as fading beauty Margo Channing and Lily James as the ingenue who claims to be her biggest fan. It felt more melodramatic than the film version, and though there was some clever staging (screens behind the stage to show mirrors, other conversations etc) it didn't wow me. Incidentally, in the original Margo bemoaned turning forty: in this version, it's fifty that's the fatal milestone. Inflation, I suppose.
Guardian review.
Residents of an isolated community hole up in a lodge after a weather-related power outage, only to decide that one of their number is actually a werewolf. (I would use the word 'deduce' rather than 'decide', but that implies some logical process which did not occur.) They are right. Some excellent scenes here, and several strong female characters. I blame nominatively-determined scriptwriter Mishna Wolf.
This film (based on a video game) had a Knives Out ambience in places: can't pinpoint why, unless it was something to do with the palette of the interiors.
Great fun, anyway.
05FEB22: Henry IV Part 1 (Shakespeare: Doran) (BBC)
Anthony Sher is an awesome Falstaff, and managed to balance the comic turn with an upper-class contempt for the poor. (He is a knight, after all.) Alex Hassell was a good Hal, but outshone by a highly excitable and somewhat dickish Trevor White as Hotspur. I studied this play for O level and disliked it: wish I'd had this calibre of performance to watch.
12FEB22: The Glow (McDowell: Featherstone, 2021) (Royal Court Theatre)
My second theatre visit in two years: much less stressful than the first. And the play was amazing: it's so rare to see SF / fantasy on stage. Time-travel, immortality, memory, love. Splendid performances and an unnerving soundscape. I loved it and also loved the experience of seeing a play on its first run, a non-classic, a genre piece. Guardian review has good plot summary.
14FEB22: Peru: a Journey in Time (British Museum)
A mild case of panpipes on the soundtrack (why must exhibitions have soundtracks, again?) but otherwise very pleasant, if a little rose-tinted. There's a marvellous selection of ancient textiles (some are two millennia old) preserved by dry desert air, including a piece with a multitude of little figures, each brandishing a severed head. The focus is on pre-Conquest Peru though there were some more recent pieces.
Guardian review has pictures.
21FEB22: La Belle Sauvage (Hytner, 2021) (Bridge Theatre)
My third theatre visit in two years, inspired by the success of the second (see above) and also the fact that it's cheaper to see this in the theatre than to watch the NTLive broadcast at the cinema!
I remember seeing His Dark Materials at the National Theatre and being massively impressed by the daemon puppets. If anything, the puppetry in this production is even more impressive, especially the hyena. Marvellous lighting throughout, and a great sense of motion -- easy to forget that everything is taking place on a smallish stage.
Fabulous performances all round. Ayesha Dharker plays Mrs Coulter very much in the Priti Patel mould of villainy: Wendy Mae Brown is awesome as the Reverend Mother.
Guardian review.
24FEB22: The Silver Skates (Lockshin, 2020) (Netflix)
Perhaps not the best idea to watch this Russian film, made by Russians in Russia, on the day that war broke out in Ukraine ... It was a reminder, though, that not all Russians are Putin. Set in 19th-century St Petersburg and based on a novel first published in 1865, it's a romantic tale of glittering parties, street crime, sorrow and true lurve. Features famous Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev, whose wallpaper features repeated radiation symbols... The original film has heroine Alisa being taught English: in the English dub (replete with comedy accents), she is being taught French. I wasn't 100% happy with the subtitling: for instance, one line was rendered as 'ask me for something' in English dialogue, but 'ask me about something' in subtitles. These are not the same thing. Also, dialogue 'pour la France', subtitle 'back to England'.
Very pretty film, if somewhat too long and inconsistently dubbed / captioned.
26FEB22: All About Eve (Ivo van Hove) (National Theatre at Home)
Stage adaptation of the film, with Gillian Anderson as fading beauty Margo Channing and Lily James as the ingenue who claims to be her biggest fan. It felt more melodramatic than the film version, and though there was some clever staging (screens behind the stage to show mirrors, other conversations etc) it didn't wow me. Incidentally, in the original Margo bemoaned turning forty: in this version, it's fifty that's the fatal milestone. Inflation, I suppose.
Guardian review.
no subject
Date: Sunday, March 20th, 2022 12:15 pm (UTC)I was happy to see all About Eve. I had never seen the film so the ending was a surprise to me. Which was nice.
Sher was the most intelligible Falstaff I have seen, and really excellently directed.
no subject
Date: Monday, March 21st, 2022 09:40 am (UTC)