Monthly culture, August 2024
Tuesday, September 17th, 2024 11:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tamaranth01AUG24: The Imaginary (Momose, 2023) -- Netflix
Japanese anime based on the book by A. F. Harrold, with a generic European vibe and occasional British touches. Amanda has an imaginary friend, Rudger, and her vivid imagination gives them both plenty of space to play. A villain wants to eat Imaginaries: an excellent cat, Zinzan, is a kind of psychopomp for Imaginaries. Amanda's mum voiced by Hayley Atwood in the English dub. Surprisingly moving and emotionally wrenching, and beautifully drawn.
05AUG24: I Saw the TV Glow (Schoenbrun, 2024) -- Greenwich Picturehouse
Teenagers Owen and Maddy bond over 'The Pink Opaque', a TV show very much in the Buffy mode. Maddy vanishes, apparently into the world of the show (which has been cancelled), and then returns to urge Owen to join her. Owen's memories are unreliable.
This movie already has a cult following, but it didn't really engage me, though it was well-acted and good on the traumas of teenage years.
07-12AUG24: Glasgow Worldcon
I was trepidatious about this, not having been to a convention since the Before Times, but I enjoyed it a lot (though did have to pace myself) and did not receive the souvenir Covid infection -- most likely because that cold I had in July was not just a cold. Caught up with old friends (though missed some people I'd hoped to see); went to a lot of programme; did one programme item, on SFF film music. And there was some Culture!
Morrow's Isle (Ken Macleod / Gary Lloyd)
An 'opera oratoria with contemporary dance', based on Wells' The Island of Doctor Morrow but set on an island in the Firth of Clyde: the singers were at the back of the stage, the dancers were the visual focus. The music reminded me, a little, of Philip Glass, but with a distinctly Scottish ambience. The libretto was rather more wholesome than Moreau's experiments, involving psychic links, ecology ('everything's living on everything else') and electronic ghosts of extinct animals.
Tiptree: No One Else's Damn Secret But My Own (Jenny Rowe)
I hadn't planned to go to this, but spotted old and much-missed friends in the queue, so joined them: and I am very glad I did, because this solo show based on Alice Sheldon's life was really powerful, funny and engaging. Was surprised to find Jenny Rowe young and agile, because she was so convincing on stage! (I think this is called 'acting'?)
Also: 'Nothing Nowhere Never Again' from Reductio ad Absurdam (with a plethora of Lokis and many familiar faces); Roger Sayer playing Holst, plus excerpts from the Interstellar soundtrack (which he co-wrote: 'this collaboration has brought me more joy than anything else in my musical career').
15AUG24: Nope (Peele, 2022) -- Netflix
SF horror movie, where most (though not all) of the horror happens off-screen. A suspicious cloud; a POC cast (plus Michael Wincott being a grizzled, driven filmographer); some horses that were smarter than the humans; a shot that I swear was cribbed from Crivelli's Annunciation; a really good script. There was a subplot involving a chimp which reminded me strongly of Karen Joy Fowler's We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves. Unsettling but very good.
22AUG24: Ford vs. Ferrari (Mangold, 2019) -- Netflix
I hadn't expected to enjoy this film about motor-racing (about which I neither know nor care), starring Christian Bale and Matt Damon. To my surprise, it was funny, emotional and well-constructed. Could have stopped before the fatal crash, though. Our group discussion covered Bond movies and people wanting Bond-style cars ('he's a degenerate,' snapped motor industry mogul) and the precise date at which slide carousels came into use. Based on the true story of Ken Miles and Carroll Shelby.
29AUG24: The Guest (Wingard, 2014) -- Netflix
Dan Stevens shows up at the former home of his army buddy Caleb, who's recently died. He says Caleb wanted him to look after his family. His interpretation of this request is ... rather violent, and reveals some military nastiness. Stevens is very photogenic, very charismatic and very subtle in his profound creepiness. There's a subplot involving Caleb's younger brother which never felt quite resolved.
Someone somewhere said that this feels like Winter Soldier fanfiction, with imperfectly programmed super-soldier in small-town America. They have a point, though if they meant Winter Soldier from Captain America: The Winter Soldier the timing doesn't work: both films came out in 2014. Comics, maybe...
Japanese anime based on the book by A. F. Harrold, with a generic European vibe and occasional British touches. Amanda has an imaginary friend, Rudger, and her vivid imagination gives them both plenty of space to play. A villain wants to eat Imaginaries: an excellent cat, Zinzan, is a kind of psychopomp for Imaginaries. Amanda's mum voiced by Hayley Atwood in the English dub. Surprisingly moving and emotionally wrenching, and beautifully drawn.
05AUG24: I Saw the TV Glow (Schoenbrun, 2024) -- Greenwich Picturehouse
Teenagers Owen and Maddy bond over 'The Pink Opaque', a TV show very much in the Buffy mode. Maddy vanishes, apparently into the world of the show (which has been cancelled), and then returns to urge Owen to join her. Owen's memories are unreliable.
This movie already has a cult following, but it didn't really engage me, though it was well-acted and good on the traumas of teenage years.
07-12AUG24: Glasgow Worldcon
I was trepidatious about this, not having been to a convention since the Before Times, but I enjoyed it a lot (though did have to pace myself) and did not receive the souvenir Covid infection -- most likely because that cold I had in July was not just a cold. Caught up with old friends (though missed some people I'd hoped to see); went to a lot of programme; did one programme item, on SFF film music. And there was some Culture!
Morrow's Isle (Ken Macleod / Gary Lloyd)
An 'opera oratoria with contemporary dance', based on Wells' The Island of Doctor Morrow but set on an island in the Firth of Clyde: the singers were at the back of the stage, the dancers were the visual focus. The music reminded me, a little, of Philip Glass, but with a distinctly Scottish ambience. The libretto was rather more wholesome than Moreau's experiments, involving psychic links, ecology ('everything's living on everything else') and electronic ghosts of extinct animals.
Tiptree: No One Else's Damn Secret But My Own (Jenny Rowe)
I hadn't planned to go to this, but spotted old and much-missed friends in the queue, so joined them: and I am very glad I did, because this solo show based on Alice Sheldon's life was really powerful, funny and engaging. Was surprised to find Jenny Rowe young and agile, because she was so convincing on stage! (I think this is called 'acting'?)
Also: 'Nothing Nowhere Never Again' from Reductio ad Absurdam (with a plethora of Lokis and many familiar faces); Roger Sayer playing Holst, plus excerpts from the Interstellar soundtrack (which he co-wrote: 'this collaboration has brought me more joy than anything else in my musical career').
15AUG24: Nope (Peele, 2022) -- Netflix
SF horror movie, where most (though not all) of the horror happens off-screen. A suspicious cloud; a POC cast (plus Michael Wincott being a grizzled, driven filmographer); some horses that were smarter than the humans; a shot that I swear was cribbed from Crivelli's Annunciation; a really good script. There was a subplot involving a chimp which reminded me strongly of Karen Joy Fowler's We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves. Unsettling but very good.
22AUG24: Ford vs. Ferrari (Mangold, 2019) -- Netflix
I hadn't expected to enjoy this film about motor-racing (about which I neither know nor care), starring Christian Bale and Matt Damon. To my surprise, it was funny, emotional and well-constructed. Could have stopped before the fatal crash, though. Our group discussion covered Bond movies and people wanting Bond-style cars ('he's a degenerate,' snapped motor industry mogul) and the precise date at which slide carousels came into use. Based on the true story of Ken Miles and Carroll Shelby.
29AUG24: The Guest (Wingard, 2014) -- Netflix
Dan Stevens shows up at the former home of his army buddy Caleb, who's recently died. He says Caleb wanted him to look after his family. His interpretation of this request is ... rather violent, and reveals some military nastiness. Stevens is very photogenic, very charismatic and very subtle in his profound creepiness. There's a subplot involving Caleb's younger brother which never felt quite resolved.
Someone somewhere said that this feels like Winter Soldier fanfiction, with imperfectly programmed super-soldier in small-town America. They have a point, though if they meant Winter Soldier from Captain America: The Winter Soldier the timing doesn't work: both films came out in 2014. Comics, maybe...
