2021/042: The Immortals -- S E Lister

2021/042: The Immortals -- S E Lister

But the truth was that he never grew tired of the year because he was too fascinated by his own loss, the reliving of it, and the relieving of it. [loc. 817]

Rosa grows up in Britain in 1945. That isn't clumsy wording: she and her parents live the same year, over and over, the same news stories on the radio, the same bombs and battles, the same war. ( minor spoilers )

Monthly culture: March 2021

Obviously all this was watched on a small screen, with frantic WhatsApping to discuss. Though I have watched some Marvel TV with a real live human.

11MAR21: Colossal (Netflix)
I liked this a lot. Anne Hathaway as Gloria, a heavy-drinking unemployed writer, kicked out by boyfriend, who goes back to the town where she grew up and starts working in a childhood friend's bar. She also starts manifesting a Godzilla-type monster in Seoul. Unfortunately the childhood friend becomes emotionally abusive. Gloria deals with him. (Important life lesson: when being held in the fist of a ginormous monster, do not address it as 'fucking bitch'.) It is gentle and funny and awesome, though occasionally very uncomfortable.

13MAR21: Angels in America: Perestroika (Tony Kushner) (NT At Home)
Not quite as fabulous as the first half (see last month) but that might just be because it's darker and more distressing. There are some uplifting moments, though (the ghost of Ethel Rosenberg saying Kaddish for horrible Roy). And there are more angels than in 'Millennium Approaches'.

18MAR21: Mortal Engines (Netflix)
Would have been a better film if I hadn't read the book -- though, to be fair, I read it a loooong time ago and don't recall a huge amount. (Surely I would have recalled all the orientalism? And I'm pretty sure those two characters did not fall in love. I had also just had my first Covid jab so was feeling a bit weird. Beautifully filmed, great special effects, London is enormous and quite splendid.

20MAR21: Hamilton
Still good! but it was weird to see it from stage level rather than a cheap seat up in the balcony. (Easier to appreciate the choreography, though.) On the other hand, Lin Manuel Miranda in the title role (better as the older Hamilton than the younger one), and possibly also a revolving stage which we did not have in the Palace Theatre.

25MAR21: Mank (Netflix)
Unfortunately I had a Fatigue and fell asleep mid-film. It looked pretty but I don't know much about early Hollywood, so missed a lot of the context. Gary Oldman was great, as ever. I woke up briefly to remark that I'd visited Hearst Castle (back in the 1980s) but nobody cared.

27MAR21: Medea (Euripides) -- Alley Theatre
Excellent new translation by Mary-Kay Gamel; socially-distanced production, but well filmed so it didn't feel as though everyone was miles apart from the others. Elizabeth Bunch was a compelling Medea: would like to watch her in other productions. (The Alley Theatre is in Houston, Texas, so I doubt I'll be seeing her in person any time soon.)