![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Monthly culture: May 2021
Friday, June 18th, 2021 10:06 am01MAY21: Vespertilio (Barry McStay) - Kings Head Theatre
Based on the true story of Britain's only greater mouse-eared bat, this is a story of love and deceit in a disused railway tunnel. Josh, a homeless runaway, seeks shelter and encounters Alan, who is guarding the lair of the poor lonely bat, with whom he probably empathises. He thinks he'll be alone for ever, but Josh has different ideas. Josh, though, hasn't been quite honest with Alan.
This was lovely, melancholy and moving, well-filmed, good sound, and splendid performances from Joshua Oakes-Rogers as Josh and Benedict Salter as Alan. (The bat, known as Geoff, is always off-stage.) Highly recommended.
08MAY21: Orpheus in the Record Shop (Testament) -- BBC iPlayer
Orpheus is reimagined as a record shop owner, and Testament performs this monologue -- too constricted a word for the blend of spoken word, rap, beatboxing and instrumental music -- with energy and charisma, assuming role after role (I laughed out loud at the song of the late-night taxi driver) and revealing a story of lost love and loneliness. Quotes Gluck, too.
08MAY21: Lights Up (Colm Toibin) -- BBC iPlayer
Telling the story of Ismene, Antigone's sister, in monologue form. I didn't like this one as much as Orpheus in the Record Shop: the delivery felt a bit over-emphatic. Focus is on the dysfunctional family rather than Antigone's wilful breaking of unjust human laws.
13MAY21: Always be my Maybe (2019, dir. Nahnatchka Khan) - Netflix
I am not a huge fan of rom-coms, and this second-chance romance between a Vietnamese-American and a Korean-American didn't really wow me -- but it was completely worth watching just for the Keanu Reeves cameo, as himself.
20MAY21: Bit (2019, dir. Brad Michael Elmore) - Amazon Prime
Intersectional feminist vampire movie starring a trans actress, which doesn't do anything with her trans-ness. I quite enjoyed this, though it was cheesy in places. The first rule of intersectional feminist vampire club is 'no boys': I felt more could have been done with the trans protagonist here.
Wins the award for 'Best use of Boney M's 'Rasputin' in a film soundtrack, 2019'.
21MAY21: Ammonite (2020, dir. Francis Lee) - Greenwich PictureHouse
Kate Winslet (Mary Anning) and Saoirse Ronan (Charlotte Murchison) have good chemistry here, and it's surprisingly explicit. Very slow, though, and could have been about half an hour shorter. I loved the beach scenes and Mary Anning's rough hands and rough demeanour. Nicely understated, especially about the dead siblings and Mary's mother's symbols for them. Insufficient paleontology though.
27MAY21: The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018, dir. Coen Bros) - Netflix
Westerns are not a genre I typically enjoy, and I'm not familiar with genre tropes or milestones. I found this very watchable, though, perhaps because it wasn't about heroes and villains, or the clash of cultures. These six vignettes set on the American frontier focussed instead on death and justice, some more obviously than others. All-star cast of people I didn't initially recognise (I'm bad at faces!) including Liam Neeson, Tom Waits and James Franco.
28MAY21: Cruella (2021, dir. Craig Gillespie) - Greenwich PictureHouse
I enjoyed this a great deal -- first 'Hollywood blockbuster' of the year, a film with an awesome soundtrack (Blondie, the Doors, ELO, Queen, the Stones), fabulous frocks, plenty of shots of Greenwich, and a good sense of humour. Emma Thompson is utterly splendid, and so is Emma Stone: the latter plays Cruella, nee Estrella, whose great ambition is to be a fashion designer in 70s London and who ends up working for the famously brutal Baroness (Thompson). No romance, hurrah! And no animal death, despite what the original text might indicate.
Based on the true story of Britain's only greater mouse-eared bat, this is a story of love and deceit in a disused railway tunnel. Josh, a homeless runaway, seeks shelter and encounters Alan, who is guarding the lair of the poor lonely bat, with whom he probably empathises. He thinks he'll be alone for ever, but Josh has different ideas. Josh, though, hasn't been quite honest with Alan.
This was lovely, melancholy and moving, well-filmed, good sound, and splendid performances from Joshua Oakes-Rogers as Josh and Benedict Salter as Alan. (The bat, known as Geoff, is always off-stage.) Highly recommended.
08MAY21: Orpheus in the Record Shop (Testament) -- BBC iPlayer
Orpheus is reimagined as a record shop owner, and Testament performs this monologue -- too constricted a word for the blend of spoken word, rap, beatboxing and instrumental music -- with energy and charisma, assuming role after role (I laughed out loud at the song of the late-night taxi driver) and revealing a story of lost love and loneliness. Quotes Gluck, too.
08MAY21: Lights Up (Colm Toibin) -- BBC iPlayer
Telling the story of Ismene, Antigone's sister, in monologue form. I didn't like this one as much as Orpheus in the Record Shop: the delivery felt a bit over-emphatic. Focus is on the dysfunctional family rather than Antigone's wilful breaking of unjust human laws.
13MAY21: Always be my Maybe (2019, dir. Nahnatchka Khan) - Netflix
I am not a huge fan of rom-coms, and this second-chance romance between a Vietnamese-American and a Korean-American didn't really wow me -- but it was completely worth watching just for the Keanu Reeves cameo, as himself.
20MAY21: Bit (2019, dir. Brad Michael Elmore) - Amazon Prime
Intersectional feminist vampire movie starring a trans actress, which doesn't do anything with her trans-ness. I quite enjoyed this, though it was cheesy in places. The first rule of intersectional feminist vampire club is 'no boys': I felt more could have been done with the trans protagonist here.
Wins the award for 'Best use of Boney M's 'Rasputin' in a film soundtrack, 2019'.
21MAY21: Ammonite (2020, dir. Francis Lee) - Greenwich PictureHouse
Kate Winslet (Mary Anning) and Saoirse Ronan (Charlotte Murchison) have good chemistry here, and it's surprisingly explicit. Very slow, though, and could have been about half an hour shorter. I loved the beach scenes and Mary Anning's rough hands and rough demeanour. Nicely understated, especially about the dead siblings and Mary's mother's symbols for them. Insufficient paleontology though.
27MAY21: The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018, dir. Coen Bros) - Netflix
Westerns are not a genre I typically enjoy, and I'm not familiar with genre tropes or milestones. I found this very watchable, though, perhaps because it wasn't about heroes and villains, or the clash of cultures. These six vignettes set on the American frontier focussed instead on death and justice, some more obviously than others. All-star cast of people I didn't initially recognise (I'm bad at faces!) including Liam Neeson, Tom Waits and James Franco.
28MAY21: Cruella (2021, dir. Craig Gillespie) - Greenwich PictureHouse
I enjoyed this a great deal -- first 'Hollywood blockbuster' of the year, a film with an awesome soundtrack (Blondie, the Doors, ELO, Queen, the Stones), fabulous frocks, plenty of shots of Greenwich, and a good sense of humour. Emma Thompson is utterly splendid, and so is Emma Stone: the latter plays Cruella, nee Estrella, whose great ambition is to be a fashion designer in 70s London and who ends up working for the famously brutal Baroness (Thompson). No romance, hurrah! And no animal death, despite what the original text might indicate.
