![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Monthly culture: January 2022
Friday, February 11th, 2022 04:17 pm06JAN22: Don't Look Up (McKay, 2021) (Netflix)
A cheerful movie about the end of the world, which in this instance is delivered via comet, spotted by scientists whose warnings are ignored. No metaphors here, honest guv.
I liked this a lot, and was reminded of Ben Winters' The Last Policeman trilogy -- especially at the climax of the film, with the non-villains gathered for a last supper. Some of the plot didn't quite work, especiallyElon Musk's Peter Isherwell's predictions about characters' deaths: but overall, it hung together pretty well. Excellent performances all round, including diCaprio, Lawrence, Streep, Rylance, Chalamet. A great way to start the year.
08JAN22: Hedda Gabler (Ibsen: Ivo van Hove, 2017) (NT At Home)
Ruth Wilson as Hedda and Rafe Spall as Brack in a modern production of Ibsen’s masterpiece. The modern setting does not make it less bleak.
13JAN22: The Lost Daughter (Gyllenhaal, 2021) (Netflix)
Based on the novel of the same name by Elena Ferrante, who insisted on a female director: it's Maggie Gyllenhaal's directorial debut, and there are a lot of women on cast and crew. Olivia Colman is, as usual, splendid. Dakota Johnson is good, too. But it is not a cheerful tale.
15JAN22: War Horse (Morpurgo: Elliot, 2008) (NT At Home)
The puppets are great and thoroughly believable as horses; the accents a little overrustic; the story very sad though, of course, happy (ish) ending.
20JAN22: Passing (Hall, 2021) (Netflix)
Based on the 1929 novel by Nella Larsen; directorial debut of Rebecca Hall; starring Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga as two young Black women, one of whom is married to a man who thinks she's white. The tensions between the two women, Irene and Clare, are expertly depicted: the film is beautiful, shot in black and white with an 'old-fashioned' 4:3 ratio. And again, it is really not very cheerful.
22JAN22: East is East (Ayub Khan Din: Iqbal Khan) (NT At Home)
Also not 100% cheerful -- tensions in an Anglo-Indian family in Salford, 1971; father is Indian and expects his children to obey him absolutely, children do not accept his rules, mother (English) is moderating influence. Some distressing elements, but this was also very funny indeed, well-acted and with an excellent soundtrack: highly recommended.
27JAN22: Suffragette (Gavron, 2015) (Netflix)
Concluding a month of mostly not very cheerful viewing! This was good at dramatising the situation and the arguments: Ben Whishaw is unsympathetic husband, Carey Mulligan a good protagonist, Helena Bonham Carter and Meryl Streep awesome as ever. I looked away during the force-feeding scene. And the scene at the Derby seemed awfully ... sanitised.
A cheerful movie about the end of the world, which in this instance is delivered via comet, spotted by scientists whose warnings are ignored. No metaphors here, honest guv.
I liked this a lot, and was reminded of Ben Winters' The Last Policeman trilogy -- especially at the climax of the film, with the non-villains gathered for a last supper. Some of the plot didn't quite work, especially
08JAN22: Hedda Gabler (Ibsen: Ivo van Hove, 2017) (NT At Home)
Ruth Wilson as Hedda and Rafe Spall as Brack in a modern production of Ibsen’s masterpiece. The modern setting does not make it less bleak.
13JAN22: The Lost Daughter (Gyllenhaal, 2021) (Netflix)
Based on the novel of the same name by Elena Ferrante, who insisted on a female director: it's Maggie Gyllenhaal's directorial debut, and there are a lot of women on cast and crew. Olivia Colman is, as usual, splendid. Dakota Johnson is good, too. But it is not a cheerful tale.
15JAN22: War Horse (Morpurgo: Elliot, 2008) (NT At Home)
The puppets are great and thoroughly believable as horses; the accents a little overrustic; the story very sad though, of course, happy (ish) ending.
20JAN22: Passing (Hall, 2021) (Netflix)
Based on the 1929 novel by Nella Larsen; directorial debut of Rebecca Hall; starring Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga as two young Black women, one of whom is married to a man who thinks she's white. The tensions between the two women, Irene and Clare, are expertly depicted: the film is beautiful, shot in black and white with an 'old-fashioned' 4:3 ratio. And again, it is really not very cheerful.
22JAN22: East is East (Ayub Khan Din: Iqbal Khan) (NT At Home)
Also not 100% cheerful -- tensions in an Anglo-Indian family in Salford, 1971; father is Indian and expects his children to obey him absolutely, children do not accept his rules, mother (English) is moderating influence. Some distressing elements, but this was also very funny indeed, well-acted and with an excellent soundtrack: highly recommended.
27JAN22: Suffragette (Gavron, 2015) (Netflix)
Concluding a month of mostly not very cheerful viewing! This was good at dramatising the situation and the arguments: Ben Whishaw is unsympathetic husband, Carey Mulligan a good protagonist, Helena Bonham Carter and Meryl Streep awesome as ever. I looked away during the force-feeding scene. And the scene at the Derby seemed awfully ... sanitised.
