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Monthly culture: March 2022
Monday, April 18th, 2022 08:27 am04MAR22: The Batman (Reeves, 2022) (Greenwich PictureHouse)
Far too long, but more enjoyable than I'd anticipated. Beautiful use of colour, a credibly filthy and run-down Gotham (where the sun never shines), echoes of Hopper's New York paintings, and a soundtrack that mixed Nirvana with some interesting variations on Schubert's Ave Maria. Pattinson was surprisingly good in the title role, and Zoe Kravitz' Catwoman rocked, as did Andy Serkis as Alfred.
12MAR22: Paradise (Kae Tempest / Sophocles) (NT@Home)
Kae Tempest's take on Philoctetes, with an all-female cast. Saw this live at the theatre last year: it made more sense when I could appreciate the blocking and the stagecraft. Still an interesting take on the source, with emphasis on the masculine performance (performative masculinity?) of war. We found the Cockney accents out of place and puzzling: was Philoctetes pretending to be commoner than he was?
17MAR22: William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet (Luhrman, 1996) (Netflix)
Incredibly, I had never seen this, and enjoyed it a lot. Mercutio (Harold Perrineau) is characteristically awesome; di Caprio as Romeo and Claire Danes as Juliet both surprisingly convincing young teenagers. Fantasy sleazeball America, all glitz and grime: ditto the cast -- Pete Postlethwaite as stoner friar! Paul Rudd as Paris! Miriam Margolyes as the Nurse! And a Nineties soundtrack that made me quite nostalgic. Noteable that the crew and cast were predominantly male, something I'm less accustomed to these days.
18MAR22: The World of Stonehenge (British Museum)
Beautiful exhibition, very highly recommended: so many axes! parts of Seahenge! I was moved by the bones of a mother buried with a baby-sling decorated with dog teeth; impressed by the precise dendrochronology; intrigued that ancient artefacts were venerated (some of the items buried in graves were already over a thousand years old); saddened by the fact that there were seasoned fighters, scarred and damaged by multiple battles, even in prehistory; fascinated by the multiple changes (upgrades?) to the Nebra sky disc.
19MAR22: London Assurance (Dion Boucicault, dir. Nicholas Hytner) (NT@Home)
Early farce first produced in 1841, weirdly reminiscent (to me) of the funnier bits of Georgette Heyer. Simon Russell Beale plays Sir Harcourt Courtly; Fiona Shaw is the marvellously-named Lady Gay Spanker, with Richard Briers playing her hapless husband. There is a young bride-to-be and her ageing fiance, a sharp young con-man down from London, a profligate son pretending to be either dead or somebody else, and a surprising amount of sexual ambiguity. Some splendid performances, though in some (mostly indefinable) ways this 2010 production feels slightly dated: exuberant, though, and great fun.
24MAR22: The Constant Gardener (Meirelles, 2005) (Netflix)
Based on the Le Carre novel: Tessa Quayle (Rachel Weisz), Amnesty activist, is murdered in Kenya after uncovering bad practices by big pharma. Her husband Justin (Ralph Fiennes), a diplomat (and gardener), investigates and to some extent avenges her death. Danny Huston as villainous Sandy is legitimately scary: ditto Bill Nighy as Pellegrin, the corrupt civil servant. Also features the ubiquitous Pete Postlethwaite -- and Lupita Nyong'o was a production runner!
Some truly harrowing scenes of conflict in Sudan. An engaging story, perhaps spoilt by too many flashbacks to Tessa and Justin's romance.
26MAR22: She's the Man (Fickman, 2006) (Netflix)
Teen comedy based (loosely) on Twelfth Night. Features Vinnie Jones as a high school soccer coach, Channing Tatum as Duke Orsino, and Amanda Bynes as Viola, who pretends to be her brother Sebastian so she can play soccer. Malvolio is played by a spider. Often very funny, but I was watching through a haze of COVID so did not follow it as well as I might have done.
31MAR22: Your Name (Shinkai, 2016) (Netflix)
Beautiful timeloop anime romance, with a comet strike and body swaps and beautiful skies. Lovely, poignant, suspect it will lose a lot in the forthcoming US live-action remake.
Far too long, but more enjoyable than I'd anticipated. Beautiful use of colour, a credibly filthy and run-down Gotham (where the sun never shines), echoes of Hopper's New York paintings, and a soundtrack that mixed Nirvana with some interesting variations on Schubert's Ave Maria. Pattinson was surprisingly good in the title role, and Zoe Kravitz' Catwoman rocked, as did Andy Serkis as Alfred.
12MAR22: Paradise (Kae Tempest / Sophocles) (NT@Home)
Kae Tempest's take on Philoctetes, with an all-female cast. Saw this live at the theatre last year: it made more sense when I could appreciate the blocking and the stagecraft. Still an interesting take on the source, with emphasis on the masculine performance (performative masculinity?) of war. We found the Cockney accents out of place and puzzling: was Philoctetes pretending to be commoner than he was?
17MAR22: William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet (Luhrman, 1996) (Netflix)
Incredibly, I had never seen this, and enjoyed it a lot. Mercutio (Harold Perrineau) is characteristically awesome; di Caprio as Romeo and Claire Danes as Juliet both surprisingly convincing young teenagers. Fantasy sleazeball America, all glitz and grime: ditto the cast -- Pete Postlethwaite as stoner friar! Paul Rudd as Paris! Miriam Margolyes as the Nurse! And a Nineties soundtrack that made me quite nostalgic. Noteable that the crew and cast were predominantly male, something I'm less accustomed to these days.
18MAR22: The World of Stonehenge (British Museum)
Beautiful exhibition, very highly recommended: so many axes! parts of Seahenge! I was moved by the bones of a mother buried with a baby-sling decorated with dog teeth; impressed by the precise dendrochronology; intrigued that ancient artefacts were venerated (some of the items buried in graves were already over a thousand years old); saddened by the fact that there were seasoned fighters, scarred and damaged by multiple battles, even in prehistory; fascinated by the multiple changes (upgrades?) to the Nebra sky disc.
19MAR22: London Assurance (Dion Boucicault, dir. Nicholas Hytner) (NT@Home)
Early farce first produced in 1841, weirdly reminiscent (to me) of the funnier bits of Georgette Heyer. Simon Russell Beale plays Sir Harcourt Courtly; Fiona Shaw is the marvellously-named Lady Gay Spanker, with Richard Briers playing her hapless husband. There is a young bride-to-be and her ageing fiance, a sharp young con-man down from London, a profligate son pretending to be either dead or somebody else, and a surprising amount of sexual ambiguity. Some splendid performances, though in some (mostly indefinable) ways this 2010 production feels slightly dated: exuberant, though, and great fun.
24MAR22: The Constant Gardener (Meirelles, 2005) (Netflix)
Based on the Le Carre novel: Tessa Quayle (Rachel Weisz), Amnesty activist, is murdered in Kenya after uncovering bad practices by big pharma. Her husband Justin (Ralph Fiennes), a diplomat (and gardener), investigates and to some extent avenges her death. Danny Huston as villainous Sandy is legitimately scary: ditto Bill Nighy as Pellegrin, the corrupt civil servant. Also features the ubiquitous Pete Postlethwaite -- and Lupita Nyong'o was a production runner!
Some truly harrowing scenes of conflict in Sudan. An engaging story, perhaps spoilt by too many flashbacks to Tessa and Justin's romance.
26MAR22: She's the Man (Fickman, 2006) (Netflix)
Teen comedy based (loosely) on Twelfth Night. Features Vinnie Jones as a high school soccer coach, Channing Tatum as Duke Orsino, and Amanda Bynes as Viola, who pretends to be her brother Sebastian so she can play soccer. Malvolio is played by a spider. Often very funny, but I was watching through a haze of COVID so did not follow it as well as I might have done.
31MAR22: Your Name (Shinkai, 2016) (Netflix)
Beautiful timeloop anime romance, with a comet strike and body swaps and beautiful skies. Lovely, poignant, suspect it will lose a lot in the forthcoming US live-action remake.
