Cinematic Binge

It's good to be on holidays.

That photo was taken on my last day of 5th year. Really sums it up, I think.

Okay, so. Even though my exams only finished on Wednesday, I've been on a sort of cinematic-binge since Monday evening. I was exhausted after studying non-stop, and I collapsed onto the couch around 9pm and found Enduring Love on Film4. I read Ian McEwan's novel a while back, and found it intruiging, but hard to love which kind of sums up my feelings towards the film adaptation. Both male leads were good and it was a well made adaption, the quietness and broad shots representing McEwan's prose faithfully. Afterwards, I had no desire to see it again. Tuesday was One Hour Photo, with Robin Williams. Which I found really funny. I think it was designed to be really creepy, but I find Williams such a jerk anyway, that slicking blonde greasy locks on him and making him a pedophile didn't make much of a difference. It was enjoyable, though. Wednesday, I rented O Brother, Where Art Thou to celebrate the end of my exams. And what a celebration! Dad had the soundtrack for ages, so I knew all the songs. George Clooney was amazing, funny and veered into being camp and just charming. I enjoyed spotting all the Odyssey references, because that's the kind of nerd I am. An odd thing - I know the Odyssey quite well, but I've never read it. Nope. All my knowledge comes from two sources; the first being Margaret Atwood's excellent Penelopiad, which relates the story from Penelope's perspective. I have to admit, though, that the bulk of my familiarity with the story is from a computer game that I worshipped as a child: Wishbone and the Amazing Odyssey. Yep, a PC game in which explorer-pooch Wishbone ( remember him?) relived Homer's Odyssey. On four legs. It was kinda amazing, but I always got stuck on one particular island. I've just looked it up and was looking at pictures of it and experienced a full-on Proust moment, with the taste of these cheese crackers I used to eat while playing this game suddenly in my mouth. Neat. Back to my original point...ah, yes, the film. I like the Coen brothers, although I've only seen three of their films, and I admire their scope in this film, setting the Odyssey in the Depression-era South and mixing in other legends (Robert Johnson selling his soul to the devil, Baby Face Nelson etc). And even though I admire the film, I also enjoyed it. The comedy was never in-your-face, but wide and gentle and genuinely amusing. The bluegrass/country music is excellent, obviously. My sister always wanted to see The Breakfast Club, so I got it out for us to watch together on Thursday night. Being my second time watching it, I noticed a few faults that didn't register on my inital viewing due to the sheer sugary dizziness of it. The characterisations are all quite shallow and the ending doesn't sit quite as neatly as John Hughes imagines it does, but it's still a zeitgiest movie that makes me smile. The dance scene is fun, but not as loveable as Ducky's Otis Redding-freakout in Hughes' Pretty in Pink.

Yesterday and this evening I saw three films that really moved me. Three quite exceptional films, and I doubt I can put into words how I feel about them, let form alone a coherant review.




Maybe later.