I have a mind and sometimes there are things on it. Given that I have a bad back, this space is where I hope to unload them.
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The next post will be a comparison of the original 1951 film The Day the Earth Stood Still by Robert Wise and the 2008 remake by Scott Derrickson. In the meantime here's a little something to tide you over. J
Tony Leung and Maggie Chung in In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-Wai, 2001) Wong Kar-Wai I am often asked what my favourite film is, to which I generally reply - "Pffft!". I know! Why people ever ask me anything is quite beyond me too. But my reason for mentioning that particular flaw in my character is that while it seems utterly out with my ability to choose a particular favourite, or indeed to respond to the question in a civil, adult and mannered way, I do have a list. This list may grow and shrink over time, but in 2001 I added a film to it and it has been there ever since. In the Mood for Love was a defining moment for me and my connection to cinema. This movie more than most underlined the notion that what particularly moves me is film form; rather than just character, narrative or singular technical aspects, it is the collision of these things that resonates for me in film and makes them stay with me. Tony Leung in the sumptuous In the Mood for Love The fi...
I'm going to try and arrange letters in such a way that you'll get an idea of why I think Brief Encounter (David Lean, 1945) is one of the greatest films I've ever seen (to give this claim some frame of reference I draw your attention to the fact that I have seen in excess of 17 films). This kinda feeds from my last post in a way, as too long ago now I visited Cranforth station in Lancashire, the main setting of Brief Encounter , it wasn't planned and when the opportunity came up I was genuinely excited. When we got there, I squealed and ran around taking poorly composed photographs, and looking at memorabilia, and strongly fighting the urge to sit and watch the film that was about to begin on a small TV in the station, and drinking tea through a big soppy grin, and pretty much everyone else didn't care. It was there though that I realised just how much I really cared about this film and when I came back I gushed at folk and foisted poorly co...
At some point, I don't remember exactly when, Philip Seymour Hoffman overtook Steve Buscemi as my favourite (living) actor, but I do remember why. He played disconnected people so well, so true, so recognisably. He broke my heart so many times in these roles but never as much as he has now. I never met him and...well I never will, but I felt close to him because he played people that I felt I understood or, more importantly, people that I think would have understood me. I have written about my connection with film before and in that I mentioned one of my favourite performances of his; a performance that I truly adored and admired and identified with. This was his portrayal of Caden Cotard in Synecdoche, New York (2008), a man struggling to cope with life, to get to grips with life, and so to just live life. There are many more. In his only film as director, Jack Goes Boating (2010), he played a man who couldn't understand others relationships to one ano...
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