1.1.2010

A thank you to all those who have visited my blog since its inception in September, and an especial one to those who have actually returned to it. Obviously, I realise that a blog based on an enthusiasm for swede and a discussion on the minimal hair length before one may attempt a ponytail is a niche readership.

I would like to wish everyone an interesting 2010.

Nobody seems to be sure what this decade is called. I imagine it's the "Tens" or perhaps the "Teens". In any case, I don't think that centuries really get underway until you reach the Twenties. I greeted the New Year in bed watching films and drank half-a-bottle of wine. And felt quite happy to do so. (The flu lingers and I cancelled the party I was scheduled to give.) This coupled with a worrying trend of rising at 7AM in the morning yet not feeling tired means, I think, that I am now officially quite old. I was always convinced I'd die on stage in a freak accident -- at some point in my thirties -- struck in the temple by a flying shoe at the Cambridge Corn Exchange. However, here I am, 50 in October.

I download films illegally online. I watch them and then delete them. If there's a particular one that merits repeated viewing, which is rare, I'll buy it from Amazon. Also, some friends are kind enough on occasion to send me films. That is one of the things I miss: being able to go to HMV or Virgin to re-file their racks. Of those that I've seen through 2009 -- although not necessarily of that year -- some have been very good:

 

NOTES ON A SCANDAL :
Judi Dench as a Machiavellian lesbian, teacher and compulsive diarist who fixates on and plots a life with oblivious, doe-eyed, middle-class Bohemian colleague Cate Blanchett. My sympathy went with Dench. A park bench scene between Dench and Blanchett contains these immortal lines in reference to the former's prior quarry, Jennifer:

"We were quite chummy for a while but, poor thing, she rather unravelled. She became alarmingly deluded." 
"Did she go to hospital?" 
"No. She got a job in Stoke."

 
                                       
                                       








GOMORRA :
Based on the bestseller by Roberto Saviano who is now in permanent hiding, five stories intertwined of individuals whose lives are touched, if not destroyed, by the Camorra of Naples. Very real. Three Coins In A Fountain it isn't. Won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film of 2008.

 
 









O' HORTEN :
A retired Norwegian train driver faces old age and loneliness (yes, a pattern does emerge) but decides to take a few life risks. Entering a family's apartment via scaffolding and sitting next to their sleeping child all night is certainly one of them -- but no, he isn't a nonce, he's just odd. Also ends up in Oslo city centre in red patent high heel shoes and drives around the streets blindfolded with a new and interesting friend he found sleeping in the snow. There is a quiet charm about this film.
  

 









NIGHT OF THE SUNFLOWERS :
Set in rural Extramadura in southwestern Spain. A teenaged girl is found murdered on the outskirts of a village. Six overlapping characters: a predatory salesman, some geologists and a couple of    feuding neighbours are offered up as potential suspects. Intricate.

A word on Almodóvar's BROKEN EMBRACES. Sumptuous homage to 1950s film noir. Beautifully photographed. Interesting plot that gradually uncoils and reveals itself through flashback. However, as with Talk To Her and Bad Education, anyone looking for Almodovar's trademark humour will doubtless be disappointed. The reason is, all three films centre around male characters and Almodóvar is a dream of a scriptwriter -- for female actors. While Broken Embraces is dazzling, the celluloid never quite catches fire.