Review of 2023

 

At the darkest time of the year, it's good to look back on garden in summer. But before that I looked at what I said this time last year. Well, no snow, like that which fell the previous December and not the exceptionally mild weather of the year before. So fairly boring, mostly cloudy and windy with spells of rain. One of the wettest autumns I can remember. Good for the garden.

Three holidays this year: Ingleton in May, Bakewell in July and Wells-next-the-Sea in October. It may look like a boring stretch of coastal path, but this walk on the last day out of Wells was quiet and beautiful.

Lots of walking from home this year as too many posts on this blog will demonstrate. But finding some circular routes across fields and along the canal suit me as they are all flat. As is the walk from the car park at Wilstone Reservoir up to another branch of the canal and along to the church of St Mary the Virgin at Drayton Beauchamp. My pole comes in handy in Wendover Woods and other walks in the hills. About six or seven miles is enough for me these days. Visits to some National Trust properties are the same as previous years. 

Four trips to the theatre this year: The Tempest at the RSC in Stratford with Alex Kingston was a revelation, The Pillowman at The Duke of York's and Hamnet at The Swan Theatre at RSC Stratford came in June with Cuckoo at the Royal Court in August. I used my book on London Theatres to compile a list of all the plays I had seen. Published on this blog on 5th May. My favourite films this year have been A Good Person, Air, Cairo Conspiracy, Polite Society, (Not forgetting one major highlight, the song over the end credits - "Identity" by  X-ray Spex), Oppenheimer, Past Lives and Anatomy of a Fall. A few visits to the Rex Cinema in Berkhamsted for some excellent foreign films. Finding Sight and Sound magazine (see post 18th December) has been a revelation. My post of 24th October says everything about my continuing film studies. 

My favourite books this year have been Ann Patchett's These Precious Days, Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan and two by Susie Boyt, The Last Hope of Girls and Loved and Missed. I attended my last meeting of Tring Book Club in August. My post of 13th of that month shows that we read 147 books in thirteen years. I think I only made one visit to London, to Battersea Power Station in August and a trip up Lift 109. We terminated our contract with Sky in June, saving ourselves £39 per month with BT's Big Sport. We did lose the odd Sky channel that we hardly watched, but gained BT Sport in HD. As for TV, our favourite programme Ghosts came to an end. The final series of the six was excellent, as was the Christmas Special.

There was little new in the garden, except I followed Monty Don's advice on Gardener's World and grew some cosmos from seed, sowed in compost in the conservatory.

When planted out, the result was disappointment in pots, but fine in the borders. 

Like last year, I went for bedding dahlias in main border. Ended up being too overcrowded, so I don't need to buy so many next year.

The Garden at Christmas

 

Bulbs are beginning to show in the bedding border.

The irises look healthy, their corms along the top of the soil.

Some of the shrubs have buds on already.

And some winter flowering bushes.

The forget-me-nots have covered the far border.

Finally the bulbs I planted in pots in the autumn are doing well.

Standard Deviation, The People on Privilege Hill and The Snow Garden and Other Stories

 

Graham is fifteen years older than his (second) wife Audra. "His universe lonely and arid" and hers "densely populated with armies of friends and acquaintances .... and other people he didn't know". Graham is in denial that their son Mathew (10) is autistic, although he is devoted to origami (at which he is truly awesome) and the much older members of the origami club who are equally socially awkward. Then there is Graham's ex-wife Elspeth with whom they seem to be on good terms?

All well and good, an odd little story with occasional laughter. But two thirds through enter Papa Stan, the grandfather of a friend of Mathew's who both come to stay. I hated this part, not at all funny. Fortunately it doesn't last long. Although any momentum the story had was lost and the book just fizzled out. That was a shame as there is plenty to enjoy with many laugh out loud moments.

Having read all of Jane Gardam's novels, I found this book of fourteen short stories. Some are so short they only take up less than ten pages. They start with a story taken from the book's title, reprising those, now elderly, ex-judges from the brilliant "Old Filth" trilogy: Sir Edward Feathers, Veneering and Fiscal-Smith. But it was far too short. I wanted a whole book. Then "Pangbourne" is a strange piece about the love for a gorilla. "The Flight Path" is also quite disturbing. We are in 1941, a time of never ending air raids in London where young Jim Smith arrives from a more quiet north of England. His success at "A" Levels has gained him an interview at a big city hospital. And an overnight stay with an aunt in Wimbledon Park. Right on the flight path of the bombers.

"The Milly Ming" is about the Amelia Menzies Trust, a project for unmarried pregnant girls. Then in "The Virgins of Bruges", Ursula, a nun, tries to get back from France to England on Christmas Eve to see her sister whose husband has just died. But no chance of a ferry from Calais, so it's off to Ostend but again she is denied. Then a short journey to Bruges and a strange Christmas Eve experience. (It reminded me of when, coming back at night from a European Cup Final in Paris, we had to leave our hire car in Zeebrugge in Belgium, a port I had never heard of.)

A once in a lifetime illicit meeting at a far away hotel for our heroine who is now in her fifties is the subject of "Snap". An accident might not stop her getting home before her husband. "The Last Reunion" finds four women in their sixties on their way by car to a final reunion for their old women only college. Driven by Lily who is now a famous novelist. All the stories are clever and have that Jane Gardam punch. I just prefer her novels.

It was strange that the list of contents of these short stories at the beginning missed out one of the best called "I'll Be Home for Christmas". Sylvia is the mother of the most famous pop star in the world and is preparing a party for his homecoming. Tim is now called X well before Twitter changed it's name. It doesn't quite go to plan but the ending is brilliant. "The Snow Garden" that gives the book it's title is an exceptionally emotional story about a divorced father and his visiting two young sons. But the story that really resonated with me was "The Boxing Day Ball". It's the December of 1963. Maureen is 18 and off to Uni. (I was just 18 and off to work and college). There are ten girls tramping the freezing dark lanes towards the parish hall. We would never call it a ball, just a dance. "The worst winter anyone could remember". Boxing Day 1963 it did snow and froze for nearly three months. (For the whole of that winter I did a 6 day week paper round on my bike before breakfast. I never missed a delivery.) Maureen's mother had refused to let her go. But in the end she relents. "You are not going dressed like that". A lovely story with, typically, something dark at the end. These three stories of the best of the bunch, all worthy of five stars.

My Judy Garland Life by Susie Boyt

 

I approached this book with some trepidation. Did I want to read about someone with an obsession about Judy Garland? It was only because I had read all of Susie Boyt's other books (all brilliant) that I pitched in. From her childhood, we already know her hero-worship for the star. It's true, there is a superb piece about when Susie is a child. And a section about Judy's trials of dieting and hunger. Unfortunately my notes seem to be a jumble, but that is rather like the structure of the book. It's not all about Judy. There are sometimes peripheral stuff like the passage "Three things that have consoled me at low moments". So the book is part memoir, part biography and part musings about fame, hero-worship. All with references to Judy along the way. There are lots about Judy's struggles with mental issues and visits to all sorts of analysts. The author pulls no punches about how difficult Judy could be.

Let me include this extract from halfway through that might demonstrate how the book is formed: "Devotion, devotion of a general nature, devotion even in the abstract, is a feeling I know well. It's one I enjoy. "It's All For You" Judy sings, and as I listen I think, Yes of course! That is as it should be! i like all forms of extravagance. Sometimes it seems to me that the most authentic kind of human interaction is saving someone's life. Yet occasionally, when I listen to this song (lots on you tube), it strikes me rather differently. This song doesn't always make me think of the people I love best. It doesn't even make me think of the people who love me more than they love anyone else, and there are a few of them. No, "It's All For You" can make me think of all the people I never came first with and of the times in my life when none of it was for me at all". And so on.

At a meeting with Liza Minnelli, Susie talks about books and is asked what sort, the reply is "black comedies about relationships ..... they're rather dark I'm afraid". Don't be, Susie, their darkness is brilliant. The author talks about Judy's husbands. She was Sid Luft's third wife. "Sid Luft was a man of considerable human charm but one of the great fourth-rate human beings of all time". In the chapter "Are you a Good Fan or a Bad Fan" we hear a good deal about the films in which Judy appeared. But the section about fans was not so good. Or in "The End of the Road" the visit to Judy's final resting place with her Judy friend Marc. In the final chapter "Encore, Encore", Susie has an arranged meeting with another ex-husband, Mickey Rooney. In a plush hotel they burst into song with "Our Love Affair" from the musical "Strike Up The Band". This is a writer who is not afraid to admit she thought it was from "Girl Crazy".

The book ends with a show called "Night on the Town" where Susie is invited to talk about Judy, answer questions and sing one song. We go full circle with a young Susie taking 2,000 dance lessons until her mother refuses to let her go on the stage. Fortunately. There are some great photos of the star, in one she is dancing with Lucille Ball with arms outstretched. But in the end, the book defies categorisation. Mostly very interesting, always beautifully written.

Movies at Home: A Very Long Engagement, Drive My Car and The Innocent

 

A French film from 2004 that was nominated for an Oscar for Best Art direction and Best Cinematography. Co-wrote and directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet it follows a search for a lost soldier of WW1. Audrey Tatou is re-united with the director from Amelie. This is a film that should be seen on the big screen, the exterior shots are incredible. Sam Mendes must have been inspired by the filming of the trenches. We see the stupidity of the infantry attacks as they charge across no man's land. We are given some background of the five soldiers who are eventually to be executed for self harming. Audrey Tatou's Matilde is on a quest to find out about her lost fiancée Manech. We find her at home after the end of the war. I thought I saw a change in the photography to a sort of bucolic softness. So the scenery, sets, costume etc are all superb. Just a shame that the story falters until it again takes off with the introduction of almost unrecognisable Jodie Foster as Elodie. There is one unforgettable tracking shot in a Paris market that includes cabbages being tossed across the camera. Impressive.

A famous Japanese actor and director seeks solace from the death of his  wife with a chance to direct Uncle Vanya for a festival in Hiroshima. When he arrives he finds he is not allowed to drive due to insurance requirements. His driver is a very young woman, but an excellent chauffeur. He has to be ferried backwards and forwards to his hotel on the banks of an island. The photography is outstanding. It's the exterior shots f the landscape that make this film Otherwise the story that at first involves casting and later rehearsals is pretty mundane. Which was a shame.

Not to be confused with The Innocents from 1961 that is selected for "Have Yo Seen ...., or other films of the same name, this 1993 film is directed by John Schlesinger and was shown on the TV channel Talking Pictures. It was only watching the credits at the beginning that I found it was adapted from the Ian McEwan novel that I read many years ago. It stars Anthony Hopkins and Isabella Rossellini in their younger days, along with Campbell Scott playing a naïve young man in post war Berlin. His expertise in telephone communications is invaluable to the allies bugging the opposition. 

But it is his relationship with an attractive German woman that leads to an affair. He is warned by his superiors and his English downstairs neighbour to keep his professional and social lives separate, but his infatuation leads to scandal and murder. I didn't feel that McEwan did the film any favours in his own screenplay. The dialogue was poor and the story suffered as a result.  

Classic Literature and Cinema on Sky Arts - Dystopia

 

This was the third in the series of films from classic novels courtesy of 3DD Productions on Sky Arts. I had to look up what dystopia meant: an imagined state or society. So not primarily science fiction but more about a dramatised future. Or as presenter Mariella Frostrup says "the potential to become tomorrow's reality". She begins with Sir Thomas More's "Island of Utopia" from 1516. But then straight to HG Wells and 1895's The Time Machine and 1899's When the Sleeper Wakes. We even see an interview with the great man. In 1932 he published The Shape of Things to Come and the film three years later. A prediction of a never ending world war. There are mentions for Mary Shelley's The Last Man and Paris in the Twentieth Century by Jules Verne.

Maybe the most famous of all these films is George Orwell's' Nineteen Eighty-Four from that year. We see a young John Hurt in some extended clips. The Russian novel We was first published in English in 1924 amongst some more known novels of the twenties and thirties such as Kafka's The Trial, It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis and Brave New World from Aldous Huxley. We again see the author talking about his book. When we reach the nuclear age, I found that I had seen all the next movies, most of which are among my favourite films of all time. Fahrenheit 451 from the Ray Bradbury novel became that classic film in 1966. We see more clips and the author speaking about how it came about. 

We reach Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange  and Stanley Kubrick's film from 1971. "The terrifying technique of behaviour modification". But nothing about how the film was banned at one time in the UK. The book Make Room, Make Room by Harry Harrison was turned into the film Soylent Green in 1973, and 1976's Logan's Run came from the novel by George Clayton Johnson and William F. Nolan. In 1982 Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep was made into Blade Runner, and then in 2005 came the film version of Alan Moore's marvellous V for Vendetta. It was Harold Pinter who adapted Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale for the 1990 movie, then  P.D. James'   Children of Men that became the 2006 movie and Steven King's The Running Man for the 1987 film. Those extracts we saw are all so familiar.

A Japanese book and film came next. Battle Royale from 2000 was highly controversial due to it's subject matter and violence. But the 2008 novel The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins became the blockbuster of 2012. Her interview of how it all began was very interesting. Cormack McCarthy's Pulitzer prizewinning  The Road  became a hit movie in 2009. Mariella summed up with some words about how these "authors were seeing into the future". And a lot was not at all nice.

Art of Film with Ian Nathan on Sky Arts: Episode 4 - The Depiction of War

 

Ian Nathan presents an episode that deals only with British war films. He talks to Jonathan Kydd, an actor, Simon Heffer, a historian, Christina Newland, a film critic and long time collaborator Stephen Armstrong. It starts with 1930's iconic movie  All Quiet on the Western Front,  It then jumps forward to Angels on Fire from 1952. Stephen Armstrong was impressed it was more about the group than individual pilots. I had seen The Dam Busters when it first came out in 1955. It was more about the build up and training than the actual raid. Dunkirk released in 1958 was impressive for all those extras. And top stars. Christina talked about how it showed the chaos of the evacuation.

Ian Nathan mentioned a number of directors who were involved with these films post war, and how many films like these were produced. For example I Was Monty's Double from 1958 was a tough watch, except for that fun ending that we were shown. Then The Cruel Sea from 1953, that I knew from the book, was more about what life was on board a warship. Christina talked about the "ethical dilemmas" of wartime. The Small Back Room from 1949 was described by Simon as "realistic experience". Then came the popular movie Ice Cold In Alex from 1958 before the programme came to those propaganda films made during WW2 such as Went The Day Well, 1942's The Big Blockade and The 49th Parallel. 

Next came films that dealt with the resistance behind enemy lines. From 1942's One of our Aircraft is Missing to 1950's Odette about a dangerous mission for a woman. Then Against the Wind from 1948 was about sabotage. Finally we see some prisoner of war films including the classic 1955's The Colditz Story. It was left to Ian to say how much these movies told the story about teamwork and co-operation than individual heroics. I find war films now too harrowing to watch, so looking forward to the last two episodes in the series on comedy and bio-pics. 

Sight and Sound - December 2023

 

After parkrun at the cafe in Wendover Woods, I found myself sitting next to Angelo who I found works at the BFI (British Film Institute) at Berkhamsted. I could not remember him mentioning the BFI monthly magazine Sight and Sound but Alison did. And sent for a copy. I could not believe I had never heard of this publication as it is truly amazing. Full of articles and reviews of films, some of which would never make the mainstream press. The following are just samples of what it contains.

The cover is obviously Sofia Coppola whose latest film Priscilla is shortly arriving in cinemas. The editorial is followed by a long article and interview with this great writer and director as well as a Q&A with the star.(The Elvis estate has denounced the movie and refused to allow any of his music). Before that comes "Opening Scenes" about a Russian director, "Editor's Choice" about what's on, "In Production", "Preview" about films at the BFI London Film Festival, "In Focus" has a Chilean director, "In Conversation" a Greek director, "Reel Talk" discusses technical stuff,  "The Ballot of ...." has a Mexican director choosing her favourite films,  "Mean Sheets" sees the artist's three posters for Killers of the Flower Moon, "Reader's Letters", and then four articles by regular correspondents. These include Pamela Hutchinson, a film historian, about a 1928 film about London landscape, Nicole Flattery, a film critic, about her daily grind, Andrew male, a freelance film critic, discusses the roles played by the recently departed Michael Gambon and Kevin B. Lee, professor for the future of cinema, tells us that directors rate films very differently to film critics.

A four page article about director Emma Seligman's film Bottoms is followed by five pages dealing with David Fincher's The Killer followed by four films that influenced his script. Then one of my favourite pieces describes the making of the Palme d'Or winner Anatomy of a Fall (see my review) with the director and star. In "Under the Influence" the film's writer/director Justine Triet talks about all the courtroom dramas she watched (including the trial of Amanda Knox) and picks two films which especially were important. Skipping past an article about Terence Davies, we arrive (in depth) at Todd Haynes and his film May December and Joanna Hogg's The Eternal Daughter. At last comes a major section called "Reviews" where twenty one current releases get their, mainly really long, critic's observations. Of which I have only seen five! The magazine's reviews did not include Napoleon, Hunger Games, Wonka, Three Musketeers, Godzilla or any animation or super hero movies. 

DVD and Blu-Ray releases get their reviews and a "Rediscovery" section is all about the unobtainable Unman, Wittering and Zigo.  "Archive TV" even gets a slot including an article about I, Claudius. "Wider Screen" looks at Portuguese cinema followed by some book reviews. Near the end is the "In Memoriam" piece and lastly "This Month in .... 2006" with the films it reviewed and an article about the wonderful Isabelle Hupert. Except for "Endings" which looks at the classic Czech film Closely Observed Trains that won the scar for best international film in 1967. 

I did not know that this magazine was first published  quarterly in 1932 and came under the wing of the BFI in 1934. There are framed cover prints for sale of old editions. including that for The Red Shoes from the winter edition of 1948/9. I'm hoping that I might be getting an annual subscription for Christmas.

Drean Scenario, Saltburn and Eileen

 

It's so strange when you are the only one in the cinema. Norwegian writer/director Kristoffer Borgli's drama is about fame and how any of us would cope. It asks what would we do, not what he does. Nicholas Cage is actually at his best (an Oscar awaits?) but the I just could not buy into the concept of the story. The screenplay was fine and it was well filmed, but the ending was so awful. Called a "surreal fantasy satire", but those dream sequences with their underlying threat became increasingly bizarre and horrific. Those who stayed away from Dream Scenario were lucky.

A type of gothic drama was the latest by writer/director Emerald Fennell. All with added swearing, nudity and death. The story of Saltburn is a bit weird, but the dialogue is as brilliant as ever. Although it is Barry Keoghan that is OK in the lead as creepy Oliver, it's the two parents of his friend who act all the others off the set. Rosamund Pike and Richard E Grant would have to fight each other for best supporting actor. But then there is little known Alison Oliver as their daughter Venetia who might trump them both with that bathtub scene. She's the most vulnerable character in the film.

I loved that first half hour in Oxford, particularly the opening scene as we follow Oliver from behind as he makes his way to college on his first day. The rest takes place at that big country mansion, in real life Drayton House in Northamptonshire. The picture is much squarer than normal, filmed in 1:33:1, standard for tv before widescreen. So there are times when we just see the faces and nothing else. The ending is uncomfortable, deaths being wrapped up clumsily. Not a happy conclusion.

I was expecting something a bit different from William Oldroyd's Eileen. The whole film seems squalid, from the ramshackle interiors of the underclass shacks in 1960's snowbound Massachusetts, to washed out colour and the creepy characters who inhabit the jail. These include assistant Thomasin McKenzie and Anne Hathaway as the new consultant phycologist. Poles apart in background, they form a surreal partnership that forms the basis of the ending. The directors earlier film from 2016, Lady Macbeth, I called "raw and powerful" and this had the same feel. A fairly claustrophobic small drama with a thriller ending, it relies on the superb performances from the two leads in what is almost a filmed play. 

Discovering Westerns on Film - A 3DD Production on Sky arts

 

I'm catching up on these previously shown episodes in Sky Arts' Discovering series. Westerns was previously shown in 2021. Like those already noted on this blog: Discovering Sci Fi (2nd May 2022) and Discovering Horror (2nd November 2023), it comprises a countdown of the best in the genre. Again the presenters are Ian Nathan, Neil Norman and Stephen Armstrong.

No 25 Johnny Guitar from 1954. Neil Norman said it was 2not like any other Western". it was unheard of to have two female leads, including Joan Crawford.

No 24 Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid from 1973. A Sam Peckinpah movie that Neil Norman thought "ponderous". I wanted to find out who composed the music. It was Bob Dylan!

No 23 Dances with Wolves from 1990. Kevin Costner's film that took the point of the native American. No mention again of the music. It was composed and conducted by John Barry.

No 22 The Sons of Katie Elder from 1965. The first John Wayne movie on the list, but far from the last. Ian Nathan explained the story behind the band of brothers.

No 21 Fort Apache from 1948. a black and white classic. Ian Nathan told us it was the first in John Ford's cavalry trilogy. John Wayne again.

No 20 Winchester '73 from 1950. James Stewart in a story about the gun changing hands.

No 19 The Gunfighter from 1950. Gregory Peck "trying to put the past behind him".

No 18 True Grit from 1969. Stephen Armstrong told us how John Wayne finally won his Oscar.

No 17 Gunfight at the OK Coral from 1957. Ian Nathan told us that "Wyatt Earp became the model for so many future Westerns. A John Sturges film with Bert Lancaster and Kirk Douglas.

No 16 The Professionals from 1966. One film I had never heard of, starring Lee Marvin and Jack Palance. Apparently it was too complicated and too much dialogue.

No 15 Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid from 1969. Robert Redford and Paul Newman star but it is the script by William Goldman that marks the film as a classic.

No 14 The Magnificent Seven from 1960. Yul and the gang star in the John Sturges movie that Ian Nathan called "one of the most famous Westerns ever made".

No 13 My Darling Clementine from 1946. Only the second film I did not recognise. John Ford's black and white film telling the story of Wyatt Earp and the OK Corral.

No 12 The Good, The Bad and The Ugly from 1966. Sergio Leone's trilogy ends after A Fistful of Dollars and A Few Dollars More. Clint Eastwood stars with a heavenly score.

No 11 High Noon from 1952. Fred Zimmerman's classic black and white movie filmed in almost real time. Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly star.

No10 Shane from 1953. Alan Ladd leads, but the star is the landscape. Told from a child's perspective.

No 9 The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance from 1962. Another black and white film with John Wayne, again, with Lee Marvin and James Stewart. Ian Nathan said of this John Ford movie was his "most subtle and ironic, almost like a silent Western".

No 8 The Outlaw Josey Wales from 1976. A story of vengeance with a Civil War background. 

No 7 Stagecoach from 1939. An early John Wayne directed by John Ford when pictures moved on from the silent era. Stephen Armstrong called it "an ensemble piece". Great shots of Monuments Valley. 

No 6 The Wild Bunch from 1969. Sam Peckinpah restored Italian Westerns to America. Notable for that "extraordinary opening sequence". When the gang are down to four, we are told these \are the four horsemen of the apocalypse.  William Holden stars.

No 5 Red River from 1948. Only the third of those films I didn't know. John Wayne again, obviously, with this time Montgomery Clift. Moving a herd of cattle doesn't sound like much.

No 4 Unforgiven from 1992. Clint Eastwood in "a summation of his career" as an aging gunfighter. Neil Norman thought that it "unravels the myth of the West". The landscape is fantastic as are those last shots in the rain.

No 3 Rio Bravo from 1959. John Wayne, Dean Martin and Walter Brennan in Howard Hawks film.

No 2 The Searchers from 1956. John Wayne directed by John Ford again. Stephen Armstrong said that it was " uncomfortable to watch" but that it was "the most glorious widescreen movie ever made". The superb landscape needs the biggest screen to watch it.

No 1 Once Upon a Time in the West from 1968. Called Sergio Leone's masterpiece that actually transcends the earlier trilogy. The landscape, the music and Charles Bronson as a stone cold killer with Claudia Cardinale as his co-star. That Enrico Morricone harmonica unforgettable, and civilisation  arrives with the first train at the very end.

I'm now not a fan of Westerns, if I ever was, but I'm glad I watched this programme. Some of the clips were outstanding.