The Garden in November

 

Very few flowers left in the garden at this time of year. Just the odd rose.

The campanula around the conservatory.

And a couple of flowers left on the Hypericum Hidcote can be seen now the surrounding low Hypericum has been pruned.

The Beaver Moon

 

This photo was taken a couple of days before the full moon, this one being the Beaver Super Moon. Lots of photos on the internet, but this one peeks out behind the Pseudo Acacia behind the far fence.

Lee, Anora and The Wild Robot

 

I knew nothing about Lee Miller before I read the first review of this amazing film. So before I watched it I was aware of her wartime photography, but unprepared for the final harrowing act. Kate Winslet is excellent in the title role, an Oscar worthy performance, as is Andrea Risborough as Audrey Withers who was, at the time, editor of Vogue magazine and Lee's boss but also a close friend. But it's when Lee gets to the front line in Europe we find that is so unusual for a woman. Critic Wendy Ide says she is "fierce and committed". In the October issue of Sight and Sound, Sophia Satchell-Baeza confirms that "Winslet perfectly captures Lee's indominable spirit, foolhardy bravery and sense of righteous indignation". But I completely disagreed with one review that said it was "just a shame that such an unconventional life must be so conventionally told". American cinematographer Ellen Kuras in her first major directorial role was a wise choice.

One way to describe Anora is if you take the plot of Pretty Woman, but make a much younger version of Julia Roberts working in a club where she meets and performs for an even younger and stupider Richard Gere. So Ani (a brilliant Mikey Madison) works in a Brighton Beach dive where one of her clients is Vanya (Mark Eydelshteyn) the dissolute son of a Russian oligarch. He pays her $15,000 to be his girlfriend for a week. What follows gets the film it's eighteen certificate. But not just their crazy wedding in Las Vegas. Can she not see how stupid a person he is (constantly drunk or on drugs) or is she just thinking of the money. Probably.

But it's what happens after their return that turns the film into some kind of grand farce. Vanya's family heavies turn up to sort out the mess the son had made. But Vanya disappears leaving Ani to face the men alone. In the lead is Karren Karagulian as Toros, the Armenian fixer for the family. They all leave the luxury mansion in Brighton Beach in a search for Vanya that takes us to places such as Coney Island.  

The editing is occasionally so sharp as if there is so much to get through and the director needs to ensure this is not a three hour film. Sean Baker has created a brilliant film. Nobody dies, only one of the heavies is hurt (what did I say about a farce? A touch of Tarantino perhaps.) I have a whole page of notes about the final scene, but all I can say is that there are feelings from the last pair that are so subtle you cannot stop wondering. The very final scene in the car has all sorts of interpretations in the reviews. My view is that Ani is a complicated woman (especially given her job) and is just not used to a man being that nice to her. But maybe he isn't. 

One final note. The film is "shot in glorious widescreen". A treat to see in the cinema. No wonder it won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Tom Shone in the Sunday Times gave it five stars and "The best film of the year so far". Oh yes, with added Take That. I must look out for the director's previous films of which Tangerine might be the best.

It must be years since I went to see an animated feature film. But it was the five star review in the Sunday Times (and other publications) that encouraged me to try. A Chris Sanders classic I was told. I have to say that the animation was superb. Of course there are no humans to compare, but all the animals are so life like, and very funny. I'm so glad I saw it on a really big screen. There is the odd scary bit where I can imagine some very young might get upset, but overall a good story about parenting and friendship. Of all the cast, I just loved Bill Nighy who only comes in later as Longneck, the elderly and wise Canada Goose. I even liked the big song Kiss the Sky by Maren Morris. Surprise, surprise.

Went to London, Took the Dog by Nina Stibbe

 

We are in March 2022 so only a couple of years ago. Nina Stibbe is sixty, forty years since she was last in London as a twenty year old Au pair. Writing home to her friend in Leicestershire that became her first book "Love, Nina". Five more novels, all on my shelf, the last being "One Day I Shall Astonish The World" for which Nina attends quite a few book events and literary festivals. But Nina has left her home in Cornwall, maybe for good, at least for a year. That's the time she sets herself for her stay with the seriously successful writer Deborah (Debby) Mogach. Another nine of her novels on the shelf. She finally leaves Truro on 18th April (possibly for ever". No word about her husband, although lots about her children.

I have to say that I found this book mainly tedious. This is not the cheerful young writer from forty years ago. This is a diary of sorts, most of which is completely boring. There is some introspection about her relationships with men, some description of how London has changed from the litter to construction work everywhere and how much everything costs. There is one note that made me laugh about Debby's garden: "her potting compost is actually a bark chipping soil improver which means it drains instead of holding the moisture".

But the book rambles on and on about her daily life. Going to a preview of the theatrical adaptation of Debby's "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" is about as good as it gets. By page 130 (and we are not halfway) Nina tells us she is "not settled in London ....... might be time to go back to Cornwall". I just wish someone could have cut out at least two thirds. We do hear about her writing a new novel, but nothing I can find about any future publication. Although there was talk about the jacket design!
By the end of January she is talking about her "year in London almost up".

Then suddenly on 14th March 2023 her last quiz night at the Grafton Arms in Kentish Town. All rather sad. "I'm going to miss my team". Debby tells her "that's the thing about life. It gets good just as you're about to f... off". A last sad bit about getting a reminder from Hampstead Heath Swimming Pools that her season ticket is about to expire. On the 19th March Nina is packed to leave the next morning, but instead heads off so as not to have to say goodbye to Debby. First to the University of Leicester for a literary event and then on the 23rd at Gloucester Services on her way back to Cornwall, thinking about this "eventful" year.

Deborah Moggach and Nina Stibbe.

Art of Film on Sky Arts - The Birth of the Moguls

 

This is the story of the guys who started the big studios in Hollywood. Ian Nathan tells us about the light of California, and these figureheads who had huge control over everything that went onto film. One after another, the presenters gave us their stories. Kim Newman says that so many were from Europe: Russia, Poland, Germany and were predominantly Jewish. They seemed to all start owning cinemas in New York. 

Ian Nathan talks about German born Carl Lemmaele who officially created the first studio called Universal in Los Angeles in 1916 in the San Fernando Valley. All because of the light. He built the studio on farmland. Next came the big producers, Cecil B DeMille and Samuel Goldwyn. They started in the theatre and set up a film making business as an offshoot. The first feature film was The Squaw Man in 1914 directed by DeMille. 

In 1912, Adolf Zukor founded The Players Film Company. After building up a chain of cinemas, they started in film production with Paramount Studios. Ian Nathan then tells us about Louis B Mayer "the most famous of them all". Born in Russia, he bought his first movie theatre and in a few years had the largest cinema chain on the East Coast. After getting into film distribution, he set up his studio in Hollywood. Neil Norman said he was a real bully, a loud brash hustler. With his partners he founded MGM, or Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Mayer's partner was Irving Thalberg, an opposite to Mayer. A quiet creative producer who wanted better pictures even if that meant less of them. He even shied away from having his name on the credits. A great shame he died at 37.

We then hear about the Warner Brothers story. The three brothers (see photo above) opened a studio in Hollywood, the first to get sound. The fourth younger brother was Jack, the best production chief in Hollywood. By the 1930's he was running the show. But he was the most ruthless of the moguls, tyrannical and ruthless. In the end he even stitched up his own family.

Neil Norman talks about another bully, Harry Cohn. He was instrumental in the setting up of Columbia Studios, making lots of cheap films on a low budget. He had microphones everywhere so he could listen in to all that was going on. His big success was It Happened One Night". Next came Daryl Zanuck who was writing scripts from a very young age. He left Warners to set up 20th Century Pictures which eventually merged with Fox to become 20th century Fox. Zanuck made some big independent films, he was more of a collaborator with his directors than any of the other producers. 

Finally we are told about Walt Disney, how he pioneered animation, set up his own studio and eventually went into theme parks. Walt actually started out as an artist but always insisted his name was stamped on the top of every picture. Christina talked about his family orientated movies, and how he set up a team of animators to make the first animated feature in 1937 - Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

The Lawn in November

 

This time of year, there parts of the lawn where you cannot see grass for all the leaves from the silver birch. I do have a leaf blower that works quite well. But what was a big surprise was the fact that it also dried the soaking grass. That allowed the mower to cut so much better. I had lifted the blade to a higher cut so the grass still looks quite long. 

After trimming the edges I went round with my camera and took these photos.

There are still some leaves to come down so maybe a final cut in a couple of weeks.

Have You Seen .....? by David Thomson: Kind Hearts and Coronets, City of God and Taxi Driver

 

In 1902, a condemned man sits in his cell writing his memoir. Strange that the villain of Kind Hearts and Coronets gets to narrate his own story. He is the 10th Duke of Chalfont, but only because ...... but that would be giving away the whole plot. We track back to his childhood, a modest family He has a job in a drapers shop. But when his mother dies, he is taken on by the Gascogne family in their law firm, headed by the current Duke of Chalfont. Deaths in the family occur at regular intervals. Until our narrator is charged for a murder he didn't actually commit. The trial takes place in the House of Lords would you believe. i found this to be the funniest part of the film. David Thomson says about this 1949 film "it is a very funny film, but don't let yourself settle for the jollity". 

City of God does not actually appear in David Thomson's book. Strange as it was nominated for four Academy Awards and lots of wins in various other awards. But this is a ridiculously violent film. Totally chaotic with a huge cast. If only we knew who was who.

David Thomson says that "Taxi Driver is a great film, in which there was a clear and willing glimpse of disorder at the heart of America". When (a very young) Robert De Niro's Travis Bickle picks up Senator and Presidential Candidate Charles Palantine, he is asked if there is one thing he would do, his answer is to clear up the mess that is New York. "The city here is like an open sewer, you know, it's full of filth and scum. Sometimes I can hardly take it". Thomson goes on to say "The gesture towards urban realism exists, but the film is hallucinatory, beautiful and scarring". The New York locations are amazing, especially the scenes at night. 

I find it hard to believe I had never seen this film before, it would have looked so much better on the big screen. I found it a little episodic as Travis picks up various fares, but his pursuit of Cybill Shepherd's Betsy is pretty creepy. But Shepherd looks at her dazzling best. Thomson tells us "The streets gasp with smoke or steam, and in the dank air it turns into Bernard Herrmann's rueful saxophone - his last and maybe his greatest score". If I had known about the extremely violent and, maybe, hallucinatory ending I might have given it a miss. But then I would have missed the wonderful photography.

The Far Border

 

This was the far border in July. It is dominated by the Hypericum that was planted a good many years ago. These have all been cut back as the photo below. So next year I will keep pruning them to a reasonable height. That way I will be able to see the nice plants at the far end. The rogue tall plant at the back on the right has gone and the white Achillea on the left has been removed. These always needed supporting and still fell over. 

I have also taken out some of the Anthemis and replanted these in the long border. Finally I have planted the daffodils as my post of the 12th October. I have yet to decide what I will plant at the far end. Something of medium height this time. Finally, I can now see the lovely hypericum bush on the right in the photo below. On the 3rd July I posted a picture when it was in full flower after having been cut back after the frost damage in the winter. 

Saving the Robinia Pseudoacacia

 

There may be more posts on this blog about the Robinia Pseudoacacia (or Mock Acacia) than anything else. The photo above is from the 13th June 2023 but there are others on 7th August 2009, 16th June 2015, 10th September 2022, 26th January 2024 and the 18th May 2024. 

However, this year the ivy that has attached itself to the trunk has now reached the top of the tree. The photo below is just from the bottom.

So yesterday, drastic action was needed to prevent any lasting damage. The tree itself is situated in a piece of no-mans land that the builder of all the houses around (including ours) left as access off the road to a plot that is now the far end of our garden. This area is a now used as a dump for all sorts of branches and other garden material. The advice is to cut the ivy back six inches above ground and remove twelve inches all round. I was glad of my long handled pruning shears as some of the ivy had got into the cracks and crevices of the trunk.

I was able to pull the strands of ivy away once they had been cut and pulled away from the trunk. The bark is heavily grooved as the photo above. Typical of this tree. Below are examples of the ivy.

I will now have to watch to see if the rest of the ivy dies off. The tree itself is a fine example but I'm not sure why it was planted in the orchard that originally grew there. Or maybe it self seeded somehow. Who knows. Having lost it's leaves this autumn, I love the shape of the branches. 

Classic Movies on Sky Arts - The Story of The Deer Hunter

 

Ian Nathan introduced this episode and told us it was made "so soon after the (Vietnam) war ended" and that it "was a radical new way of showing war on screen". It was THE Vietnam movie. It allowed audiences to see the reality of Vietnam. Ian tells us that it was a huge box office hit as well as winning five Oscars. This was despite the fact that the war was hugely controversial at home. 

We are shown how the film starts with that wedding in a close knit working class North Pennsylvania town. Set in a Russian Orthodox Christian community, this early part of the film lasts fifty minutes. Christina Newland tells us how the huge number of extras for the wedding scenes were drawn from the local community, so they knew all the dances. We see the three friends here before they go off to war.  Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken and John Cazale. Leaving Meryl Streep behind. De Niro was the backbone of the project that was such a divisive subject in America. 

Steven Armstrong says this is not a traditional war movie, it's about what happens to these three friends. It all hinges on their capture by the Vietcong. The entire film was shot on location, from Cleveland to Thailand and the River Quai where the three were help prisoner and the "dramatic function of Russian Roulette". 

Those five Oscar wins included one for Christopher Walken as best supporting actor, as well as best film and best director for a young Michael Cimino. (His next film was the disaster that was Heaven's Gate). It was the British producer Michael Deeley who bought the script. He had previously had success at British Lion Films and it was when they merged with EMI Films that The Deer Hunter came to fruition. Ian Nathan ends with telling us how the film portrays "the phycological impact the war  has on soldiers". And about how America sees itself.  

Vaccinations

 

I would never ever normally post about health. So this is only here to remind me of the three recent vaccinations that all took place at different surgeries and were all booked through different websites. So much for the NHS and joined up thinking.

First of all was the RSV vaccination at the Bedgrove surgery in Aylesbury and booked through Patient Access.

Next the flue vaccination at Wendover surgery booked through Ask First.

And lastly, today, the latest Covid jab at the Oakfield surgery, again in Aylesbury. This time booked through a text message. Amazing.

Inside Cinema - Shorts Episodes 51 to 60

 

Alex Dudok de Wit takes us through lots of animated features in Episode 51 Beyond Aardman. From Camberwick Green in 1966 to The Wombles, Postman Pat, Bagpuss and The Clangers. We get a potted history of stop motion and puppet animation. And right up to date we have Tim Burton and Wes Anderson joining the fray. I have put The Corpse Bride on my to see list.

What is Barbara Windsor doing with her arm on Sid James? They are Beside the Seaside in Episode 52 narrated by Pamela Hutchinson. There are lots to see, from the Carry On films through to 2012's terrific Byzantium. Brighton Rock from 1948, Whisky Galore (1949), A Matter of Life and Death three years earlier, Get Carter (just the ending gets it to this list), Quadrophenia from 1979 of course, ("When Churchill talked about fighting on the beaches he didn't imagine the mods and rockers"), The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981), Local Hero (1983), Never Let Me Go (2010), and Ammonite in 2020.  Jumping back to 1938, we see Carol Reed's 1938 drama Bank Holiday. But it had to end in the waves on the beach in Park Chan-wook's Decision to Leave. 

Episode 53 is all about the great British night out in Rave Britannia by Ellen E Jones.  The above photo is of very young John Simm and Danny Dyer in 1999's Human Traffic. Pub crawls and bowling, have we not done it all? We start down the pub in 1960's Saturday Night and Sunday Morning. Ad then a wild change of direction to all those dance floor movies. It obviously could not ignore 24 Hour Party People, but the newer rave films passed me by.

Here is Cher in Episode 54 ..... The Cher Factor by Anna Bogutskaya. So not only is she a singer but "a talented actor". Hmmm. Well there is a long history of pop singers making it onto the big screen. (Maybe an episode about them would be better?) But here we start with Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean. Then the superior Silkwood with Meryl Streep, and more.

Hanna Flint narrates Episode 55 Strong Female Characters of which there are many. "In each new wave of feminism, we find empowerment in a male dominated world". We see clips from so many action films from Linda Hamilton in the Terminator films, Sigourney Weaver in the Alien franchise and Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn in 2020's Birds of Prey. And many more.

Could I please pass on Episode 56 Fat Females on Film with Grace Barber-Plentie.

But Episode 57 Nuns on Film by Pamela Hutchinson is brilliant. I thought we were running out of themes, but no. So 1947's Powell and Pressburger classic Black Narcissus is a must see. Convents seem to be great locations. From 1985's Agnes of God to Doubt from 2008 and 2013's  Philomena. These are all great dramas. Shame about the more recent horror films.

Talking about horror, episode 58 is The Jump Scare with Mike Munger. Did I really want to watch this? But when I saw Gromit in an early clip, I thought it might be OK. From 1925's The Phantom of the Opera when he has his mask removed to more recent scares in The Shining, Psycho, Jurassic Park and Jaws. Well those were OK. But the more modern horrors I could do without, now just a cheap, lazy trick. 

Episode 59 is Queer Villains. It's Casper Salmon who shows us far too much of Divine. However, Hitchcock's Rope looks interesting. I didn't realise how many Bond villains were gay. That's Javier Barden above teasing James in 2012's Skyfall. 

Last of these ten is episode 60 Jukebox Musicals with Dewi Evans. Extended highlights of Moulin Rouge along with Mama Mia, Sunshine on Leith (Hurrah!), and Rocketman. All before we track back to 1952's Singing on the Rain. Just to compare one song with that in 1939's Babes in Arms. "Good Morning" is sung in that film by Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney. A longer version (in colour) is on YouTube.

The Buddha of Suburbia at the Barbican Theatre

 

I had waited for The Buddha of Suburbia to finish it's run at RSC Stratford as I knew it was going to transfer to the Barbican Theatre in London. (My very favourite theatre - more later). The only reason I had chosen to see this play was the director Emma Rice, who also adapted the novel with it's author Hanif Kureishi. I first saw one of her plays when she was co-artistic director of Kneehigh. Her Rebecca came to the Oxford Playhouse where, in my review of 20th November 2015, I said it was an "exceptionally clever presentation". After that unfortunate time at The Globe, she was back at the Oxford Playhouse with her new company and Wise Children. My blog post of 16th November 2018 I called it "sheer entertainment" with a "cross between a play, a musical, cabaret and revue". Then again at Oxford came Malory Towers, see post of 4th October 2019: "full of Rice's theatrical magic". It was at the National's Lyttleton Theatre that I went to see her Wuthering Heights (post of 18th March 2022 - "the staging is, as always, quite brilliant").

So there was no question that I would get to see her latest production. A single seat in the fourth row and I heard every word. We are watching an immigrant family in 1970's South London. Hmmm. However, our narrator Karim (a superb Dee Ahluwalia) is mixed race with a Pakistani father and English mother. He tells us at the start that he was born in England and so is very much English. 

So this is a story about family, and about some of those difficult years in that decade. But we get the clothes and, particularly, the music of the age. No singing from the cast this time, but lots of dancing to those old tracks.

But this is mainly a serious story, interrupted by Rice's typical high jinks. However, it does feel more like snapshots of their lives rather than a coherent narrative. It did seem to sag in the middle, and the two and a half hours (plus interval) could have done with a good chunk left out. The characters themselves were always interesting, I particularly liked Natasha Jayetileke as Karim's best friend Jamila.

But, as ever, it is Emma Rice's creative adaptation that we go for. "Wildly stunning, inventive, often subversive, and unashamedly populist" said one review. 

As for the journey, Alison dropped me off at Tring Station, from Euston the Northern Line to Moorgate and an interesting walk through the city to The Barbican. An early start for the performance at 1pm, but that meant I was away before 4pm, even though rush hour was well underway.

As for The Barbican Theatre, a quick trawl of this blog found four Shakespeare plays I had seen there as well as The Wizard of Oz in 1987 and Three Sisters in 1989.