Paddington

What a sweet bear. I read some of Bond's stories in the '60s when I was a new teacher, and didn't like them too much. I think the father annoyed me!

But Paddington is so chewable. Always getting in to scrapes without meaning to. 

I liked the covert message of the story too. It was quite Christmassy as it was about welcoming the stranger. Or to be more topical, it was about immigration!

Photo by Louise Ferguson Bilbao on Flickr, creative commons

Not sure if Bond meant this to be the message, but according to Peter Hunt all authors of children's books are inevitably didactic.

http://www.ukessays.com/essays/english-literature/childrens-books-are-thus-inevitably-didactic-english-literature-essay.php

Anyway, we spent an enjoyable Sunday afternoon in the cinema, accompanied by three other patrons. 

Mr Turner - the Sun is God

Well, we found a cinema that was showing Mr Turner. So we went! What a great couple of hours.
Too much to write about with too little knowledge, so here are a few impressions(!)

Turner was interested - obsessed? - with capturing light. So I thought I would look at Mike Leigh's use of light in the film.

Light before electricity? Ooh, scary. Up to bed by candle-light, shivering shadows, coal-dark corners. Puff, the candle's out and Dracula's dentures drill into your juicy jugular. Make a horror film? No problem.

But Mr Turner is not Gothic horror. Luckily for Leigh Turner had a pretty penny or two, so there are always enough candles in his home to avoid turning the biopic into a literal film noir.

What was really good was the extensive use of window light in what would otherwise have been dark scenes. Turner and his lady love were no beauties (although they saw beauty in one another) but Leigh employs beautiful and subtle chiaroscuro effects in several of their scenes, thanks to a handy window.

Oh, and towards the end of the film Turner's lady love (Mrs Booth) sort of sublimates her grief at Turner's death by going hammer and tongs with cleaning cloths at a window. The same window that lit up the lovers, and from which Turner would have seen the Thames and its shipping. And back tracking to the time when Turner first met Mrs Booth, he took a room at her Margate boarding house because of the view from the window. We, the audience, were treated to wonderfully framed pictures of sailing boats and sunlight, seeing what Turner saw and painted.

The theme of light is pervasive throughout the film.

Leigh effectively uses a looking glass to reflect a doctor sitting on Turner's bed, and if I remember rightly, he used one to reflect Turner on another occasion.

 Early on a Scottish woman demonstrates a prism to Turner and his 'daddy' and later, Turner has his photo taken and is fascinated (but worried) by this new art/science.

But the best treatment of light was a sort of trompe l'oeil which Leigh used again and again. You'd see a close up of a beautiful sky filling the screen, all diaphanous colours, like a Turner painting, and the camera would slowly zoom out, revealing more of this painting, until at last you saw Turner walking on the moors or on the beach and you realised this was no painting but (a depiction of) reality. It was as if Turner was so immersed in what he saw that he became it. Turner is his landscapes. Not to mention seascapes.

Another neat little trick that Leigh used several times was when the camera panned across a scene. The focus would become very soft, so the people shimmered, rather like Turner's treatment of light.

I could talk about the light and shade of Turner's character, and branch out into discussing other aspects of the film, such as the wonderful acting, but I'm not going to as I'm tired. Instead, I'll finish with a bit of personal biography.

As a child I lived in London, about midway between Cheyne Walk where Turner lived, and the Tate Gallery, (now Tate Britain) where some of Turner's paintings are displayed. Eleanor and I would walk home from our school in Southwark, across Lambeth Bridge, and often popped in to the Tate and have a look around. We didn't realise how lucky we were. If we decided to take the bus we would change at the Houses of Parliament, and sometimes would wander up Whitehall to the National Galley. My favourite painting was Da Vinci's Virgin of the Rocks,

Years later, I took a party of school children to the National Gallery. We were studying the topic of water, and we going to look at Turner's Rail, Steam and  Speed, and Piero della Francesca's The Baptism of Christ, among others.

What was especially good about it was that it was our OFSTED week, and we managed to escape the inspector's evil clutches for the day. Another good thing about that day was that it was my task to talk about the Baptism painting. As a Catholic I was well up on Christian symbolism, and of course, I had prepared extra specially well just in case an inspector decided to accompany us. (Three classes were going). So there was I in this little alcove where the painting is displayed, a group of children sitting goggle eyed on the floor before me, and me spouting off my  knowledge. A group of tourists gathered around and listened in, and I quite enjoyed myself pretending I was on TV speaking to thousands. I don't know what the attendant thought. He was sitting on his chair nearby, maybe oblivious to the whole thing, maybe really impressed, or maybe thinking, what an eejit! It doesn't matter. It is a really good memory for me.

No Effie or Mr Turner

Bloody Odeon. And Vue. And all other cinemas near us. We've been looking forward to seeing Mr Turner for ages, and it it is due out today, but we would have to travel to York to see it. Right, York isn't that far, but parking is a bugger, and anyway, it's the principle.
The same thing happened last month with Effie Gray. It sounded a really good film, and John loves the Impressionists, but no, Hull isn't showing it. Well, we can't really complain to Hull, it's all the cinemas in the area who decided they wouldn't earn enough money in Hull as all people in the area are morons.
I'm not sure if this is the reason, but a similar thing happened in 2011 with The Artist. There was some publicity in local papers at the time, and the allegation was that the powers that be thought the moronic people around here couldn't cope with a silent film, so it wasn't put on. Well, I think it got a two day showing somewhere, as a couple of my Creative Writing friends saw it, but by the time I knew it was all past and gone. We saw it recently courtesy of LoveFilm dot com, and I suppose we will have to wait for that now for the other two films.
Unless we trek up to the refined city of York.

Gone Girl - no spoilers

Well, John was keen to see this film, but when I heard it was over two hours long I joked on FB that I thought I would bring my knitting.
No need. I don't think I blinked once throughout the film.
The acting was superb, the pace was fast, and we got straight into the story.

I've read many American crime stories, and while watching the film I had the same sensation as reading a really good author - say Deaver - and not wanting to stop reading.The story unfolded with several twists, and I couldn't wait for the next one.
I was hoping to write deep thoughts about this film, examining the symbolism etc, but couldn't see much. The film did show how the media report on news, and how the public can over-react. It also showed a marriage under strain (not quite a seven-year-itch) with money problems, unfaithfulness and a general drifting apart. It also showed one really wicked person!
Negative points - no use of cctv cameras anywhere, no neighbours saw anything, how did Amy get that expensive haircut when she...... oh, no spoilers, don't hospitals clean off blood before discharging anyone, And I was disappointed in the ending, but could see the point of it.
On the whole, a cracking good film. Not sure if I'll read the book. The story depends on the twists and turns, and I know them now. However, the book has a different ending. Maybe I will.

Calvary - spoilers

Calvary is hardly entertainment. I found it very dark at first, with nasty people and a horrific ending. But I found I couldn't stop thinking about it, and needed to make sense of it, especially as many reviews see a comedic element in it. Well, after lots of thought and with the help of comments on the IMDB site I now have something to say.
 Brendan Gleeson is first class, playing the lead as a flawed but basically very very good priest. The word, integrity comes to mind.  Kelly Reilly is also suberb, playing his vulnerable daughter (he was married before being ordained).
The rest of the cast have more smaller, almost cameo, roles, and the characters are quite one dimensional,
I'm not going to write the story here, but it features a week in the life of Father James, who has been told he is going to be killed on the beach the following Sunday, because he is GOOD priest. He's going to be a sort of scape-goat for all the sexual crimes of Catholic priests. He keeps the appointment and is shot through the head.

As a Catholic I was interested in the parallels with the Gospel story. Right, James, an innocent man, is condemned to death. Throughout the week we see him visiting the dying,(author who wants to end it all) the imprisoned, (murderer who ate his vicitm/s) the sick (woman beaten by husband) Same woman is in to sex and drugs, the wicked, (the rich land owner more or less confesses to this) the lost (young disillusioned youth) His non-judgmental attitude seems very Christ like. This last week seems very much an agony in the garden and carrying of the cross. Oh, the church is burnt down and someone kills his dog too).
Jesus fell three times. Well, James gets drunk and in to a fight at the pub. (Good for him. His parishioners were wankers) He also bawls at his assistant priest, who is the biggest wanker of the lot. On the beach he has wounds on his hands from the fight.
There is an apocryphal story that  woman named Veronica helped Jesus while he carried his cross. There is a Veronica in the story. Her husband has been killed, but she has great faith and is like a light shining in the middle of this dark story. She must have been a consolation to James.
Part of his desolation must be that he does not seem very effective. However, the author who wanted to commit suicide seems to get over that, and has successfully completed his book, the land owner breaks down and wants to see James. (it doesn't happen as James is killed) and the disaffected youth decides to join the army. (Not sure if James would have liked this, as he was against killing. Death and killing are talked about throughout the film).
But James' death is not the end. We segue to his daughter, visiting her father's murderer in prison. It seems to me as if it's in forgiveness, although we hear no words, just see a tear. To me, this is a sort of resurrection. She is carrying on her father's work, visiting the sick, and more importantly, FORGIVING.
Apparently, the book is about the five stages of grief, but I don't know enough about that to have a view.
I've also read that all seven vices are dealt with, gluttony (the drink) sloth (the assistant priest) pride (the land owner, and maybe the surgeon) lust (the male prostitute and the wife on drugs) anger (everyone) Can't remember the other two vices.