I must have seen thousands. Should have written at least a paragraph on each, just for My Records. Oh well, now is a good time to start, since I will doubtless be seeing many crap films with my mother over the coming couple of months.
While in quarantine I’ve only watched two to completion. This is because
a) planning fallacy
b) not that many good ‘uns.
c) the number of adverts and advert breaks is staggering on commercial television. I mean, to the level of “is this an elaborate social psychology experiment?”
Anyway, I will put the latest one watched at the top (and presumably this page will morph into something else).
Ran, dir Kurosawa
11 July 2021 – Oh my goodness! A Lear/Noh mash-up, looked beautiful, immensely moving. Moments of humour amid the horror…
Went the Day Well?
Rather touching World War 2 propaganda film, with a vanguard of Germans disguised as English arriving to capture a village from which they can jam British communications, ahead of The Invasion. Plucky Brits uncover it, fight back. A young Thora Hird in there, some compelling scenes (a woman walks downstairs with a loaded gun, knowing what she is going to do…) From a Graham Greene short story. Puts me in mind, in an odd way, of “The Village of the Damned” (1960).
The Night My Number Came Up
Supernatural aviation disaster film, tacitly about the damage the war has done, both obvious and unspoken. As per Went the Day Well, told in flashback, various Brits being brave, cowards etc. A young Denholm Elliott shines. There’s a lovely wordless moment between him and another actor near the end – wont spoil the why, suffice to say it is about a prediction of cowardice that has been hanging over them both…
marchudson.net 