AMAZINGLY GOOD…..Incredibly theatrical, a visual feast…….. BIRMINGHAM, 1919. The sets are a fabulous Industrial extravaganza !!! So dramatic!!! FILM/ART/THEATRE….allinone.
COMPELLING RIVETING MESMERIZING
From writer Steven Knight, “Eastern Promises”, who redefined the British gangster epic.
MA Strong Violence Sex Scenes Drug use (Opium) and Coarse language
Highly recommended by Caitriona Balfe.
And then there’s the SOUNDTRACK!!!
Nick Cave Nick Cave and Warren Ellis Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Jack White The White Stripes Tom Waits Mearl Carrick Fergus (Traditional)
One of the most compelling and heartbreaking Movies I have ever seen….. Yet I return to it several times a year, and am once more entranced with its terrible beauty. WILLEM DAFOE is always perfection, a true Master of his Craft….. AND THE MAIN STAR….. THE TASMANIAN WILDERNESS is so beautifully filmed, one could just step right through the screen and be instantly lost in it !!!
Returning to this rare gem, just this week. Directed by Alan Rickman, his final Film. Abundantly beautiful, with the extravagant wit and sardonic humour that is at the heart of Alan Rickman’s body of work.
A REMARKABLE MOVIE THAT DEFIES DESCRIPTION ….. By Canadian Filmaker Jean-Marc Vallee The Soundtrack is a major Star, featuring Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” and Sigur Ros “It’s You.”
Themes….. Soul mates Reincarnation Downs Syndrome DJ’s Raunchy sex scenes Clairvoyants Grief Family Addiction Visits with a Psychiatrist AA Flashbacks
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Vannessa Paradis Kevin Parent Helen Florent Evelynne Brochu Marin Gerrier as Laurent Alice Dubois as Veronique
FOLLOWING on from this morning’s writings, I’ve been involved in and going through some awfully shitty times lately….despair, anger, deep sorrow, fear, confusion…..LIFE !!!???!!! HOWEVER a few weeks back Nick called me “Are you doing anything on Friday, first of June, Mum”??? What a question!!! Doing anything??? A special event for me LATELY is driving down the main street instead of taking the short cut, to the shops. Having said that….Nick wanted to take me for dinner at the Bridge Hotel in Castlemaine where Liz Stringer was performing….Dinner AND a Concert. I was really happy. But Liz Stringer is Nick’s favourite singer, not mine. (or so I thought) Tonight he arrived, we drove through a lovely brisk 2 degrees, to the funky, intimate little Venue. A staggering drunk almost spoilt the first half of the evening, reeling and tottering, threatening to fall on several of us sitting near the stage until Nick finally stopped asking him “Not to fall on my Mum”, the drunk got nasty, Nick got Security. He’d already stepped all over my feet, and the idea of being vomited on was too awful to bear (I’d almost reached my limit and wanted to kick him)!!! Finally he was removed!!!, just before Liz Stringer walked onstage and that was that!!! I’m a totally converted Fan Girl….she’s gorgeous, earthy, a masterful songwriter, with a huge vocal range, brilliant guitarist. Witty, disarmingly straightforward about the places she’s been as a recovering alcoholic….but her husky voice, impossible to describe in words, had me covered in goosebumps, riveted. I put her right up on a pedestal beside Nick Cave (not because she’s anything like him, she’s totally unique, but because as a song writer, she goes to the bare bones of life, and is not afraid to sing about it) WHAT AN AMAZING NIGHT!!! Thank you SO much Nick Howells , you literally made my week 💙💙💙
I LIKED THE FIRST MOVIE….. it had substance, was sleek, sexy and beautifully filmed. Despite the avalanche of corny comments and infantile innuendo…..and the unredeemable style of writer, ELJames, the background to this story was about the horrific results of childhood trauma and violent abuse.
It’s been a long time between films, and its a pallid follow up. The two leads are ok.. .Dakota Johnson as Anastasia Steele is beautiful and appealing. Jamie Dornan, as Christian Grey is ok, even likeable…but, as an Actor, he has a very limited range. Slow paced, with screen writing that gave the two leads very little to work with.
The film is rated MA (strong sex scenes) SERIOUSLY…..this is a film for middle class conservatives to get all hot and bothered. Even the soundtrack was a let down. DON’T BOTHER….1 ⭐
WHO was the Pianist…..Nick Cave, the Black Keys ???
THIS MAN, THOM YORKE was the Pianist who haunted my dreams, who’s final chords and haunting voice woke me, stayed with me…..played within me ALL DAY, and like a small child trying to catch a bird in flight, the song taunted and eluded me.
So, I gave in, surrendered to the “not knowing of it”, and finally at the day’s end, as darkness fell, I remembered. Then played the Album RADIOHEAD, KING OF LIMBS…..and the song’s name, with those gorgeous haunting chords CODEX.
OPENING SCENE, Thomas Shelby walks a big black horse, down a filthy alley… Washing droops on sagging clothes lines, people running everywhere, their fear palpable in the choking air. He sits the horse with calculated, casual ease, left hand on left thigh, right hand holding the reins loosely. The clip, clop, clip, clop of hoofbeats rings out from the cobbled street…..Warren Ellis’s Violin, moans and weeps, and then Nick Cave’s dark tones cover everything as he preaches “Red Right Hand” Here it comes……. the transfixing, hypnotic, power of Peaky Blinders!!!