22 June 2024 - summer at the windows
I have been rendered largely immobile by a terrible bout of cold the past 6 days. I have not had meaningful human contact since last Sunday, as I fight the worst cold I've had in years. I haven't actually been ill, COVID aside, since the pandemic started. I had been bracing to be stricken by COVID, as it seems to catch me every June and knock me out just as the city finally awakens to summer. This time it appears to ... i've lost my original thought now. This time the cold/mystery bug is determined to take me down, with a slow build up a week earlier, where I hadn't felt poorly enough to take days off work or to cancel any plans, but not felt fully fit. The past few days have been a rotation from my bed, to the desk (for a few hours each day because I didn't draw clear boundaries to take full days off work), and to the sofa, as the warm June sunlight spills into the flat, and London hums along outside in what feels like the coming of summer.
In between naps, hot cooling tea, and Paracetamol top-ups, I have kept an eye on the summer sports, catching Euro games and the Queens Cup. The summer of sports cannot feel further away from me, as I quiver under a blanket in the sunlight, forcing myself to drink my Chinese herbal tea before it runs cool. What little energy I have has also been spent obsessing over The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley, which has made me weep, laugh and feel so much. I adored it. I am almost done with my re-read, after completing it only a few nights ago. It's kept me up at night, winning the competition easily against sleep. No wonder I am not recovering as quickly as I would like.
This has been the first time I've been home-bound in a while, and forced to slow down. It reminds me of the lazy lockdown days - without the undercurrent of anxiety. I have read much, and enjoyed losing myself in reams of text (preferably in paper). I've also been lucky to watch some interesting films, which I've been ruminating on since. Some of these were before my ill spell, nevertheless, I'll write about them since I have the time and mood to.
A slow burn of a show. A reviewer called it a series of beautiful moving postcards. It truly is. Andrew Scott lights up the screen as our Ripley. On a podcast, I heard the director discuss how he's more interested in the process than the outcome, and his storytelling focuses on the process. This show was very compelling, so much so that I paid ÂŁ10 just to watch the final 40min of the show (damn you Netflix on your crackdown on account sharing!). My only gripe was that Andrew Scott and the bloke playing Dickie are too old to be playing 20 something year olds, but if you wave that aside, this show works. The Italian actor playing the police chief is one of a kind.
I have actually never seen the Minghella classic starring Matt Damon. The original is a sun soaked jaunty affair. How gorgeous was Jude Law, resplendent in the Italian sun!? The Netflix show has stripped away all the colour and liveliness of the original, but I might prefer the Netflix one in terms of storyline. Less haunting, more chirpy. 90's Matt Damon was swaggering.
A friend told me he'd rewatched this recently, and this prompted me to put it on after he lamented that they don't make movies like this anymore. I was also keen to continue my streak of 90's cerebral Damon shows. And damn. They really don't make movies like this anymore. The storytelling is beautiful and highly romantic - not in a lovers' sense, but in its wider romantic view of the world. It has everything you want in a good story - struggle, loveable characters, friendship, romance, a boy's coming of age. It's a simple story, and is told brilliantly with much warmth. Who better to direct than Gus Van Sant? Robin Williams doesn't appear for the first third of the film, and when he does, I could swim in the sadness in his eyes. I was holding back tears at Ben Affleck's little speech at the end. Damon is a movie star. Harvey Weinstein is a monster, but damn, did he give us some good movies.
I put this on even though it wasn't on my watch list after I saw the overwhelmingly positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. And boy am I glad I did. A new original film from Richard Linklater - he who gave us the Before series - and Glen Powell, it centres around a dweeby professor who dabbles as a policeman in his free time. He is put out to field acting as a hitman in attempts to entrap criminals who seek his service. The fun bit is that he does his due diligence on each criminal, assuming a different identity he customises to what he thinks his client would like. The unbelievable part is that this is actually a true story. Hit Man fizzes with effervescent energy from a very good script and a star-making turn from Glen Powell. Apparently he was in Top Gun Maverick, but all I remember from Top Gun is Tom Cruise. Hollywood has been seeking out its next generation of leading men, and has thrown its weight behind stars who either never quite made it (see Ansel Elgort, Miles Teller) or have not yet reached the dizzying heights of being able to sell a film based on their names alone (Timothee Chalamet, Tom Holland, Austin Butler). My bet is on Glen Powell. He reminds me of a young Tom Cruise, disarming you with his easy winsome smile, and oodles of charisma. He also co-wrote the script, so there! The film is a blend of thriller, screwball comedy, mixed identities, and romance. Because it is a Linklater film, it deftly weaves in some high brow philosophy, on identity and our potential for change. This was a very funny and smart film, and I wish I had seen it in the cinemas because it deserves to be a blockbuster. It is also incredibly sexy, Adria Arjona and Glen Powell sizzle. I thought to myself once more, as the credits rolled: they don't make films like this anymore. Thank you Richard Linklater and Glen Powell.
The prequel to Fury Road. It is a good film, with impressive action sequences, but when the credits came on, interspersed with clips from Fury Road, I realised how much I missed Charlize Theron. Fury Road is an epic, I came out of that film in 2015 shaken and screaming, and it remains to me one of the best films I've seen in the last ten years. The prequel is similar to Fury Road, and is also helmed by George Miller. Fury Road was a notoriously difficult shoot, but the results are stunning. Likewise for Furiosa, you are immersed in the thrilling action sequences. It felt like the camerawork for Furiosa was less frenzied than Fury Road, but it might also be because we've seen it before and it is less groundbreaking. Nonetheless it is a joy ride, and Anya Taylor Joy is a commanding Furiosa, even if she lacks the physical statute of Charlize Theron. I cannot believe George Miller is 79 and making such energetic, crazed films. It is disappointing to see how poorly it's performed at the box office, especially for an original film with a female lead. Head to your local cinema and support this film!
Alright, time to move a few steps now for my paracetamol top up.
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