Category Archives: Film

All Of Us Strangers; Samsara

Posted on January 28, 2024 by Houyhnhnm

All Of Us Strangers What’s weird about my reception of this film is that it’s a heartbreakingly sad portrayal of and meditation on loneliness, but I – who weeps in cinemas if someone smiles in a sad way – was … Continue reading →

Posted in Film | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Paris, Texas; Poor Things

Posted on January 26, 2024 by Houyhnhnm

(What lovely alliteration.) Paris, Texas A man walking, walking, walking. When he collapses, a doctor finds his home address in a pocket and contacts his brother, who comes to take him back home. So it’s the Odyssey, with his brother … Continue reading →

Posted in Film | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Sweet Sue; Priscilla

Posted on January 10, 2024 by Houyhnhnm

Sweet Sue (Btw no Wikipedia page yet; cripes. Only this about an old play – a version of the Phaedra myth – which might actually have been at least some inspiration for this film.) One of those lovely poignant comedies … Continue reading →

Posted in Film | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Rebecca; Middlemarch

Posted on December 6, 2023 by Houyhnhnm

It’s been a while since I watched these two (yes, sorry, watched, not read): the 1940 Hitchcock film and the 1994 BBC Middlemarch.

Posted in Film, Stuff, TV | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Scrapper; Not That Radical

Posted on November 21, 2023 by Houyhnhnm

Charlotte Regan’s film and Mikaela Loach’s book seem, as so often, rather different kinds of thing, put together here, by, as Sting has it, the sacred geometry of chance. A quirky magic-realist film about a bereaved 12-year-old meeting her hitherto … Continue reading →

Posted in Film, Reading | Tagged | Leave a comment

My Name is Alfred Hitchcock; Drive Your Plow over the Bones of the Dead

Posted on November 14, 2023 by Houyhnhnm

{Welcome back double-blog!} Two great pieces to start: seemingly unrelated, but then on closer inspection…

Posted in animal rights, Film, Novel, Stuff | 1 Comment

Ada Salter and the Beautification of Bermondsey; Dance First

Posted on November 3, 2023 by Houyhnhnm

Ada Salter and the Beautification of Bermondsey This was a guided walk by Sue McCarthy, organised for Wanstead Quakers. I can’t claim to remember much of the history at this remove from the event itself (October to January is a … Continue reading →

Posted in Film, Stuff, Walk | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The Old Oak; Killers of the Flower Moon

Posted on October 20, 2023 by Houyhnhnm

Now watched both of these twice; let’s see what comes of that. The Old Oak An earnest and often moving account of how white working-class people react to the moving in of refugee families from Syria. After initially rejecting the … Continue reading →

Posted in Film | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Merkel; The Great Escaper

Posted on October 11, 2023 by Houyhnhnm

Merkel I think this was my first Curzon film watched at home. A pretty straightforward documentary about Merkel’s life and career, broadly uncritical/hagiographic. The Great Escaper A pretty straightforward biopic telling the true story of a D-Day veteran who missed … Continue reading →

Posted in Film, History | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Fremont; Dumb Money

Posted on October 4, 2023 by Houyhnhnm

Fremont In many ways a straightforward love story in the manner of many films (see Fallen Leaves), in which two separate working-class people, shat on by the system in different ways, meet each other by chance and begin to make … Continue reading →

Posted in Film | Leave a comment