Category Archives: Film

romeo and juliet, & mahler’s 8th symphony

Posted on July 28, 2018 by Houyhnhnm

romeo and juliet (south woodford odeon, live-streamed from stratford (the other one) like the rory kinnear macbeth, the dead rise and walk – and not just the scripted banquo; this romeo and juliet has first the slain mercutio and tybalt, … Continue reading →

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luisa miller & ordeal of innocence

Posted on May 13, 2018 by Houyhnhnm

luisa miller (live from the met, south woodford odeon) even my dad hadn’t heard of this opera by verdi; and the english surname of its heroine certainly feels unusual in this italian-language melodrama with a count and a guy called … Continue reading →

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wittgenstein’s poker & patience (after sebald)

Posted on April 16, 2018 by Houyhnhnm

wittgenstein’s poker a meeting of the moral sciences club in king’s college cambridge in 1946, where, allegedly, wittgenstein brandished a poker threateningly at karl popper: not much material for a book, you might think – but not so, dear reader, … Continue reading →

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selma & gandhi

Posted on April 13, 2018 by Houyhnhnm

selma a film i hadn’t seen when it came out, but was prompted to by some ministry at quakers; this also led to gandhi the following night – a film i’d meant to see but hadn’t what struck me most … Continue reading →

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the age of anxiety and the lobster

Posted on April 11, 2018 by Houyhnhnm

the age of anxiety (‘Liam Scarlett sets Leonard Bernstein’s Symphony no.2, ‘The Age of Anxiety’, inspired by W.H. Auden’s epic poem’ more) on a bill between two other pieces; we watched the first and bunked the third: dance without a … Continue reading →

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silence and the shape of water

Posted on March 5, 2018 by Houyhnhnm

SPOILERS silence shusaku endo’s novel (and scorsese’s film) is set during the persecution of portuguese jesuit missionaries in 16th-century japan, but its impact is more 20th-century existential: the story of rodriguez’s slow progress to apostasy is closer to winston smith’s … Continue reading →

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“What we did on our holidays”

Posted on October 21, 2014 by Houyhnhnm

[Spoiler alert – this is really meant for people who’ve seen the film] Official trailer line “Explores the meaning of life and suggests how best to live and love.” Fair enough. A brilliantly made, written and acted comedy based on … Continue reading →

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The Woman in Black

Posted on April 12, 2013 by Houyhnhnm

All good fun. I’d seen the stage play many years ago with a school group, and had, as everyone else, jumped with shock as the lights revealed the ghost woman rocking furiously on her chair. I’d always been amazed how … Continue reading →

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Lincoln

Posted on February 19, 2013 by Houyhnhnm

Absorbing and exciting, and dominated as everyone has been saying by an unreal performance by Daniel Day Lewis – even less real after I saw the actual actor getting an award. And the voice is at least as important as … Continue reading →

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The Life Of Pi (film)

Posted on December 31, 2012 by Houyhnhnm

[Megaspoiler alert: reading this really will spoil your enjoyment of the film] The story which Pi tells to the writer in this film is one which will apparently give the hearer faith in God. But after t-10 minutes I was … Continue reading →

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