I’ve been at a drama school today supporting a director make transitions for one show and then trying to diagnose a problem in a completely different show. It is in deeply uncreative times that is good to take stock of the media that’s been going into my eyeballs recently. I haven’t mentioned the bad stuff here, because why would you do that.
Beanpole
A very painful Russian movie by Kantemir Balagov, about two female friends from the frontline trying to create joy and have a ‘normal’ life of some sort in post-war Leningrad. An amazing scene in which a dressmaker brings a new dress, requiring one of the women to try it on for fitting purposes. “Can I twirl in it?”, she asks, and then twirls and twirls and twirls far beyond joy into despair.
The Souvenir
Excellent Joanna Hogg-ness. “Are they making it up as they go along?”, Abigail asks after we’ve been watching it for 5 minutes. It sure seems that way but watch that scene in a film school where they dissect the shower scene in Psycho and you’ll know there’s much, much more going on.
Cabin in the Sky
We caught a 35mm print at the BFI Southbank of this old Minelli musical - Vincente Minelli has popped up on the second branch of my artistic family tree. His staging is so complex, so fluid, such a wonder. I want to study this more in future.
Missing Person
A novel by Patrick Modiano that I’m tearing through. I keep thinking it’s an easy, pulpy noir thing, and then one chapter is just a street address and you know there’s more going on.
Ru-Paul Drag Race UK
is far meaner than the US counterpart but I still love it.