Chalk this up as another one of those novels that I would never have read on my own and was glad I did. This is effectively a coming of age novel by Thai writer S.P. Somtow. Though Somtow’s first career was as a celebrated composer and musician, he has also made a name for himself as a writer who dabbles in horror, fantasy and science-fiction. This title itself however should count as a non-genre book being based on the author’s own memories of growing up in Bangkok in the 1960s. It does have more than a fair bit of magical realism, which now that I think of, seems to be pretty common in novels of this type.
This is another old film that is not great enough to be considered a classic and not well known enough to be a cult hit either. Nevertheless its director Alan J. Pakula is an established name, being the producer of To Kill a Mockingbird and the director of All the President’s Men. This film itself is noteworthy for its unusually complex psychological treatment of its characters, especially in the domain of sexuality, though it does feel a little dated now.
Like a significant proportion of the planet, we were on a binge of watching the series a few years ago and my wife was absolutely smitten by it. That’s why watching this highly anticipated feature film was always going to be inevitable even if objectively speaking we all know that it’s not going to be much good. The best thing to be said about it is that it properly reunites the cast, with the exception of Matthew Goode who has a curiously insignificant role, and the show is led by series creator Julian Fellowes.
As far as I know, director Jafar Panahi is still barred from leaving Iran or officially making films but of course he doesn’t let them stop him. Here he and the other characters are still playing themselves but at least he isn’t pretending that this isn’t a film anymore. I do like how Taxi Tehran was mostly about the city of Tehran, but this one is about him driving around in the countryside.
Here am I again indulging in my fondness for quirky indie games. This one is effectively an adventure game with the added twist being that it has some RPG mechanics. Originally released in an episodic format, the complete game offers a substantial amount of gameplay and the conspiracy-themed story is full of shocking twists and turns. Unfortunately as happens all too often in these narrative-based games, no matter your choices the story manages to arrive at the same very limited set of outcomes and the final episode is particularly disappointing.
So far we’ve watched two films by Ken Loach, Kes, which we loved, and I, Daniel Blake, which I thought was the product of a director out of touch with the times. This film about the Irish War of Independence and the Civil War immediately after is much closer in quality to Kes and I suppose that reflects the director’s greater affinity for the period. But it still is rather hamfisted with its political messaging and I think a little biased in the director’s insistence on how much of the disagreement was founded on fighting for socialism.
Having a Philippine film on here is another first. Though it mostly takes place in Hong Kong, this definitely counts as a Philippine film by virtue of its leads, its director Cathy Garcia-Molina, and its screenplay. A comparison with the recent Still Human is obvious as both feature Philippine women working as domestic helpers in Hong Kong. But Hello, Love, Goodbye is the superior film is almost all respects with the main reason being that it captures life from the Philippine point of view much more authentically.
