Images from the second weekend of the festival

The highlight of the second weekend for me, was the screening of Mother and Child which proved to be moving and very believable. A film on the subject of adoption, loss and dealing with separation could so easily have been sentimental and maudlin.  Annette Bening was outstanding in the role of a woman forced to give up her child for adoption at the age of fourteen and who has closed herself down emotionally in order to live with the pain of separation.

 

 

Earlier in the day, we were among a very small audience in the large Courtyard theatre to see A Useful Life which I am afraid was too "Art House" for both of us.  Filmed in underlit black and white and featuring long sequences in real time, it was not surprising that several audience members took a short nap.   The story of an unconfident cinema projectionist who finds he must leave the fantasy life of film to fulfil a fantasy in his own life was charming, but the slow pace and the indistinct images made it tiring to watch.

 

 

Sunday brought the cancellation of Las Acacias which meant exchanging our tickets for the screening of W.E. and filling in two empty hours reading Sunday papers and drinking tea. We found Madonna's film disjointed, disappointing and self-indulgent.  In short, we learned nothing new about Wallace Simpson while her modern day fan Wally brought no fresh perspectives to such a well-known story.

 

 

Reeling from the Studio at 7.59pm and into the theatre at 8.0pm to see Miss Bala we were assaulted by a fearsome plot centering on drug gangs in Mexico and the callous treatment of anybody who comes into their orbit.   Laura seeks help to find the friend with whom she is entering a beauty pageant, only to be captured and used by one of the gang leaders. The film showed the brutality and lack of concern for human life that is rife in Mexico, but it was a painful experience and we came out wishing that there had been a measure of light relief to make the film more bearable.

 

 

After 10pm we went out into the car park where my friend found she had been fined £40 for neglecting to buy a second ticket after 6pm.   This was the final straw as far as she was concerned. These photos are from her camera.

 

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Versions of the past

After Resistance and The Well Digger's Daughter the second pair of films I saw were My week with Marilyn and The Artist.

Both of these films gave us a view of the past which allowed a glimpse behind the scenes on a film set. In the case of My week with Marilyn the action took place during the filming of The Prince and the Showgirl and with The Artist we were treated to a gentle melodrama based on the period when Hollywood was going through its transformation from silent movies to the talkies. Twentieth century film history received very different treatment in each of these films and I felt it was more successful in The Artist where well known actors were not being portrayed but stars of the silent screen were merely evoked.

The Artist also had the unbeatable presence of Uggy the Jack Russell to appeal to the Courtyard audience who could be heard muttering to one another as they came down the steps "I really liked the dog".

Quite unintentionally, most of the films I chose to see this season were made in the twenty first century while being set in the past, The Last Waltz was an exception as it was made in 1978 and for that reason seemed more authentic. Seeing Bob Dylan and Van Morrison looking so much younger was a treat. It also made those of us who could remember that decade feel a genuine nostalgia. Comments on leaving the Studio were full of lively memories of concerts and gigs from long ago!

A week at the Courtyard

Images from my week at the Courtyard.

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