Films and all that

In no particular order, some films I have actually paid attention to recently (as opposed to the ones on Movies 24, which are laughably bad and not to be confused with the real thing.)

Me and You and Everyone We Know by Miranda July, requested from the library because I had heard of her (reviewed here two years ago) and was reminded recently about her most recent book called 'It Choses You'. This is a rather self indulgent and esoteric film (she's the one in the stripy top in the picture), weird little vignettes of characters who are loosely connected. Peculiar, would be the word that comes to mind most. I might watch it again just because of the lovely little boy who reminded me so much of Jacob.

I went with Claire and Nat (sister and niece) the other week to see George Clooney in 'The Descendants'. If you're thinking of a trip to the cinema this is definitely the one to go for. Part of it's charm is that Clooney is allowed to be middle aged, not a glamourous film star. Two stories run alongside each other: the nuclear family, watching and waiting for their mother (Clooney's wife) to come out of a coma, and the vast extended family who own a vast tract of virgin land in Hawaii just ripe for tourist development. Nice also because, although set on Hawaii, the weather looks somewhat stormy and overcast much of the time and there is a complete lack of shots of scantily clad young women on the beach. Definitely see it again when the DVD comes out.

Treacle Jr we got from Lovefilm, probably after seeing it previewed on another of their films. Tom runs away from his ordinary life (only really explained by one of the out-takes that we watched), and he ends up in hospital where he meets Aiden (me and Creature both enamoured of Aiden Gillen, me for Queer as Folk and she because he is in Game of Thrones) a slightly odd young man who seems to be bumbling through life with a wonderfully naive optimistic world view. A nice little film about friendship and the redemptive power of caring about someone else's problems. Oh, it's named after the cat by the way.

Skeletons was another from Lovefilm. This is so brilliant, the ultimate quirky cult film. Simon and Bennett are psychics, who go around sorting out the metaphorical skeletons in people's wardrobes (I know, but it did seem to be mostly wardrobes). The film gradually draws you to their weird world, though there is little explanation about their mysterious business. They come across a family where the father has disappeared and the daughter has not spoken for three years. Convinced he is dead the mother has been digging random holes in the woods in search of her husband. There ensues a crisis all round, and everyone is forced to confront their hidden history and make some life changing decisions. Just a wonderful collection of characters, brilliantly put together and acted. See it if you get the chance.