Tag: movies

Stories that stay mainly in one place can often travel further imaginatively – dimensions in space, time and the imagination of mobility in the storytelling. This is a blog on the film ‘Pressure’ directed and edited by Anthony Maras and written by Maras and David Haig, based on Haig’s 2014 stage play.

September 10, 2026

What’s the longest trip you’ve ever taken? View all responses Stories that stay mainly in one place can often travel further imaginatively – using  dimensions in outward and inward space, time and the motility of focal choice in the  the storytelling. This is a blog on the film Pressure directed and edited by Anthony Maras … More Stories that stay mainly in one place can often travel further imaginatively – dimensions in space, time and the imagination of mobility in the storytelling. This is a blog on the film ‘Pressure’ directed and edited by Anthony Maras and written by Maras and David Haig, based on Haig’s 2014 stage play.

‘Be ready for the duplicity of adulthood and adults’ is my advice and it continues thus; ‘and if you can, learn how not to collude whilst you learn, as you must, to survive’. This blog is a reflection on the film ‘Bad Apples’ (2025) directed by Jonatan Etzler and starring the very wondrous Saoirse Ronan.

September 7, 2026

‘Be ready for the duplicity of adulthood and adults’ is my advice and it continues thus; ‘and if you can, learn how not to collude whilst you learn, as you must, to survive’. This blog is a reflection on the film ‘Bad Apples’ (2025) directed by Jonatan Etzler and starring the very wondrous Saoirse Ronan. … More ‘Be ready for the duplicity of adulthood and adults’ is my advice and it continues thus; ‘and if you can, learn how not to collude whilst you learn, as you must, to survive’. This blog is a reflection on the film ‘Bad Apples’ (2025) directed by Jonatan Etzler and starring the very wondrous Saoirse Ronan.

No wonder I felt tears watching Jakob M. Erwa’s 2016 film, ‘Die Mitte der Welt’ (‘Centre of My World’) based on the 1998 best-selling novel ‘The Centre of the World’ by Andreas Steinhöfel (with a note on Rachel Mason’s ‘The Circus of Books’).

August 14, 2026

‘Stell dir dein Leben vor wie ein großes Haus mit vielen Zimmern, Phil. … Manche sind groß und voller Licht und wieder andere sind dunkel, sie verbergen Schrecken und Kummer. Und ab und zu – nur ab und zu, hörst du ? – öffnet sich zu einem dieser schrecklichen Zimmer und du musst hineinsehen, ob … More No wonder I felt tears watching Jakob M. Erwa’s 2016 film, ‘Die Mitte der Welt’ (‘Centre of My World’) based on the 1998 best-selling novel ‘The Centre of the World’ by Andreas Steinhöfel (with a note on Rachel Mason’s ‘The Circus of Books’).

I promised myself to try to understand, not blame. It’s an impossible promise if applied solely to your relationships with those who fly into and out of your life. Practice it then with the characters of those in public art. Why not start with Odysseus? This blog responds to Christopher Nolan ‘The Odyssey ‘.

July 18, 2026

I promised myself to try to understand, not blame. It’s an impossible promise if applied solely to your relationships with those who fly into and out of your life. Practice it then with the characters of those in public art. Why not start with Odysseus? This blog responds to Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey (seen at … More I promised myself to try to understand, not blame. It’s an impossible promise if applied solely to your relationships with those who fly into and out of your life. Practice it then with the characters of those in public art. Why not start with Odysseus? This blog responds to Christopher Nolan ‘The Odyssey ‘.

I’d tell him: everybody thinks each day full of nothing in particular, but you can construct your day differently! This is a blog on Ira Sach’s Peter Hujar’s Day.

June 16, 2026

I’d tell him: everybody thinks each day full of nothing in particular, but you can construct your day differenly! This is a blog on Ira Sach’s Peter Hujar’s Day The sub-title to Peter Bradshaw’s review in The Guardian of Ira Sach’s masterpiece Peter Hujar’s Day is: ‘Whishaw is not tested by this verbatim retelling of … More I’d tell him: everybody thinks each day full of nothing in particular, but you can construct your day differently! This is a blog on Ira Sach’s Peter Hujar’s Day.

Making you the man of nerve or nerves you are: from hard resilience to soft and fearful retreat. A case study based on Nicholas Boggs (2026) ‘Baldwin: A  Love Story’ and the import he detects in Baldwin’s role as director of ‘Düşenin Dostu’ (‘Friend of the Fallen’ in English), the Turkish version of John Herbert’s ‘Fortune and Men’s Eyes’ in Istanbul.

April 21, 2026

Making you the man of nerve you are: from hard resilience to soft retreat. A case study based on Nicholas Boggs (2026) Baldwin: A  Love Story and the import he detects in Baldwin’s role as director of Düşenin Dostu (Friend of the Fallen in English), the Turkish version with its tellingly moralistic new Turkish title, of … More Making you the man of nerve or nerves you are: from hard resilience to soft and fearful retreat. A case study based on Nicholas Boggs (2026) ‘Baldwin: A  Love Story’ and the import he detects in Baldwin’s role as director of ‘Düşenin Dostu’ (‘Friend of the Fallen’ in English), the Turkish version of John Herbert’s ‘Fortune and Men’s Eyes’ in Istanbul.

How do we travel the distance between us? Seeing the film ‘Midwinter Break’.

March 31, 2026

How do we travel the distance between us? Seeing the film Midwinter Break at the new Reel cinema, Bishop Auckland at 1 p.m. on Monday 30th March 2026. Let’s pause for a moment to acknowledge that the key flashback in Midwinter Break is to a moment in which the Northern Irish troubles hit the lives … More How do we travel the distance between us? Seeing the film ‘Midwinter Break’.

Why we look at a ‘two-dimensional’ picture but watch a picture that contains movement.  The possible role of attentional features of vision.

March 13, 2026

Why we look at a ‘two-dimensional’ picture but watch a picture that contains movement.  The possible role of attentional features of vision. It seems entirely innocent to us to talk about ‘watching’ a film, TV or a ‘movie’ but we don’t often distinguish ‘watxhibg’ from a rather passive act of looking at or gazing at … More Why we look at a ‘two-dimensional’ picture but watch a picture that contains movement.  The possible role of attentional features of vision.

Did she want to be made ‘The Bride’? Yes, but not the Bride of anybody, including Frankenstein! Seeing ‘The Bride’ today.

March 10, 2026

Did she want to be made ‘The Bride’? Yes, but not the Bride of anybody, including Frankenstein! Seeing ‘The Bride’ today. By Warner Bros. Pictures – IMP Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=81164420 It is the year of being wives of men famed in and for their art, and as often misrepresented from some supposed original, for Jessie … More Did she want to be made ‘The Bride’? Yes, but not the Bride of anybody, including Frankenstein! Seeing ‘The Bride’ today.

‘Dracula’: See excelled here Stoker’s themes of transit, including travel and flow between places and through spaces and times; transition of, and between, character and character traits, even Stoker’s obsession with masculinity and femininity in and between concepts of sex/ gender; and, of course, blood transfusion.

March 6, 2026

Dracula: See excelled here Stoker’s themes of transit, including travel and flow between places and through spaces and times; transition of, and between, character and character traits, even Stoker’s obsession with masculinity and femininity in and between concepts of sex/ gender; and, of course, blood transfusion. I had read, in my copy of The Guardian, … More ‘Dracula’: See excelled here Stoker’s themes of transit, including travel and flow between places and through spaces and times; transition of, and between, character and character traits, even Stoker’s obsession with masculinity and femininity in and between concepts of sex/ gender; and, of course, blood transfusion.

The last thing you learned OUGHT always to be to distrust the learning that refuses to be open to change. Some thoughts about Kirill Serebrennikov’s film ‘The Student’.

March 1, 2026

The last thing you learned OUGHT always to be to distrust the learning that refuses to be open to change. Some thoughts about Kirill Serebrennikov’s film The Student. What if you discovered that every truth you will; ever need, sufficient to contest any other truth, except its own contradictions from the same source, was in … More The last thing you learned OUGHT always to be to distrust the learning that refuses to be open to change. Some thoughts about Kirill Serebrennikov’s film ‘The Student’.

‘The History of Sound’: the silenced noise of the non-performative queer story.

January 25, 2026

I saw the new Oliver Hermanus film today, The History of Sound, with Geoff and dear friend Catherine. Before going I had made the terrible mistake of seeing some of the reviews of the film, all it seems by people hardly equipped to speak of film as art, for this is precisely what this film … More ‘The History of Sound’: the silenced noise of the non-performative queer story.