Some movies

I’m trying to break free from the routine of weeknotes while still keeping blogging. The self-imposed obligation to post something every Sunday was sometimes a little chore, and sometimes there just wasn’t much to say. Other times, bits of a weeknotes post felt like they should be posts in their own right.

But I still want to post little bits about some things I’ve seen or read or whatever, to get those thoughts out of my head. And I like hearing or reading what friends have thought about stuff, so hopefully this is part of sharing that kind of thing. (I don’t get out enough to share these kinds of thoughts in conversation very often, so this is the next best thing.)

So, since my last weeknote I’ve seen some movies.

I nearly didn’t get round to seeing Widows, despite reading that it was good, and liking Steve McQueen’s previous films. But I did, and I was glad I did. Having not seen a trailer, and it focusing on a heist, I thought it was going to be a bit of a light-hearted “caper”. I’m not sure why I got that impression, but it didn’t sound like my kind of thing. But it wasn’t a caper, and it was more interesting. A bit more complicated and more serious. Whenever I try and describe the feel of it I think of the sound of cold, hard metal falling to the ground. A sound which doesn’t indicate “caper”. Given the sub-plots it felt like it could easily be a TV series (like the previous version) rather than squeezed into a tight film.

I saw Disobedience — Rachel Weisz returning to the London Jewish community that shunned her when she was younger — which I also enjoyed, although I’m not sure it gained much from a big screen viewing. Understandably, given the subject and location, it wasn’t as overtly dramatic and exciting as Sebastián Lelio’s previous A Fantastic Woman which I loved last year. Similar themes of a painful and senseless rejection by society, but with a very different tone.

And last week I saw Sorry to Bother You — “telemarketer Cassius Green discovers a magical key to professional success, propelling him into a universe of greed” — which just wasn’t my cup of tea. It was fun and odd, and it’s nice to see movies that are a bit weird, but there was very little that made me laugh. A guy behind me found it hilarious though, so each to their own.