some films

This blog entry has unexpectedly ended up being about films (as opposed to just random things I've done recently).

I just watched a film called Adaptation, which was adapted from a book, and is about the adaptation of the book to the film itself. For example, the screenplay writer will have an idea for the opening of the film, and so writes it down, but of course we the viewer have already seen it, as it was (/is) at the beginning of the film. In the end it left me wanting to find out about the making of the film, and how honest it real is.

Also, I went to a concert the other day, at the Dome, of three Charlie Caplin films, with an new orchestral score performed live. I'd seen one of the films before (The Immigrant), and in these new surroundings found it reasonably funnier than I remembered. Maybe this was just because of the atmosphere of community that enhances comedy when performed live, but I still felt the music worked wonderfully. This isn't to say that the music was at times rather challenging. It could be very dissonant, and at one point the two solo singers stood up and begin conducting, enabling the orchestra to break into three sections and each play at different speeds. It also employed a variety of unusual instruments featuring bottles struck with sticks; kazoos; shouts, singing and whistling from the instrumentalists; electronic effects; and at one point, police-like statements recited by the soprano soloist through a megaphone.

And finally, a while back I saw The Science of Sleep, at the Cinema (Incidentally, the cinema in question is the Duke of York's Picture House, a cinema here in Brighton which was purpose built as a Picture House in 1910 and has been used solely for that purpose ever since). It's basically just another love story, but told very well, in a truly wonderful world. At the end of the film there were still some inconsistencies, and certain sections which left you unsure as to whether they were dream or reality. Even the love story - at the heart of the plot - is left unresolved at the end, and I felt a little cheated by that (as Hollywood has taught me). But I resolved that this is just part of the way this film works, part of it's aesthetic, and that it's such a wonderful aesthetic that I really can't complain.

So there you go, I wouldn't say I'm much of a film man, and I'm usually quite critical and not very easily impressed. But as all these experiences have been very enjoyable, I must conclude that I've finally began to work out what kind of things I like, which is good.