A few reviews

[TM2YC]

Bridget Jones’ Diary (2001)
...Side-note: apparently the UK and US version are slightly different, and the UK has... slightly more uses of the word c**t, which falls on American ears much more seriously

Yeah it's almost a word of endearment .

The Lighthouse (2019)
Two isolated lighthouse keepers played by Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson get "cabin fever"... that's pretty much the whole story. I was predisposed to love this film because of the atmospheric high-contrast, black & white, 1.19:1, 35mm gorgeousness of the photography.... but I loved everything else too. The seamless combination of avant-garde music and the sounds of booming fog horns, howling wind and ticking clockwork keeps you constantly on edge. Subtitles prove helpful because the two characters mumble and growl in gravelly voices, thick with lyrical nautical phraseology (the dialogue was inspired by the real journals of lighthouse keepers). Things go far beyond mere irritability between the pair, into the realms of flailing lunacy, squeamish horror-fantasy, twisted eroticism and macabre humour. The mermaid-masturbation-montage was a definite highlight!



Bombshell (2019)
Charlize Theron is amazing (as always) playing Megyn Kelly and John Lithgow manages to imbue Roger Ailes with complex levels of power, charisma and creepiness. The rest of the cast are a mixed bag, from good to serviceable. 'Bombshell' succeeds in conveying how easily workplace abuse is covered up, ignored and rationalised in a high-pressure environment. I'm not sure why Bill O'Reilly gets a virtual pass, although he is briefly featured and referenced. Despite a couple of horribly uncomfortable scenes involving Margot Robbie's character, it fails to really go for the jugular somehow. Perhaps a female Director/Writer would've felt more confidant in going deeper into the dark places the subject required. The subtle makeup is the best I've ever seen, totally invisible, yet totally transformative. Oddly it's by the same guy who did Churchill in 'Darkest Hour', which I thought looked a bit cartoony.



Honeyland (2019)
Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov's Documentary follows in intimate detail the life of Hatidze, a beekeeper in a remote abandoned Macedonian mountain village. She's like a "bee whisperer", wearing no gloves to scope them up and heard them around, singing/talking to them and knowing exactly how much honey to take without damaging their hives. Her peaceful co-existence with nature is rudely interrupted by the arrival of a large itinerant family next door. Hatidze enjoys their exuberant company but they begin to wreck the delicate local ecosystem with their greed and impatience. There is no voiceover, no interviews to camera, almost no text, dialogue is minimal and it's only occasionally translated in the subtitles when it is there. I found it captivating to experience a lifestyle so utterly removed from my own.