A review of the 2013 film “The Invisible Woman”
December 31st, 2020 by Roger Darlington
You could call this the invisible film since it has made little impact since its release and I only caught up with it during the latest lockdown of the 2020 pandemic.
Unlike “The Invisible Man”, this is not a science fiction movie, but allegedly a true story of how the famous English writer Charles Dickens (played by Ralph Fiennes who also directed) falls in love with the much younger Nelly Ternan (Felicity Jones whose break-out role was a year later with “The Theory Of Everything”) who becomes his mistress and muse. It was a relationship which had to be hidden from the public, making Nelly ‘invisible’.
The account is presented from Nelly’s point of view because the film is based on the (somewhat controversial) biography penned by Claire Tomalin. The British do like period dramas and the film looks good, but I found the framing device – Nelly’s forlorn walks on Margate beach years after the death of Dickens – rather contrived and there is too little narrative to excite one’s interest or stir the emotions.
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Bernardine Evaristo and Reni Eddo-Lodge: first black British women to top bestseller charts
December 30th, 2020 by Roger Darlington
This year, in twin firsts, black British women topped both the fiction and nonfiction charts. Both successes were a long time coming, but sparked a ray of hope that the Black Lives Matter movement may be creating space for new voices and stories.
The novelist, playwright and poet Bernadine Evaristo, who made history with “Girl, Woman, Other” [my review here], and Reni Eddo-Lodge, the groundbreaking author of “Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race” [my review here], talk about this unprecedented moment in this “Guardian” piece.
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A review of the novel “Identity” by Milan Kundera
December 30th, 2020 by Roger Darlington
The only other work that I’ve read by this Czech novelist – who now writes in French – was “The Unbearable Lightness Of Being”. But that was over 30 years ago and I confess that I did not understand much of the imagery in that work. Three lockdowns into the covid crisis of 2020, I was looking for something short and “Identity” is only 150 pages, so i gave Kundera another chance.
Narratively the novella is simple: a short period of time in the relationship between a middle-aged French couple called Chantal and Jean-Marc. But things are never straightforward with Kundera. There is a lot of dreaming here, some of it signalled, but most of it uncertain. There are some interesting ideas but overall I found the opaqueness irritating.
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Do you miss real life meetings, seminars and conferences?
December 29th, 2020 by Roger Darlington
Nine months before the pandemic hit the UK, at the age of 71 I finally retired. The last 17 years of my working life had been as a portfolio worker sitting on, and usually chairing, a variety of consumer bodies. So, every couple of days, I would attend a meeting or seminar or conference. I met a lot of people and I liked that.
As well as the business of these events, I would enjoy the opportunities of the pre-meeting arrivals , tea/coffee/comfort breaks, and post-meeting dispersement to catch up with individuals. At seminars and conferences. I would check the attendance list to see who I knew and which organisations were represented. I welcomed the chance to catch up with colleagues and to make new contacts.
That all ended for me 18 months ago, but of course it all ended for most office workers nine months ago and it’s going to be many more months before most office workers are back regularly in that office.
I know that working from home has many advantages and, for 17 years, my office was my home, but online events miss out on so much social interaction. I realise that I’m something of an extrovert; I like meeting people including new people. But do you miss real life meetings, seminars and conferences?
I think that, when we have control of the coronavirus, we will move towards a variety of blended work patterns that enable people to combine the benefits of working from home and in the office .
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A review of the new Netflix movie “The Midnight Sky”
December 26th, 2020 by Roger Darlington
Set largely in 2049, when a cataclysmic event has wiped out most of the Earth’s population, this sci-fi movie is located partly in the Arctic, where Augustine Lofthouse (George Clooney who also directs) is working as a scientist, and partly in space, where the craft Aether is returning from the discovery of a habitable moon of Jupiter with a crew of five including pregnant astronaut Sully (Felicity Jones) and her partner commander Adewole (David Oyelowo).
Both climates are hostile but in utterly different ways and, only towards the end of the narrative, do we learn how the two situations and the main characters are so connected. The pacing is often quite slow, but the film explores the most fundamental question for humankind – its very existence – and, if you’re not expecting anything too exciting or original, you’ll be quietly satisfied.
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Word of the day: alas
December 26th, 2020 by Roger Darlington
According to the team behind the BBC TV show QI, the word alas has become a staple during recent parliamentary debate, having been used more than 80 times in the House of Commons in November 2020, more than any other month since 1800.
According to this piece in the “Guardian” newspaper, we can thank Prime Minister Boris Johnson for this suddenly common use of a most uncommon word.
So, where did the word come from? It’s most frequently thought of in the context of Shakespeare’s plays, but it goes back to 13th century Old French and then much further back to Latin (lassus means weary).
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A review of the film “Phantom Thread”
December 25th, 2020 by Roger Darlington
It is 1954 in London and distinguished fashion designer Reynolds Woodcock (Daniel Day-Lewis, the only man to win three Academy Awards for Best Actor) meets a foreign waitress Alma Elson (Luxembourger Vicky Krieps) who becomes his muse, lover and wife in a tale written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson (“There Will Be Blood” also with Day-Lewis).
I came late to this film because, having seen the trailer, I was not attracted to the ambience (a world where the rich pay excessive amounts for clothes) or the central character (a selfish and self-obsessed Woodcock). But, the latest lockdown of 2020, I was keen to find a film that I had not already viewed.
I was not wrong to have reservations about the work which, having seen, I admired rather than liked. The critics loved it, but I found it languid, if not ponderous, and the behaviour of the principals decidedly odd. Yet I have to acknowledge that the acting is excellent, the settings and costumes wonderful, and the music atmospheric. Day-Lewis in particular is mesmerising in what is apparently his last acting role.
Incidentally the opaque title of the film refers to Woodcock’s practice of sewing hidden messages into the linings of the dresses he makes. I told you some of the behaviours were odd.
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What do we know about the two new Covid variants in the UK?
December 24th, 2020 by Roger Darlington
The global pandemic is the stuff of nightmares. No sooner has most of the UK population moved into the toughest set of restrictions since formal lockdown than we have a mutant virus and now a second variant – apparently each more virulent than the previous strain.
At such times, we need careful assessment based on the currently available knowledge and, in that respect, this article from today’s “Guardian” newspaper is helpful
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Here’s what we know about the new variant of coronavirus
December 23rd, 2020 by Roger Darlington
I live in London, the epicentre of the new strain of the coronavirus – what is technically known as the Sars-CoV-2 lineage 1.1.7. In the “Guardian” newspaper today, there is an informative article by Sharon Peacock who is director of the Covid-19 Genomics UK Consortium and professor of public health and microbiology at the University of Cambridge.
She writes:
“Here’s what we need to look out for: whether the variant transmits between people more readily, whether it causes more (or less) severe disease, and whether it can evade our bodies’ immune response. There is currently no evidence that lineage 1.1.7 causes more severe disease or that it evades the immune system. There is also no reason to think that the vaccines being rolled out or under development will be less effective against it. But what does look increasingly likely is that this lineage is more transmissible.”
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Joe Biden is creating the most diverse leadership team in American history
December 19th, 2020 by Roger Darlington
Joe Biden’s first cabinet as US president is being described as potentially the most diverse ever. Having already chosen a black woman to be his Vice-President, of the 15 cabinet positions, he has announced 10 appointments and only three of them are white straight men.
In 2021, America could soon see its first Native American cabinet secretary; first female national intelligence director; first Latino homeland security chief; first openly gay cabinet member and more.
Of course, there are many other key appointments made by an incoming president. You can see the full list of Biden’s picks so far here.
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