Critic Cal

' Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind ' must surely qualify as a work of genius purely on the basis that it makes sense at all, in spite of a completely nonlinear timeline and the seamless switching between the material world and the world of the mind (both in real and manipulated memory). But Gondry (for whom I've rather a soft spot) manages this so creatively that you are drawn into the twists and turns and get to have a pretty good idea of what the film is trying to communicate at any given point. And on top of that the film communicates a lot . Most obviously it deals with the nature of memory and dealing with the past, raising some interesting questions about how we would respond given the hypothetical option of re-writing our personal histories. But at the heart of it is a simple exploration of character and relationship. Clem and Joel have been left hurt by a whirlwhind romance turned tempestuous, and each (independently) decide to have all memories of each othe

When the greatest poet of the 20th century* writes a playful collection about cats targeted at children (albeit in such a way as to endow them with a pretty remarkable vocabulary by the end) it is, I guess, fair game for the likes of Andrew Lloyd Webber. Actually, I really enjoyed 'Cats' as a 9-year-old. We had this amazingly inspirational and creative teacher, who (among many other things) taught us dance and read us poetry and took us to the theatre. So I've always remembered it with fondness -- a rich, multi-dimensional, culturally-expanding experience. Even in my musical-skeptical adulthood I don't mind what they did to 'Old Possum's' poems, pretty much preserving the fabulous words intact and matching them with energetic and atmospheric music/set/performance etc. BUT I made a discovery a few years ago which rather does grate with me... The big, crowd-pleasing, 'hit single' song from the show is ' Memory '. It's not from 'O

Watched ' The Life of Brian ' for the first time a few months ago. It was hanging around on iPlayer, and I thought I'd find out what all the fuss was about. Seems to be a 'marmite issue' for Christians: for some, a reason to get extremely heated, angry and offended, for others, the opportunity to show just how 'with it' and cool we can be by *gasp* actually liking it. The 'Brian' of the title is born on the same night as Jesus in a stable a few doors down, where he is accidentally visited by the 'three wise men'. Thereon in his whole life is a constant sequence of coincidence and mistaken identity as he unwittingly draws a devoted following of messiah-seekers who convince themselves that he is 'the one'. The film is very deliberate in establishing that Brian is not Jesus, who is himself represented (at a distance) in an apparently rather genuine and respectful way. Whether that was to attempt to placate the inevitable 'Chris

We finally got round to watching ' Un Prophete ' the other day. It recounts the Machiavellian progress of a young inmate in a French prison, amidst horrendous violence, racism, injustice, corruption...it's pretty unrelenting, and if there's any sort of redemptive subplot I didn't find it. 'It was good, I liked it'...Hmm. Seems I'm pretty inured to graphic depictions of hopelessness and brutality nowadays. Perhaps that's partly because the brokenness of the world is not news to me...I agree with the film's 'diagnosis', so far as it goes. But it doesn't have (from my perspective) the whole picture : there is a hope, and it comes from outside of human nature. That film didn't recognise that hope, but it didn't challenge or undermine it, or offer any sort of alternative...it was just as though it hadn't 'discovered' it. So, for me, it inspired compassion for the world but not despair for myself. By comparison, '

It was a nice surprise to find The Artist every bit as compelling and impressive as it was hyped up to be. There is something immediately profound in the level of complex communication that can be acheived without words; our shared experience as humans seems to enable us to reconstruct entire thought processes and emotional journeys from facial expressions and physical gestures alone. Particularly memorable was the image of Peppy physically enacting the imagined caresses of George with the help of his suit jacket as it hung from a coat stand -- a proficient bit of physical comedy, and at the same time so resonant of that near-universal longing for reciprocated love. No wonder, then, that the film took on some 'big' themes. The one that stuck out most to me was pride in the face of grace. With the advent of 'sound', silent superstar George is old news and rising 'talkies' starlet Peppy is the next big thing. But Peppy loves George and watches with sorrow, rath

"Truly, you are a God who hides himself." said Isaiah (45:15) Why?! If there is a God, why does He not make Himself more obvious? Think how much simpler it would all be if there was a yes/no answer that was universally evident. Dallas Willard posits that the hiddenness of God allows people to define themselves: And why would God hide himself? Because God loves us, he wants to be known to us. That is the way of love. But because we, in our rebellion against him, are hardened in our insistence on having our own "kingdom," he must hide from us to allow us to hide from him and to pretend we, individually and corporately, are in charge of our life. He is such a great and magnificent being that, if he did not hide from us, we could not hide from him. He allows us the pretense of being our own god because that is what we want, what we choose. Pushed to the limit, this choice results in the terrible evils of which we have proven capable. (From ' The Craftine

The whole world, it seems, is talking about Dostoevsky's ' The Brothers Karamazov '. It is one of those 'quote for every occasion' type books, and manages to turn up in every other talk or sermon I hear - be it on suffering, or the existence of God, or free will, or the nature of self. So I thought I'd check it out myself. So far, it doesn't disappoint. But it's a bit close to the bone sometimes: "I love mankind," he said, "but I am amazed at myself: the more I love mankind in general, the less I love people in particular, that is, individually, as separate persons. In my dreams," he said, "I often went so far as to think passionately of serving mankind, and, it may be, would really have gone to the cross for people if it were somehow suddenly necessary, and yet I am incapable of living in the same room with anyone even for two days, this I know from experience. As soon as someone is there, close to me, his personality oppresse

Mr. W had ' No Surprises ' on at full volume in the car when he came to pick me up from work the other day. So we didn't talk to each other for a full 3 and a half minutes…letting the song have its moment, waiting in shared appreciation until it felt ok to speak… Course, I'd forgotten what came next, and ' Lucky ' is hardly background music for chit-chat either. All in all Radiohead pretty much stymied any chance of conversation till we got home. In a previous post I confessed to having actively destroyed a few particularly 'dangerous' CDs in a moment of ascetic fervour.* Indeed, my cherished Radiohead collection was first in line for the cull. I tease myself, but it was a smart move, at the time. Music is powerful: the better the music, the more dangerous. And Radiohead are pretty epic. All that raw, bleak, despair - unchecked by any rational basis for hope - Thom Yorke's fragile wail over layers of tense, resounding instrumentals...and the gui

The Queen's latest Christmas speech was interesting: Oops, not that one*. This one . She was pretty unreserved in her expression of personal faith in Jesus and confidence in the grace and power of God - and in her desire for others to experience the same. To quote: God sent into the world a unique person - neither a philosopher nor a general, important though they are, but a Saviour, with the power to forgive. Forgiveness lies at the heart of the Christian faith. It can heal broken families, it can restore friendships and it can reconcile divided communities. It is in forgiveness that we feel the power of God's love. In the last verse of this beautiful carol, O Little Town Of Bethlehem, there's a prayer: O Holy Child of Bethlehem, Descend to us we pray. Cast out our sin And enter in. Be born in us today. It is my prayer that on this Christmas day we might all find room in our lives for the message of the angels and for the love of God through Christ our