tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post7249962750758851968..comments2024-03-26T07:58:59.761+00:00Comments on I'll think of something later: Two men and their sheepDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-25489038844002508672016-03-13T12:57:55.027+00:002016-03-13T12:57:55.027+00:00Ah yes, dear Chris, but it's in the 'how&#...Ah yes, dear Chris, but it's in the 'how' - and I bet you didn't predict that. I love it that the fates of the two brothers were open-ended, makes you think about them all the more once the film is over. Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-32278098127357799222016-03-13T12:52:41.930+00:002016-03-13T12:52:41.930+00:00I loved David's review (as ever) but can I add...I loved David's review (as ever) but can I add that after about half an hour I leaned over to my niece and said "it's going to end with reconciliation between the two brothers over a sheep issue". I am not saying that 99 per cent of the review is not bang on, I just wanted to add that some might say it is very very slightly predictable. Chris Gunnesshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17100080289833081045noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-43334176718957677512016-02-21T12:43:00.150+00:002016-02-21T12:43:00.150+00:00Nothing to forgive, just pointing out that their s...Nothing to forgive, just pointing out that their survival was equally uncertain. Perhaps it was an abrupt end, though. The point, I think, was a grace and a forgiveness.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-69889865542104436962016-02-21T12:31:52.841+00:002016-02-21T12:31:52.841+00:00I had the feeling at the end that the brothers wer...I had the feeling at the end that the brothers were in the safest place they could be in the circumstances, which is why I was less worried about them. <br />Will you forgive me?Catrionanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-62750168198271510242016-02-21T10:52:58.400+00:002016-02-21T10:52:58.400+00:00Yes, I just listened to a powerful retrospective o...Yes, I just listened to a powerful retrospective on that grim anniversary on the World Service. Pain may be raw, but this is possibly cathartic, or not?<br /><br />And we don't know, ahem, what happens to the two brothers either, do we? You sound a bit like Elgar, more concerned about the horses in the First World War than the men...Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-51052953092316982492016-02-21T08:34:49.591+00:002016-02-21T08:34:49.591+00:00I saw RAMS yesterday. I started thinking of all th...I saw RAMS yesterday. I started thinking of all the people I would recommend the film to, and then realised that I couldn't. This last week has seen the fifteenth anniversary of the big Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak and, to so many people who would otherwise have been moved by the film, the pain of the cull is still too raw. <br />Ultimately, however, the film left me feeling slightly dissatisfied. It may be the shepherd still in me, but I'm still worrying about what happened to the sheep and, of course, the dog. I was surprised that the dog didn't stay with the humans, which is well documented normal collie behaviour, so can only assume that the dog stayed with the sheep. Catrionanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-85831249993497008612016-02-19T13:57:20.627+00:002016-02-19T13:57:20.627+00:00Good. Avoid A Bigger Splash whatever you do, thoug...Good. Avoid A Bigger Splash whatever you do, though I can't imagine it would be high on your list. We only went because it was the only thing on yesterday afternoon, which both of us had taken off.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-36942071990977907902016-02-19T13:45:17.658+00:002016-02-19T13:45:17.658+00:00That has to be one of the great clips of the year....That has to be one of the great clips of the year. S/he really didn't know what to do with itself, s/he was having such fun.<br />Anyhow, I'm off to see RAMS at Filmhouse sometime over this weekend, DV.Catrionanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-47726415308378963942016-02-19T10:57:12.103+00:002016-02-19T10:57:12.103+00:00Well, the director did say that the sheep were mor...Well, the director did say that the sheep were more difficult to cast than the humans. And all the ovine darlings' names are listed in the credits. The idea of transhumance routes COULD make for an interesting film. There's a rather dramatic version of that in Rams, but I won't spoil the plot.<br /><br />Beasties of course get the most hits online - though they're nearly always domesticated ones. I confess I often click and howl with laughter. Wasn't the panda rolling in the snow adorable?Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-932747665913390212016-02-19T10:31:14.179+00:002016-02-19T10:31:14.179+00:00RAMS is one film I really want to see. There was a...RAMS is one film I really want to see. There was another I read about a few years ago but haven't seen, about a flock of sheep being walked from one place to another - 20th century transhumance in somewhere like Wyoming or Montana. Problem is (confession time), I'd be more interested in the sheep than the cinematography. Watching Michael Wood's The Story of China last night, I was deeply frustrated by the concentration on the humans in Kashgar market rather than the animals. Why does only David Attenborough put the beasties centre stage?Catrionanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-1456422261862905252016-02-17T23:55:43.535+00:002016-02-17T23:55:43.535+00:00I'm sure it must be on somewhere in New York, ...I'm sure it must be on somewhere in New York, but I don't know the 'scene'. Were its widescreen landscapes not so important, I'd say wait for the DVD, but this is one for a generous-sized cinema. Hooray for Importance - you won't regret it.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-74619590873929650952016-02-17T23:35:25.298+00:002016-02-17T23:35:25.298+00:00I can't wait to see this; just my kind of movi...I can't wait to see this; just my kind of movie. So glad you noted it, and will definitely keep my eye out (of course, you may, as you did with Importance, alert me that it is my way already, if I had but noticed it--and BTW, our tix for Importance were in the mail when we arrived back home today--hooray!).Susan Scheidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09250142489341777926noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-46615879853542209542016-02-17T12:58:35.671+00:002016-02-17T12:58:35.671+00:00PS - one black mark for Gnarr, pointed out to me b...PS - one black mark for Gnarr, pointed out to me by J: he doesn't seem to think the EU matters.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-42385184433261589442016-02-17T12:16:55.397+00:002016-02-17T12:16:55.397+00:00I hadn't seen any of 'The Night Shift'...I hadn't seen any of 'The Night Shift' until last night - seem to have started with the wrong series' episode one, but that didn't matter: the surreal consequences of the dozy worker convinced by a medium that he was a grand chess master in a previous life who'd raped his present boss in that incarnation, which explained why they didn't get on, were inspired. <br /><br />Jón Gnarr, the undisputed star who plays the boss harping on his past success as a university graduate from Lund, is a total hoot. We met him when he was Mayor of Reykjavík on the day of the opening of Harpa in Höfði, the famous house where Gorbachev had met with Reagan for the 1986 Reykjavík Summit. I love it that this father of five joined in Gay Pride in drag. Gnarr's Wiki entry is fun. By the way, he has his own head of hair; I don't quite know how he managed that look for The Night Shift without either a stunningly effective skullcap or having shaved his head for the purpose...Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-54691647032192187712016-02-17T11:12:57.308+00:002016-02-17T11:12:57.308+00:00Will look out for this on dvd. The bleak Icelandic...Will look out for this on dvd. The bleak Icelandic sitcom 'The Night Shift' was on BBC4 a few years ago. It's terrific, and most of the episodes are on youtube.Grahamnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-3904543997465081702016-02-16T18:16:32.715+00:002016-02-16T18:16:32.715+00:00Hilla elskling (I can't do the Icelandic, so S...Hilla elskling (I can't do the Icelandic, so Swedish will have to do), what welcome comments. I can well imagine that repeated viewing only intensifies the film's mastery.<br /><br />Well, the Swedes and Danes have to convince people that their countries are not especially murder-ridden in the wake of The Killing and The Bridge, so this stereotyping - no fault of the film, which simply presents one aspect of Icelandic life - is hardly surprising. The corrective is that they also watch the rather good Reykjavik 101 with a couple of my favourite Icelandic actors in it. Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-88209644783817284342016-02-16T15:38:04.841+00:002016-02-16T15:38:04.841+00:00Couldn't agree more! Saw Rams first in Reykjav...Couldn't agree more! Saw Rams first in Reykjavik, last July; then again, last week, at Curzon Bloomsbury; then again at Cine Lumiere (each time with different friend!) It can well take three viewings, and seems more flawless each time!<br /><br />The trouble with it all, though, is that I am now spending my life trying to convince uninitiated friends (especially those who also watch the new Nordic noir on BBC4, Saturdays) that Icelanders do things other than grow beards and chase creatures in blizzards..Hilary Finchnoreply@blogger.com