Spring arrived late but in full force. We suddenly have our snowdrops blooming. Of course they were late this year, but they are abundant. Daffs are on the way, too. I have two more ice skating times ahead, but they are beginning to seem out of fashion suddenly. I almost took out the bicycle today, but decided to wait a bit longer. It's still cold and snowing north of us but the week ahead promises above average temps for us.
It's been clear for several nights in a row now, and we have watched the lunar phase approach full. It will be full overnight tonight at 2:25 am, when there will be a total lunar eclipse. There is as good chance for clear skies, too, something highly unusual. Will we watch the eclipse? We shall see. We survived the change to Daylight Savings Time easily enough, so a middle of the night eclipse might just be possible. Stay tuned for further updates.
We watched a four part series of Agatha Christie's ABC Murders, a 2018 BBC update starring John Malkovich as an aging Poirot and Rupert Grint as the young and upcoming Scotland Yard detective who has a strong dislike for Poirot. Though essentially the same plot as the novel, the differences add up to several significant departures. For one thing Poirot's ally at the Yard dies in the first main scene. For another, the story is set in an England that is strongly against immigrants and going through a political phase similar to that of Germany in the 1930s (and today, everywhere). Poirot, practically a native of London (though Belgian), is made to feel unwelcome. Poirot and young Inspector Crome do not get along well at first, but Crone gradually comes around to Poirot as his own mistakes multiply. There is also considerable imagined backstory to Poirot's early years in Belgium, which really don't add much to the story, but help paint Poirot in greater detail. And of course being a modern adaptation, there is blood galore, with lots of emphasis on the violence. Malkovich plays a restrained and wise detective, and is quite good in the role. Grint's grouchy character is quite one-dimensional, though hardly his fault. Not a bad series at all, and now I will likely have to read the novel. I have never read any Christie yet, so this might be a good place to begin.
Now showing on Prime Video.
Phantom Thread is a film from 2017 and directed by Paul T. Anderson. Here is the blurb from Criterion, where the film is showing until March 31st.
"Amid the the glamour of 1950s London, renowned dressmaker Reynolds
Woodcock (Daniel Day-Lewis) and his sister Cyril (Lesley Manville) are
at the center of British fashion, dressing royalty, movie stars,
heiresses, socialites, debutantes, and dames with the distinctive style
of the House of Woodcock. Women come and go through Woodcock’s life,
providing the confirmed bachelor with inspiration and companionship,
until he meets Alma (Vicky Krieps), a strong-willed young woman who soon
becomes a fixture in his life as a muse and lover. Once rigid and
controlled, Reynolds finds his carefully tailored life disrupted by a
love that borders on perverse obsession. In his second collaboration
with Daniel Day-Lewis, director Paul Thomas Anderson paints a sumptuous,
wickedly comic portrait of both an artist on a creative journey and the
women who keep his world running."
This is often a difficult film to watch, as Reynolds Woodcock is hardly a normal human being. In fact, so far no one has been able to really get through to him on a personal layer. Previous girlfriends eventually give up on him. But not this time. Alma, his latest discovery, actually wants to be a big part of his life until death does part them. Though she is often verbally abused by him, she sticks it out and discovers a very dark method of controlling him, or at least keeping her in his sights. Woodcock has a mother complex, idolizing his deceased mother and constantly in search of a woman like her. He is also somewhat autistic, and very difficult to change or control. But the answer for Alma is a simple mushroom, which allows him to became dependent on her for a time, like he was with his mother. He quickly catches on to what she is doing, and heartily approves. A bit of a weird film, but overall quite fascinating to watch.
Leaving Criterion March 31st.
Lastly comes another one of those very strange Argentinian Noir films, in b & w. The Beast Must Die is from 1952. When a young boy is killed in a hit and run car accident his father swears revenge on the mystery driver. It takes him a long time to find out who the culprit is. This is a very long-winded tale of murder, and the story actually begins with the murder. A man is poisoned in front of his dinner guests, and the search is on to find the murderer. The story then backtracks to the tragic death of the young boy and follows it through to the final scene. The actual murderer and accomplice are protected in the end by the father, who takes the blame on himself. With his wife already dead before his son was killed, he feels that he has nothing left to live for anyway, leaving a confession behind and sailing out to his self-inflicted doom. However, as he has made friends along the way, including a young boy very much like his own deceased son, one wonders if there might have been another way out besides his suicide. The beast is quite a beast, a very rich man who cares for no one but himself and his attraction to other young women. He beats his wife and young son. Good riddance to the beast. But the tragedy is that a good man had to die as well.
Now showing on Criterion as part of a series of Argentinian Noir movies.
Mapman Mike
