What are you watching?

[Aruntraveller]

Watched "Sunset Song" a 2015 film directed by Terence Davies based on a 1932 novel by Scottish writer Lewis Grassic Gibbon.

Not sure what to make of it. It looked beautiful, and there was a fine central performance from Agyness Deyn, but it felt too disjointed to me.

There were almost three separate films. The first part being pretty much full on misery in the shape of the father, the second part joy with the marriage of Christine to Ewan, and then back to misery and despair with the third part at the onset of the 1st World War. Even within the three parts, it felt disjointed.

I thought it was well done but I have issues with the director's approach.

This was on TUBI, which I wasn't aware of until recently, but it is a free streaming channel which has some decent stuff on it.

On reading reviews of the film, I have found out that there is a BBC adaptation dating from the early 70s that is available on BBC Iplayer, which might be worth a punt as the general consensus seems to be that it is better than the more recent film.

[Nearly Sane]

Watched "Sunset Song" a 2015 film directed by Terence Davies based on a 1932 novel by Scottish writer Lewis Grassic Gibbon.

Not sure what to make of it. It looked beautiful, and there was a fine central performance from Agyness Deyn, but it felt too disjointed to me.

There were almost three separate films. The first part being pretty much full on misery in the shape of the father, the second part joy with the marriage of Christine to Ewan, and then back to misery and despair with the third part at the onset of the 1st World War. Even within the three parts, it felt disjointed.

I thought it was well done but I have issues with the director's approach.

This was on TUBI, which I wasn't aware of until recently, but it is a free streaming channel which has some decent stuff on it.

On reading reviews of the film, I have found out that there is a BBC adaptation dating from the early 70s that is available on BBC Iplayer, which might be worth a punt as the general consensus seems to be that it is better than the more recent film.

I think the 1971 adaptation is better but as is obvious ot is a dour watch. A novel, abd a trilogy of novels, more to very admired than enjoyed. Because of reading them at the same time and watching the TV adaptations i have this entwined with Vera Brittain's Testament of Youth

[Aruntraveller]

i have this entwined with Vera Brittain's Testament of Youth

I can see how that would happen. Indeed, while we were watching it prompted a conversation about T of Y.

[Nearly Sane]

Watched The Assassin with Keeley Hawes, very odd programme. It felt like the bastard test tube baby of a hundred other programmes. And Freddie Highmore has an outre superpower of annoying me for no reason.


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Assassin_(TV_series)

[Steve H]

'Bodies' on Netflix. This was the second time I'd watched it. It's a science fiction detective series set in 1890, 1941, 2023 (the year it was first broadcast. so effectively the present) and 2053. The naked body of a man - the same man in each case - turns up in the same place in each year. I'll say no more about the plot, but it's pretty gripping, and very original. Wikipedia article, if you want spoilers.
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodies_(2023_TV_series) For some reason, the link won't work, because the closing bracket isn't included, but there's a "Did you mean..." link, which does work.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodies_(2023_TV_series)


Moderator Note I have put in link that works, when you have a wiki link with brackets at the end click on the url icon, the ine with an earth below.the italis icon, and paste between the two bracketed urls that will appear

[ad_orientem]

Just watched Sneaky Pete on Netflix. Thought is was quite fun.

[Nearly Sane]

Because if a reference to it on a site about things thar scarred you for life from TV, just watched this from Crown Court. Rather good.


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=F-leZpB-I0U

[Nearly Sane]

Watching Bookish with Mark Gatiss on Now, first couple of episodes OK but maybe a bit too clever clever.


https://m.imdb.com/title/tt32066226/

Finished this yesterday. In the end perhaps not clever enough. It seemed less than the sum of its parts, a phrase thar comes to mind a lot watching TV. The plots in terms of the crime seemed almost afterthought to trying to get the backstory in covering the lavender marriage of the two main characters and the surrounding issue of being homosexual at the time of the Second World War and just after. It reminded me a bit of Grantchester but it confronts issues more head on, and it's plots are better.

The main nag was that the bookish aspects of it seemed underdeveloped in the plots with books being tangentially rather than centrally involved.

[Nearly Sane]

Catching up with later series of Fake or Fortune, some excellent programmes. Often the fakes, or the ones that are not identified as genuine, are even more interesting than the fortunes. I'd really like a programme on the history of forgery.


https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/b01mxxz6/fake-or-fortune?seriesId=b01mxxz6-structural-11-m00239k4

Latest one, Portrait of A Lady  - in Pittsburgh? was interesting though I think the decision seemed a bit cowardly.

[ad_orientem]

Watching Red Dwarf.