Film Queens, Todds

Have recently seen two films about Queens.

Marie Antoinette


Why don’t people like this film? I’d heard very negative things about it, and so was wary about seeing it. But it’s bloody lovely. For all the talk of it as a hollow confection, I found it had a gentle way of making me have feelings. What gives, haters?

The Queen


It’s fucking amazing, frankly. Seriously. It’s amazing.


Also, I feel I need to mention My Favourite Film from last year, because I have been watching it again and again, and really, people should know that I think very highly of it. It is The New World, Terrence Malick’s telling of the Pocahontas story.


I can only watch it when I’m by myself. Because it totally Messes Up My Shit. Basically, I watch it in two states: on the verge of, or in, tears. It’s kind of like an ecstasy of sadness, and one to which you should treat yourselves. GOD, I LOVE IT. Also, Colin Farrell’s ability to make a gesture or a look that overwhelms you with emotional heartbreak-type feelings is not to be underestimated. Also, being a Malick film, it’s littered with all sorts of quality actors in tiny tiny roles, with a visual style defined by beauty and pace, set to characters’ narrations of things unsaid. Really, A PERFECT THING.


Now, a little story on the matter of Todds.

We were at the Nova. We saw a film poster for Little Children, the new Todd Field film. I think the poster said ‘a new film by Todd Field’ on it. And the name Todd Field seemed so familiar and already known to us. Obviously, this sparked a conversation between Guy, Marty and I about who Todd Field was, exactly. It went a bit like this:

Did he do Far From Heaven? Nope, that was Todd Haynes. Happiness? Nuh, Todd Solondz. Safe? Haynes again. And Welcome To The Dollhouse is definitely Solondz. Haynes did Velvet Goldmine, yeah. And he has Cate Blanchett playing Bob Dylan in the upcoming I’m Not There, in which six other people also play Bob Dylan, which is an idea we like, especially as it’s also quite Solondz-y (Palindromes)…

We didn’t manage to complete our process of elimination before the penguins started dancing, so here, for anyone wrestling with it - Todd Field did In The Bedroom. Thwack heads in ‘of course’ motion as required.


And finally, in news that pleases Elanor as an obsessed teenager/human, EG has informed me that REM is being inducted into the Rock n Roll Hall Of Fame. Alongside Patti Smith. Which makes E-Bow The Letter (their collaboration from the New Adventures In Hi-Fi album) the Song Of The Moment. (Unless people can suggest another REM collaboration with Grandmaster Flash or Van Halen that they prefer?)