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Weeknote 01/24
I love it when the month starts on a Monday. It’s even better when it’s also a new year! We met friends for a walk at the coast then spent the rest of the day sorting ourselves out for the week ahead and clinging on to the last hours of the holiday.
I went back to work on Tuesday. It took a while to warm up to it but was I back in the swing of things by lunchtime.
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Captain Cook Round
It’s rare we have a completely free weekend together but due to plans to visit friends falling through, that’s how we found ourselves this weekend. To get us out and about we decided to take ourselves on a long walk a little further afield than we’d usually go. We chose the Captain Cook Round from Pocket Mountains' North York Moors guidebook.
The day was overcast but still, fine while you were on the move but a damp cold set in if you stood still too long.
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The Truman Show, 1998 - ★★★★
Still holds up after more than 25 years. Watching now (and with Izzy for the first time) it seems remarkably prescient.
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Home Alone, 1990 - ★★½
Introducing my wife to a classic. Not the best filmmaking but good fun nonetheless.
It’s amazing what you can forget about a film you haven’t seen for ~30 years though. I’d erased practically every scene that took place outside the house.
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Love at First Sight, 2023 - ★★★
Described by a friend as an unexpected delight and I wholeheartedly agree.
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Enola Holmes, 2020 - ★★
I’d heard good things about this. It was entertaining enough for a rainy Saturday afternoon but I have two lingering questions:
- Why did the there need to be a boy?
- Why did Susan Wokoma not get more screen time?
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Fanfic, 2023 - ★★½
The story has so much potential. Sadly the execution didn’t match up. Feels like there would have been much more scope to develop the characters and give their stories more depth if it were a series.
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Green Sea, 2020 - ★★ (contains spoilers)
This review may contain spoilers.
Not entirely sure what to make of this film. It felt like it could be a wholesome story about friendship but there was an edge of something sinister throughout that I couldn’t let go of.
And at the end I’m left with one overriding thought: Why did she take the dog?
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Derivé in Durham
This morning I took a short train ride to Durham to take a walk and explore some (new to me) corners of the city. This activity and the prompts I used to guide me were inspired by Andrew Eberlin.
Here’s what I found…
Pick any direction and walk in a straight line. After 100 paces take a photo of what is in front of you. At the next opportunity turn right.
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My Neighbor Totoro, 1988 - ★★★★
Almost ashamed to say this is the first time I’ve watched this. I was tired and feeling a bit sorry for myself and some time with Totoro et al was exactly what I needed. I’m kind of amazed that a film almost as old as me could feel so timeless, but I guess that’s the magic of Miyazaki.
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Always Be My Maybe, 2019 - ★★
Needed something light for the end of my first week at work and this fit the bill perfectly. I enjoyed the broad story and central relationships. Not sold on the big name cameo though and at least one joke left a bit of a bitter taste.
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Full Time, 2021 - ★★★★
Before we went to see this I was flippantly referring to it as Run Lola Run for the middle aged. It’s not quite, but it did get my heart racing in a similar way and a lot of that is down to the use of sound.
There were moments that had me on the edge of my seat, as well as a lot of subtlety in script, direction and performance.
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Kielder Water — cycling
My goal for day two of my trip (read about day one here) was to cycle a full loop around the reservoir. At 40 km this would be by far my longest ever ride. On the whole I was looking forward to it, but in the back of my mind I had a few anxious thoughts about what could go wrong.
Thankfully those fears remained in my imagination and my day was characterised by some good decisions.
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Kielder Water — walking
In anticipation of starting a new part-time role at the end of the month, and losing the flexibility that my freelance life offers, I booked myself a midweek overnight stay near Kielder Water in Northumberland.
My plan for day one of the trip was to walk a 10 km loop around Bull Crag peninsula, starting and ending at the Waterside visitor centre. Day two would involve cycling the full 40 km loop of the lake on the Lakeside Way.
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Joyland, 2022 - ★★★★
Oof, this was everything I expected, and more. A devastating story of identity, repression, love, pride… The fact that it is a debut makes it all the more remarkable.
There’s so many layers that I would have liked a little more time with the characters, especially Mumtaz and Biba. You know they had more of their lives to share.
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Wayfinder, 2022 - ★★★½
Sometimes I can forget that film is an art form. I get caught up on narrative or action and forget to experience how a film makes me feel. Wayfinder reminded me.
I enjoyed the stillness of the visuals, the poetry of the narration and the almost hypnotic music and folk songs that accompany them. I wasn't concerned with following the story so much as paying attention to certain words or phrases that spoke to me.
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Just me
If you happened to pass by me this morning while I was out for a run you’d have seen me in my usual state during exercise; huffing and puffing, streaming with sweat and growing increasingly red in the face. Look a bit more closely and you’d also have noticed the tears rolling down my cheeks.
The tears took me by surprise and were brought on by my choice of listening — an episode of the podcast Changes where Annie Macmanus interviews Kae Tempest.