ally's journal

Hello,

I've been immersing myself in films lately, possibly as a distraction to the fact that I'm pretty frustrated at the moment. So, I thought I'd write a little bit about what I've seen just in case any of what I write makes someone want to investigate further.

Fast becoming a director I’m keen to know more about is Werner Herzog and Amazon is doing some great deals on box sets of his work. The other night I watched his rather bleak, poignant - and in parts absurd - outsider movie "Stroszek":

Bruno Stroszek is released from prison and warned to stop drinking. He has few skills and fewer expectations: with a glockenspiel and an accordion, he ekes out a living as a street musician. He befriends Eva, a prostitute down on her luck. After they are harried and beaten by the thugs who have been Eva's pimps, they join Bruno's neighbour, Scheitz, an elderly eccentric, when he leaves Germany to live in Wisconsin. In that winter bound, barren prairie, Bruno works as a mechanic, Eva as a waitress. They buy a trailer. Then, bills mount, the bank threatens to repossess the trailer, Eva wants privacy, and inexorably, the promise of a new life deserts Bruno.

The ending in particular will stay with me for a long time. It’s a lovely film from a wildly eccentric, unique director whose work I’m going to explore more.

I’d never seen “The Godfather” before and I’ll be honest - usually the thought of a three-hour film leaves me a little wary. In fact, I confess to having walked out of James Cameron’s 3D blockbuster “Avatar” after having had enough and knowing my butt was going to be numb for another 90 minutes. I went to the Atholl Arms opposite the Cineworld and got a Guinness instead. I don’t care how great the effect of 3D is (and it is spectacular and very absorbing) but if a storyline is rotten and the characters bore me then I’m walking. “The Godfather” was, of course, epic in every way. I’m looking forward to settling down with part two in the next week.

“The Third Man” was a book I remember being forced to read at school but not appreciating as much as I would now, so it was good to see the film the other night. It’s beautifully shot in black and white adding so much atmosphere and intrigue. Very enjoyable.

Late last night I sat and watched two documentaries that are currently on the BBC iplayer. Sadly they appear to be unavailable overseas, although both documentaries will be available somewhere I’m sure with a bit of digging around. The first was a very curious and subversive Danish documentary which for the purposes of the BBC Storyville series was renamed “King Jong Ill’s Comedy Club”, but is more widely known as “Red Chapel”. Here’s a brief synopsis:

A journalist with no scruples and two Danish/Korean comedians—one a self-proclaimed "spastic"—travel to North Korea under the guise of a cultural exchange. On the pretext of being a small Danish theatre group, named The Red Chapel, they are allowed into the country, but unbeknownst to the North Koreans, cultural exchange is not really what they have in mind. Mads Brügger, the journalist; Simon, the straight man; and Jacob, the ‘spastic’, use humour to challenge one of the world’s most notorious regimes. The troupe rehearse under the watchful eye of government officials brought in to "collaborate" on their performance and make it more palatable for the Korean regime. They are shown the important historical sights by a female government employee, who smothers poor Jacob with motherly affection. Fusing elements of activist filmmaking with theater of the absurd, The Red Chapel is an acerbic romp, as subversive as it is wildly original.

It won an award last month at the Sundance Film Festival which was great to see. I was really engaged by this infectious, at times comedic, dark, fearful, yet very human expose of a brutal place to live.

Finally, I watched another BBC Storyville documentary (again on the BBC iplayer) called “The Last White Man Standing”:

Tom Cholmondeley, heir to the largest white-owned estate in Kenya, stands accused of murdering a black poacher on his land. THE LAST WHITE MAN STANDING follows the ongoing case and gives an in-depth look at its socio-political context.

It was really insightful and gave a murky glimpse into the disparity between the rich and the poor in Kenya and the injustice that prevails to this day from its eerie, sinister colonial past. It’s a really gripping documentary and I found the very end to be extremely revealing and moving.

So there you go. Mark Kermode’s* got nothing to worry about here, but I just wanted to write about some great films that I got lost in recently. There are times when you have to lose yourself in music, films, books, art to keep sane. It’s got to be better than gorging oneself on chicken dippers of an evening, right?

Working in films is something I’ve always had a wish to do. I’ve always felt that one day I’m going to try to write a screenplay of a dark comedy. The more documentaries I watch the more that genre fascinates me too though. Right now however I want to focus entirely on music and more specifically on getting my new album recorded. I’ve even gone so far as to work out the sequence of the track list and have been listening back to the album (as ten demos) in its entirety. Here’s my provisional track listing. It’s way too early I realise and will mean nothing, but I wanted to share:

The Other Side

Man’s Man

Get Over You

All Day Long

5AM

Monkey Business (or “New York City Zoo”, I’ve not decided)

Everything I’ve Learned I Have Forgotten

The High Street

So Long Goodbye

End Of The Road.

Bye for now,

Ally.