Films

Since we've been back in Britain we have been doing a lot of getting ourselves ready for the imminent arrival of our baby. This has mostly involved a combination of totally re-decorating our bedroom (from the terrible waste of life feeling brought on by visiting retail parks to the result of a much more pleasant room to be in), shopping for baby things (and sorting out the wonderfully kind loans and gifts friends and family have given us), sorting out a baby room (we plan to have him or her in our room for the first 6 months but need a place for all the things), going to ante-natal classes (must not drop the baby like I dropped the doll), having midwife visits, creating a birth plan. Oh, and reading something about these here babies.

It has also been a welcome break to go to the cinema and see a couple of films that have enabled us to stop thinking about the baby for a couple of hours each time.

First up was the much talked about and awarded Slumdog Millionaire, an intense spice-fueled rush through the streets of Mumbai. Slumdog successfully re-creates the experience of visiting India which assails all senses at once. The film uses a riot of colour and sound matched to a fast-paced narrative as the backdrop to a story that charges through one emotional encounter after another. It is an exceptional cinematographic outing, from the acting and directing to the photography and score. Humour and tragedy are bound together by a silver thread of love that runs from the start to finish. It certainly deserves the awards it has received to-date.

Second was Vicky Christina Barcelona. Another BAFTA award-winner that has been touted as Woody Allen's return to form. I think the last Allen movie I enjoyed was Hannah and her Sisters way back in the 1980s. Since then I have seen a couple I thought mediocre but have avoided most due to their poor reviews. This has been a shame because I rated Woody Allen as one of my favorite directors until the 90s. It was with relief and laughter that I watched VCB unfold. The setting is beautiful, of course being Barcelona, and the story is of top Allen comedy while avoiding being weighed down in subjects of neurosis that he has mined to successfully in the past. Yes, there are personal issues in the movie but they are explored freshly by a young cast that Allen has working to the best of their abilities rather than by an old man still coming to terms with existence. He was great at the existential angst in the 70s and 80s and now he was discovered that he can be great at more modern worries too.