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Nature, Musicals, Dragons
Oct. 17th, 2025 05:24 pmI had two lovely trips to the BFI film festival this year!
Super Nature is a film by Ed Sayers, which he put together from footage filmed by many, many other filmmakers around the world, shooting nature on Super 8 cameras. Each segment lasted less than two minutes and none of the locations was repeated in 90 minutes, up until the combined montage at the end. I thought it was incredible - really compelling, with an important message of conservation and connecting more with nature. I loved that the filmmakers were both nature activists doing important conservation work and also random people filming animals, plants and/or landscapes in their general environs. I was mesmerised throughout.
Blue Moon is a Richard Linklater film, which is basically a one-man Ethan Hawke show (though I loved all of the minor characters as well - especially the bartender) as Laurenz Hart lamenting the success of Richard Rodgers' new partnership with Oscar Hammerstein on the opening night of Oklahoma! One of the aspects of the film was various characters searching for the best word for something - and the word that springs to mind when I consider this film is - painterly. It plays out almost in real time across one evening and is mostly Hart speechifying to a captive audience in a bar round the corner from the theatre. It was very well done, though very sad - a portrait of a not particularly likeable man, brought down by his own vices. Masterful but perhaps a bit too invested in its own pretension.
Today, I also finally finished the Miss Percy Guide series by Quenby Olson with the third instalment - Miss Percy's Definitive Guide to the Restoration of Dragons. I enjoyed this series overall, though I did feel this one was rather dragged out, without a huge amount going on. I loved spending more time with these characters and finding out where they all ended up - but there was a lot of dithering, hanging around, waiting for something to happen. And the ultimate climax was a bit of a non-event - though I supposed that was in keeping with the cozy vibe. I'm glad I finished the trilogy and it was a fun listen overall, but not one I'll likely revisit.
Super Nature is a film by Ed Sayers, which he put together from footage filmed by many, many other filmmakers around the world, shooting nature on Super 8 cameras. Each segment lasted less than two minutes and none of the locations was repeated in 90 minutes, up until the combined montage at the end. I thought it was incredible - really compelling, with an important message of conservation and connecting more with nature. I loved that the filmmakers were both nature activists doing important conservation work and also random people filming animals, plants and/or landscapes in their general environs. I was mesmerised throughout.
Blue Moon is a Richard Linklater film, which is basically a one-man Ethan Hawke show (though I loved all of the minor characters as well - especially the bartender) as Laurenz Hart lamenting the success of Richard Rodgers' new partnership with Oscar Hammerstein on the opening night of Oklahoma! One of the aspects of the film was various characters searching for the best word for something - and the word that springs to mind when I consider this film is - painterly. It plays out almost in real time across one evening and is mostly Hart speechifying to a captive audience in a bar round the corner from the theatre. It was very well done, though very sad - a portrait of a not particularly likeable man, brought down by his own vices. Masterful but perhaps a bit too invested in its own pretension.
Today, I also finally finished the Miss Percy Guide series by Quenby Olson with the third instalment - Miss Percy's Definitive Guide to the Restoration of Dragons. I enjoyed this series overall, though I did feel this one was rather dragged out, without a huge amount going on. I loved spending more time with these characters and finding out where they all ended up - but there was a lot of dithering, hanging around, waiting for something to happen. And the ultimate climax was a bit of a non-event - though I supposed that was in keeping with the cozy vibe. I'm glad I finished the trilogy and it was a fun listen overall, but not one I'll likely revisit.
