Cinematic Latecomer here back for another month of upping my cultural knowledge and rotting my brain simultaneously. With an aim of 50 films in 52 weeks, I’m back to digest another ten (!!!) movies this month, all while trying really hard not to become a “film bro” (and I mean really hard — this is doing numbers for my ego).
February saw the romanticisation of yearning and desperation, naturally — what else is Valentines Day for? Despite my tendency to shake my head in shame when asked if I’ve watched any movie ever, rom-coms are something I feel I have already conquered to a respectable extent. Of course I’ve seen the classics, from Notting Hill to How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days, so I decided to dive further into this genre to kick off the month of love.
I started by watching 50 First Dates and Just Go With It — some serious Adam Sandler-maxxing, and two films I very much enjoyed! Both comfortably got four stars on Letterboxd. Also, I’ve never understood the attraction to Sandler before but… now I get it.
I took two cinema trips for controversial “love” stories this month, both with low expectations. Like pretty much anybody who has read Wuthering Heights (or frankly any book), I hated Emerald Fennel’s adaptation. One and a half stars — mostly for the skin room, and Owen Cooper’s role of young Heathcliff. The second was for Hamnet, a book that I disliked, and a film that left me pleasantly surprised, perhaps because I went in with low expectations. I think the story worked beautifully on screen, and Jessie Buckley was phenomenal.
Long distance flights were really on my side in February — what else was I going to do with 16 hours than field research for this piece? Although I can’t credit Virgin Airlines for their movie selection, I did manage three on the return journey.
Although somewhat ashamed to admit that I indulged in a Colleen Hoover adaptation, I cannot deny that I was curious about Regretting You. Her ability to incorporate borderline incest into so many storylines is truly remarkable. Moving on! Another random selection was Lollipop, which proved an emotional commentary of the UK class and welfare system. My Girl had me sobbing on the return journey from New York; young grief and high altitude are a bad combination it would seem, although this was my favourite February watch.
My penultimate two were: Jerry Maguire, which had an overtly masculine energy and was pretty unmemorable; and The Housemaid, which was predictable, but not as insufferable as everybody made it out to be.
And finally, a feature from Stalin (or at least a random man pretending to be Stalin). Unsurprisingly, The Death of Stalin was far from romantic, and if I’m honest, wasn’t very funny either. Safe to say I won’t be letting my flatmate pick any films in March.
So, two months in, twenty movies down, and thirty to go. Not to get too big for my boots, but I am feeling pretty optimistic about this challenge!
Photo by Peter Herrmann on Unsplash.