The Edge of Love.

[whatho]

I saw The Edge of Love today. It was all right. I'd not go out of my way to see it, but there were things about it that were vaguely impressive and fairly provoking. Its major problem was thematic flabbiness (historical inaccuracy as well, but I ain't fussed because it's a story) - as a slice of four people's lives it did it's jobs, but otherwise it wasn't sure if it was more concerned with the impact of war on burgeoning love or the impact of Dylan bloody Thomas on the same, and the latter rather faded in and out of the picture. I have issues with wartime love triangles anyway (or quadrangles in this case). It all seems faintly trivial. I rather want the inevitable absent fellow in the picture to come home and go 'Oh, sorry, no, totally forgot about all that stuff while I was busy DOING A WAR'. To be fair, this one did kind of avoid that scenario by having Killick come back from the war utterly broken and frankly not capable of caring about anything much that went on outside his head, and when his issues with the quadrangle did resurface with near-tragic consequences (and it's frequently beyond me how an entire generation worldwide managed to pick itself up and dust itself off rather than wigging out with a shotgun) it was more as an outlet for his general turmoil than anything much in and of itself. I thought the acting was all very good though - Matthew Rhys made a suitable odious Thomas and read the poems very well, Cillian Murphy was pretty and haunted and honestly looked like a different actor in the post-war sequences, which was very unnerving, and Sienna Miller and Keira Knightley were both very engaging. And totally in love. The Guardian, was it? Possibly. Said there was no perceptible sexual tension between them. But I think that's a load of knob.

Formative experience of the day: consuming Ben & Jerry's ice-cream for the first time. Possibly I misinterpreted an article on Newsround, but I spent years thinking there was something dubious about them, like they were a secret branch of Proctor and Gamble* or something, but I can't find anything to support this belief so today I let it slide. I shan't say what the name of the flavour was because it was an appalling name that I could never possibly say out loud and I don't really understand what the marketing people were thinking, but it tasted of bananas and was generally very pleasing.

*ETA. Feck. It's Unilever.

Comments

[nerdcakes.livejournal.com]

Oh, Ben and Jerry's have such embarrassing names. Jut HOW do they expect people to order their ice-cream if that's going to involve saying, "I shall have a caramel chew chew, my good man!" They are quite great, though. And their advert is all about Ben and Jerry's gay love over the years, which is nice.

I didn't realise that The Edge of Love was about gayness! I shall have to RECONSIDER my plan to ignore them forever!

[whatho.livejournal.com]

I could never eat Ben & Jerry's if it involved asking for it properly over a counter. Well, I could manage Chocolate Fudge Brownie, but that's about it. The ice cream itself was grand though, for all that it had a stupid name. And I do like their big gay advert. Well done them.

Apparently the director also said 'Oh no, The Edge of Love is not about gayness at all'. But it totally is. Directors know nothing.

Rimmer's on my telly. I love him so profoundly. I had to tell you.