You Have Been Watching

Took a trip down to BBC Television Studios yesterday to catch the filming of Charlie Brooker's You Have Been Watching. I happen to think, much like many in my age-group, that Brooker is somewhat of a demi-god, so I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see the filming of his series live.

I've seen quite a few TV filmings in my time and I was still pretty taken aback by how long it was. The recording lasted around 3h30 for a show that's half an hour in length. Fun as it was, I'll admit that I was pretty anxious to leave by the end of it.

Brooker was brilliant. Charismatic, witty and yet somehow just a bit shy. From the moment he walked on the audience were putty in his hands, laughing at everything he said, mainly because it was all hilarious. Great script and some hilarious ad-libbing. He was by far the most entertaining of the bunch.

The show itself suffers from some fairly big flaws. It's actually a reasonable comedy panel show but it's just terrible as a TV review show. In that 'panel' format, it's very hard to say anything honest about a programme because everything you say has to be 'funny'. The show quickly descended into being simply about who can insult the most creatively and ridicule anyone that did like it.

This gets a bit annoying after a while. I had to sit through more than 3 hours of people never really saying anything. David Baddiel seemed particularly prone to this. He had a notebook of one-liners prepared that he left slightly off-stage, seemingly just so that he could get some extra time on camera.

I've always respected Brooker's honesty. One of his greatest qualities, in fact. Whether good or bad, he expresses his opinions passionately and unreservedly, whilst still managing to connect with the reader/viewer. I've watched several TV series only because he has talked about them with such vigour and excitement. This show just lacks that entirely and it's a little dull to watch. I'm sure that, once edited, it'll be a fun show eventually added to Dave's programming schedule but don't expect too much from it.

The season premieres this Thursday 15th April at 10pm, Channel 4. I'll obviously be watching to try and catch myself in the audience because I'm that goddamn cool.


P.S. I managed to get these pretty bitchin' pictures of my sister and I with the Tardis. Fuck yeah!

An Education

I have been intending to see this for quite some time. I know I shouldn't be put off by the opinion of others around me, but I was told this film wasn't as good as it appeared and so never got around to seeing it in the cinema. My sister suggested watching it tonight and I was interested.

I didn't know much about it (and the little I did had been long forgotten in the months since the film's original release) so I was a little surprised to see Nick Hornby's name flash on screen during the opening credits. Apparently he adapted the screenplay from the memoirs of a British journalist. I'll admit now that I'm not a huge fan of Hornby. His works are very likeable, but never spectacular. That's exactly what I felt about this film.

The story is simple and almost classical. A cautionary tale for young girls that fall in love with older men. The tale is one oft told and the characters are all archetypal. The strict father, the sympathetic mother, the charming gentleman come to take the virgin daughter away. This isn't exactly a criticism. I think this is one of the best executed versions of that story I've seen. However, it does mean that the film is somewhat limited in what it can achieve.

I loved Carey Mulligan. I happened to watch the Doctor Who episode, Blink right before watching An Education and was already in love with her. She's very charming and instantly believable as an intelligent but impressionable young girl. So much so, that there were some genuinely uncomfortable moments in which David's (Peter Sarsgaard) perverseness is illustrated. It really did feel paedophilic when David lusted towards her.

This was one of the better aspects of the film. They didn't shy away from making David seem creepy. Her wide-eyed childishness juxtaposed against his sinisterness was very effective.

Now onto the bad. The characters are completely one-dimensional. Using caricatures does allow for the film's large cast to be introduced well in the short runtime (90 mins) and some humour too, but it's also the film's greatest limitation. I just feel it's too easy to make an audience feel comfortable and tell them a story they've heard a thousand times before. I like to be made uncomfortable (presupposing it actually serves a purpose) and this film just doesn't do that enough.

A few thing just niggled at me when the end-credits rolled. My main issue was that the world Jenny (Mulligan) initially saw wasn't proved to be false. She believed the world was full of dull people getting along doing things they hate for no reason at all. When the film ended this was still proven true, although somehow she was now completely able to join in with it. It was a surprisingly depressing 'happy' ending. Is that the true message of the film? Life is mostly dull and no-one likes their jobs but it's best to just shut up and get on with it?

Reading this, it must seem like I really didn't enjoy the experience, but I assure the reader that the abundance of negativity is mostly due to the cathartic effect it can have. The film has some great direction, brilliant costume design and generally looks incredible. The story is predictable but enjoyable, much like some of Hornby's other works. If you liked About A Boy, you'll find this to be a much better offering.

Silent Running

So I'm feeling adventurous. I remember watching Mark Kermode's film blog and him mentioning Doug Trumbull's Silent Running and how amazing it is. The name didn't exactly ring any bells, but apparently he did the special effects for 2001. At the very least, I expect some interesting visuals.

The film is slow. Really slow. There's also something about early 70s cinema that my brain interprets as 'time to fall asleep' (I've nodded off during A Clockwork Orange. Twice). It's the minimalistic visuals, the music and the melodramatic acting style. They just do something to me. This film was no different and it really was quite the uphill battle.

The story is pretty simple sci-fi stuff. Far in the future people have destroyed all of nature and humans are able to survive on synthetic products alone. The last remaining flora have been sent into space by the 'corporations' and are maintained in biospheres on huge space-stations (that look exactly like those from the Doctor Who episode, The Waters of Mars). Freeman Lowell has spent the last 8 years of his life alone, tending to these 'space-forests' that no-one seems to care very much about any more. It consumes him. He gives up everything to maintain the last trace of non-human life.

Initially it's all a pretty hippy, 'save the forests' message. Lowell waxes lyrical to his crew-mates about how great 'real' fruit is and how terrible the synthetic crap they eat is, but they're never even remotely interested. The strength of his beliefs only serves to alienate him from them. The truth is that Lowell is a bit insane. He seems a little off his rocker at the start, but when the order is finally given to jettison the biospheres and return home, he decides to take severe action. Mutiny. He kills his three crew-mates and takes over the ship.

Lowell's motives are really hard to understand (hence me just calling him insane earlier). He saves the trees and even kills for them, but there isn't much he can do with them. No-one is interested in living things any more so he can't bring them back to Earth. All he can do is remain with them for as long as they survive. There is no purpose to his murderous acts. I suppose what this leads me to conclude is that the environmental message isn't what the film is about. The film is about the isolation of space and the real reason for the murders is just plain old cabin fever.

This was a disappointing really, mainly because I feel like I've seen this done far better before. Richard Matheson's novel, I Am Legend just explored the nature of isolation so well that I can't help but be disappointed. Silent Running just doesn't measure up.

The film has some brilliant visuals that alone are worth the watch, but it's pretty poor sci-fi. It has a boring central character and an inconsistent, confused message. Ignore this and watch Moon instead.