16/11/16, Arrival + Magic Train

Within Cameo cinema, the person issuing me my ticket told me Arrival was 'cerebral'. I expected it, therefore, to be a bit dry, a bit open-ended, with some big concepts touched upon.

What I watched was one of the most beautiful films I can remember seeing, and certainly one of the most potent depictions of love I have ever seen. The fact that it's also a credible and interesting sci-fi, with a language dimension seldom if ever explored in this depth before (language teachers will especially like this aspect of it), confirms this as a film that will suit many different people, even of the non-sci-fi persuasion.

At the end, I felt a spontaneous desire to applaud (I didn't, though, I'm not that crazy). As everything fell into place in the final quarter, I felt as if I were awakening to an epiphany. But no spoilers from me: there are some things so good they can't be described, only experienced.

So, there we go, chalk this one under 'recommended.'

Watching two films in the same week has its costs, of course, leaving things stretched for the rest of this week, but it was worth it. On the prior Saturday, I watched a late night showing of the Jim Jarmusch 1989 movie Magic Train. It wasn't as dark as I was expecting, I'd even use the word 'whimsical' to describe it. Ghost Dog and The Limits of Control were both superior movies. I don't need whimsical at the moment, I'm not sure I ever have. I was unimpressed by everyone's favourite whimsical movie, Amelie, and found Being John Malkovich to be contrived and obnoxious. Whimsy only works alongside poignant darkness to balance it out, in my opinion. Magic Train was just a bit too cute, at least for me. But if anyone out there slapped their thigh at the mad, wacky whimsical fun of Amelie, go watch Magic Train too. It's very cute and . . . what's the word? Whimsical.