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About the only interesting thing I did was attend the first Chez Chappell Film Festival and watch three films...
My Neighbour Totoro is a beautiful children's film. A father moves back to his now-deserted childhood home in the countryside with his two daughters. While they wait for their mother's release from hospital following a long illness, the girls discover that they have a rather unusual neighbour. An english-speaking audience suffers a little from the combination of bad translation and the story's grounding in Japanese folklore, but enough of the film's charm survives to make it very worthwhile, even for cynical old fogeys like me.
For a complete contrast, our next offering was Cecil B Demented. A gang of crazed guerilla film makers kidnap a major Hollywood actress to star in their film. A deliberately, knowingly, cult film, which takes manic sideswipes at both Hollywood and pretentious indie filmnakers. "Demented" is a good word - this film is only slight less bonkers than the titular character. Fun, though.
Third up was Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, a post-apocalypse tale of humans battling each other and giant insects for control of the few remaining habitable areas of their world. In terms of plot and theme, it bears some resemblance to the same director's later Princess Mononoke, though with an SF backdrop rather than the latter's fantasy/historical. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
My Neighbour Totoro is a beautiful children's film. A father moves back to his now-deserted childhood home in the countryside with his two daughters. While they wait for their mother's release from hospital following a long illness, the girls discover that they have a rather unusual neighbour. An english-speaking audience suffers a little from the combination of bad translation and the story's grounding in Japanese folklore, but enough of the film's charm survives to make it very worthwhile, even for cynical old fogeys like me.
For a complete contrast, our next offering was Cecil B Demented. A gang of crazed guerilla film makers kidnap a major Hollywood actress to star in their film. A deliberately, knowingly, cult film, which takes manic sideswipes at both Hollywood and pretentious indie filmnakers. "Demented" is a good word - this film is only slight less bonkers than the titular character. Fun, though.
Third up was Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, a post-apocalypse tale of humans battling each other and giant insects for control of the few remaining habitable areas of their world. In terms of plot and theme, it bears some resemblance to the same director's later Princess Mononoke, though with an SF backdrop rather than the latter's fantasy/historical. I thoroughly enjoyed it.