A Good Film

At last, a good film. For the first time we watched a really nice film during the screening of our course British Cinema. I would even say that this could be a film I would buy, or at least wouldn't mind buying. I guess director Danny Boyle just makes really cool films. The film we saw was Shallow Grave and starred Ewan McGregor. I didn't no what the film was going to be about, so I was expecting either way a really boring social drama, kind of like Naked, or a film quite similar to Trainspotting. However , Shallow Grave is a real thriller with some comedic elements. That was also immediately one of the things that kind of bothered me, after I had seen the whole film. 'Cause the film starts out a bit funny or at least not that serious, but then as things go wrong it becoems more serious and characters act very unexpectedly, which at times was kind of frightening. But in the end it all ends on a softer note, again being not so serious ending like soemkind of feelgood comedy. But that was just a minor thing, overall the filmw as really cool. Interesting story, good characters. I really liked it. I guess we will end British Cinema in a very good way when it comes to the films, because next week, our last screening we will watch The Queen. Finally I;m goign to see that one, which is great because I myself was not sure if I wanted to go and see it at the cinema, because I'm kind of afraid the film won't interest me at all, because I couldn't care less about Elizabeth or Blair. And to see them portrayed in a film, i;m not sure what to think about that. However, Helen Mirren's performance I of course are more than willing to see, so if the whole story won't interest me she will. It's kind of like watching Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth. Before the lecture I went to the Film Office to pick up my essay for Documentary Film. On the way down there I met Marion and because she had not seen me for a while she decided to walk with me to the office just so that we could have a little chat. What i didn't know though, was that the film office is closed from 12 and then opens again at 2. I was there just before 1 pm, thinking that from 1 they would have lunchbreak, but turned out they weren't open at all. Again, I had come all the way up there for nothing. But i didn't mind. I got to see Marion and afterwards I went to pick up some books at the library for my second essay for Britisj Cinema. Instead of going online and go to the page of the library catalogue and search for books that way, I prefer just going to the aile where all the books related to cinema are and then wander my way through. While I take a book from one shelf, I listen to my Ipod, and then look at the bibliography or the contents tos ee if anything relates to my chosen subject. I think I find some pretty useful books yesterday so hopefully they will help me get really started. After the screening of British Cinema I went home. I did my grocery shopping on Tuesday so i didn't have to go into town, which was better because of the filmmeeting we have every Thursday at 7. When i got home i checked my e-mail and because this time we would have a little course about how to direct actors, Euan proposed to meet half an hour before the meeting at the Gulbenkian so we could discuss our movie. I e-mailed him that it was a good idea so at 6.30 we met. Clément however didn't feel too good, so he stayed home. Hopefully he feels better soon. Euan and I discussed the music we want to use and talked about casting. I had sent an e-mail to the Drama Society to ask if we could make use of their 'actors' and I already received some e-maails from people who were interested to participate. So now we have to set a date for a first round of auditions, which will be very difficult because we only have two more weeks left before Christmas break starts and I will go to London for a week before I return home to spend two weeks in the Netherlands. Next weekend however we will probably do our test shots, so that's already planned, which is good. So we're really making some progress. Also we are goign to write a treatment for next week, so that's good. Around 7 we walked to the Grimond building for the filmmeeting which was pretty interesting. They brought an 'actor' or at least a guy who had done some modules about it and had starred on some plays and short films. So he had some experience. It was mostly interesting because it brought back a lot of memories. I kept thinking about how I got directed for the playI starred in last year and how everything went during my auditions for drama school the beginning of this year. So it brought back all these memories, good and bad. It kind of made me sad at some moments as well. Because the meeting lasted 'til somethign like 8.30 I had dinner around 8.45. I just cooked some vegetables really quick and then warmed some tomato soup, which i ate with the vegetables and some bread. Right now I'm going to brush my teeth, take a shower, have breakfast, read the text for my seminar and around 11.30 go to the Film office to finally pick up my essay.