What are the film, music, and book experiences that you most connected with in the last year? Not that came out in 2010 necessarily, but that you saw/heard/read in the last year. Work that not only entertained but somehow elevated to essential creative nourishment/inspiration, maybe even infused into your own work somehow.
Ok, mine:
Film - The Road (in a tie with Secret of Kells)
The Road, from the book by Cormac McCarthy, is a literate, spare, somber, monochrome, post-apocalyptic thriller. The, um, cannibalism theme aside, the father-son dynamic is so powerful and profound, I don’t know how I got through this one at a time when my own father was gravely ill. Surprisingly, I didn’t find this film depressing at all, it’s actually strangely beautiful. But then again I have a strong stomach for quality melancholia.
Secret of Kells is simply a thing of beauty. The eye-candy of the animation would have been enough, but married to an intelligent, nuanced, non-sentimental sense of culture and myth it acquires layers that most films of any kind don’t have. People who criticize the supposedly thin storyline are missing the point. [It’s good for kids, but be careful - when the vikings finally arrive and get straight to business, there are some very scary moments. Though not much worse than Disney can be at times, or those flying monkeys in Wizard of Oz.]
I know, the two films couldn’t be more different on the surface. But thinking just now, I realize they are actually sort of the same. A boy and his father (or father-figure in Kells), trying to find hope and light in the face of primal threats.
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Music - Jonsi concert at 930 Club
My friend and I agreed the Jonsi show was like hearing music that was perhaps 10 or 20 years ahead of the curve. I loved the unconstrained inventiveness of the individual musicians - especially the drummer, my god, but others in more subtle ways - the stage set and projections that conjured nature, dreams…
And of course Jonsi’s music, which even at its most ethereal seemed to break free of the lead weight that can sometimes bog down Sigur Ros’ material. It could spring to life with a surprisingly exuberant charm that really was, to use the dreaded term, uplifting.
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Book - Moominland Midwinter
Yes, I know, my Moomins fixation again. My daughter isn’t quite ready for the original storybooks, but I sure was, especially as an antidote to Dora saturation.
The Moomin family are hibernating through the winter months, as Moomins do. But young Moomintroll wakes up somehow, and he can’t get back to sleep or rouse any of his family. So, all alone at first, he sets out to discover the mysteries of rural Nordic winter. Eventually he has a series of minor-key adventures with a set of interesting and often elusive creatures and characters taking winter refuge nearby. Finally spring comes and everyone wakes up, just as he’s getting the hang of the winter world.
Maybe doesn’t sound like much, but Finnish author and illustrator Tove Jansson is a quirky, unsentimental master of atmosphere, tone, and character. Yes, it’s for kids but it’s unafraid to be dark in interesting ways. There’s a kind of mystical art in here if you’re receptive to it. If you’re a parent who can’t stand the usual crap of modern kids’ books and TV for one more second, this book is pure tonic. A great adult read, especially in winter.
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I’ve been working on a couple of projects that have definitely been watered by little elements of all of these. Though probably (hopefully) not in obvious ways. Stand by, they’re both unfinished but I hope to roll them out sometime soon!