The Good: 'The Guard':
Thursday night I had the great pleasure of watching an Irish film called ‘The Guard’. Billed as a comedy/thriller, It starred Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle and in a word was brilliant! I highly recommend it and in fact would watch it again myself. The film is filled with great acting. You know the kind, where body language and facial expressions speak volumes? Brendan Gleeson is simply marvellous! My god I am raving about this film and why not? It is visually pleasing, is filled with great dialogue and has many funny lines which had me laughing aloud. Yes there are a few minor quibbles to be had, a few clichéd lines from the bad guys. But this film is rich in humanness and the characters have emotional depth to them. The film carries both a sense of realism as well as an air of the fantastic. Just like real life, morality is ambiguous and one good act does not necessarily lead to another. A film with a lot of heart and a lot of laughs.
The bad: ‘After you died parts I – X’
The 'bad' generally refers to my poetry. During my stay in Hobart this July, I wrote a poem in ten parts called something like 'winter is colder since you died'. After that I wrote a series of shorter pieces like this one, where the idea of 'ten parts or sections' was in used in a different way.
‘After you died, parts I – X’
Everything I write,
is a cliché.
Everything I write,
seems fake,
untruthful.
untruthful.
Like I’m trying to whitewash it all.
The truth is
You’re dead.
The truth is
I love you,
I miss you
like hell.
The truth is,
neither of us were perfect.
The ugly: ‘Hey narcissist! Who me?, yes you!’
I am always bringing things back to me, this blog, my life, events around me. Ok, not always, but often and yeah It is normal to make your life and your own things about you. However, recently I was talking to a friend about someone who was facing a lot of issues around their substance use and the violence they were perpetrating in their relationship, and I ended by reflecting back to my friend ‘how does this person have a partner and I am still single?’. My mate responded that I was being narcissistic. Maybe. Definitely. Though, perhaps I was more puzzled over the state of things. Mind you, while all things point to this person being in a pretty dysfunctional relationship…it is still a relationship and I have been without one for what seems an eternity. So this months ‘ugly’ is for me, and the narcissist within, or is that the reflectiveness of a single person within? Or am I just looking for some kind of justification? I might need to talk this through with my friend who will undoubtedly set me straight.
Re - the narcissist within.
ReplyDeleteI've been mulling over that very same question this week, in fact, I had been working on a blog post and wondering if I there is a line between being 'an artist' and being 'self-absorbed'...
All very interesting questions that hopefully make us less narcissistic because we at least recognise those qualities?....maybe??
Re. your poem.
i loved it's simplicity. It made me feel like crying actually...
Dear Tomboy Bill,
ReplyDeleteIt is a deep question you ask.
In exploring where the 'fine line' is and where we would feel comfortable being (in relationship to that fine line), Is the road to understanding. Sometimes we don't get a clear answer, but hopefully the process of exploring brings us to a place were we are more comfortable and accepting of where things are at.
Thanks also for your comment re' the poem. :-)
Definitely going to hire The Guard on dvd, never heard of it before.
ReplyDeletewill have to watch the movie. you sold me. your poetry is lovely because it's from the heart. as for feeling guilty, for want of a better word, because of your feelings about your friend. it's a perfectly normal feeling. human nature and all that. i've felt similar things in the past. don't feel bad because you are human. and if your blog isn't about you then what is it meant to be about? that's why we blog. it's about us.
ReplyDeleteThanks Yevisha :-)
ReplyDelete