Everything's Coming Up Milhouse!

After a very long break from writing, I am back to writing! I want to begin by thanking everyone who read my previous post. I received many messages from many people wishing me well and a lot of support from my friends. It was a difficult piece to write, because I kept trying to convince myself I was doing okay and I truly wasn't. Being very extroverted and busy with plans meant a deviation as significant as what happened in October was really challenging. I spent far too much time on Instagram Reels, TikTok just consuming videos with no energy at all to make my own. I’m really happy to say I do feel better and thankfully, have some appointments to investigate further. After the depressing nature of my previous post, I thought this would be a good opportunity to update you all on what I’ve been up to with and what I’ve enjoyed recently.

November was a really great month. I hosted my long-overdue housewarming (all of the pictures are on a film camera, so I do not have them developed yet!) and I went to many incredible film events. I had the privilege of seeing Michael B Jordan, Miles Caton and Ryan Coogler speak about Sinners at the BFI Southbank. To hear them speak about one of my favourite films of the year and in-depth about the choreography of the film, the cinematography and the preparation to take on their roles. Ryan particularly impressed me, because he took care to acknowledge how Sinners is an incredible film, due to the sum of its parts. I also got to see Pillion with a Q&A with Harry Lighton and I appreciated how the dynamic between our two main characters can be perceived according to our views on relationships.

In the course of four days, I saw Dead Man’s Wire with a Q&A with the Bill Skarsgard and Gus Van Slant and spent much of the runtime laughing, My Father’s Shadow with a Q&A with director, Akinola Davies Jr who created a film which feels so tender and vulnerable whilst educating the viewer about Nigeria in 1993 in the context of two brothers spending the day with their father. I saw Lorde in concert where she brought out Sadie Sink for Green Light, and ended the night with arms around my friend screaming to Ribs. After being unlucky at the members sale for the Paul Thomas Anderson and Leonardo DiCaprio in conversation with event at the BFI, I refreshed for 30 minutes on a random day during lunch and got a ticket. The event was incredible and Paul Thomas Anderson shared that initially they were going to film the iconic road chase scene on a normal road, which feels blasphemous after seeing the iconic sequence twice in cinema. And then I got to see Amanda Seyfried at an in conversation with event, and loved hearing about her career and how she’s changed her view on her performance in Les Mis, after previously not liking it. And I also got to see Jay Kelly again in 35mm at the Barbican followed by a screen talk with George Clooney and Adam Sandler!

December was less busy, but I managed to spend a lot of time watching films and also seeing friends. The month started off with getting to hear from Will Arnett reflect on his career at the BFI before watching Is This Thing On? I loved this talk so much. It was hilarious, it was one of the best talks I’ve been to and I really appreciated his reflections on how his comedy roles helped prepare me for Is This Thing On? The next day, I rewatched The Holdovers and took part in a film quiz with Frame by Frame Film Club. I of course wore my custom Holdovers jumper and enjoyed taking my friend who had not seen it. The morning after, I hosted a bunch of people from my film club (The Film Club London and Dear Soft Serve on Substack) at the BFI where we got to watch The Muppet’s Christmas Carol and spent a couple of hours after, at the bar talking endlessly before rushing off to watch Eternity with my friend.

On Thursday evening, I got to see a preview of Rental Family at the Barbican with a Brendan Fraser screen talk. I have missed Japan since my holiday last November and the film really does encapsulate the experience of being a foreigner in the country and reminded me of the two-week solo trip I enjoyed so much. Yesterday, I rewatched Home Alone in cinema, went to my film club’s discussion of Bridget Jones Diary and the Wes Anderson pop-up. Looking ahead to the next couple of weeks, I am looking forward to seeing Joachim Trier in conversation with at the BFI (tonight!), seeing Chloe Zhao speak about Hamnet with the launch of the film’s phonebook and I will hopefully see the exhibition. Films I am looking forward to include Eleanor the Great, Avatar: Fire and Ash, Marty Supreme and the new SpongeBob Squarepants film (don’t judge, it was one of my favourite shows growing up) and some Christmas rewatches.

I’ve been really fortunate to be able to attend all of these incredible events and get tickets to them. Hearing from so many incredible directors and actors over the last few weeks alongside seeing some incredible films has been a great reminder of why I love film, why I love living in London and why I love institutions like the BFI who not only programme such incredible events, but shine on a light on indie films. Over the next few weeks, I’m to post a piece on The Holdovers, as my rewatch reminded me of how much I love the film and why it is one of my Letterboxd Top Four. A post re-introducing my substack, because it’s been some time since I started and I have a brand new Letterboxd Top 4. I’m hoping to also post about Dead Man’s Wire as it’s a film that I loved. I’m also hoping to do a summary of films I watched this month, I’ve watched a fair few, so I will try to find a way to summarise them all or I will pick out my favourites from the bunch. Looking further ahead to January, I will be hopefully publishing pieces on Hamnet and Sentimental Value which I got the incredible experience of watching at the UK Premiere Gala at London Film Festival (I got to meet Joachim, Renata, Stellan and Inga on the red carpet!!!).

Thank you so much for reading this piece. In contrast to my post on here, this felt joyous to write. Reflecting on the last five weeks through writing this and looking back at the pictures has reminded me of the sheer amount of events I got to go, the incredible people I got to hear from & the great memories I’ve made with my friends. I’m really optimistic and excited to write again, I missed it a lot. I will be more active on substack and excited to replace the doomscrolling on Twitter during my commute, with reading the incredible articles I see on this site.