Thoughts for the Void #07

Hello Void People!

I hope you are all well despite the horrors. (Let us not speak about the horrors here!) January is always an odd month. It’s cold, everyone’s ill, tired and skint. So let’s not get bogged down in January blues and instead wish for a refreshing February. This month has been a quiet one for me, but let me recommend some things I’ve been watching that you might like.

Waiting for the Out (BBC)

I recently started watching Waiting for the Out on BBC iPlayer - a new series from Dennis Kelly (who wrote the fabulous Utopia back in 2013) about philosophy, prison, fate, male identity and a lot more. I've not finished the series yet, so take this all with a pinch of salt, but so far it has been a wonderful reminder of what British television drama can do. It is worth it just for the middle-class dinner party scene.

I’ve had a form of OCD and anxiety for most of my life, and found this show strangely moving in how truthful it all felt. The show’s depictions of OCD compulsions and anxious outbursts are perhaps the most honest I’ve seen in a show. None of the Hollywood glamorisation or mystique, just a man in a grey kitchen eating away at his own jaw. Go check it out - it deserves attention.

Papers by Yoshinao Satoh

Before Christmas, I was showing this film to some students on a big old projector, and I forgot how magnificent it is. Plus, it has a Steve Reich track - how could you not love it.

28 Years Later

On a very different note, I also managed to catch Alex Garland and Danny Boyle’s 28 Years Later. I’ll be honest, I went into this as a sceptic, assuming it wouldn’t be able to rekindle the strange magic of the first film. For the first half, I sat enjoying myself, but still sceptical - but by the end, I was fully onboard. Just so much to like and so different from all my expectations. Strange, emotional, unsettling and unique. It has an emotional depth I really wasn’t expecting (Jodie Comer and Ralph Fiennes are veeeeeeery good), and the final moments of the film floored me. I’ve heard fab things about the latest addition to the series (Bone Temple), so I’m keen to see that next.

David Bowie

And then there is the small case of David Bowie. January 10th marked the 10-year anniversary of Bowie’s death (10 years!!! Can you believe it!) The BBC was full of documentaries and old recordings, which has meant that most of my January listening has been exclusively Bowie. Enjoy.

And lastly, some animation things that I spotted recently and loved the look of. I’ve not seen these films yet, but the trailers promise something rather wonderful.

God is Shy by Jocelyn Charles

In Dreams by Josh Shaffner

That’s it from me. Wherever you are, whatever the weather - good luck in February. See you down the road. Loveyoubyeeeeeeeeeeeee.