Everything That Dies, Some Day Comes Back

I’ve no idea why it took me so long to get around to seeing this beloved 1987 film but it was well worth the wait. Mind you it’s a bit of an oddity in having no real story arc as such.  We simply follow the drunken escapades of struggling actors Withnail and "I" - mostly  fish-out-of-water adventures in the depths of the countryside where they have ventured in order to take advantage of the generosity of Withnail’s Uncle Monty. Alcoholism really isn’t a laughing matter but Richard E Grant’s performance is a comic tour de force which is well nigh impossible to resist.  I hope I never get so stuffy as to not find funny the scene in the tearoom, which features the immortal line “We want the finest wines available to humanity! We want them here and we want them now!".   Actors considered for the role of Withnail included Kenneth Branagh, Daniel Day-Lewis and Bill Nighy.  I'm sure they would all have been good in their own ways but really it's hard to imagine anyone...

As is my way, I watched this without any foreknowledge, other than it was the second film by writer-director Emerald Fennell, following 'Promising Young Woman'.  I'm not sure what I was expecting, certainly not this entertaining mashup of 'Brideshead Revisited' and 'The Talented Mr Ripley'. Barry Keoghan plays Oliver, a dull working-class student at Oxford, in thrall to the absurdly handsome Felix.  Come the summer and Felix invites Oliver to stay at Saltburn, a magnificent stately pile, w here we meet Felix's parents, wonderfully played by Richard E Grant and Rosamund Pike, as well as Felix's sister Venetia.  Also along for the ride is Felix's American cousin Farleigh who is also at Oxford and who really doesn't like Oliver. This is understandable: Barry Keoghan's Oliver is even creepier than Matt Damon's Tom Ripley, and I did struggle to see what Felix was getting out of their friendship. There is a lot of comedy to be made out of t...

This film delivered what I expected: a slight tale, based on real events, of  a writer down on her luck who starts forging literary letters to pay the rent.  Melissa McCarthy gives a very good performance as said writer, Lee Israel.  I especially liked the way she doesn't try to make the character sympathetic.  In fact for most of the film she comes across as a rather unpleasant and rude person who deservedly has no friends. Well, no friends that is until Richard E Grant turns up to enliven matters considerably, in a role he could play in his sleep, a dissolute of no fixed abode going by the name of Jack Hock. Jack and Lee don't always get on, especially when her beloved cat dies whilst Jack is minding her apartment.  But they are two lost souls who enjoy drinking and straight talking, and who need each other on some level.  Their relationship gives the film some welcome warmth. The only other relationship of note is between Lee and Anna, a bookstore owner ...