Just looking back ...

We are in February and as there was no post last December , I feel like looking back for two reasons. On the one hand, I´d like to refer to one film release which was perfect for the festive season: Wonka, a film directed by Tim Burton who is known for creating a very personal universe in cinematic terms. The film stars Timothée Chalamet but the cast is outstanding and  Olivia Colman, Calah Lane, Jim Carter and  Hugh Grant are also excellent at creating the roles of Mrs Scrubbit, Noodle, Abacus Finch and Oompa Loompa respectively . The thing is that I ´d like to draw your attention to the remarkable fact that this film was released at the beginning of December and is still on at some cinemas by the end of February. “Why is it remarkable?,” you may wonder. Because in our increasingly fast world in which new things, fads, news and creations become old, useless, forgotten or uninteresting in the twinkling of an eye, cinema is no exception. Therefore, films aren´t on at our local cinemas for too long and sometimes, we miss the opportunity of watching a film on the big screen just because we weren´t too quick to make the decision to go to the cinema. In short, Wonka is still on probably thanks to the power of the grapevine and there are cinemagoers who are looking forward to watching it. I fully recommend this film for children and for anyone who is willing to indulge a wonderful visual show which invites you to dream and use your imagination.

On the other hand, I also feel like looking back to pay tribute to Tom Wilkinson, a British actor who died at the age of 75 on 30th December 2023. He was a talented, versatile and prolific actor who didn´t care about being famous and felt that actors should have a degree of anonymity about them. He became a household name thanks to his role of Gerard Cooper in the international hit The Full Monty (1997) after he had been working for two decades. To me his performance of James Manning in Separate Lies (2005) is one of the best ones as he excelled at the creation of the anonymous and archetypal upper middle class man of British society. In the story, James turns out to be a generous man who is able to sacrifice himself for the love of his wife. Emily Watson (Anne) and Rupert Everett (Bill) are also the other members of the wonderful cast of this story where love, jealousy and intrigue combine to trigger the plot.

Being able to look back is advisable because it enables us to discover the value of past experiences as well as the people who were part of them.