Sunday 12 February 2012

Introduction


The idea of this blog is to document my thoughts and opinions on various arty things – I think predominantly films, but also concerts etc. as the mood takes me.

I guess in some ways these will be reviews, but I’m not currently planning to use any sort of rating system, other than through the general tone of the review.  Maybe this is a little cowardly, but I personally think that ratings are often too simplistic.  For instance I recently saw both Shame and The Artist, both of which I thought were very powerful and if I were to rate them, would both score very highly.  However, one is a heart-warming life-affirming film about friendship, and the other is a relentless tale of addiction.  Both are brilliant, but I couldn’t honestly say I enjoyed watching Shame - it was difficult and painful (I may write a separate article on it, though it is now a couple of weeks since I saw it) but equally I was glad to have seen it, both for the examination of addiction but also for some powerful performances.  In my opinion to measure these movies against each other on the same linear scale is nonsensical and potentially misleading.  Instead my intention is that my description and thoughts within a post should provide an indication, and readers can make their own decision.

I think in part that it was watching these two films within a few days of each other that started the thought process that led to starting this blog.  I enjoy art in its many forms but have found I struggle at times to express coherently opinions on what I watch, hear and see.  The hope is that by committing words to (virtual) paper I will better understand my thoughts and will learn to communicate them better.  To that end, I would welcome any feedback readers may have on both my opinions and my writing style, in the hope of improving them.