He KNEW He Was RIGHT

Treated myself to a massage last night after realizing that my shoulders had been living up around my ears for the past few weeks. When I got home, I had no ambition at all and wound up watching the entirety of He Knew He Was Right.


It's basically a perfect case study of a BBC movie. The script is compelling, the performances are solid (and delivered by all of the usual suspects) and the niceties, like the title and end credits are hysterical. The title appears hovering over a static shot of red roses, dying. And the important words are capitalized, (He KNEW He Was RIGHT) so that the proper emphasis doesn't elude you.

Far be it from me to criticize BBC adaptations too harshly; I love them with my whole heart. But I do think it's funny and probably a bit telling that so much care is put into the story portion and the intro and outro are just slapped on. I like to picture two old men, in a cramped closet, whose job it is to paste on the introductions.

Man 1: What have we got here? (peers down spectacles) "He Knew He Was Right".

Man 2: What's it about.

Man 1: (inspecting the tape) Dunno. Strong title though. He knew he was right.

Man 2: Probably a fuss about a woman. They all are.

Man 1: So what do we do?

Man 2: (reviewing five shabby looking VHS tapes) Well, we've got footage of roses on a piano, withering roses, a country lane, a woman in a carriage or a lion pouncing on a gazelle.

Man 1: From the nature special, yeah?

Man 2: Right.

Man 1: Well I like the lion and gazelle one.

Man 2: Just used that in "Lion versus Gazelle".

Man 1: Then the country lane.

Man 2: Cranford.

Man 1: The woman in the carriage?

Man 2: Used that one quite a bit lately. Gives one a sense of unease and vulnerability. How'd you feel about the roses?

Man 1: Withery or piano?

Man 2: Withery. I was trying to save the piano ones for the ten years of Austin adaptations they've got in the works. The piano makes 'em seem more genteel.

Man 1: True, true... The piano's a genteel instrument, I've always said. Well, withery it is.

Man 2: Right. Tea then?

And that ladies and gentlemen, is how BBC opening credits get created.

A Single Man

BB and I saw A Single Man today at the Coolidge Corner Theatre and I'm still trying to make up my mind about it.


It's a lot like a moving magazine spread. Which isn't a bad thing. (It's very beautiful. Very. Especially the water sequences.) But isn't really a good thing either. The script, although it does take a fair number of shortcuts, is solid and sweet and doesn't try to be any larger than the story demands. The performances are excellent. And I am still thinking about it several hours later. But I still don't think it's accurate to say I liked it. I'm going to pick up the book tomorrow. Take that for what it's worth.

Brief Reviews of Things I've Seen Lately

Sherlock Homes - Meh

An Education - Lovely, but abruptly resolved

Gatz, Part 1 - Incredibly painful

Wristcutters, A Love Story - Unexpectedly charming

Return to Cranford, Part 1 - Lacking in plot and structure

Actually, I'd like to share a few more thoughts on Gatz. The actor playing Nick and narrating is arresting to behold. Everything else about the show is exhausting. It's a lot like babysitting. You're watching a bunch of kids trip over each other, vying for your attention and with seemingly no direction and you mostly just want to go home.

In seriousness, the performances (Nick excepted) would be tedious under the best of circumstances. But in this case the source material that they're abusing in their truly lazy attempts to catch your eye is one of the most lovely books in the American canon. It's hard to believe that anyone thought this was a good idea.

I've been told that the second part is significantly better, but am having a hard time mustering the energy to find out. The whole experience has put me back off theater for a bit. Has anyone out there seen Part 2?

Mr. Toad Mania Continues

Our Wind in the Willows love knows no bounds. BB and I have spent the last few evenings watching the first season of the Wind in the Willows TV show.

This may actually be my favorite media incarnation of Wind in the Willows, as it adapts chapters of the book that generally don't get any screen time, like Wayfarers All and Piper at the Gates of Dawn.

Truthfully, though, this show had me at Mole's Cousin.

Wind in the Willows

So after sitting through the somewhat disappointing Pythonesque Wind in the Willows last weekend, I felt compelled to Netflix the 2006 Masterpiece Theater version.



I think it's superior in every way, but one. Eric Idle makes an excellent Ratty.

An Abundance of (Literary) Riches

At long last, the new main branch of the Cambridge Library is open! BB and I visited it on Sunday and it is absolutely gorgeous. It's the library of my dreams. Actually, the library of my dreams in the one from Harry Potter, natch. But it's a very close second.

And after all of my previous grousing about the difficulty of finding the Swallows and Amazons locally, I found all twelve books at the Curious George Bookstore on Saturday. Why I never thought to look there before I'll never know. But I picked up the third and fourth books and I'm happy as a lark.



What else happened this weekend? We ate a really tremendous breakfast at one of my new favorite places, the City Girl Cafe. We built a fort in the living room. We bought a vacuum. And we saw this crazy movie at the Brattle:

Date Night

My best beloved and I are resurrecting our Date Night tradition and going to see Julie and Julia tonight. Date Night policy generally dictates that we only see movies that we both really want to see, but BB is doing me a solid on this one.


Cheers to you, BB! Perhaps we'll eat Choux de Bruxelles a la Milanaise instead of popcorn.