ROSIE AT 10 DAYS
Whatever its recent sins, real or imagined, the BBC could never be accused of pandering to the lowest common denominator. Its programming is certainly not hostage to vagaries of popular taste or commercial interests. Nor does it seem to be inhibited by the limitations of the medium of radio. Tonight, whilst feeding Reuben, I caught the beginning of a Radio 4 item on early British silent movies…
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As for Reuben, he has now reached the stage where the infant gibberish is beginning to be adulterated by recognisable language. This afternoon, whilst he was trying unsuccessfully to wrench a carefully secured chair out of position in order to climb on it, the better to smash some china ornaments on a nearby shelf, we distinctly heard him grate out several times, “Oh, fucky hayo”. This is now the house oath of preference.
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I’ve just finished watching a film that communicates more about English character (if such a phenomenon really can be said to exist) than a steamer trunk full of Richard Curtis movies starring Hugh Grant’s hair & diffident stammer. It’s called Last Orders & it concerns a quintet of middle-aged & elderly men taking the ashes of a mutual friend to be scattered on the south coast of England. It features a superb cast, the principal players being Michael Caine, Bob Hoskins, David Hemmings, Tom Courtenay, Ray Winstone & Helen Mirren. Each acts with a delicacy & subtlety not normally provided for in contemporary British cinema.
The film has little plot in terms of there being tightly structured narrative. In fact, it relies on an almost Chekhovian emphasis on character leading storyline. But the dominant themes of friendship, personal loyalty, concealed love & duty & the depiction of a very English kind of phlegmatism are powerfully & affectingly brought across. Last Orders should be compulsory viewing for any transatlantic cousin who believes that the heart of London, wherein the True Brit is to be found, is Notting Hill. Our heroes come from that vast complex of unromantic streets bordered by Victorian terraced housing & ‘60s towerblock estates that is South-West London.
A small personal interest in the movie is that the young Jack – the Michael Caine character – is played by J.J. Feild, to whom I taught Drama 10 years ago.
10:44:13 PM 
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