This Wide Night + Glasgow Film Festival

I have been busy with essays and other stuff lately so I haven't been able to write here! Today's entry is about theatre and film, I hope you enjoy it!

This Wide Night

Venue: Tron Theatre
Play: This Wide Night
Playwright: Chloë Moss
Director: David Greig
Price: £8 (preview)

On the 21st of February, I went to the Tron Theatre here in Glasgow to see This Wide Night, a play by Chloë Moss directed by David Greig, with whom you'll already be familiar if you have read my other entries in this blog. I wrote a review for VOIX Magazine which you can find here.

You can also take this opportunity to browse through their page. This magazine is a young and promising project with lots of talent and enthusiasm behind it! You can also check out their Facebook page here.

On the anecdote side, I tweeted a link to this review, and David Greig himself retweeted it, haha! =) If you don't believe me, you can see it here.

Photograph by John Johnston Photography.

Glasgow Film Festival

You may remember I caught the Glasgow Short Film Festival by the skin of my teeth. I was ready for the Glasgow Film Festival, but there was so much on offer I had a hard time picking which screenings I went to!

I was too late to get tickets for the opening night screening of The Grand Budapest Hotel, but I have heard incredibly good things about this film. If you have watched it, you can tell me about it in the comments! I finally chose these two:

LFO

Venue: Cineworld
Movie: LFO (2013)
Screenwriter/Director: Antonio Tublén
Country: Sweden/Denmark
Language: Swedish
Price: £6.50 (student)

A weird Scandinavian middle-aged guy discovers that Low Frequency Oscillator sound waves can alter people's behaviour. With this powerful and very dangerous tool in his hands, he will try to change his life and, later, the world. This movie is hilarious, sad, creepy, intimate and thought-provoking all at once. The dialogue is brilliant and Patrik Karlson, who plays the protagonist, does a GREAT job both with his face and his voice. I definitely recommend it!

A Touch of Sin

Venue: Cineworld
Movie: A Touch of Sin (2013)
Screenwriter/Director: Jia Zhangke
Country: China
Language: Mandarin
Price: £6.50 (student)

This film follows the paths of four characters in contemporary China, as they are pushed to their limits by corruption, degradation, misery and a restrictive society and government. Visually and music-wise, this movie is amazing. I also think this director has a special way with silences, they're one of the most beautiful things about this movie. I kept expecting the four stories to come together at the end, but they don't (except by the fact that they all suffer the miseries of living in contemporary China). Don't waste your time trying to find clues and connections between them like I did, you'll enjoy the movie more. I was slightly dissatisfied by the first story of the four (with actor Jiang Wu as the protagonist), because I didn't feel his reactions were properly scaled: it all felt a bit too rushed and, at points, gratuitous. The other three were exceptional and not to be missed!

I went to see both films on the same day, and I had a great time! When I came back home, however, someone had tried (and thankfully failed) to break into my flat! *sigh* Anyway! Did you go see This Wide Night? What did you think of it? Also,if you've watched any of this films or other films that have a connection with these, I'd be more than happy to hear what you have to say in the comments! =)

Glasgow's book festival 'Aye Write!' is on just now, so that'll be the next thing I'll write about! I'm going to see writers A. L. Kennedy and Bernard MacLaverty, and I'll be going to a panel session with Caribbean and Scottish Gaelic writers. I'll tell you more about it in a few days' time! =)