h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Seen since last Thursday:

Police, Adjective - http://www.cambridgefilmfestival.org.uk/films/2010/police-adjective/
Tedious Romanian film, described in one review as part of the "impressive Romanian New Wave", which must have passed me by. A detective tails a suspected drug dealer for four days, in what feels like real time.

My Afternoons with Margueritte (La Tête en Friche) - http://www.cambridgefilmfestival.org.uk/films/2010/my-afternoons-with-margueritte-la-tete-en-friche/
Loved it! Don't usually like Depardieu, but he was very good in this, and the 96 year-old actress playing the main part (Gisèle Casadesus) was terrific.

The Happy Poet - http://www.cambridgefilmfestival.org.uk/films/2010/the-happy-poet-85mtoxic-orange-10m/
OK-ish. Saw these two in a lecture theatre at Emmanuel College with rather uncomfortable seats, and it took the techies 30 minutes to get the projector working for the short, so that rather affected my mood.

The Thorn in the Heart - http://www.cambridgefilmfestival.org.uk/films/2010/thorn-in-the-heart-lpine-dans-le-coeur/
This seems to be my year for documentaries at the festival. This one was by Michel Gondry, following his elderly aunt as she revisited all the villages in the Cévennes where she had been a primary schoolteacher in the past. She seems to be quite a character, but I would have liked more about the teaching and less about her problematic relationship with her son.

Babies - http://www.cambridgefilmfestival.org.uk/films/2010/babies-bbs/
Another French-made documentary, but quite different. Cameras followed four babies from birth to just over 1 year old in San Francisco, Tokyo, the Mongolian steppe and the Namibian desert. Absolutely fascinating, funny and touching. A must-see if you get the chance.

Have got the day off tomorrow, so planning to get lots of chores done (ha ha!) and then go to see another film in the afternoon.

Wot? Not room for even one single teeny tiny little zombie flick? Yer living in a cultural wasteland down there, Annie.

Of your list, 'tis the Romanian flick that intrigues me most. I imagine it must have been pretty demme scuzzy, as in seedy, as in dirty. un-chic clothes and halitosis breath'd. Just like the 70's, in fact. Cei Sweeney.

It is freshers week up here, and tomorrow and Friday will be the busiest part of it, so guess what - the Law School has aasked all the research sturents to come in tomorrow or on Friday to sign a piece of paper. Madness.

Your deluge will be iumminent.


Douglas

Hi Douglas!

No, no zombies I'm afraid. Not really my thing anyway - I've been avoiding the horror films for the same reason.

The first trickles of the deluge (international students, and those with pre-term courses, e.g. Economics, Maths) will start this weekend, and the main onslaught will be the following weekend. Our 'Freshers' Week' is only three days: lectures start on Thurs 7 October.

There is a piece by Mary Beard in the Times Saturday Review section about her freshers week experiences in Newnham College in 1973. If you would like to see it and can't find a copy I could post it to you.


Douglas

Thanks Douglas - I'll ask Mary for a copy. We've been corresponding about the fact that she will be in Rome () when we need her for interviews.