ann veronica (h g wells)

Is Ann Veronica an early example of mansplaining? Or is it a heartfelt intent by a male author to articulate the female viewpoint? H G Wells’ novel seeks to capture the thinking of a young Edwardian woman, in an England emerging from Victoriana into a bustling new London. For anyone who has ever gone to London as an ingenue and wrestled with that beast, there are elements of the story that still ring true. It was never easy to dive into the maelstrom and come out swimming. Ann Veronica gets caught up in the Suffragette movement, goes to prison, comes out unscathed. She has an obstinate courage which fuels her journey, although it never feels as though anything too terrible will happen. As a snapshot of supposedly progressive male thinking it is a fascinating lost text; albeit one that makes you think you ought to be reading more Woolf. 

aftersun (w&d charlotte wells)

My friend Ana came out of the screening saying: that’s the most Uruguayan British film she had ever seen.

The British go to a foreign country to grapple with their fragile psyches. They don’t interact with the locals, but they do learn about their deep secrets. It’s a lower middle class White Mischief, modern day economic post-colonialism, albeit filmed and edited with a low-fi charm. The holiday movie has a Rohmerian pedigree, and the director’s style is reminiscent in many ways to that of her fellow countrywoman, Lynne Ramsey. Both Ratcatcher and Morven Caller came to mind, albeit Ramsey’s delirious holiday movie succeeded in integrating the local world with slightly more gusto than the Turks who are melded into the background in Aftersun, with Turkey and the resort itself an exotic location for a delicate investigation of childhood trauma.

Why is Aftersun a Uruguayan movie? Because very little happens, and the movie sinks or swims on the audience’s capacity to be captivated by the dreamlike web spun by the cineaste.