Musings on art and modern audiences

  Kenneth Branagh’s Poirot: introducing Hercule Poirot to new audiences Kenneth Branagh’s Poirot series can certainly be praised for (re)introducing Poirot to audiences. Personally, I have to say David Suchet will always be my Poirot, but of course to each their own. What I find most interesting about Branagh’s Poirot films is how exactly they seek to revive these stories. What makes these films any different to any previous Poirot adaptations? Why did Branagh choose these particular stories for adaptation?  Branagh’s choice of one of Christie’s most famous stories ( Murder on the Orient Express ) draws in audiences who are familiar with her work and those who might only just be getting to know Poirot. Here we’re being introduced to a new iteration of Poirot by placing him in a non-British context, unlike other Agatha Christie stories which place her characters often in British countryside or London (and this film opens at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem). Branagh is also establ...

  Pride and Prejudice : BBC’s 1995 miniseries gets it right The very last adaptation I thought I’d ever write a blog on would be a Jane Austen story. You may or may not already be familiar with my disdain for Austen’s stories, so this post might come as a relative surprise. However, I’ve recently been a bit more open-minded about Austen, having watched the 1995 BBC miniseries adaptation. Colin Firth may or may not have had something to do with that decision but that’s for me to know and you to wonder. I was not enchanted by Pride and Prejudice when I first read it many years ago, and I have to say the 2005 film did not help matters at all; the BBC miniseries, however, I think gets it right. Jane Austen, for her time as for ours, wrote to entertain. She wrote the stories she wrote because people expected to be entertained by books written by women. Because obviously women can only write frivolous drivel with no bite or backbone. Because obviously women can only write about topics t...

  The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes : investing in prequels I approach prequels with great caution. My worry whenever I see one being advertised - literary, cinematic or otherwise - is that the story exists simply to be a cash cow, because the creator doesn’t want to be forgotten about, or because they’re making a half-hearted attempt at satisfying the fans (see my earlier tirade against Amazon’s The Rings of Power for more of my thoughts and feelings on this matter. Spoiler alert: it’s not good.) What could make this worse? Well, probably a really bad adaptation. That would really be taking the biscuit.  With all of this in mind, you can imagine my concerns when Suzanne Collins’ The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes was published, and its film adaptation announced shortly after. My copy of Collins’ book even has one of those stickers-that-aren’t-actually-stickers on the front cover announcing its impending transition to the big screen. To be honest, I didn’t approach The Ball...

  Anyone But You : Much Ado About other people’s business I’m intrigued by the social media phenomenon around Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney’s on-screen chemistry in their recent rom-com Anyone But You . When did audiences decide that it was our right to ask invasive questions or assume certain things about the personal lives of professional actors? Or perhaps the better question to ask - when did the film industry change to make audiences so dangerously and uncomfortably invested in actor’s personal lives?  I want to say Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney (along with any other actor) owe us nothing when it comes to divulging the details of their personal lives. It’s crazy to me that people seem to have forgotten that what we see on our screens is not necessarily a reality. Yes, it’s clear from interviews and press events that Powell and Sweeney get along well and have a strong working relationship, but that doesn’t guarantee they are interested in each other in real life. The bot...

  The Nutcracker : a Christmas classic It’s just turned 2024 but I figured I couldn’t let Christmas go without a post of its own! There were lots of contenders for the Christmas blog, but being the ballet girl I am we had to go with my personal favourite, of course. (Sorry, I do make the rules around here.) The Nutcracker is one of the world’s most famous ballets, probably because it comes up year after year, and has now become synonymous with Christmas. Tchaikovsky’s gorgeous score is iconic, the story is whimsical and light-hearted, and the costumes are always fabulous (glittery and colourful and all the rest of it). Not to mention that there's a Barbie animated adaptation of The Nutcracker , too, so surely that counts for something. So what makes The Nutcracker a Christmas essential? Tchaikovsky’s score, from the overture, injects a sense of anticipation and excitement into us. We sit on the edge of our seats waiting for the curtain to rise, waiting for the story to begin. How...