Tues 21st Nov – New-in-Town

With the continuation of poor weather and loud balcony construction, I headed to Newtown. I got there around 10am, only to remember nothing there opens prior to 11am. To kill time I brunched and read a book. Looking at the (actually quite well priced – most dishes at $20) brunch menu at End of King, I went with the least Asian meal I could find: the Canadian Breakfast. Buttermilk pancakes had been overstired and were on the stodgy side, but when drowned in Maple syrup, pared with bacon, fried egg and hashbrown, it kind of doesn’t matter.

Brunch book: what I’d rather not think about – Jente Posthuma. From the laziest autobiographical book (Rhys…), to this one – oceans of difference. Jente’s book is thoughtful and brisk. She has given attention to the form. It’s structured a bit like Jenny Offal’s books, in the sense that there most pieces are at most three pages long. But then some of the ideas reappear in later segments, which guides me through her memories in a way that is comforting, and allows me space to think about the heavy content of a twin sister losing her brother twice: once when they grew apart in their late twenties, and a second time when he commits suicide.

Movie: Saltburn. From the most intriguing teaser trailer, this grows into a terrible movie. The main character is not interesting, and the plot is pointless. But – the montages. There are some spectacular montages in the film and they were easily the best bit about it. Come to think of it, I just liked the things I liked in the trailer: wide pans around the lake of the estate, sun setting on the tennis courts with MGMT’s Time to Pretend playing, the cool typeface of the movie’s opener and credits. There are also two other great moments: 1) there’s a small segment where they’re all reading what must be the final Harry Potter book (Saltburn is set 2006/2007), and 2) Oliver says he doesn’t smoke and then directly after there’s a montage of him smoking at parties with Felix. Why can’t all of the movie just tell the story via quick edit montage? Mimi – this is such a crap movie but I know you are going to see it at some point anyway, it’s fate. When you do end up seeing it, I really hope you enjoy the coda.

Overheard at cheap Tuesday at the Dendy: “Man, the last movie I saw here was the Joker. That was four years ago. I was fifteen then. Jesus”.