Closer

Not the LP (what's that?) by Joy Division, but the play by Patrick Marber.

Without the children, there was a bit of spare time in the evening to watch a DVD, the film of the play. I'd meant to see it at the theatre, and also his Dealer's Choice, but did not get around to seeing either.

I don't know what I expected, but I certainly did not enjoy this film - mainly because it was soooooo depressing. All four of the characters were horrible people, impossible to sympathise with. It left me feeling glum. Not what I want from a film. Certainly it was thought provoking, but I wonder if films made for entertainment (as opposed to documentaries, etc) are the right platform for the exploration of unremitting negativeness. Books, pamphlets, painting, sculpture etc etc would be a better place for whatever Mr Marber wanted to say in his drama. Perhaps even the medium of a play is fine for this sort of comment on life, after all Shakespeare did, so maybe it is the medium of film that I've got a problem with. Or maybe it is just this film and its absence of a character I could empathise with. Can you tell I'm getting confused? Anyway, sad films are fine, but they usually have some positive elements.

This film seemed to me to have nothing positive to say at all (a bit like this blog post, really).