Weekly Roundup #18, 2026

Hello and welcome to an edition pockmarked by the impact of the latest Tube strikes, where RMT are in search of a proper 4-day working week. Good on them! As someone who’s getting very comfortable with a zero-day working week, I wholeheartedly applaud and endorse their quest. This blog is unashamedly pro-union! And, as you will see, it didn't actually hamper my getting about to the pictures too much anyway.

You may, in this edition, notice that I am posting the same image twice. This is not an accident, but a technical experiment! One image has been mastered for SDR, the other is a 12-bit AVIF, which should be supported on all modern browsers. Basically, it should be more vibrant and rich, especially on a phone; but I don’t think it will work in an email client. So open this blog in your browser, see if you can see a difference, and comment below which one you prefer!

Movies

Monday 20ᵗʰ April - Sirât (2025, ★★★) 

I had avoided seeing this for the longest time–I think it was even a MUBI GO movie at one point—but I kept bumping into people who were at pains to recommend it to me. So, having nothing better to do, I went along—and I have to say, the movie had a lot more to say for itself than I would have thought. Of special note is the soundtrack, which was richly rendered in the Picturehouse Central: I threw it on the bus to Nunhead after and it really did transport me. And the intro, which leads up to a very late title (complimentary) is charmingly wordless for long stretches.
But alas, I couldn't get over my initial reservation: this is a movie set in Morocco that doesn't feature any Moroccans. Actually, the ones that do appear are peasants, soldiers or religious zealots; not characters who are richly realised with an internal life. That was a flaw I couldn't forgive, even as the film made a very interesting final play to become a movie about the afterlife: that final sequence, and that final shot, almost brought out a +♥ from me. But no; even though it's remarkably queer and disability inclusive, the way it centres European identity is racist.
Still worth seeing though!

Wednesday 22ⁿᵈ April - Colossal Wreck (2025, ★★★) 

I really wish I loved this more - Vince gave it an FG (★★★★★ to you and me), but I just didn't find it useful to me now. Certainly as a document of the failure of the COP process to effect meaningful change it's a damning indictment, and one future generations will look back at and scream; but I think the doomerism comes from a place of impotence, and that's just not that interesting. I read a lot of great climate newsletters and so much good stuff is happening; choose hope, it’s better for the environment.
I did write down a couple of lines that stuck with me; at one point the author describes the way humanity interacts with the world as “adrenalised inattention”, and a sequence where whale sounds are overlaid on the Burj Khalifa is very moving. Another great quote is an epitaph he gives: “here lies humanity, who loved life too much to save it”.

Friday 24ᵗʰ April - The Exile (2025, ★★★) 

I really hate to hate on an indie movie like this. Granted, it has been picked up by Amazon, so maybe it’s not that indie, but as I saw it at the London Bengali Film Festival in a room with like 7 people, so it felt pretty indie to me. The copy we saw had some glitching, which made me think there was something wrong with the file; but either way, the grade was incredibly flat in a way that made everything look like clay. Perhaps a choice, but between the 4:3 aspect ratio and the incredibly static camera... reader, I was bored!
I think the only thing that kept me engaged was that the film was at pains to portray a different culture on its own terms, which fascinated me. For instance the subtitles introduced the final locale as a forest, which conjured up thickets of oaks—but the flora was coppices of a bamboo-looking plant. Also shout out to the actress who played the witch—I would risk it all.

Saturday 25ᵗʰ April - Querelle (1982, ★★★★★) 

Gayyyyyyy but in the absolute best way. Intensely erotic in a way that feels much more queer and playful than, say, Adam & Yves (1974). But the sex in it is so interesting! From the first fuck in the office that is almost public, with both the knowledge of it being commonplace and the people filtering past the windows, to the last abandoned tryst that becomes a betrayal because he can't stop being a subby bottom. That scene is intensely private, almost literally deserted with the sand strewn across the floor of a stony prison replete with manacles dangling from the wall. The set design throughout is incredibly maximalist, camp and above all stagey: big shout out to the massive setting sun that never moves throughout the whole movie. And the eyelighting! Somehow there are no GIFs on Tumblr, so I will have to learn how to make GIFs to remedy that. There are screengrabs though:

Also, someone GIFed this amazing gesture as two men flirt:

Find it! Watch everything by Fassbinder, you're never wasting your time!

Sunday 26ᵗʰ April - Woman In The Dunes (1964, ★★★) 

Well it’s gonna be hard to sum up the corrupt physicality of this tawdry tale only a few minutes after seeing it, but briefly: this film presents the messy reality of desire (and how it turns back around on itself) in a tangible vernacular which leaves you feeling sweaty and soiled. (Loads of alliteration there.) Perhaps the most brutal public sex scene that’s been shot from the perspective of the perpetrator. And the sand effects are better than Dunc. I have to withhold a higher rating because the pacing is a bit slow in places; this feels like an intentional choice, just not one I love. But definitely worth seeing—the Prince Charles had it from a beautifully crackly 35mm print.

Musings

As I mentioned at the outset, the strikes made me miss choir, which was annoying as we’re building up to a big performance. However, I used the time wisely, watching Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) and Some Like It Hot (1959): the first being preparation for the Garden Cinema Book-to-Screen Club! We read a book, then watch the movie. It’s great fun, and next month is sci-fi month!

I was chatting with a friend about how to grow this blog further, as the business cards haven’t lead to a single extra subscriber yet (they’re a great party trick, though). I've decided to add a new section at the bottom, Meetups, where I post an interesting film I'm planning to see and invite you lovely people along! Have a look below for the first one and see if you can make it :)

Meetups

One of my favourite films as a teenager! Come and see a movie I can't promise not to quote in its entirety.

Music

What with the announcement of the first new music in 13 years from Boards of Canada, I've been going back through some of their back catalogue – and the incredibly helpful resource bocpages. Julie And Candy, for example, has a page that tells you where all the samples are from, even the ones you can't hear—apparently, most of the instrumentation is done with samples of recorders and flutes! Still sounds timeless, in their special dated way, all these years later.

Okay, that’s all for this edition, so until next week (or until Tuesday, if you decide to come along!), stay classy, San Diego!