My Sunday Best* 02

On Indie Films and 80s Rock.

*This is My Sunday did-my-Best as it is arriving a day late after a busy weekend. Enjoy!

The rainbow that made a downpour on Streedagh Beach worth every drop.

My husband and I invented an anti-algorithm game to keep things spicy of an evening. We wanted to find the Netflix equivalent of quiet library nooks where the best books hide out.

This is how the game works: one of us picks a random word which we input into the search bar. We then choose a film with that word in the title. Our first round used the word green. There weren’t many films, so we took a punt on a Greek adaptation of a novel called The Green Sea. This is not high drama. It is a slow, delicious burn. More winter stew than fast food.

Of all the films we have watched this season, the majority have been foreign language pictures. From the Romanian The Father Who Moved Mountains to French Portrait of a Lady on Fire to Spanish The Skin of the Wolf and Nowhere, we have traveled widely.

Our game removes the tyranny of choice and introduces us to films that don’t float in the main stream. They sparked conversation and left us with an indelible impression of the countries in which they were filmed. My favourite was Sea Gypsies: The Far Side of the Word where we fell in with a crew of nomads on a wild adventure across the Pacific.

Let me also suggest a soundtrack for your week. My son is a fabulous musician and this week he prepared a playlist for me entitled Rock Re-education. It is wonderful when my kids explore musical landscapes and introduce me to new ways of hearing. I’m talking about Bon Jovi’s key change at the end of Living on a Prayer, the delicate opening of Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here and the story behind Nirvana’s lyrics. There is also some excellent Croatian rock we were introduced to by a staff member from the Sudbury School. Join me on memory lane here.

Finally, a quote from Salena Godden’s gorgeous book Mrs Death Misses Death. For a story narrated by Mrs Death herself, it is a life-giving read. She writes about tragedy and wasted life in a way that was both an education and wake up call.

Happy Monday x