My weekend in films

Being as all my friends in the entire world (apart from a few) were at V this past weekend, I had a fairly low key few days – films with friends, etc. I watched The Life of David Gale, Ghost World, and then Mystic River. In a strange coincidence, following my reading on the US death penalty last week, that night the life of David Gale appeared on ITV2 (my sister having told me what it was about a few years previously), and whilst I don’t think it’s fate or anything so crazy, if you have a coincidence like that, if there are two opportunities or mentions of something in a short space of time, then I’m of the opinion that you should follow it through. So I taped it on our jazzy hard-drive and watched it on Friday. I hadn’t realised both Kevin Spacey and Kate Winslet were cast in it, but they were, and they were good. Kevin especially – playing this professor whose life has completely fallen apart through a series of unfortunate circumstances. A thought provoking film – with the idea that in many cases you can never be 100% sure that a person is guilty, and that small doubt should be enough to prevent you from killing them. One argument the campaigners against the death penalty use is that it not only ruins the life of the accused, it also ruins the lives of the family, and everyone who knew the accused. Something along the lines of ‘evil spreads’, I guess. I went charity shop hopping on Saturday – a good place to pick up cheap films, though the selection is often limited. Picked up a film called Mystic River – directed by Clint, and starring Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon and Laura Linney, who was coincidentally also in David Gale – this coincidence to me was a sure sign that I should pick it up. It kind of continued the theme that evil spreads – a guy who was abused as a child can’t quite escape his past, and the situation all sort of spirals out of control. Sean Penn was brilliant – ever since I saw him in Milk, I think he’s ace. It’s astounding how he can entirely create and become a new character, and the fact that he’s Sean Penn just passes you by. I’m not sure I can think of any other actors, no matter how good they are, who can entirely make you forget who they really are. It’s usually always in the back of your mind that they’re portraying someone– not with Sean though. I believe him.