Chumscrubber

I watched a great film last night entitled 'The Chumscrubber' - it is a comedy but only as the story unfolds and it starts to become almost farcical does the humour start to become apparent - set in rich suburbia a tragedy at the start allows us to see the responses of a fairly large group of people that we keep an eye on in the run up to the climactic events in a cul-de-sac reminiscent of the Neighbours street. But this soap opera is far more determined to get under the surface of what's happening, or not, in it's inhabitants lives. Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot) did a fantastic job in lead role in Hallam Foe (worth a watch not just for the fact it is set in Scotland) and he does the same here too (though this film has taken 2 years to surface in UK). He takes up his character superbly well again, all the harder as he plays a troubled, loner teenager. As each character pursues their own agenda in their own isolated worlds we find some characters finding their redemption and others their comeuppance. The dark humour is what makes it so much fun to watch, satire served in a delicious serving with a great economy of effort.

What weather we had this week - I loved the stormy weather yesterday, I could smell the wild Atlantic sea , just by opening my window - in fact just sniffing where it was getting squuzed in over the seals. In the city the elements are tamed and nature is hard to sense - especially suspended 40 feet above the ground - but even when out and about it probably takes some kind of a refined sense to appreciate the moods and intricacies of a wild place - everywhere I go I think I take in a bit more of 'nature' and add it to what I know, as if I am getting to know someone better and better. Its the wild, almost naked landscapes that often mean the most to me though. The near desolate red landscapes of Australia have stayed with me more than the Blue Mountains have. The wild windswept emptiness of Assynt in the north west of Scotland pulls me back time after time, but somehow there seems nothing left to find in Glen Coe. Having said all that I do love to live and work in the west end of Glasgow. I doubt very much whether I will be here the rest of my life but it is a good way to get my cocktail of urban living and wild getaways.