Play

The following is my response to Notebook’s 4th Writer’s Poll.  This year mine will be a triple-feature…

NEW: Play by Ruben Östlund and Tyrannosaur by Paddy Considine
OLD: Kes (1969) by Ken Loach

WHY: Children adrift in an indifferent and torturous modern world, left to their own devices. Tyrannosaur touches on the theme of child abuse as a sub-plot and also connects to Kes as a relentless and bitter vision of working class England. Considine’s film is conspicuous for the lack of children among the principal characters and the haunting consideration of what their lives would be like if they had children. These three films can be triangulated as a sort of progression, with Kes at the peak as the most “complete” family portrait and the two newer films at opposite ends of the lower spectrum, though all of these films are about broken structures and people (also broken or incomplete aesthetics, in the case of Play).

Tyrannosaur

The poll can be accessed at the following address:

http://mubi.com/notebook/posts/notebooks-4th-writers-poll-fantasy-double-features-of-2011

Kes