Life Trove: movies

Showing posts with label movies. Show all posts

July 25, 2026

Great movies starring lighthouses

Lighthouses are my current photography project, and over the past few months I've found myself increasingly fascinated by their history, architecture, and symbolism. They've also reminded me just how often they appear in cinema—not merely as dramatic backdrops, but as central characters in their own right. Their isolation, mystery, and enduring presence make them perfect settings for stories about hope, obsession, revelation, and the human condition. Here are two films that use lighthouses to unforgettable effect.

Shutter Island (2010)

Although Shutter Island is best remembered as a psychological thriller, its lighthouse is one of the film's most powerful and enduring images. Perched on the edge of the island, it looms over the story as a place of mystery, fear, and hidden truths. For much of the film, the lighthouse represents everything the protagonist believes is being concealed from him, drawing both him and the audience towards its secrets. By the end, it becomes clear that the lighthouse is not simply a location but a symbol of the film's deeper themes of reality, illusion, and the stories we tell ourselves to avoid painful truths. Few films have used a lighthouse so effectively as both a dramatic setting and a psychological metaphor.

The Lighthouse (2019)

Few films have made a lighthouse feel as mysterious and compelling as The Lighthouse (2019). Directed by Robert Eggers and filmed in stark black and white, it tells the story of two lighthouse keepers, brilliantly played by Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson, whose isolation gradually gives way to obsession, paranoia, and madness. The lighthouse is far more than a setting—it becomes the film's central character and its greatest mystery, representing knowledge, power, temptation, and the unknowable. It's an unsettling, hypnotic film that stays with you long after the credits roll.

July 22, 2026

Favourite directors: Christopher Nolan

I’ve just come home from seeing The Odyssey, and once again I was reminded why Christopher Nolan is my favourite filmmaker working today. Every time I walk out of one of his films, I feel like I've experienced something rather than simply watched it. His movies linger. They invite reflection. They make me want to see them again—not just to catch what I missed, but because they continue unfolding long after the credits roll.

Part of his genius lies in the remarkable creative team he has built around him. He has worked alongside his wife and producer, Emma Thomas, since the very beginning, and his brother Jonathan has been instrumental in shaping many of his greatest stories. More recently, editor Jennifer Lame has brought extraordinary rhythm and emotional precision to his films. It's a reminder that while Nolan is a visionary, great art is often born from enduring creative partnerships.

Then there are the stories themselves. Nobody constructs a narrative quite like Nolan. The Prestige remains, in my view, one of the greatest screenplays ever written, with not one but two breathtaking twists that completely transform everything that came before. Memento turned storytelling inside out, allowing us to experience memory loss rather than simply observe it. Interstellar somehow combines hard science, breathtaking spectacle and one of the most moving father-daughter stories ever put on screen. And the ending of Inception—that spinning top—may be the perfect ending because it leaves us wrestling with a deeper question than whether Cobb is dreaming: what is reality, and does our experience of it ultimately matter more than certainty?

But what elevates Nolan above almost every other blockbuster director is that he's never really making films about explosions, spies, superheroes or space travel. Those are simply the vehicles. Beneath them lie profound existential questions. What is time? What is identity? How much of who we are is memory? Can love transcend space and time? What is sacrifice? How should we live when faced with uncertainty? He trusts his audience to engage with these questions rather than reducing them to simple answers.

Perhaps that's why his films resonate with me so deeply. They embody what I believe great art should do. Great art doesn't merely entertain—it expands consciousness. It stretches the imagination, deepens our perception, and leaves us seeing ourselves and reality a little differently than before.

After The Odyssey, I'm more convinced than ever that Christopher Nolan isn't just one of the great filmmakers of our time. He's one of the great storytellers. And in a culture that often underestimates the power of story, that's a rare and precious gift.

July 02, 2026

Memorable moments: The 165-minute hostage situation

I went to see a highly acclaimed Italian movie with my close, elderly friend Sue. The critics had raved about it, promising a masterpiece that easily justified its daunting two-hour-and-forty-five-minute runtime.

Within the first ten minutes, however, the illusion shattered. I knew instantly that this was going to be a long, painfully tedious experience. The film didn't resonate with me at all, and every fiber of my being wanted to stand up, walk out of the theater, and find a good cup of coffee.

But I hesitated. Knowing how much Sue generally loved art-house cinema, I couldn't bear the thought of spoiling her afternoon or dragging her away from something she might be deeply enjoying. So, I gritted my teeth, sank into my seat, and prepared to endure nearly three hours of pure, unadulterated tedium for the sake of friendship.

Finally, the credits rolled, the lights came up, and we made our escape. As we walked out of the dark theater and into the bright afternoon sunlight, my mind was racing, trying to figure out exactly how honest I should be without sounding ungrateful.

Before I could utter a word, Sue turned to me and let out a huge sigh.

"Oh my word," she exclaimed. "I'll be honest, I did not enjoy that at all. So tedious! I would have walked out pretty early on. Did you get anything out of it?"

We had spent almost three hours trapped in a mutual hostage situation, each suffering in absolute silence solely to protect the other person's assumed happiness. It was a hilarious reminder that sometimes, the greatest act of friendship isn't polite endurance—it's just being the first one to admit that the movie is terrible.

My favourite movie scenes

"Film as dream, film as music. No art passes our conscience in the way film does, and goes directly to our feelings, deep down into the dark rooms of our souls." Ingmar Bergman

Here for my own enjoyment are some of my favourite movie moments. No matter how much I watch these scenes, I will never tire of them.

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January 15, 2026

Movie scenes I love: Ending of Hamnet (2025)

I watched Hamnet today and was hugely moved by it, especially the final scene. Hamnet is about how private grief (the loss of Shakespeare's son) is transformed into enduring art (the tragedy, Hamlet), showing how loss, love, and memory are woven into creativity as a way of making meaning from unbearable absence.

I love what Richard Lawson had to say about the final scene in his review in The Guardian.

The music from the scene is also absolutely sublime. It's the same music that played in the opening and final scene of Arrival (2016) that also moved me so much, also a meditation on grief.

January 01, 2026

Movie scenes I love: "I had you" scene from Sentimental Value (2025)

I saw this movie with Elna in Newtown. One of the best movies I have seen this year and the most moving. It had the most beautiful interaction between two siblings I have ever seen. The movie stars the incredible Renate Reinsve and is directed by Joachim Trier, the director of another of my favourite movies; "The Worst Person in the World" which also starred Renate.