Category Archives: Nostalgia

Lazy Eye (2016)

From IMBD:

When Dean, a graphic designer in Los Angeles, notices a sudden change in his vision, an ex-love from 15 years earlier contacts him unexpectedly in hopes of rekindling their relationship. When the two meet at a vacation house in the desert near Joshua Tree, secrets are revealed and passions rekindled that threaten to upend both of their lives. Forty-eight hours later, neither will ever be the same.

From Amazon Prime:

Passions reignite & hidden secrets revealed when a graphic designer in Los Angeles reconnects with an ex-lover he hasn’t seen or heard from in 15 years. Over the course of a weekend at a vacation house in the desert, they must determine whether or not they have a future together. Written and directed by Emmy, Gotham, GLAAD and Independent Spirit Award Nominee Tim Kirkman.

From Amazon Prime you can stream this 1 hour 27 minute complete film.

Basically the film uses the talking heads technique. Unless that talking is interesting such films can be dull. But there is something real and intense about the conversation between Dean and Alex. Between the mundane topics, now and then brutal honesty pops up.

So many films offer the same tired cliché: A meets B, they fall in love and have sex, difficulties arise and are solved, happy ending. This film is different but I offer no spoilers.  But the film is a testament to courageous choices.

Not bad.

Cider With Rose (2015)

From IMDB:

In 1918, with her husband working in the War office – and subsequently leaving the family – devoted mother Annie Lee takes her step-daughters and her own children to live in the idyllic Gloucestershire countryside, the youngest being the sickly Laurie, known as Loll. Here they witness two feuding matrons, Granny Trill and Granny Wallon and shelter a young army deserter hiding in the woods until his capture. At school Loll and his classmates are terrorized by the formidable teacher Crabby until hulking Spadge Hopkins literally puts her in her place. Far more important to Loll’s schooldays are the captivating Burdock sisters, Jo and Rosie, and, as he grows into adolescence and beyond, eventually leaving home to seek his fortune, he samples the delights of cider with Rosie.

From Acorn TV:

This beautifully shot, elegiac drama is a coming-of-age story set in a remote English valley post-WWI. Raised by his kindly mother (Samantha Morton, In America) among a pack of siblings, Laurie Lee experiences the wonders of love and friendship but also the brutality of loss and death. “Brilliant performances underpin a lyrical, languid, and poetic adaptation [of Lee’s memoir]” -The Telegraph.

From Wikipedia:

Cider with Rosie is a 1959 book by Laurie Lee (published in the US as Edge of Day: Boyhood in the West of England, 1960). It is the first book of a trilogy that continues with As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning (1969) and A Moment of War (1991). It has sold over six million copies worldwide.

From Acorn TV you can stream this heart-warming 89 minute film.

Annie Lee, the mother, is played by Samantha Morton (Alpha in the 2019 The Walking Dead).  Granny Trill is played by Annette Crosbie (Clarice Millgrove in  Call the Midwife) whose face was immediately familiar to me even though at the time of filming she was 81 years old.

If you want a beautiful yet sad-at-times reproduction of WWI life in rural England from a century ago, DO NOT MISS!