The end of the Irish Civil War

There was no agreed or negotiated peace to end the civil war; no church bells pealed to celebrate its conclusion and there were no grand gestures of reconciliation. De Valera proclaimed to the 'Soldiers of the Republic, Legion of the Rearguard: The Republic can no longer be defended successfully by your arms. Further sacrifice of life would now be in vain ... military victory must be allowed to rest for the moment with those who have destroyed the Republic. Other means must be found to safeguard the nation's right.' That exhausted legion, though still defiant, just 'hid their arms and went home' [...]

How many died overall during the war? There has been no definitive answer. Estimates have varied too widely, from 1200 to 4000. It is likely more National Army soldiers were killed than republicans, but there is no conclusive figure. Some have settled on the assertion 'less than 1500' and sought to compare that to Finland's civil war dead of perhaps 36,000, of whom 8700 were killed in battle and the remainder of whom were executed or died in prison camps. County studies have suggested 220 civil war fatalities in Cork, 170 in Kerry, 130 in Tipperary and 258 in Dublin, the most violent counties. An overall estimate of 730 National Army and 350 IRA dead would seem reasonable; that does not tally exactly with figures given by the government in 1924 (800 National Army), or by the IRA that decade (400), but is not far off. Up to 200 civilians were also killed. The financial cost has been estimated at £47 million (about £2.7 billion today); such was the scale of the infrastructural damage that £10 million of £26.5 million spent on public services in 1922-3 was devoted to security and reconstruction.

- Diarmaid Ferriter, Between Two Hells: The Irish Civil War, London, 2021, p.119-121

See also:

History: Brugha's bulwark, 18 May 2018

Comedy: The Irish police force, 30 November 2014 

Blog: Ireland, 5 June 2010

The longer one plays cricket, the more there is to know about it

A Message From W. A. Hadlee

I am grateful to the Editor for an opportunity to express the gratitude of those seventeen New Zealanders lucky enough to tour Great Britain in 1949. To the administrators, players, cricket writers, and our many friends, both in Great Britain and in Germany, where B.A.O.R. were such grand hosts, we say "thank you" for the grand tour provided for us. 

We came to England very well aware of our limitations - and we have returned to our small Dominion still knowing that the longer one plays cricket, the more there is to know about it. For example, we learnt that it pays to have infinite respect for a piece of turf known by some as the wicket, but better named the pitch, whose moods can vary, like those of a spoiled child.

Even under apparently unchanging conditions, pitches throughout our tour underwent sudden changes, perhaps encouraging the spin bowler for half an hour, and then spurning his most strenuous efforts to turn the ball. We were of the opinion that although wickets occasionally broke up on the third day, they generally lost their "bite" and played more slowly as the match progressed. 

Much discussion takes place upon the relative merits of cricketers of this generation compared with some previous generation. One thing is certain - that in this generation Denis Compton and Len Hutton must be reckoned as great players by any standards. Those of us who had toured England in 1937 would, I think, agree that counties lack the all-rounders of the earlier period - and it is generally agreed that there is urgent need for fast bowlers. To bring on the latter, it is important that wickets should be made faster.

But there is nothing basically wrong with English cricket. As club cricketers, we did think we saw the need for two-day club matches played on a competitive basis, or the provision of some channel through which the Saturday afternoon player could appear in first-class matches. Perhaps a club conference side in the County Championship would be helpful. But these, no doubt, are matter which have been considered from time to time and are purely domestic problems.

As visitors, and guests, in our Motherland, we came to know that there is nothing amiss with this great Game which provided so much enjoyment for so many players and spectators alike. May it always be preserved as the traditional sport in Britain, for as such it will continue to strengthen the strong ties of fellowship within the Empire.

- Walter Hadlee, in Playfair Cricket Annual 1950, p.46.

The joy I've named shall not be tamed

Thursday music corner: Influential proto-punk singer-songwriter Jonathan Richman (b. Boston, 1951) has been releasing music since 1976, first with his band the Modern Lovers, and then as a solo artist since 1989. He has released over 40 albums in that time, and has had three top 40 singles in the UK charts during the peak of the punk era: Roadrunner (which reached number 11) and Egyptian Reggae (which reached number 5), both in 1977, and Morning Of Our Lives, which reached number 29 the following year. 

The wistful That Summer Feeling appeared as the opening track on Richman and the Modern Lovers' 1983 album Jonathan Sings!, which received praise from critics in both the Village Voice and the NME. Richman also recorded a longer version of the song on his 1992 album I, Jonathan.

Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers - That Summer Feeling (1983)  

See also:

Music: Velvet Underground - Sister Ray (1968)

Music: The Rubinoos - I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend (1979)

Music: Earl Zero - None Shall Escape the Judgement (1980)

The perils of being an opinionated unpaid teenage film reviewer

Because the space for actual writing was at the mercy of advertisers, the paper regularly chopped the last paragraph off my column and called it editing. Brutal. 

It was a review of The Preacher's Wife, starring Denzel Washington and Whitney Houston, that got me fired. FIRED! I wrote quite a scathing review of Ms Houston, confident that she wouldn't be passing through Jarrow any time soon to see it. The film was awful, she was awful; I was funny about it but I was also awful. The editor, who I'd never met, wrote me a damning letter. He said my 'vitriolic diatribe' against the lead actor meant that I would not 'attract a fee' for this review. Neither would he be printing it. Firstly, I looked up both 'vitriolic' and 'diatribe' in my dictionary. Then I replied that none of my reviews attracted a fee and that he should know that. I suggested he try 'editing, for that is your job' and told him that, as I would not change my opinion, he was free to take it or leave it. He left it. And asked for my press pass to be sent back to him immediately. I cut it up into tiny bits and posted it back so he'd have to piece it together to see what it was. He was clearly a MASSIVE Whitney fan. Me too - just not in that piece of shit.

- Sarah Millican, How to be Champion, London, 2017, p.70

Whack

Australian import Laura Harris, in her first T20 game for Wellington, turns the match with her 67 not out off 27 balls. Her 108-run partnership with fellow Australian import and Wellington debutant Charli Knott (51 off 24) was a T20 record for Wellington, which defeated Canterbury by a whopping 114 runs.

Men debate the prettiest ankles in all of Europe

The Prettiest Ankles.

A man who has travelled in every part of Europe expressed the opinion that the prettiest ankles are to be found in Genoa, and the least shapely in Prague. “In Italy you do not find the atrocity of the silk stocking with a cotton foot and top,” he observed. “Englishwomen spoil the appearance of their usually pretty feet not by the shoes they wear, which are in excellent taste, but because they will not pay the price for all-silk stockings. They wear stockings with horrible patches appearing above the ankles, thus destroying completely the beauty of the foot. In Italy, and especially in Genoa, women wear good stockings, dainty high-heeled shoes, in which they look charming. In Prague, where German customs survive, women wear light-coloured woollen stockings on legs that ought to be made as inconspicuous as possible.” A shoemaker stated that whereas several years ago the shoe most constantly in demand was a five, it is now a six, or a six and a half. Sevens are frequently asked for. Mr. Edouard van Waeyenberge, writing in a London paper from Weston-super-Mare, suggests that Englishwomen have the slimmest ankles in the world. ‘I wandered about France for ten years,” he writes. “I visited Arles, which has a great reputation among artists for beautiful women. I have seen more beautiful ankles among Englishwomen than ever I saw on the Continent.” “Where is the traveller, who after wandering about England, does not admit that there are here too many beautiful women for one’s peace of mind?” An artist pointed out to the same paper that slim ankles have not always been the artist’s ideal of beauty. “Go in to the sculpture section of the British Museum and look at Aphrodite entering her bath.” he said. “A beautiful figure, assuredly. But slim ankles? No! In this case the ankles are decidedly thick and shapeless. In Greek and Roman sculpture the feet are often concealed by draperies; but where they are revealed it is rare to find an ankle which, while in proportion, is also slim and shapely, as we understand shapeliness to-day".

- 'Woman's World' column, Dominion, 22 January 1923, p.2

You'll try to figure out what life would be without her

Thursday music corner: Stockholm-born singer-songwriter Stina Nordenstam (b.1969) has released six albums, starting with 1991's Memories of a Colour and, most recently, 2004's The World is Saved. She has released nine singles in her own right, and also guested with Vangelis on his 1996 track Ask the Mountains, and with Yello on their 1997 song To The Sea. 

The ethereal When Debbie's Back From Texas is the opening track of Nordenstam's second album, And She Closed Her Eyes (1994). The album reached number 5 in the Swedish charts, and spawned two singles: Little Star (which featured on Baz Luhrman's Romeo + Juliet soundtrack) and Something Nice. 

In February 2014 Nordenstam was among the first members inducted into the Swedish Music Hall of Fame, alongside others including Abba and Roxette.

Stina Nordenstam - When Debbie's Back From Texas (1994) 

Neither men nor laws could resist them

Lady Mary rejects the advances of Pope,
from the Auckland City Art Gallery, 1852 (link) 

Here is no news to be sent you from this place, which has been for this fortnight and still continues overwhelmed with politicks, and which are of so mysterious a nature, one ought to have some of the gifts of Lilly or Partridge to be able to write about them; and I leave all those dissertations to those distinguished mortals who are endowed with the talent of divination; though I am at present the only one of my sex who seems to be of that opinion, the ladies having shewn their zeal and appetite for knowledge in a most glorious manner. At the last warm debate in the House of Lords, it was unanimously resolved there should be no crowd of unnecessary auditors; consequently the fair sex were excluded, and the gallery destined to the sole use of the House of Commons. Notwithstanding which determination, a tribe of dames resolved to shew on this occasion, that neither men nor laws could resist them. These heroines were Lady Huntingdon, the Duchess of Queensbury, the Duchess of Ancaster, Lady Westmoreland, nor Lady Cobham, Lady Charlotte Edwin, Lady Archibald Hamilton and her daughter, Mrs Scott, and Mrs Pendarvis, and Lady Frances Saunderson. I am thus particular in their names since I look upon them to be the boldest assertors, and most resigned sufferers for liberty, I ever read of. They presented themselves at the door at nine o'clock in the morning, where Sir William Saunderson [in the role of Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod] respectfully informed them the [Lord] Chancellor had made an order against their admittance. The Duchess of Queensbury, as head of the squadron, pished at the ill-breeding of a mere lawyer, and desired him to let them up stairs privately. After some modest refusals he swore by G-- he would not let them in. Her grace, with a noble warmth, answered, by G-- they would come in, in spite of the Chancellor and the whole House. This being reported, the Peers resolved to starve them out; an order was made that the doors should not be opened till they had raised their siege.

These Amazons now shewed themselves qualified for the duty even of foot-soldiers; they stood there till five in the afternoon, without either sustenance or evacuation, every now and then playing vollies of thumps, kicks, and raps, against the door, with so much violence that the speakers in the House were scarce heard. When the Lords were not to be conquered by this, the two Duchesses (very well apprized of the use of stratagems in war) commanded a dead silence of half an hour; and the Chancellor, who thought this a certain proof of their absence, (the Commons also being very impatient to enter) gave order for the opening of the door; upon which they all rushed in, pushed aside their competitors, and placed themselves in the front rows of the gallery. They stayed there till after eleven, when the House rose; and during the debate gave applause, and showed marks of dislike, not only by smiles and winks (which have always been allowed in these cases), but by noisy laughs and apparent contempts, which is supposed the true reason why poor Lord Hervey spoke miserably. I beg your pardon, dear madam, for this long relation; but 'tis impossible to be short on so copious a subject; and you must own this action very well worthy of record, and I think not to be paralleled in any history, ancient or modern. I look so little in my own eyes (who was at that time ingloriously sitting over a tea-table), I hardly dare subscribe myself even.

- Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, letter to Lady Pomfret, March 1739, in The Oxford Book of Letters, F & A Kermode (eds.), Oxford, 1995, p.66-67.

You know what I mean

Thursday music corner: Jeff Beck, who died in East Sussex aged 78 on Tuesday, was one of his generation's finest guitarists, whether with the Yardbirds, solo, or performing with many other artists. His work was hugely influential across multiple decades. Alex Petridis writes of his innovation, his technical prowess, his eclecticism, and, most of all, the undying respect of his peers:

His influence spanned generations. Brian May, David Gilmour, Slash and The Edge all attested to being inspired by Beck. Metallica’s Kirk Hammett claimed he learned guitar by playing along to the Jeff Beck Group’s Let Me Love You. The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ John Frusciante recalled listening to Truth as a kid and marvelling at Beck “pulling all these sounds out of the guitar … I didn’t know where they were coming from”. Even Eric Clapton, whose departure from the Yardbirds had kickstarted Beck’s career, marvelled at his replacement, “the most unique guitarist, and the most devoted”.

Beck was never a chart-topper in the pop scene. His four UK hit singles didn't graze the top 10, but include the jaunty perennial favourite Hi Ho Silver Lining, a top 20 UK hit in both March 1967 and November 1972. His peak of solo commercial popularity came with two albums that went Platinum in America: Blow By Blow (1975), which hit no.4 in the US album charts, and Wired (1976), which reached no.16.  

Co-written by Beck and keyboardist Max Middleton, You Know What I Mean is the opening track from the all-instrumental, George Martin-produced jazz-rock-fusion Blow By Blow.

Jeff Beck - You Know What I Mean (1975) 

The American porch visit shines with civility

Porch society is described by Gaylord Gibbon in his Etiquette Along the Mississippi (p. 28), a book not found in our house but it applied to us anyway:

The backyard is for privacy. Only people walking in the alley will bother you, and they're the sort who would anyway. The porch is sociable, but certain rules apply:

• Even if you're screened from public view, it's polite to call out hello to passers-by you know. It's up to them to stop or not. It's up to you to invite them in or not. The porch is a room of your house, not part of the yard. Only peddlers or certain ministers would barge right in. 
• If you say, "Why don't you come up and sit for a bit?," it is customary for them to decline politely. If the invite was legit, it should then be repeated. 
• An invite to the porch is not an invite to the house. Its terms are limited to a brief visit on the porch, no refreshments necessarily provided unless the occupants have such at hand.
• When the host stands up and stretches or says, "Well --," the visitor should need no further signal that the visit has ended. Only an oaf would remain longer. If the host says, "You don't have to run, do you?," this is not a question but a pleasantry.

Humankind knows no finer amenity than the screened porch. It is the temple of family life, and the sacred preserve of the luxurious custom known as "visiting." Compare it to the barbarity of the "business lunch," the hideous conversational burden of the cocktail party, and the prison that is the formal dinner, the porch visit shines with civility.

- Garrison Keillor, Lake Wobegon Days, New York, 1985, p.131-2.

See also:

Blog: The importance of movies to Gopher Prairie, 6 October 2022    

Blog: The presidential art of handshaking, 18 August 2018 

Blog: A legal genius at work, 11 March 2013

Last vestiges

Karori Rd, Marsden Village

 

Strung out on lasers and slash back blazers

Thursday music corner: Brett Morgen's 2022 David Bowie documentary Moonage Daydream includes an inventive and intriguing soundtrack of obscure alternative versions plus modern remixes handled in a sensitive and creative fashion, as befitting the stature of Bowie's work. 

To commemorate what would've been Bowie's 76th birthday this Sunday, here's the ludicrously incendiary Hammersmith Odeon 3 July 1973 live medley of The Jean Genie from Aladdin Sane married with the Beatles' Love Me Do, supported by the prodigious guitar talent of Jeff Beck (as if Mick Ronson wasn't quite enough!). This was the famous final show of the Aladdin Sane tour, which concluded with Bowie's shocking denouement, 'Of all the shows on this tour, this particular show will remain with us the longest, because not only is it the last show of the tour, but it's the last show that we'll ever do', as he 'killed off' his Ziggy Stardust persona and entered the next phase of his music career.

David Bowie - The Jean Genie / Love Me Do (live medley feat. Jeff Beck, 1973)

My top 10 films of 2022

Another cinematic year completed, and another 262 films watched - coincidentally, a total identical to last year. That's nearly 432 hours' worth, and an average of five films per week. Only 17 of this year's films were 2022 releases, but while it's true I've not been to see new releases as much this year, it's also in part due to personal preference, as I've intentionally watched more old films, usually at home. Over 88 percent of the films I saw in 2022 were first-time views for me.

The directors I watched most often are similar to last year, which shows the influence of the excellent French collections of film streaming site Mubi. The runaway winner this year was Eric Rohmer, whose frothy, witty romances were a pleasant highlight, particularly the 'four seasons' pairing of  A Summer's Tale (1996) and An Autumn's Tale (1998). In 2022 I saw nine of Rohmer's films, spanning five decades from 1954's Bérénice to An Autumn's Tale; he made his last feature in 2007 at the age of 88. 

I followed last year's top director (10 films by Agnes Varda) by seeing a further five Varda titles in 2022, the highlight being 1985's peerless Vagabond. Five Billy Wilder films, all first-time watches for me, ranged from the middling Bad Seed (1934) to the solid war film Five Graves to Cairo (1943), to the classic noir of Double Indemnity (1944) and the Hogan's Heroes and The Great Escape-inspiring Stalag 17 (1953), for which William Holden won the Best Actor Oscar. A new find this year, again thanks to Mubi, was English short-film director John Smith, whose compact narratives are full of whimsy and social commentary. I also expanded my Francois Truffaut catalogue from the two obvious front-runners (The 400 Blows and Jules et Jim), and finally watched Ingmar Bergman's superb films for the first time, with The Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries (both 1957 - two greats in one year!) being the standouts.  

In terms of lead actors, this year Burt Lancaster, Tom Cruise and Sigourney Weaver came out on top. I saw seven Lancaster films for the first time in 2022, with Robert Siodmak's postwar noir The Killers (1946) being by far the best. Mr Cruise featured thanks to my first-time viewing of the Mission Impossible films, plus the bravura Hollywood showcase of Top Gun: Maverick. Sigourney Weaver was chiefly due to the four Alien movies, the two Avatar films, plus a first-time viewing of Galaxy Quest, featuring a lacklustre lead male performance by Tim Allen. And there were six first-watches of James Stewart films too, ranging from the daft and somewhat forgettable Pot O' Gold (1941), about which Stewart has little good to say, to the Civil War western Shenandoah (1965). It was also great to see plenty of the ever-intriguing Tilda Swinton this year, with the highlight being Joanna Hogg's The Souvenir (2019).

And here's my top 10 films for the year - which, due to the NZ release cycle, includes 2021 films first viewed in 2022.

1. Moonage Daydream (dir. Brett Morgen, US)

I'm always a sucker for a compelling music documentary, and Moonage Daydream was perfectly targeted to my interests, given my decades-long fascination with David Bowie. There are several delightful moments in Brett Morgen's expertly-assembled Bowie documentary in which the subject is being quizzed by earnest, well-meaning interlocutors - including Russell Harty and the LA limo backseat chats with Alan Yentob that formed the Cracked Actor telefilm - in which they offer up plausible explanations for Bowie's art and motivations, and he acquiesces entirely, agreeing that they've cut to the quick of his inner self. It may even have been true at the time, but the overwhelming sense of this film is that during the marvelous decade or so from his glam explosion through to blockbuster stadium rock royalty with his 1983 EMI contract, Bowie was constantly expanding, re-inventing, and writing his own narrative like few individuals have ever been able to. The doco is best experienced with fine Dolby Atmos ('to be played at maximum volume'), and is replete with constant musical treasures - some expected, but many a rewarding surprise, with the filmmaker using every trick up his sleeve and the many diamonds in the Bowie canon to envisage the man's artistry on the biggest possible canvas.  

2. Top Gun: Maverick (dir. Joseph Kosinski, US)

The real star of this bombastic, ludicrously entertaining production - and I hope a potential Oscar-nominee - is film editor Eddie Hamilton, who also cut Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation and Mission Impossible: Fallout - it's genius work stitching together all those aerial sequences into a thrilling, coherent narrative. But seriously, this is all-round quality action movie filmmaking, offering impossible odds, far-fetched aviation exploits, an audaciously silly (and highly entertaining) final-reel twist, and a scrupulous attention to toning down the rampant sexism and homoeroticism of the original (a bit). While the opening fighter school sequences resort to the same egotistical cliches of the original, it's all to serve the greater plot, and anyone who quibbles over the age of Goose's fighter pilot son is missing the point entirely. 

3. Avatar: The Way of Water (dir. James Cameron, US)

A spectacular success in terms of powerful visual storytelling and action filmmaking, The Way of Water builds on its 2009 predecessor thanks to the simple expedient of having co-writers, which avoids some of the clunking dialogue of the original. The CGI production design is an order more impressive than the already stunning visuals of Avatar, with gleaming high frame-rate action sequences, particularly during the underwater portions. The lengthy runtime won't be for everyone, but in the environs of an 3D IMAX cinema it makes perfect sense, allowing the sumptuous treasure-box of Cameron's imagination full rein to impress the viewer. The final act's multi-layered Götterdämmerung may exhaust some of the more sensitive viewers, but it allows the director every opportunity to smash things together, topple them over, submerge them and cause them to explode and/or be monstered by angry alien whale-things. 

4. Licorice Pizza (dir. Paul Thomas Anderson, US)

Paul Thomas Anderson's personal vision offers up a reverie of warm nostalgia for the Los Angeles of his youth, when for a confident teenager anything seemed possible, even getting to hang out with an intriguing 25-year-old woman with time on her hands. While the film lacks the clear narrative arc of Anderson's best work, it benefits from strong and believable characters, expertly portrayed by newcomers Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman. The casting is crucial, because Hoffman's unfeasible charm has to be convincing enough to break down the audience's disbelief that Haim would be deigning to associate with this spotty youth, let alone enter his life as fully and wholeheartedly as the film depicts. And Haim's dead-end job and stuck-at-home life perfectly justify there being a Hoffman-sized hole in her existence, despite the age difference. Haim should've been nominated for an Oscar for this role. As always with Anderson, there's a marvelous supporting cast of names (Sean Penn, Bradley Cooper) and relative unknowns, but the main thrill is simply seeing a genuine friendship (and more) spiralling through teenage adventures and suburban scrapes. In Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood the nostalgia for 1969 LA felt like a well-crafted simulation; for Anderson the exercise is joyous coming-of-age wish fulfilment at its finest.

5. The Northman (dir. Robert Eggers, US)

I enjoyed The Northman but can see why it wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea. It effectively conveys the unhinged mystical madness of Icelandic revenge sagas, which at times makes for challenging, confronting viewing. Very bloody and grim, which is authentic, and in a way, a breath of fresh air after the sanitised derring-do of so many TV Viking outings. Superb cinematography from Director of Photography Jarin Blaschke (The Witch, The Lighthouse), who savours the brutal and jagged Icelandic vistas. Good performances across the board from its talented cast. And of course if you want to cast a Norse witch then Bjork is definitely your A1 go-to.

6. Glass Onion (dir. Rian Johnson, US)

A crowd-pleasing murder-mystery confection with a splendid ensemble cast and the near-limitless budget of a cinema-killing streaming service has enabled Rian Johnson to build a deftly-plotted, frequently charming and bitingly satirical whodunnit with the heart of a sitcom. Endearing murder mystery hokum is dialled up to 11 throughout, and while it may perhaps run a little long and at times lose track of the mission at hand, that can certainly be forgiven when it's this entertaining. Great to see Kathryn Hahn and Dave Bautista as always, and the multi-talented Janelle Monae unsurprisingly offers a compelling star turn. It's also nice to see Kate Hudson given a decent role that befits her comedic talents.

7. Petite Maman (dir. Céline Sciamma, France)

A splendid execution of a disarmingly simple premise - a young girl mysteriously travels back in time and befriends her own mother at the same age - Petite Maman's success hinges on its wonderfully natural and unaffected performances of the young leads Joséphine and Gabrielle Sanz. A Hollywood remake would be sure to pile on the pathos and swaddle the narrative in emoting, whereas director Céline Sciamma (Girlhood, My Life as a Courgette, Portrait of a Lady on Fire) opts for a matter-of-fact protagonist who accepts her fantastical situation without a moment's hesitation. The film wisely refrains from attempting to tie the story up with a pretty bow by explaining everything, and instead savours the joyful bond of youthful friendship, with audiences being perfectly able to identify poignant moments without hand-holding. A genuine treat for audiences of all ages.

8. Godland (dir. Hlynur Pálmason, Iceland)

An Icelandic odyssey in which a 19th-century Danish priest treks across the blasted wilderness, enduring Fitzcarraldo-like hardships to build a new church in a remote settlement, where he wins the attention of the local farmer's beautiful daughter - but all is not as it seems. The outsider learns harsh lessons of the Icelandic way of life and how men take the law into their own hands in a land where crime and retribution live on in the spirit of Norse vendettas. The film's visual appeal is considerable, with tremendous cinematography, and its premise - based on real seven wet-plate photographs discovered from the era - is intriguing. My only minor niggle is the use of Academy ratio throughout, when the Icelandic scenery cries out for widescreen treatment.

9. Navalny (dir. Daniel Roher, US)

A compelling slice of high-energy documentary journalism, with lashes of espionage and resistance against the authoritarian Moscow regime, replete with jaw-dropping evidence of state-sponsored attempted murder. The film makes no attempt to explain Alexei Navalny's backstory, and little attempt to unpick his motivations - rather, the filmmakers are unashamedly along for the ride as he wages his quixotic campaign of rebellion against the Kremlin, famously exposing his would-be murderers, and heroically (and/or self-destructively) plunging back into the viper's nest by flying back to certain arrest in Moscow in January 2021.

10. Apollo 10 1/2 (dir. Richard Linklater, US)

A lovingly-created and semi-autographical Linklater rotoscope animation of wild, youthful imagination in the space age. The film's successful blending of the mundanity of childhood family memories, coupled with the flights of fancy of bored youth make for endearing family viewing, and the period detail of Texan life in the 1960s is both well-observed and amusing.  

See also:

Blog: My top 10 films of 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010