The Soc Drawer
My Summer of Love
OUFF, Saskatchewan Room, Exeter College, Tuesday 1st November, 8 pm
Batman
OUFF, Saskatchewan Room, Exeter College, Thursday 3rd November, 8 pm
If you go to see My Summer of Love expecting a soft-core exploration of Sapphic desire, you’ll probably be disappointed. If, however, you’re looking for a study of obsessive relationships, one between two women and one between a googlyeyed, born-again Christian and his God, the film’s hallucinatory quality may just blow you away.
In the story of the fanatical love between two girls in Yorkshire thwarted by a zealous brother, writers Helen Cross and Pawel Pawlikowski have borrowed liberally from Wuthering Heights to create a mini-masterpiece, helped by a heart-breaking performance from skinny, lank Natalie Press and an angry portrayal of Christian hypocrisy by Paddy Considine. My Summer of Love definitely deserves a look-in for its trippy account of passion and obsession in a small town.
If My Summer of Love has the qualities of a drug-induced daydream, Tim Burton’s original Batman is an all-out child’s nightmare. Successfully creating a Gothic, otherworldly Gotham City (later destroyed in the campery of Joel Schumacher’s Batman and Robin), visionary director Burton also draws out a classic performance from Jack Nicholson as The Joker.
In truth, whenever Batman’s arch-nemesis is off-screen, the film sags slightly, left with the ever-so bland combination of Michael Keaton as the eponymous caped-crusader and Kim Basinger as the obligatory blonde love interest. But for a night of escapism, you can’t really go wrong with Burton’s dark take on the superhero genre.
27th Oct 2005