A review of the classic 1992 film”Howards End”
November 3rd, 2026 by Roger Darlington
Following the success of “A Room With A View” (1985) and “Maurice” (1987), this was the third adaptation of a novel by E M Forster – a quintessentially English tale – by the talented trio, director James Ivory (American), producer Ismail Merchant (Indian) and writer Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (British-American). Set in Edwardian Britain, on the surface, it is a kind of “Sense And Sensibility”, following the fortunes of two sisters from an intellectual Anglo-German bourgeois family: Margaret Schlegel (sense), played by Emma Thompson, and younger sibling Helen Schlegel (sensibility), portrayed by Helena Bonham Carter. One marries a rich businessman (Anthony Hopkins), while the other falls for a lowly clerk (Samuel West). The starry cast includes a smaller role for Vanessa Redgrave as the owner of the titular property.
The film is a sharp observation of the appalling inequalities of the time when great wealth could be accrued by a few, while job insecurity was the norm for so many, and class relations were so divisive. The costumes and the carriages are so evocative of this age at the turn of the 20th century. Ivory, Merchant and Jhabvala invite us to consider how much has really changed. This is one of those movies that achieved multiple nominations (nine at the Academy Awards and 11 at the BAFTAs) but won many fewer actual awards (three and two respectively), perhaps an indication of the overall quality of the work but a reason why it is not better remembered.
Footnote: Howards End does not exist. In the book, Forster based his description on a house in the hamlet of Rooks Nest in Hertfordshire, his childhood home from 1883 to 1893. In the film, the location is Peppard Cottage in Rotherfield Peppard, Oxfordshire. In both works, a recurrent theme is who will eventually own the property which acts a symbol for England’s social future.
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A review of the 1974 classic film”Chinatown”
November 2nd, 2026 by Roger Darlington
The sprawling metropolis of Los Angeles is located in a liminal stretch between the sea-water ocean and the bone-dry desert, so fresh water was always going to be an issue, and the beginning of the 20th century was the height of the so-called California water wars centred on Owens Valley. That conflict was the inspiration for this mystery film – effectively a film noir in colour – brilliantly directed by Roman Polanski, the last film he made in the United States before fleeing the country’s criminal justice system.
Jack Nicholson is outstanding as the sardonic private investigator J. J. “Jake” Gittes, a man with a nose for trouble who is confronted with a palimsest of deceit and lies which he has to strip away layer by layer. There are excellent performances too from Faye Dunaway and John Huston as respectively a kind of femme fatale with her own secrets and her father who is the controlling force behind the mystery and murder. Look out for a cameo from the director.
The tightly-plotted and constantly witty script was crafted by Robert Towne and it is widely considered one of the greatest screenplays ever written. Gittes started his law enforcement career in the Chinatown district of the city where he found that “You can’t always tell what’s going on” and the film ends back in this corner of town where, distraught by what he has just witnessed, he is advised: “Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.” Famously, the bleak ending is that of Polanski rather than Towne.
Both at the Academy Awards and at the BAFTAs, the picture received 11 nominations – a clear sign of the overall quality of the production – although it won very few. A sequel, “The Two Jakes”, was released in 1990 but had much less success.
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Half a billion people lifted out of absolute poverty
November 1st, 2026 by Roger Darlington
According to the latest poverty assessment by the World Bank, released in October 2026, India’s extreme poverty rate has dropped to just 2.6% of the population, compared with 27.1% in 2011. That is 496 million – or half a billion – people who have better lives.
This is good news – but have you seen it making headlines? This is another example of my proposition that most news is bad because that it what makes news newsworthy.
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How much does the news really matter?
October 29th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
How often have you heard someone say: “All the news is bad. It’s so depressing.” What we have to realise that it is an essential feature of the news that most of the news has to be bad; otherwise it’s not news. What do I mean?
Consider these alternative headlines:
Five people were killed today in a crash on the M1. Fewer people than average were killed on British roads today. [The average death toll is four a day.] Which is news?
More illegal immigrants arrived in Britain on boats today than on any day in several months. The number of migrants crossing the Channel on boats so far this year is 40% less than for the same period last year. [The percentage figure comes from official Home Office statistics.] Which is news?
The death rates for gallbladder, eye, liver and kidney cancers are all rising. Over the past decade, the overall cancer rate has fallen by approximately 11%. [All this information is from Cancer Research UK.] Which is news?
The British Prime Minister said something sensible today. The American President said something outrageous today. Which is news?
So, by all means read, watch and listen to the news, but recognise that it’s not the whole story and often it’s not the main story. By its very nature, most reported news is going to be bad while much unreported news is good. Headlines will usually be bad but so many trendlines are good.
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A review of the new children’s film “Wildwood”
October 27th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
Promoted as “from the hands that made Coraline”, a children’s movie noted for being particularly scary, my 10 year old granddaughter was worried that she would be “traumatised” by “Wildwood”. I assured her that it was rated 12A and I was the A and, in the end, she loved it and determined that she would now see “Coraline”.
“Wildwood” itself is quite simply one of the best children’s films that I’ve ever seen and it is destined to be a classic of the genre. It is a brilliant combination of stunning stop-motion animation and powerful story telling.
The production features 136 sets and 231 practical puppets. Facial animation was created digitally and then 3D printed and finally added frame by frame to the puppets with as many as 24 printed faces per puppet per one second of film. Special attention was devoted to the creation of a murder of crows in scenes playing homage to the Alfred Hitchcock film “The Birds”.
Based on a novel, the story is that of a teenage girl named Prue (voiced by young Peyton Elizabeth Lee) who ventures into an enchanted forest in search of her infant brother after he is abducted. This strange, new world is ruled by Alexandra (Cary Mulligan), a mysterious woman who tragically lost her son. It all ends with the mother all battles involving all kinds of anthropomorphic animals.
The whole thing is the creation of Portland, Oregon: it is based on a book written and illustrated by two local creatives, the production company Laika is located in the city, and the sets and characters are both inspired by the city.
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A review of the classic Swedish 1957 film “The Seventh Seal”
October 25th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
This black and white treatise on death and belief, written and directed by the Swedish Ingmar Bergman, was described by David Thomson, in his compendium “Have You Seen …”, as “one of the most important pictures in the history of international cinema”.
It follows the final days of the 14th century knight, Antonius Block, returning from ten years struggle in the Crusades to find the Black Death scything through his homeland. The tall, blond-haired, good-looking star is Max von Sydow who eventually appeared in 11 films directed by Bergman. Although the work deals with hugely serious issues, it is not without playfulness, provided especially by a troupe of travelling performers, one of whom is played by Bibi Anderson with whom Bergman had an affair while on his third marriage.
I once did a course on Film Moments at London’s City Literary Institute and this classic film features two of the most famous images in the history of cinema. At the beginning, we find the knight endeavouring to postpone his ending by challenging Death, white-faced and black-cowled, to a game of chess, played in the liminal space between land and sea and between life and death. At the end, we see, on the crest of a distant hill, a line of cavorting figures being led away in a Dance of Death.
Bergman grew up in a deeply religious household headed by his father who was a Lutheran minister and, at the time he made “The Seventh Seal” – a reference to the Book of Revelation in the New Testament – the director was wrestling intensely with whether God existed and whether faith could give life meaning.
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Did you know that there was a typographical error at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC?
October 22nd, 2026 by Roger Darlington
Here’s what happened:
The mistake: In Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, engraved on the memorial’s north interior wall, the word “FUTURE” was accidentally carved as “EUTURE.”
The correction: The engraver, Ernest C. Bairstow, had mistakenly carved an “E” instead of an “F.” The extra horizontal stroke was filled in to correct the letter.
Why you can still see it: The repair remains faintly visible in the marble, so visitors who know where to look can spot the evidence of the original mistake.
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A review of the important new film “The Social Reckoning”
October 21st, 2026 by Roger Darlington
In 2010, we had “The Social Network”, an excellent film written by Aaron Sorkin (of “The West Wing” fame) and directed by David Fincher. That picture covered the period 2003-2009 and showed the creation and early growth of Facebook in spite of some legal disputes. “The Social Reckoning” is a kind of sequel and this time Sorkin is writer, co-producer and director. The story in this movie is focused on the period 2019-2021 and describes how the explosive growth of Facebook has been achieved through algorithms which promote engagement and division and have seriously harmed our society and many individuals.
The original film was dominated by male characters, whereas the central role this time taken by Facebook data engineer, so-called “Cassandra” and ultimately whistleblower Frances Haugen, played by Mikey Madison who was so good in “Anora”. She works with “Wall Street Journal” investigative reporter Jeff Horwitz (Jeremy Allen White) to the consternation of Facebook founder and “free-speech absolutist” Mark Zuckerberg (this time portrayed by Jeremy Strong (rather than Jesse Eisenberg). As cinema, “… Reckoning” does not have quite the verve and excitement of “.. Network” but, as politics, this is an even more important story which legislators, regulators and judges still have to work out as social media continues to undermine our democracy and blight so many lives.
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Our four islands holiday (11): conclusion
October 20th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
Next day was very much a travelling day as we started our return home.
Leaving our hotel at Gili Trawangan about 9.45 am, we took a horse and cart to the ferry terminal where we were in such good time for our ship that we were able to have a coffee and pastry at nearby cafe cum boulangerie called “Kayu”. In fact, the departure of the ferry, operated by Blue Water Express, was not at the scheduled 11.20 am but at the later 12.05 pm.
We headed east and made quick stops at Gili Air and the Bangsai port of Lombok, before we turned west and made for Bali. For a lot of the trip, the boat crashed up and down and rolled left and right and it became clear why sick bags were standard issue. However, as well reading more of the history of Indonesia, I was able to deploy my famed skill in sleeping anywhere at any time.
At eastern Bali, there was a stop at Pandang Bai, where Tess and I had departed the island three days previously, and then we continued round the bottom of the island to Serangan in south Bali before disembarking just after 5 pm – a sea journey of five hours.
We still had to retrieve our luggage and take an arranged car to our hotel, Tony’s Villa & Resort at the town of Seminyak – the sixth and last accommodation of our holiday. It was 6.20 pm when we checked into the hotel, almost nine hours after we had left our hotel on Gili T. We were tired, but happy to receive a room upgrade and free mojitos and to see a performance of Balinese dance as we ate dinner.
Next day, Tess and I just chilled at the hotel until it was time to go Bali’s airport. Late that evening, we made the two-hour and a bit flight from Bali to Singapore and then, travelling through the night, a 13-hour flight from Singapore to London Heathrow. There is a seven hours time difference between Bali/Singapore and the UK, so we arrived back at the London flat at 10.30 am local time. Door (the Bali hotel) to door (our flat), the return home was a bit over 25 hours.
A few reflections …
It was a trip of such varied locations: the ultra- modernism of Singapore, the emerging modernity of Jakarta, the ancient surroundings of Yogayarta, the lush vegetation of Bali, and the sun-kissed beaches of Gili.
For me, highlights were the Cloud Forest in Singapore, that bike ride in Bali, and snorkelling in the Gili islands. For Tess, highlights were the UNESCO World Heritage sires at Borobudur and Prambanan.
Logistically, it was not an easy trip because we had no overall guide and no fellow travellers, but miraculously every connection with the next transport and the next guide worked throughout the holiday. Indonesians welcome tourists and were unfailingly helpful and kind.
But we met very few British tourists in Indonesia. Those who go to the country tend to be young people visiting southern Bali for the sun and the sea. Our holiday was very different, but immensely worthwhile, because we had such diverse experiences and learned so much about Indonesian people and their culture.
They take pride in the way in which so many different ethnic, linguistic and religious groups live together in tolerance and harmony but, as I learned from reading a history of the country, in the late 1990s at least half a million died in an orgy of bloodletting. As we have seen around the world, racial tensions can erupt so quickly and so fiercely. That is a special challenge for this immensely diverse nation.
Western media rarely covers events in Indonesia unless it is a bomb or a tsunami, but it is a nation on the rise in geopolitical terms. Already the fourth most populous country on the planet, living standards are rising and democratic values are improving. We will all be hearing more about Indonesia.
To finish on a personal note …
Time and time again, local people would look at us: two people in their 70s showing obvious affection to one another. They would gently ask: “How long you been married?” Tess wound delight in declaring “Six months” – and then watching their faces.
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Our four islands holiday (10): Lombok
October 14th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
After visiting two of the main islands of Indonesia – Java and Bali – we headed to our third and last island of this amazing archipelago: Lombok.
Lombok is an island to the east of Bali and the west of Sumbawa with a population of 4M. Its nickname is “the island of a thousand mosques”. It is surrounded by many smaller offshore islands locally called Gili. The most popular of these smaller islands with tourists are called Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno and Gili Air. The largest of these is Gili Trawangan (known as Gili T) where we would be staying.
We were collected from Kauara Bali at 10 am and it was a mere half an hour drive to the port at Padang Bai. Our ferry was operated by Ekajaya (motto: “From waves to wonders”).
The sailing from Bali to Lombok took us across the Wallace Line, a faunal boundary line drawn in 1859 by the British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace. To the west of the line are found organisms related to Asiatic species; to the east, a mixture of species of Asian and Australian origins is present.
It took us only two hours to reach Gili Trawangan where there are no cars and a horse-drawn carriage was arranged for us. Apparently the east of the island is where all the partygoers stay and we were accommodated on the west coast at a hotel called Aston Sunset Beach Resort.
On our first full day on Gili T, Tess and I really chilled. It was 11.30 am before we ventured out of the hotel and all we did was have an exploratory walk.
We strolled south, stopping for brunch at a place called “Cremoso Gourmet”. Afterwards we continued to the bottom of the island and curved northwards, stopping for a cold drink. Finally, we turned inland and, passing so many local homes of poor standard, meandered across the island back to the west side.
This last stretch took an hour in heat of around 30C, but Tess did not complain. Afterwards I had sunburn on the back of my legs. At our hotel, we had another cold drink and I added a crème brûlée, before we were back in our room at 4.20 pm. We ate dinner on the hotel beach. We had eaten very little today and we both had steak and chips – our first western food for two weeks.
Our second full day accommodated on Gili T was largely spent off the island because we had booked a snorkelling trip which took us to the nearby islands of Gili Meno and Gili Air.
For me, this was the third occasion of snorkelling, following experiences in Australia (2013) and Sri Lanka (2017). But, for Tess, it was the first time and she showed real fortitude in tackling a new endeavour that does come naturally.
The snorkelling only cost us 500,000 RP (£21), which included use of fins and mask, but we had to make our own way from the hotel to the harbour and back by horse and cart, which was another 300,000 RP (£13), and pay for our lunch. Really, it was incredible value for a day of new experiences.
We left the hotel at 8.45 am and travelled to the harbour to select the right-sized fins. On board, we were all given our standard masks and those who wanted them – Tess and I played safe – appropriately-sized life jackets. We cast off at 9.45 am. Our vessel was called “Coral Voice” and took about 25 tourists plus a crew of three.
We sailed over to the west side of Gili Meno where we had out first snorkelling session, a kind of training exercise and therefore short in duration. There was supposed to be a statue under the water and Tess reckoned that she saw it. All I observed were tropical fish. Apparently there is a sculpture called Nest fracturing no less than 48 human figures standing in a circle.
Next we powered round to the east side of Gili Meno and visited a location called Turtle Point. On the island itself, we saw baby turtles in three large tanks waiting to grow sufficiently to be released into the world. Off the point, we had our second snorkelling session which – not always the case – enabled us to see a couple of fully-grown turtles posturing for the tourists.
The third and final snorkelling session was over at the island of Gili Air off its eastern coast. For Tess. This was the worse session: while trying to leave the boat in ungainly flippers, she slipped back and fell inside the boat, deciding to stay on board. For me, it was the best session: there was lots of coral, not very coloured but a multitude of bizarre shapes. When leaving the area and kicking away, I managed to cut his left leg on some sharp coral but the damage was minor.
Finally, we circled round to the south side of Gili Air where we disembarked for lunch of our choice. It was glorious to sit on the beach but in the shade, looking out at a misty blue sky and deep turquoise sea with bouncing boats. We were back at Gili T at 2 pm and at our hotel half an hour later, exhausted but elated.
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