What the hell is wrong with the British?
I went to see The History Boys. Looked like an entertaining story about some lower-class kids trying to get into Oxford. Something like the Dead Poets Society with less suicide and funnier accents. Instead I had to sit through a homo-erotic paean to kindly intentioned paeodophilia and the love – in the Humpty Dance sense – between teachers and students.
So I went to see Venus. I knew it would be a bit disconcerting, a tad Lolita-ish. Little did I know that, these days, imagination won’t suffice. Allusion, indication, possibility are all out the window and we have to go for the full monty. Why leave something up to the viewer’s imagination when you can flat out show it on screen? People aren’t nearly intelligent enough to come to their own conclusions!
Despite it all it was a pretty fine little film. I’d just like a bit less heavy-handed exhibitionism and a bit more titillating allusion please.