Four Letters of Love

 An Irish love story.  

When career civil servant William Coghlan (Pierce Brosnan in brooding mode) finds the sudden inspriation to leave the boring work on his desk in Dublin, and head to the west coast to paint, he leaves his wife (Imelda May) and teenage son Nicholas (Fionn O'Shea) confused, angry and bereft.  His landscapes and seascapes take in the wildness and beauty of the area, including a small island where teenager Isabel Gore (Ann Skelly) is being sent off to convent school on the mainland by parents Muiris (Gabriel Byrne) and Margaret (Helena Bonhan Carter).  

It takes a few deaths, and crossed pathways, but eventually the youngsters will fall in love, after life has erected fences to keep them apart.  So is there forever love or are they doomed to stay apart?

The cinematography is as lush as you'd expect given the wonderful landscapes.  The acting is excellent, notably from Byrne and Carter.  There's a strong 70s period feel, with some great cars of the time making an appearance.  Overall the film has a wonderful ambience.

But the plot is strained, convoluted, confusing.  It relies too heavily on unfounded assupmtions, unlikely coincidences and ridiculous events (including a miracle cure!).  Plus a haeavy dose of sentimentality and schmaltz.

Beautiful, but unsatisfying.

Jon Cleary and the Absolute Monster Gentlemen, Spiegeltent, St Andrew Sq, Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival

Disclaimer : It had been a long day, I was very tired, so what follows might not be entirely fair to the artists, but I can only report on how the gig affected me...

Cleary is from New Orleans, and owes much to the classic jazz and blues of the city, whilst adding in his own layers of funk and RnB.  With dummer and bassist as backing he plays piano and keyboards (often both at once), with a single foray into slide guitar, and sings classic songs.  Plenty of energy (notably from the bassist), soe great playing (I loved the bass solos), and his voice is smooth and pleasant.

He went down so well with the audience, and I found my feet tapping along.  But.  There were times when it felt like the keys and the drums were fighting each other, rather than workign together.  And at times I found his paino playing too gimmicky.  Maybe I was just looking for an excuse to be irritable...

Blues Afternoon, Spiegletent, St Andrew Sq, Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival

 

Great timing on the start - just a minute after seeing the winning Lions score from Australia!  

These afternoons have always been great for discovering new acts, finding new bands to love.  So it was a change to go to mone where not only had we seen all three acts before, but more than once each.  But they were aleady establshed festival faviourites, so it was worth being out in the rain for...

STACY MITCHHART

A solo set from the ever cheerful Nashville resident.  The vocals are warm, with a constant sense of fun, even cheekiness.  He plays guitars - conventional, resonator, and cigar box, the latter made by his own hand.  He plays well, classic blues, great slide work, espeically on the one instrumental number.  Good  mix of classics, such as Muddy Waters, his own songs, and some surprises, like the sudden appearance of some Led Zepp!  Great entertainer, always smiling, lots of jokes and funny stories.  A good start to the show

BLUE MILK

A step up in pace and volume.  The four piece from Glasgow play classic 60s and 70s RnB style, but mostly with their own material.  Guitar and lead vocal, harmonica, bass and drums.  After the relative peace of Mr Mitchhart some of the audience looke d a bit shocked, but BM soon won them over.  

Ike on bass  is a pool of stillness in the sporouting energy of the other three.  Johnnie's wild hair on the guitar solos.  Leo's dance steps as he bursts out blues harp.  Taylor's manic madness on percussion.  There's humour, audience participation, and always thaty driving beat.  It's great to see a band where harmonica is such an integral part of the sound, not just an add on.

They might not be virtuoso level, but the energy and feel and presence make them great crowd pleasers.

MAGGIE BELL

A step back in volume, and a leap forward in legend status.

Not that she was on stage from the start.  We began with Sandy Tweedale on guitar and Chris Agnew on upright bass, backing Tim Elliott on vocals and harmonica.  A few numbers to whet the appetite.

Then off goes Elliott, on comes Bell, to huge applause.  Opens with a Free song, and the voice sounded a bit off.  Well, I thought, she is 80 now.  But that was justher getting wrmed up.  As the numbers moved on we had our reminder of why she was considered Scotland's Janis Joplin.  The phrasing, the gravel, the stage presence remain.  And the jokes and stories!  There was great variety in her material, Elliott joined at the end for some duetting, and we could all have carried on for hours.  Wonderful.

The The Lone Pine Pickers, Spiegletent, St Andrew Sq, Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival

Country music, western swing and gypsy jazz suggest an international flavour, but this is very much a home grown Scottish line up, featuring several weel kent faces from the national jazz scene. The leader, on guitar and vocals, is Ross Milligan, back up by youngster Connor Smith on guitar and pedal steel, Roy Percy on bass, and Ewan Laing on drums. Together they form a tight outfit with a passion for their music and the talent to bring it to life.

The set was largely instrumental, with many jazz standards, mostly from the 50s and 60s, given their own flavouring. Plus one self penned number that wasn't in the least out of place. Milligan does a decent job with the vocals, keeps it simple, and lets the music do the work. But he is also a good link man, humourous and informative about the history of the numbers.

As usual everyone gets to do their solos. Percy's bass lines are solid, but his solos lacked inspiration. Laing does a better job of making his starring spots entertaining. Milligan is an accomplished jazz guitarist, a man totally at ease with the genre and delivering what's needed to a high standard. But it's Smith who steals the show. Milligan may be as good technically, but the younger man's imagination shines, and his solos constantly surprise and delight, heading off in unexpected directions.

Acts like this are the meat and 2 veg that keep the festival grounded, and the LPP deliver excellent entertainment.

Blues Afternoon, Spiegletent, St Andrew Sq, Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival

A change in venue this year, with a different spiegeltent in a different square (and much more uncomfortable seats!).  But the format of the Blues Afternoons remains the same.  Three sets by different artists, with the idea that the quality of the musicianship improves each time.  Which it probably did, but, stragnely, on this occasion I found the level of entertainment decreased...

LONE BEAR BLUES

An Edinburgh based duo playing old time blues and ragtime from the 1920s, 30s, 40s...  Lone Bear himself originates in Brazil, plays resonator guitar, with a bit of harmonica and kazoo (!) thrown in, and a fine, expressive singing voice.  Accompanied by Australian Gerogia Ollier on Washboard and backing vocals (and audience participation lead).  The songs are fun, the guitar work not stellar but always enjoyable, and the washboard brings authentic character to the sound (and gets in a lovely solo too).  They can be very funny too.  A really good start to the session.

THE NICHE FAMILY

A young four piece band from Glasgow (there was a funny story about how they lost their fifth member, the bass player, at a recent festival in Denmark) playing country music with blues influences.  Most of their material was self penned, with a couple of covers (one from the Beatles) sprinkled inbto the mix.  Their song writing isn't the best, but they make up for that in delivery.  

While the rhythm guitarist took on most of the lead vocals, both the lead guitarist and banjo player took on their share of the role, so there was plenty of variety in the set.  Only the mandolin guy kept his voice limited to backing vocals.  Decent enough solos from the instruments, plenty of stories and laughs, and an infectious enthusiasm.  A really fun set.

MUIRREAN BRADLEY

Headling the show was 18 year old Irish wunderkind Bradley, who has built up a strong reputation in her short career to date.  A blues guitar virtuoso and accomplished vocalist, with an extensive knowledge of old blues music.  She's got a good voice for the genre, and her playing is admirable.  But...

This was a long set, of around 75 minutes.  I had been hoping for a demonstration of guitar fireworks.  Maybe I set my expectations too high, bsed on some YouTube videos.  Because there was only one (very enjoyable) instrumental.  And while I like the voice, and there was vareity in the songs, after a while it all started to sound a bit 'samey'.  In between numbers she shows she knows her stuff, but it's a bit much to expect someone so young, however mature and experienced, to have full command of stagecraft.  But that will come, along with a nore balanced set list I hope.  In a few years time I suspect Ms Bradley will fully justify that star billing.

Superman

 "Let's try something different" we said. "It might be fun." And this was certainly different to anything I've been to see for, well, maybe decades. As for the fun... it turns out there was a good reason why I hadn't revisited superheroes for so long.

I grew up as a kid aware of Superman, and something of his story. I enjoyed all the Christopher Reeve film versions of the character. So what could possibly go wrong? As long as the cast and director recognised the inherent silliness of the concept, it should provide that fun we were looking for.

This 2025 version casts David Corenswet as the Man of Steel. He's got the looks, he acts well, and displays a vulnerability and a soft side to the character that this storyline tries to show. But there is something missing.

The plot, such as it is, has Superman being the good guy, everybody's hero, then the bad guy, framed by the evil Lex Luthor, and then, of course, the good guy at the end. He gets beaten at times, but ultimately wins. He works with other superheroes to defeat the baddies. He has his romance with Lois Lane, and a bit of father and son bonding. All within a framework of an evil billionaire influencing the US government (complete fantasy of course...?), a war between a big tech state and one that appears to only have farm implements to defend themselves with (complete fantasy of course...?), and something called a 'pocket universe' in some different dimension. Or something like that. It was all so daft and so messy that I found myself not really caring.

The Reeve versions were probably just as daft. But they had 2 huge advantages. There was no CGI back then. And they had Christopher Reeve. Whereas now we have something that looks like a bunch of nerdy kids have been given every CGI tool of their dreams, and told to go wild. Plot? Don't bother. So the hugely overlong fight sequences seemed utterly confusing - or maybe I really couldn't be bothered by then. Good cinema is about storytelling. If you want to understand how CGI can be a filmmaking boon, then see Life of Pi.

And then there was Reeve. As with the likes of Harrison Ford and Roger Moore, he had that ability to play these daft action hero roles straight, whilst also showing that he didn't take it all that seriously, that he recognised the inherent puerility of the character's concept. Corenswet is good, and manages some comedy, but he lacks that indefinable talent which is essential to avoiding these kind of roles looking ridiculous to all but the most ardent of fans.

It wasn't all bad. The dog was fun. And the best line was "So is Gary". But I'm grasping at straws. This was an experiment I don't see myself every repeating again.

Words and Music, Stockbridge Parish Church

 A low key event of poetry, song and music.  The music came from the cello of Clea Friend, two beautiful classical compositions.  And from the a capella singing of duo Gail Turpin and Kerry Houston, a varied and often joyful couple of short sets.

Two poets read from their work, with the theme of mothers and fathers, and played compere - Diana Hendry and Hamish Whyte.  Some interesting poems, some laughs, some sadness, and interesting imagery.

The star of the show was former Makar Liz Lochhead, aided by a crutch as she recovers from a knee replacement. Her work is as imaginative, as funny and as intriguing as ever, as she deliverd both old and new works.  But her performance, as with Diana and Hamish, was slightly marred by a poor sound system which made for some lost words - not ideal!

An unusual feature of the show was an invitiation for anyone from the audience to come up and read one of their own poems.  Four did, including myself.  If nothing else it added further variety to an already varied show.

Cinema Paradiso, Filmhouse

In a small Sicilian town an elderly woman is calling her son, who she hasn't seen for 30 years.  In Rome a successful film director returns home late to find a message from his mother - Alfredo is dead.  He is unable to sleep as he returns to his childhood and remembers what Alfredo meant to his life.

A few years after the end of the war, Italy is still recovering from the damage.  In the village the cinema is a vital community asset, albeit dictated to by the censorius local priest.  Projectionist Alfredo walks the line between religious complaince and cummunity approval.  He is also the hero of mischevious 8 year old Toto, and an unlikekly friendship forms between the pair that will seal the bond between the child and the film industry he will make his life.  In time they will each find the other owing them a huge debt, but when the time comes for Toto to leave in search of a new life, it is Alfredo who gives him the impetus to go, and the advice never to return.

So Toto, once again known by his given name of Salvatore, only returns to see his mentor buried, and is caught up in the memories it forces upon him.  Not just of his roots in film, but of his first love affair, which has similarly dominated his life.  

CP is recognised as a classic, and rightly so.  The script is frequently hilarious, but there is genine emotion and pathos in the relationship between the pair behind the projector, and so much life in a community that is full of characters.  It has been criticised as being overly sentimental and schmaltzy, and that's true.  Yet it feels appropriate for a film that plays so heavily on the golden age of schmaltz from Hollywood, and is as much a tribute to that period of cinema as it is about the vivid relationships.  It was a delight to see again.

Final word must go to the venue, as it too was a delight to see again.  After several years boarded up the Filmhouse is back.  The foyer and cafe still look a bit bare, but that will change.  There's a fourth screen now.  And Screen 1, where CP was showing, has much imporved seating and comfort.  The Filmhouse is returning as one of the most important cultural centres in the city.