Mirai

A sore head was the only symptom of my night out on the town, nothing a paracetamol and a bit of moaning couldn't cure. Had to be fighting fit for the BBQ lunch Louis and Rachel were whipping up. I've never eaten so much home made hummus in my life... Then came the grilled aubergine and blue cheese burgers in freshly baked ciabatta rolls. Those guys are always upping their culinary game, don't know if I can ever match their hospitality.

Bulbus with grub, we retired to the living room for a film. Mirai was a movie I'd heard generally good things about and it seemed to fit the vibe. A young boy's life is changed upon the arrival of his baby sister. The dynamic of the household shifts and the boy is left to accept new truths about his family, as dispersed through a time and space bending oak tree. Tonally, it plays it very close to films like Eternal Sunshine, Mr Nobody and The Tree of Life. The pitfalls in making a film about the collective human experience is sometimes you miss the mark when moments fail to resonate - you can also fill your film with too much esoteric imagery. While Mirai is still guilty of a few of these, when it works, it really works. Special shout out to the attention to detail in how the children behave and move - the lead child is occasionally bratty and to the film's credit it doesn't shy away from this. It's an honest and occasionally whimsical coming of age story with just the right amount of fantasy peppered in. At times it can feel a mite directionless, but thankfully it sticks the landing.