Human Traffic

Just me, myself and the cat this Saturday. Rebecca is out in Berlin so I dedicated today to myself - pure R&R after a long work week. A good chunk was spent playing the Paper Mario remake which got me feeling like a kid again... Has it really been 20 years since that game came out? I did step outside for a quick stroll up the hill to my nearest coffee roaster and cafe. I'd never been there before so I wanted to give them a whirl and I'm happy to report it was worth every step to get there. The coffee was also fuel for me as I sat in the park with my laptop. I wanted to do the finishing touches to an article I'd been pecking away at for a month or so, I submitted it today to my collaborator and I'm just waiting for them to give it the green light.

Movies are always a favourite thing of mine to marinate in while Rebecca is away and I squeezed two in today. The Crowd from 1928 is another great example of silent cinema at it's zenith... Just as sound was starting to step into the scene. The thing I'm constantly taken back by when watching movies that are nearly 100 years old is how they still manage to tap into the human experience of today. I always stereotype people pre-WW2 as quaint folk without a shred of self awareness, but this film knew how to twist unemployment, domestic bliss/bedlam and how to treat your in-laws in a way that still resonated. Sprinkle in some dreamy cinematography and misty-eyed close ups and you got a 20's banger.

The film that really caught me off guard was Human Traffic, a 1999 time capsule about weekender who live for the raving, pill popping lifestyle. It hot swaps between filming styles and zips in and out of character realities in a way that still felt fresh and fun. It's all tied together with John Simm's narration that self-depticating but occasionally piercingly human. I felt nostalgic for a time period I only half belong to (I certainly wasn't gurning when I was 5 years old) but I felt drawn to the costumes, set design and topics. I went in expecting a Trainspotting clone, what I got was exactly that with a dash of Koyaanisqatsi plus an electric performance from Danny Dyer. Underrated and underloved.