Thought I'd better start some movie blog to keep track of the movies I've been seeing and to keep up my writing. I'm not really writing reviews, just sketches or thoughts or whatnot or whatever.

'The Girlfriend Experience' (2009) directed by Steven Soderbergh

Quite a flat, subdued film about the day to day life of a high class call girl (Sasha Grey). It employs a variety of storytelling techniques, a stilted voiceover, an interview with a journalist, sketches of meetings with clients and a distorted non-linear timeline. It's a highly stylistic and experimental film which features seemingly improvised performances that are quite subtle. Overall though, I found that it was a little difficult to engage with the main character. Just as she maintained a wall between herself and her clients in the film, so too did it feel as though there was a wall between her and the audience of the film. She seemed more a figure of intrigue rather than a fully fleshed out personality. Having said that, this is still worth a look.

'George Washington' (2000) directed by David Gordon Green

A stunning film. Just really strong moments and interesting, unique characters, the kind that you don't really see in movies. The film centres around a small town and the characters in it, chiefly a group of kids. The acting is incredibly focussed, particularly from the child actors and the dialogue feels very realistic and natural while simultaneously being very poignant. Tragedy and moments of complex emotion are treated with a lot of subtlety while remaining incredibly resonant. It is also a beautifully shot film, the use of colour and the way that each shot is framed gives it a really cohesive style.