You’re the God of a Shrinking Universe
Another entry from university. Ho hum. Nuclear war still hasn’t broken out with North Korea, which is probably a good thing for our temporarily-Pyongyang-resident hero, Dirk, but there’s plenty of other things to be depressed about.
Alcohol, for example. No, not the price of it, although that is something to be depressed about, but rather the film Drinking for England
, which was just screened in my documentary theory class. It’s rarely a good sign when the screening of a film about the perils of alcohol is concluded with a comment from the audience, So, who’s for the tavern?
.
Drinking for England
is a funny sort of film. It’s a musical documentary about drinking culture, and while it’s obviously intended to be a cautionary tale, it really comes off as some poetic, participatory documentaries do: simply fake. It’s hard to take a film seriously as a non-fiction work when one person in the middle of rehab breaks into song (complete with cheesy fades to half-full glasses and the like) about the evils of sherry. Or the old guy who produces a series of outlandish statements about why he doesn’t have a problem and can handle alcohol far better than the average Badger.
I guess the problem I have with it is the poetry and music. While the interviews
ring true, the wrapping is just so cheesy and fake that the film can’t be taken seriously, even when it wants to be.
Well, that’s five minutes, and I’m now nicely primed for the tutorial in six minutes. Excellent. Go nuclear war!