3.14 - LOVE ACTUALLY (2003) & Romance

The band’s back together! Sam’s back from new-baby intensiveness, just in time for a festive episode for the end of the year — and it’s a film which may or may not (don’t mention that Bruce Willis film) be a Christmas movie: LOVE ACTUALLY. Rob was expecting more negativity from Sam — maybe fatherhood has mellowed him — but we’re both broadly positive about the film; notwithstanding its faults, which we discuss towards the end of the episode, along racial and gender lines.

Next Week
If we can manage it, next week will be our Review of 2017 (or, in Sam’s case, Review of the First Ten Months of 2017…)

This Month’s Media THE PUNISHER (2017): Steve Lightfoot, Jon Bernthal, Ebon Moss-Bachrach
LA LA LAND (2017): Damien Chazelle, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone
STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI (2017): Rian Johnson, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher
THE GOOD PLACE (2016—): Michael Schur, Kristen Bell, William Jackson Harper

Recommendations KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE (2014): Matthew Vaughn, Colin Firth, Samuel L. Jackson
THE TRUMAN SHOW (1998): Peter Weir, Jim Carrey, Laura Linney
THE HOLIDAY (2006): Nancy Meyers, Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet
GOOD OMENS (2018): Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, Adria Arjon

Footnotes
The other storylines Richard Curtis proposed for the film are here: http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2017-03-23/richard-curtis-reveals-the-love-actually-storylines-he-left-out. The four types of Greek love, which Sam shamefully couldn’t bring to mind, are these: https://totescute.com/four-types-of-love-greek-style. This article has all the Easter Eggs Emma Freud revealed, as mentioned by Sam: http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/love-actually-film-secrets-facts-7061864. And finally, here’s a good piece on the different sorts of textuality that are (or may be) at play in the movie: https://www.decodedscience.org/what-is-transtextuality-understanding-the-meaning-of-the-words-we-read/28891/2

Merry Christmas! It’s good to be back. :)