Peter’s Friends

I’m not actually sure whether I’ve seen this one before, and it’s from the 90s, but I feel it was kinda vaguely part of what was being shown at the local cinematheque, so let’s watch this anyway, since I’m doing a blog series about that — it’s the final Branagh movie I remember anybody being enthusiastic about. His next movie had these actors:

And from there it was just downhill:

Nice-looking cat.

Emma Thompson is the best — another reason Branagh’s movies nosedived (they divorced).

Oh, I’m getting this movie confused with Four Weddings… makes sense; they’re from around the same time. I think I did see that one? I assumed that Stephen Fry was going to die in this one? But perhaps it’s that guy from Four Weddings…

The use of music in this movie is unreal… They seem to want to use all movies that were on Top Of The Pops in like 1984-85? We’ve had all the hits — Tears For Fears, Cindy Lauper, etc — and I don’t mind. But it’s odd!

Nice sweater.

By the way, I could only find this bluray in a Spanish edition (but it has an English language soundtrack, too). But it’s odd. Perhaps it’s a rights issue? Nobody in the UK or US has the rights for a physical release at the moment? It happens.

But it looks very nice. It’s a good 2K scan, and has been sensitively restored.

This is a lot of fun. I could totally see this being somebody’s favourite movie — it’s hard to stop smiling. But it’s a bit clumsy? Artless? Perhaps that’s a bit of the charm.

Like this shot, which is both a bit much and also not quite successful at the same time.

OK, the drama is a bit over the top… I think half of the cast has left the room to go off crying or something.

The funny bits feel genuine. But it’s like the drama parts are like… Ibsen via Bergman via Woody Allen?! OK, not accurate, but it’s like the drama parts feel second hand. Or third hand.