UTOPIUGH

Howard Hodgkin

A celebration of artworks featuring books and readers from throughout history, for the delight of art lovers and bibliophiles

The Lady of Shalott (1842) BY ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON

iceland poppy

I’m sure Roma presents much to dissect critically given the specific sociopolitical context of the story. however in the philosophical and psychological sense it is an unembellished film which radically reflects more of a lived reality than a constructed drama. the poetic yet distanced camera trains and strengthens our empathy (we identify with and seek proximity to what is clearly memories of another’s past). Curoun is as capable as ever in translating onto the screen his deep care for the characters and spaces within his most quotidian story to date. Roma reminds us that each one of us is a hero with a life story worthy of meditation on the big screen. Instead of intellectual rumination Roma left me with a fine tuned awareness of the now and increased empathy for others.

“a wise man said that sin is that which is unnecessary. If that is so, then our entire civilization is built on sin from beginning to end. We have acquired a dreadful disharmony, an imbalance between our material and our spiritual development... Our culture is defective.”

Phantom Thread | Why Finding Love, Requires Letting Go

George Grosz Ecce homo (1921)