My regular go-to critics are Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian and Nigel Andrews in the FT. But I’m losing faith. The following quite disparate films are all given five stars or thereabouts: MISTRESS AMERICA, THE DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL, HARD TO BE A GOD and 45 YEARS. The first three are interesting but by no means perfect (HARD TO BE A GOD is 177 minutes which in my book drops a star for a start!) I’m not being a philistine: I’m concerned that unless a film is an absolute classic for the ages, it cannot be granted such perfect status.
45 YEARS is actually a horrible movie, poorly acted, shot and directed with a denouement that would scrape by in a short.
It really should be harder than this to be a God!
Notes on THE SEA 
Half way through 45 years, I turned to Steve and said, “I think that paint’s dry now”. And he repled, “yes, but it’s bound to need a second coat”.
I’m quite a fan of Sam Goldwyn’s “Don’t even ignore the critics” – though I admit it’s difficult in practice and impractical when on the receiving end of a good review! There does seem to be an osmosis of safe homogenised critical opinion such as 45 Years – I suppose I’ll have to go and see it…
Don’t say I didn’t warn you!
Hmm. Amazing how 45 Years has gained such momentum…