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Madness and colours



Passion, a little bit of madness and colours seem to have been the themes this week - at least as far as films and art are concerned.

After the frantic family weekend and Monday's full-on theatrical party to bid adieu to the National Theatre of Scotland's fabulous artistic Director Vicky Featherstone at Glasgow's Tramway came The Silver Lining Playbook. Robert de Niro seems to have carved a great niche for himself - playing psychotic OCD patriarchs and going from bad to worse before tumbling upon redemption. He does it here to perfection. With Bradley Cooper playing his bipolar son who returns home after a spell in a mental institution, and Jennifer Lawrence as the (supposedly crazy) woman who helps him, we are reminded that actually it's not the mad who are mad. It's the rest of us who are mad. What's more, families, mostly, make things worse not better. What a lovely film. It has a serious message about mental conditions and how our lifestyles put on unnecessary pressure. But it's also very funny and uplifting.

Contrast this with Paul Thomas Anderson's (There Will Be Blood, Boogie Nights - see the thread?) The Master. Joaquin Phoenix is the traumatised veteran returning home to a world he no longer recognises. Philip Seymour Hoffman plays the charismatic leader of The Cause (no wonder the Scientologists are furious) who draws in, moulds and shapes our veteran from his violent outbursts, craziness and voices in his head into... well, see for yourself. Amy Adams plays Mrs. Charismatic Leader - perfectly cast. As Dr. L comments, lots happening but we're going nowhere. All the same, an excellent film and well worth seeing.

John Bellany is one of Scotland's top contemporary artists. His retrospective at the National Gallery gives a huge picture of a passionate and emotional roller coaster life which explains the dark sea-working life he gave us in the 60s,  disturbing images in the 70s, his near death experience in the 80s and the colour and return to life in the 90s and noughties. Whatever life cycle he was in, it was his passion which drove him to create such powerful works. He is an acquired taste but worth revisiting - at first glance, you might think that madness drove the dark and weird images he sometimes creates. I came home and gazed at the Bellanys hanging on our walls and felt I understood him a little better and liked him a lot more.

Finally, a calm and joyful show of Victoria Crowe's paintings at The Scottish Gallery. No madness here, real or perceived, but plenty of autumn colours, how apt for a cold December Edinburgh day. Vicky has been claimed and owned by the Scots and paints beautiful images which reflect her love of nature, Scotland and Venice. The colours in the exhibition - golds, yellows, greens - are stunning. I adore her Lost in Castelo, a large blue work of a shopfront in Venice hanging on our wall at home. It's an extra bonus that her Edinburgh studio is next to our house - so getting to know her and her husband Mike has been an extra treat. It was nice to bump into Elspeth Campbell at the exhibition. She is Edinburgh's social queen and loving wife of Menzies Campbell, Westminster's much respected and loved politician. 


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