Bra Straps & Dog Power

 Found myself a bit low today
So I've kicked myself up by the proverbials and have taken myself to Chester.
The antibiotics have made me feel nauseated all week and strange as it seems the only thing I feel like eating is avocado on toast.
So it's a visit to the Jaunty Goat Cafe and an afternoon showing of Power of The Dog.
I will review the movie later



Later

The Power Of The Dog is Jane Campion’s first film in well over a decade.
It’s an interesting piece. 
Beautifully shot in New Zealand (doubling for 1920s Montana) it’s a brooding, tension filled but unhurried drama which explores themes of loneliness, isolation, jealousy, obsession and anger in between members of a dysfunctional and blended ranch family living in a dilapidated , cold mansion in the middle of no where.
Benedict Cumberbatch plays an angry, brutal but intelligent ranch man who lives in the past when he enjoyed a manly old west life with an idolised ranch hand Bronco Henry.His quiet passive brother George( Jesse Plemons)  ,tired of this bleak lonely existence finds solace with a gentle local widow Rose ( Kirsten Dunst) who he marries and brings back to the family home. 
And then the story really cranks up as the bitter, pained brother embarks on a psychological war against the woman who he perceives has come between him and his old life and relationships .
Having said this, the story is so much more than a two ( then three) handed power struggle, for Campion  adds to the mix the brother’ odd relationship with their mostly absent and passive parents, a back story of Phil’s  homosexual relationship/ obsession with Bronco Henry and the sudden introduction of Rose’s effeminate possibly autistic son Peter (Kodi Smit McPhee) who isn’t quite what he seems 

Kodi SmitMcPhee

Kirsten Dunst

This is a beautiful film to look at. With a sense of decay and sadness in almost every scene . 
Dunst is fabulous as the simple and gentle Rose who can break your heart just with the lost look of a woman who is completely out of her depth, but really the film is totally Cumberbatch’s as he totally captures the blind jealousy and loss of a man haunted by grief and obsession .

66 comments:

  1. Ohhh avocado on toast, huh? How millenial of you.
    But a visit to the Cafe was necessary. Is that Cumberbatch?

    XOXO

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  2. Take care of yourself, you've still not got rid of that nasty infection. xx

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  3. The avocado looks good and I love the cafe's logo! Hope you feel better soon.

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    1. I’m ok Steve, but thanks xxx the coffee was bloody great

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  4. I only recently watched Benedict Cumberbatch in the Alan Turing film and found his performance very moving. I'm a little reluctant to watch Power of the Dog as I don't think I could handle him playing a baddie. But if you tell me it's worth it, I will.

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    1. His role is difficult and brutal but he’s not a quite a baddie
      Just a sad character

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  5. That man is EVERYWHERE! We saw him in the movie about the cat painter the other night. One touching scene (among many) was when he tells his wife she's shown him the beauty in the world, and she says no, there IS beauty and your job is to see it and share it. His face during the scene ... anyway, bra straps. Time to pull myself up by mine and get a move on. I'm stealing your saying. -Kate

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    1. He’s very nuanced in this film and I felt quite sorry for him

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  6. Sorry, that toast looks like crap.

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    1. Maureen Finn5:53 pm

      Fuck off

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    2. Maureen Finn7:12 pm

      Ain't I a charmer?

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    3. It looks bad I admit but it tasted Devine
      Hello Maureen , are you a newbie

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    4. Anonymous9:33 pm

      Maureen? I suspect it's the ghastly Ursula.

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  7. cumberbatch and avocado on toast....two of the best things ever created.

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  8. Tracy4:04 pm

    What a wonderful name for a café.

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    1. It’s a lovely one too
      https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g186233-d15753101-Reviews-Jaunty_Goat_Coffee_Vegan-Chester_Cheshire_England.html

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  9. Lucky you to see it at a cinema. No showings here, will have to see it on Netflix

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    1. It’s worth it Rachel , u need to see it on a big screen

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  10. I love avocado on toast. I don't love Cumberpatch. I hope you enjoy the film.

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    1. I did , it was an interesting watch

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  11. I've heard that "Power of the Dog" is outstanding, especially Cumberbatch! I hope you enjoy it!

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    1. It’s well worth seeing, I’ve just written the review above

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  12. Barbara Anne5:03 pm

    Hope the nausea will go away or you'll find a way to combat it. How bothersome to have that icky feeling lingering. It's no wonder you felt a bit down. May the avocados on toast and movie be a happy combination for you.

    Hugs!

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    1. I felt better after eating them ….the nausea is only just creeping back

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  13. Surely the Jaunty Goat sounds like it should be in Llandudno not Chester.

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    1. Good point, they’d make a killing having a sister cafe there

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  14. ...and here I thought those were baked potatoe halves.

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  15. I looked and I looked again and I seem to have vapourised-That looks to me the scrummiest avocado on toast I ever did see x

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  16. Have you ever thought of doing absolutely nothing for a day or two?

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  17. Looks like a fancy avocado on toast! Hope it perks you up and you enjoy the movie! :)

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  18. Lots of love John take care Jo in Coventry x

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  19. I am sorry to hear that you are still needing to continue with the antibiotics. Don't forget to eat plenty of food that has probiotics, and you might even want to buy and take some probiotic tablets/capsules to help keep cdiff away.

    It's really none of my business, but as someone who had cdiff in the past from being on antibiotics plus steroids for quite a while.I would be sad if you developed cdiff. It was the sickest I have ever felt and I ended up for five days in quarantine in the hospital, where even nurses and doctors avoided coming in any more than necessary because of all of the sterile clothing change after coming out of my room. I remember when the dietician came into the room as I was getting ready to leave and she dropped her pen, where I had been sick, but had wiped it up myself. She reached to pick it up and I warned her not to even pick it up,just leave it there, I had been sick in this room with cdiff. She left the pen on the floor and wrapped up her visit real quick.

    Luckily, my husband came to visit me during the 5 days I was in there. He never got it at home before I went to the hospital because I am an almost OCD handwasher and he didn't have any immune problems and wasn't taking antibiotics. The worry with him coming in to visit was that he wasn't made to wear any removable disposable slippers, so he may have traipsed it all over the hospital. Some hospitals are more careful with cdiff prevention now.

    Your avocado on toast looks delicious. Around here I have to buy twice as many avocados as I plan to use, because so many are bruised so bad inside. If I get them at the little nearby Mexican market, they are better. That store keeps them up high where you have to ask the worker to get the basket of them down for you. I think it keeps people from squeezing around on them and bruising them.

    I hope you feel better soon.

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    1. C diff is horrid and dangerous
      I haven’t got any symptoms and believe me as I KNOW the smell of it SOOOO WELL
      THANK you for your concern, I’m touched xx

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  20. You've had a lovely day. The sandwich looks outstanding and the film seems like something I would tremendously enjoy.

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  21. Funny, I’ve never craved avocado and taste when I‘ve felt nauseated. Toast, yes. I hope your day made you feel a bit better.

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  22. I loved the book, and will be watching the movie tonight on Netflix. I'm hoping they did not veer too much from the book.

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  23. Anonymous10:57 pm

    Poor dogs and an arthritic cat in a cold cottage. Portable heaters aren't expensive to buy, your Christmas gifts to others are expensive ones(a sky dive or toboggan ride is somewhat more expensive than a box of chocolates!) and you could buy your pets some heaters as an early Christmas present so they can be cosy. I've got some oil filled radiators with thermostats which are very efficient.

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    1. Who says I haven’t got heaters ?
      Arsehole

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    2. It's as cold as a penguins chuff here John but the dogs are as happy as Larry x

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    3. I too thought of your dogs being cold John. You've mentioned going home to a cold cottage more than once which does sound as if you haven't got heaters.

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  24. Joan (Devon)11:31 pm

    I wanted to ask if you're taking the right antibiotics for you. I have to take antibiotics at certain times because of one of my conditions and I find that most of them make me nauseous, the only one I can take is Amoxycillin. Just a thought.

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  25. i am such a cumberbitch. i will watch everything he is in. i just finished watching it and i need an avocado toast to cheer me up. i think it was wonderfully acted. i think the son was wonderful. it sort of had the brokeback mountain thing going on too.

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  26. My aunt insisted that tablets had to be taken on a milky drink if food wasn't fancied(no history of nursing but landlady of hostelry) x

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    1. Anonymous9:24 pm

      Instructions should be read on all medications - some are to be taken on an empty stomach, without food and milk is classed as a food in that case. If you drink milk you are lowering the efficiency of the medication.

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  27. The film sounds like one I should try to see. Thanks for your review of it.

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  28. We just saw Cumberbatch in the Will Lain movie. Thought he was great, as usual, but the movie was a total disaster.

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  30. Your avocado on toast looks delicious! Would love to visit Chester one day as it looks so interesting.
    Hoping to watch the film soon after reading your review.
    Hope you start to feel better soon. Is it the antibiotics making you feel nauseous? Not surprised it is getting you down sometimes. Take care.

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  31. The expression on that bloke's face is as if someone has crept up behind him and pinched his arse.

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  32. Yorkshire Liz12:40 pm

    The Power Of The Dog has been 'my' book for fifty years. The book is haunting, and the central character, Phil Burbank (Cumberbatch) is one that will never leave you. The film is the most faithful adaptation of a book I have ever come across, filleted and simplified symapathetically, with a slight change of two at the end that only deepens the narrative and asks more questions. An intelligent film for intelligent people, and destined to become a classic. Cumberbatch is simply extraordinary playing against type, and a character himself playing a character for self protection. Plus the level of skills he had to learn for this role were exraordinary, from Western riding to playing the banjo, treating raw hides and plaiting a lariat, to herding cattle and castrating bulls with a locknife. This film deserves a clutch of Oscars, especially best actor and director. See it once, see it again for the nuance. And Read the book regardless.

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  33. Your ability to pull meaning out of a film is amazing, a lot of work went into developing that ability, and it shows.

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    1. Yorkshire Liz4:02 pm

      Retired arts editor and theatre critic, for my sins. Been following Cumberbatch's career for around seventeen years. Not a Cumberbitch, I simply find his technical and artistic ability, and capacity to immerse himself in a role exactly what I am always seeking but rarely finding elsewhere.

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    2. Yes I liked your take on it…I’d like to hear what you thought of the significance of the lasso

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  34. Between your review and Yorkshire Liz's comments, I am sold on seeing The Power of the Dog. It sounds excellent. Kudos to an actor who learns how to castrate a bull for the role.

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  35. Yorkshire Liz4:06 pm

    Not to mention naked and more on a closed set with just the director and cinematographer both women! Courage and artistic integrity comes in many forms! ;)

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  36. Anonymous12:10 pm

    I can look for the reference to a site with the information on a theme interesting you. dog

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