The Late Show

Will we perhaps need something to lift us from the December Doldrums? I propose a Blogathon!

I’ve been meaning to try this for a while, but haven’t for the same reason I never throw parties — supposing nobody comes? But I’m not too bothered — it’d be business as usual at Shadowplay, a week of daily posts, whether anybody else contributes or not. But if anybody does, it’ll be even better. Just send me the addresses of your posts and I’ll link to them from a post of my own.

The theme was suggested earlier this year when I dined with fellow bloggers Glenn Kenny and Farran Nehme Smith, AKA the Self-Styled Siren, in New York, and it was the Siren’s idea: late films. I think we might go so far as to specify LAST films, but I don’t want to be too rigid about that. The idea is that late in many filmmakers’ careers, when they’re no longer in fashion, they often produce work which is underrated at the time: it’s compared negatively to their Golden Age work, and to the hip hits of the moment, and then consigned to the dustpile. But with nearly every great filmmaker, whatever the problems of the late films (often produced on low budgets, sometimes literally shot in the filmmaker’s back garden), they nevertheless encapsulate the mature reflections of great artists, and are worth appraising with an open mind.

The idea isn’t restricted to directors — writers, producers, composers and actors and whatever else are welcome too — I guess the filmmaker in question should be dead or retired though, so that the status of “late” is a definite one, marking the end of a career and not just a pause.

In keeping with the “late” idea, the end of the year seems good timing, so I propose the week of December 14th to 20th 12th to 18th. If you think you’ll be too busy then, write it now! I was going to go for the very end of the year, but I was afraid normal people will be too busy to read it then.