"Notes on a Scandal," dabbling

So last night I finally saw Notes on a Scandal, one of the films I had most been anticipating lately. Since I generally love both Cate Blanchett and Judi Dench I went in expecting to love the movie, and I wasn't disappointed.

With a screenplay by Patrick Marber, who wrote the play Closer and the screen play for its adaptation as well as the upcoming Howard Katz at Roundabout Theatre Company, based on a book by Zoe Heller, the movie works as a sort of quasi-camp but seriously thrilling pulp movie, with Judi Dench playing the pervy old dyke and Cate Blanchett as her younger confidant and crush. Blanchett's character has gone off and cheated on her older husband (played sharply and sympathetically by Bill Nighy) with one of her students, bringing her dangerously close to Dench once she spies the two together in one of the classrooms during a school assembly.

Dench is the strongest asset of the movie though Blanchett is certainly formidable. Watching her character's build throughout the plot was thrilling, and the ending really gave the movie its punch.

Anyway, today was nice as well. After a long day of work, I sat around my room painting with watercolors and listening to Joni Mitchell. Then I got some sushi. So restful. I'm looking forward to the long weekend.

Here's the first successful watercolor painting of my adult life: