We've Gone On Holiday By Mistake
My new appreciation for movies from home
Eggs frying in a scratched frying pan, covered in oil. The cook at the caf (not cafe) is flipping them with a fish slice as they bubble away. There are a stack of shells behind the pan, half a dozen eggs frying for the locals.
The cook slides an egg on to white bread and unceremoniously slaps another slice on top as he walks the plate over to a lady in the corner of the caf.
The room is filled with Londoners, sipping their morning brew and reading the papers.
Marwood is reading his newspaper.
“Love Made Up My Mind..I HAD To Become a Woman”
The pensioner eating her fried egg sandwich drips the yolk out the back of the bread and on to her plate.
It’s a scene of a hangover in London.
Marwood can’t cope with the news, or the caf he’s found himself in. “I must be out of my mind,” he thinks to himself. It’s a scene most of us in the UK have found ourselves in, on one morning or another.
I’ve spent the last few years travelling with work. I love it. Seeing new cultures, speaking to people. Experiencing a place through work, rather than as a tourist somehow feels more genuine and day-to-day.
However exciting it can be there’s always a little voice (usually Northern for some reason) in the back of my mind going “It’s a bit hot here isn’t it?”, “you’d sooner be having a pint down The Crown wouldn’t you mate?”.
Actually, yes I probably would.
And it is too hot.
And why are you Northern?
In honesty, the last six months has seen me revel in a deep appreciation for how comfortable I am at home and how fortunate it is to feel that way in this dangerous and unforgiving world.
A sense of belonging has always seemed hard to come by, but on my travels I realised that I already had it.
But I can’t just sit in pubs all day, smiling and appreciating the world around me. I’ve seen people do that and swiftly get thrown out. Instead, I’ve opened the door to seeing my own small island, my own people, reflected on screen.
Withnail is a story about rackety behaviour. More than that, it is about decay and disdain for the authorities that contrive to make us miserable.
When I sat down to watch Withal & I last week, I was struck by my fondness for this greasy spoon scene. The fustiness of their getaway cottage, and the grubby streets of England.
I love seeing the small pubs that don’t serve food, where the locals bring eels to exchange with the landlord. The stuck-up Penrith tea room is replicated all across the British Isles to this day. The countryside and the city are not that much different to how they were in the late 1960’s either, the only difference being that bigots are hiding on your phone and not just down the pub.
Look at this. Accident blackspot? These aren't accidents, they're throwing themselves into the road! Throwing themselves into the road gladly to escape all this hideousness!
Throw yourself into the road, darling, you haven't got a chance!
- Withnail
I have to admit that I enjoy Withnail and Marwood’s misery. Their disdain for their own country. There’s an honesty to their situation that speaks to so many of us who live here. Struggling through the mud, but joking at our own expense because, what else is there?
The UK in popular film is usually shown through tea and crumpets or a well-dressed war effort. Our most popular cinematic heroes today do not walk around fields with plastic bags for shoes and dream of the Camberwell Carrot. These kinds of stories are underground, independent, and rarely see the light of day in popular cinema in this country which is a true shame.
Watching films from my your country is so important and it seems popular elsewhere, but not here (maybe I’m wrong)! We tend to forget about our own films here in the UK especially as US choices are plentiful and the streaming services are often curated from across the pond.
I’ve started to work on a short list of my favourite British films that give me that feeling. Those moments I recognise. The not so polished, rough and ready country that I know and belong to.
It’s a short list. It turns out I haven’t seen that many. Oops.
What are your favourites?
Not from the UK? What films portray what it’s really like to live where you call home?
If you have any favourites you’d like to share please leave a comment or reply to this email. I would love to build this up and watch new and old films to connect with the world outside my door.
Thank you for reading :)
Gareth