Tag Archives: Christmas 2015

Decentring the Bodleian Law Library at Christmas with the help of Sokurov’s Russian Ark

My Christmas film is Russian Ark.  In one lingering ‘take’, the film leads us through the Hermitage in a series of dreamlike sequences, like the thread that guided Theseus through the labyrinth, until we arrive not at the Minotaur, but at a magnificent Romanov Ball. The film brilliantly negotiates 300 years of history as the… Read More »

Nativity Nightmares

Perhaps last weekend, with your Christmas shopping complete, you sat down to watch the film Nativity! or indeed perhaps Nativity 2 or Nativity 3.  Arguably it won’t really have mattered whether you were watching Nativity! or Nativity 2  as essentially the premise in each is the same; Primary School children, putting on a Christmas play, in difficult circumstances.  A light-hearted easy film, excellent cast and ideal for watching with children, especially… Read More »

Miracle on 34th Street

In our Law Library Christmas Films series, I have chosen Miracle on 34th Street, a seasonal classic from 1947, written and directed by George Seaton and starring Maureen O’Hara, John Payne, Edmund Gwenn and a very young Natalie Wood. (There is also a 1994 version with Richard Attenborough and Mara Wilson which is pretty good… Read More »