One of my favourite annual holidays is Film Day, a tradition my husband and I have with friends where we all take a day off work and spend it on the sofa in pyjamas watching films while eating great snacks and drinking wine. I know, it’s perfect.
The preceding months are animated by intense negotiations about our watching schedule. Arguing about the line up is an important part of the fun.
For our last FD, we watched Down And Out In Beverley Hills (“Great shoulders, Barb”), Don’t Tell Mom The Babysitter’s Dead (a stone-cold 90s classic. Why don’t they make films like that anymore?) and Punch Drunk Love (too stressful to be truly enjoyable but very good in the mix).
This year, we had grand plans to watch another carefully curated and varied line up. We began with The Blues Brothers, one of those films that’s so influential that it feels intensely familiar even when you haven’t seen it because so many movies have borrowed from, referenced and pastiched it since. More of a series of elaborate stunts with exceptional music than a coherent plot, it was nonetheless a very fun kick off to proceedings.
As a palette cleanser before the next film, our pals introduced us to a surreal but veeerry funny comedy series called I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson. Each sketch is only a few minutes each but they are weird and intriguing and worth a look. You can watch them on Netflix but here is one that cracked me up:
Next on the itinerary was Mannequin, which I had passionately advocated for. Yes, I had the entire cinematic cannon to choose from so of course I selected the perfect 80s rom com with peak Kim Cattrall. It’s one of those films that I will always watch when it’s on but it’s never on - what a travesty.
Despite our best intentions, we were far too busy chatting and generally delighting in 24 hours of freedom from work and parenting to watch any of the other films on the list, making it a technically unsuccessful but deeply enjoyable day.
What would be on your dream Film Day watchlist? They don’t have to be your favourite films, just the ones you really feel like watching.
Do share in the comments.
See you next time.
Hannah
Raising Arizona - peak Nicolas Cage and the Coen Brothers doing comedy - perfection
Agreed, a favourite in our household