Wasp

this is why i appreciate books because i can directly enter someone's mind—the exploration of their thoughts about what matters or what doesn't matter... or what keeps them hopeful or what keeps holding them back. but this is the beauty of cinema—to give the abstract a concrete block of moving images for emotions to flow, linger, and reside. poverty is something universal across the globe, and a british town is not excused from this reality. it's another form of a lost cause embodied by a mother of four children with no spouse, no money. no nothing. it's like no one is there to help you navigate motherhood below the poverty line, as economics would describe. a penny or two doesn't even do justice to a maternal love for her children to be fed with crisps and a glass of coke—something we consider unhealthy, but this is out of desperation. and i can't help but feel a pang inside me as i wonder what it's like to be a woman seeking love, to be a mother who leads motherhood without a partner, and to be asked out once again after years without the judgment surveilling every edge of the town. it lifted something in me, knowing there's still a hope despite the mess occupying the desolated spaces. andrea arnold once again directed a short film so impactful i wish it was longer than expected.