On film...

Over the weekend I saw a film called Third Star, which was released here on DVD in the UK late last year.

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The film follows the journey of James, a 29 year old with terminal cancer, and his three closest friends as they embark on a camping trip to Barafundle Bay on the Pembrokeshire Coast. What follows is a journey that tests their strength, their friendship, and their belief in what makes life worth living.


As you'd anticipate, the film invokes a range of emotions as the events unfold. But the sense of approaching loss is balanced not just by the humour, genuine caring and comradeship between the four friends, but also the simply beautiful surroundings of the Welsh coast. 

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It is not a film that is overly sentimental or wallows in melancholy - yet for anyone who has experienced the devastation and deterioration of someone to whom they are close as a result of cancer, there is a resonance...not least in terms of how does one chose to live the final stages of their life and their efforts to retain a sense of identity and dignity, and what does that mean for the people around them.

The story telling is simple and beautiful, and I've found myself recalling parts of this film quite regularly over the past days...