•This is a new regular column on the adventures of Geoff Clams
On an impossibly sunny and happily recent Thursday, it so happened that I caught the local premiere of John Tomkins’ new feature-length movie, Like an Angel, at Torre Abbey’s Spanish barn.
John is a multi-skilled composer, singer and film-maker from Torquay who, along with his partner Kirsty Symonds, was hosting this special World First screening in aid of Leukemia research. After collaborating on a slew of online videos John and Kirsty (also a singer/songwriter) offer up this, their latest collaboration; a swashbuckling love story that was filmed in and around Torbay and which spans 500 years. The screenplay was written by John himself, who also filmed, edited, produced, funded and scored the picture.
It had been a day of trials. Earlier that afternoon I lost a shoe and some money in the sea and threw up my lunch, all in the space of an hour. In the morning I had left the house early, but had since forgotten all of my Paignton-based life chores and I soon found myself drifting alongside the baked shores.
I was slowly walking to Torquay but had no idea why. Like an Angel is why. An admittedly rough diamond, this film is both a love letter from its director to its leading lady and a barnstorming adventure with inventive special effects and lovable characters to boot.
John’s irrepressible energy frames nearly every shot and for the duration of the film, I was completely entertained. Here is a filmmaker who calls to one’s mind the Renaissance painters of old. A passionate artist who lives by his brush, painting in broad strokes that span the very fabric of time in this bold and beautiful tapestry of love across the ages.
Needless to say, I whistled off into the summer night with my faith in the local arts mostly restored, the film’s big questions still lingering in my mind. If I travelled into the future would my future self be able to see me? What if my future self left the future and went back into the past to see some stuff?
What if when my future self wanted to travel back to the future from the past after seeing some stuff, it arrived in the future too early? What if the other future self was still there, having not yet travelled to the past to see stuff? Would we cancel each other out or would we create two separate time lines in simultaneous, parallel realities? Could these realities exist now? Will we ever unlock them? John Tomkins is a great leading man for local film and the wider creative community should feel extremely proud to have him as their front-runner. Catch Like an Angel when it screens again. You won’t soon forget it.
Anyhow, on that very enchanting evening, I somehow managed to wrangle this here column. I’ll be here every week, spouting. My name is Geoff Clams and I live in Preston on the Torbay Coast. My day job involves designing cultural adventures for a new Buckfastleigh-based steering committee called Project Duvall. I have sat in on two meetings so far and some of the ideas that people are circulating are certainly encouraging. I also enjoy animals, films, books and some television.
Next week, I want to tell you all about some things that happened to me when I went to vote a few nights ago. It’s pretty scandalous stuff.
posted by Geoff Clams
(image: a still from Like and Angel)
Come and enjoy Devon – book a hotel and get away!
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