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On a rainy winter's day I loved watching the Blu-ray of Wes Anderson's stop action animated feature film of Roald Dahl's "Fantastic Mr Fox". The Blu-ray makes the most of the brilliant colours, minutely perfect detail, gorgeous surround sound and wonderful music (including The Rolling Stones to great effect). The voice actors Clooney, Streep, Murray and Gambon all turn in gifted performances. A valuable bonus is the extra 45 minutes of video which detail several aspects of the creation of the film - which makes the viewer value every second on the screen as part of two years of dedicated craftsmanship by a huge team of artists. I like that Wes Anderson has added a new prequel and sequel to Roald Dahl's original book, and that the resulting seamless "trilogy" has warmed the heart of Roald's widow (who appears in most of the bonus feature segments on the Blu-ray).

On the weekend I recommended this film to friends who had told me how much they enjoyed the film "Christopher And His Kind" (starring Matt Smith). A few days later I realised that my friends are (as with Chris and Don) in a 30+ year relationship, with the younger man facing the impending loss of his beloved through cancer.

So the part of the film which I am worried might be too distressing for them is when Don shares his experience of caring for Chris at home at the end of his life - which was of course extremely challenging, but exactly what they both wanted. I feel privileged to have been allowed such a personal view to this vital act of love - which is an integral part of their story, of lives well lived.

The documentary presents a great deal of interesting material about the life Christopher Isherwood shared with Don Bachardy (and we hear Don's honest first hand opinion throughout). While they were very much in love, it wasn't all wine and roses (I think very few relationships are). Chris wrote "A Single Man" at a time when Don had requested a trial separation and he was not at all confident that Don would return.

Don lives on in the house they shared for many decades and is a duly successful artist (a talent Chris had recognised in him and actively encouraged). The DVD edition comes with several cards of Don's work - including portraits of Chris.

"Chris & Don" is a magnificent testament to the reality of true love and to the value of commitment - and is much more effective in this regard than any other film I've seen.

Went to the Palace Barracks in Brisbane tonight with good gay friends to see "Weekend" - with confidence that it would be good, due to glowing reviews by respected Australian critics. I found this to be an intensely real film about lust, communication, honesty and love. There's so much to like about "Weekend":- beautiful direction and a very involving script, faultless acting, and truly astounding sound design (with immediately impressive original music too). I loved it. Don't wait for the DVD or Blu-Ray - this is a worthy big screen / big sound system experience to share with friends or a room full of strangers (I like that you hear people around you laugh, gasp, tutt and emote - and not in unison.)