Charlie Plummer

The Return

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Odysseus and Penelope reunited

As you will know from reading your Homer, after his victory at the battle of Troy, the warrior king Odysseus got waylaid on his journey home to Ithaca. Instead of taking weeks, Odysseus’s voyage lasted years. There was many a mythical adventure en route. Hence, yes, the word “odyssey”. The Return picks up the story as the last section of The Odyssey did, with Odysseus finally washed up half-dead on his troubled native island. Grizzled, battle-scarred and bewildered, he is taken in by a swineherd, where he licks his wounds and mentally regroups before eventually heading off towards his palace disguised as a beggar. Surely he will re-assert himself as king? Surely things … Read more

National Anthem

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Sky on horseback

A good way of coming at National Anthem, Luke Gilford’s debut feature, is to know a little bit about his own life. He grew up in Colorado, the son of a member of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association. Getting older, he became uneasy at, his words, how homophobic and patriarchal the rodeo was, and yet he still loved its mythical take on America. He started wondering if there were other people like him, who loved the Americana but wanted to come at the rodeo from a different angle. It turned out there were – the International Gay Rodeo Association. Gilford became a photographer and eventually produced a photobook called National Anthem – cover … Read more