- Tat London
- Jun 11
- 5 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
Oh, The Things I Have Seen
June 2025, Charlie Porter
I feel now that if you've tapped into the middle-class media matrix (Picturehouse, Adam Buxton, The Newsagents, Richard Curtis...) then you'll have come across talk of this film. I’ve been a long-time fan of Tim Key and, more recently, Tom Basden, so I always knew I’d see it. But after a rather lukewarm review in The New York Times, I felt I was going more out of duty than excitement.
Well, reader, my husband and I went two days after it opened, and the cinema was almost empty — which suited us just fine. I assumed the hordes had also read the NYT review, but with snacks in hand, I was happy enough.
And I will tell you: there hasn’t been a film I’ve been gladder to see at the cinema in some time. It left me with a feeling of happiness and hope that’s so sorely needed these days. When we’re constantly under threat from Marvel films, AI, and the general tragic state of the world — this film offers a two-hour respite that should frankly be prescribed on the NHS.
Earlier this year, my father organised a fundraiser for ShelterBox’s work in Gaza, managing to raise £20,000 for the cause. It was a beautiful, if heartbreaking, evening — full of stories from the frontline and accounts from those who have lost much, if not most, of their families in this brutal conflict.
Since then, the situation has only worsened. Aid has become almost impossible to deliver into Gaza. In response, my father, Henry Porter, travelled to Jordan, where he saw firsthand the vast quantities of aid stuck at the border, unable to reach those in desperate need.
He wrote about the experience for Prospect — a heart-wrenching piece that sheds light on the atrocities unfolding in Gaza.
